I’ll say it - I can’t afford a new car at $18K. I was lucky to get a car valued at about $8K. If the home costs had not risen so much since the recession, I might be in a good place, but in my area they’ve gone up 50% and my wages have gone up ~10-20% in the same time frame.

I was just coming here to type this exact comment. People are hell bent on buying crossovers, and contorting their finances to do it no matter what. Excellent, much less expensive cars are still readily available. People are so deranged that they are buying terrible vehicles like the Ford Ecosport and Buick Encore…

How many workers are under contract at GM — 50,000? Let’s see, if CEO gives entire pay to UAW, and nothing to the salaried work force, and works for free, this is worth $400 per worker. (Actually a surprisingly high figure.) I’m betting that the two sides are off by substantially more than $400/worker, though. For…

While I don’t disagree that the salary disparity is huge, redistributing all $22m (real salary $8m) would only give each employee $127 more per year. They won’t even notice that

Not just wealthy--this is how middle class people can save for retirement, be frugal but smart with spending habits and not have needless debt. I know a lot of people pan Dave Ramsey, but he rails incessantly about buying new. It truly is one of the worst personal finance actions to do.

We’re on the same wavelength...if a full sized SUV is needed, the GMT800's are the way to go. Cheap as shit, they have the creature comforts, and there are eleventy-billion of them on the road so parts (new and used) are plentiful. Slap a new headunit and a remote starter in one and you’re modern enough.

Not everyone is broke.

I can afford to buy the cars I want new. However, I buy used because I don’t see the point of a $500 car payment.

Don’t even get me started on people living at home with their parents that have a $1500 iPhone (just $40 a month!)

My friend just made partner at his law firm. His law firm told him to buy a new car even though it was a perfectly fine 2009 ford fusion.

Many people ignore the actual costs of something and looks only to their monthly expenses.

*raises hand* - A good car will last a long time if you take care of it.

I don’t mind paying higher taxes to ensure that good teachers get paid a living wage. I knew what my taxes would be when I bought my house. I’m not asking to lower them.

He’s probably also not considering that the repairs and maintenance on the BMW will be a lot more expensive than the Mazda3. It’s a classic mistake to think that the monthly payment is the entire cost of ownership of a vehicle - it’s not, especially in the case of higher-end luxury or performance cars.

Longer than that. I just bought a 2004 Tahoe that retailed for $44,000 new. I paid $5000 and will get years out of it based on its condition and mileage.  Even with extensive repairs it would be worth fixing older vehicles than buying new 

Come to the DC Metro area, it is even worse.

“Yes, I’m judging that vaping douche-book by its cover, but I can’t imagine that all those jabronis have the finances to actually afford one of those things.”

The statement is likely relative to local variation in what “middle class” is. In San Fran, you can get paid $100k/yr. to clean up feces and needles from the streets and you’ll be at the bottom of the middle-class, if that.

don’t get one when you have kids then., get a wagon or an actual SUV. And get it in manual. She dcan drive her car when she needs to, right?

If we are selling less cars because we are making better, longer-lasting cars will selling less cars mean we keep building better, longer-lasting cars?