@notjustbikes@Techaltar Dumping car dependency may be the only thing that saves some metropolitan areas, assuming they actually manage it. Precious few US cities are even partially there, unfortunately.
@wordshaper@notjustbikes@Techaltar most cities are just one realization and a few truckloads of jersey barriers away from having complete bike networks.
Also, the "super sized" vehicles are so the car manufacturers can be lazy on their engineering side. If it's big enough, it doesn't have to comply with regular passenger vehicle standards for emissions so it's very much in their interest to cultivate a giant truck market.
It's cheaper for them to make and more expensive and damaging for us to buy, that's a win in their book.
@Techaltar I had been driving since I was 18, gave up my car this year because life is too short, they keep finding ways to claw money out of me to keep me working harder & for longer, but I just stop paying for shit & adjust my life accordingly, stop buying shit until their system collapses, you don't have to join in, there is always a choice...
@Techaltar The obvious response is to ask why people are buying beyond their means; the choice is not "$(27|48),000 car" vs "no car".
But...I cannot be that smug, because maybe people are mostly living within their means. If people on not-wealthy incomes are making do with the car they already have, the average car bought will be more expensive.
"42 weeks of median household income" isn't the same as "42 weeks of median household income for those households which buy new cars".
@Techaltar I never understood why the American auto companies never created a ‘people’s’ car. Affordable ($12,000), efficient to transport family and groceries/household goods. 3 or 4 cylinder engine capable of 65 mph and 35 or more miles per gallon.
It doesn't help that every new car comes with a 10-inch tablet fully integrated with all 73 other computers running in the car.
At least 20-30% of the cost of every new car can be accounted for by the amount of completely unnecessary technology being crammed into them.
If people would refuse to pay for the crap, it would be taken back out of the vehicles. Go back to the days where if you wanted a $3,000 stereo and entertainment system, you actually put it in yourself.
@Techaltar
I was extremely lucky to buy a brand new Kia Forte GT the month the Pandemic was just starting to hit (Feb 2020) for $19.5K.
A year later, mid-pandemic & mid-Supply Chain crisis, they offered to buy it back from me for $5K more than I paid for it (if I had another car, I might have taken them up on it. Glad I didn't.)
@Techaltar the idea that you need to spend $48k to get a decent car is ludicrous. The following are mostly top safety pick or better from IIHS, are reliable, have good resale value, and have modern features. In some, going to the second from the bottom trim is a big improvement for about $2k.
@Techaltar I've done all my motoring in Craigslist specials and I have not spent more than $8k (buying Price) on a single vehicle, I don't know what a car payment is
In the context of the current used market the craigslist special is not yet entirely extinct but is an endangered species, cost of ownership (fuel, insurance, maintenance, etc) keeps going up too
The car as infrastructure is proving to be economically unsustainable for working folks
How many of these debt slaves are buying cars that they actually need vs want?
I'm well off and could afford a luxury car in cash, do I buy it? No, I bought myself a new Civic Hatchback 2 years ago.
Meanwhile my coworker with just 1 kid, $200k in student loans and living in his parents basement keeps trying to justify having bought a bus sized Suburban for $50k
Financial literacy doesn't exist in the US. Its getting bad and also drives prices up.
@Techaltar Everything is going up (due to greed) except wages (due to greed). There’s a plan being carried out and it’s not to benefit the working class.
@Techaltar the multi billion dollar global corporations aren't going to continue to make record profits quarter after quarter if they don't keep jacking up the prices. Sure it'll all collapse and wreck the economy but they'll get bailed out so no worries.
@Techaltar you can still get the Kia Rio, Kia Soul, and Nissan Versa new under $20k in the US, but if I we’re a betting man I’d say 2023 or 2024 model year will be the final year for those too.
@Techaltar the price of the average new car is frankly too high (even in Europe) and the burden of car loans on family budgets is increasingly becoming hard to sustain.
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