I.... am a stubborn asshole. And I won’t buy something if it doesn’t work out in the percentages I need it to for my income. IMO, more people need to be like me, then the car companies will mysteriously quit jacking up their car prices. I’ve been out of the car market for quite awhile now because of this madness.

That…

This just goes to show the, I think, obvious fact that there are no perfect solutions to our current environmental crises. ICE vehicles aren’t the future. They can’t be. And EVs are a viable (seemingly inevitable) alternative. We should encourage EV adoption - but not mindless consumerism half-heartedly justified with…

And if you do buy a new car, you don’t need to buy the “average” new car if you make shit money. You can get a fine car for under $20K.  It’s not going to impress anyone, but it’ll run for a decade+.

A zoomer making $25/hr with a consistent full time job will be capped at about $16k for a car on a 60 month/5% interest loan with $1500 down (assume they are getting cheapish health insurance/benefits and have low state income tax). It’s certainly possible to find reliable transportation for less than $16k, but it’s…

Found one!

Does this mean the repossession of cars is also at an all time high, meaning the price of used cars should drop as repo cars hit the market????

Yeah, it is almost like wage growth has stagnated and the guarantee of a yearly raise and bonus that boomers grew up with dried up after their 40 years in the workforce.

Oh, it’s not by dollar amount, it’s measured by take-home pay. Well the reason is obvious, it’s that Gen Z and Millennials, and to a lesser extend Gen X, get paid absolute garbage compared to Boomers who pulled up the ladder behind them, but still need to buy cars.

I don’t see this as financial illiteracy so much as just that younger people tend to make less money and cars are more expensive now than ever.

But if you’re making shit money, maybe you shouldn’t be buying the average new car.

If I could walk to work every day (or better, WFH) and have an awesome car for the weekend rather than a penalty box because I put 35k miles a year on my ride driving to an office....I’d not consider myself less of an enthusiast.

tbh, it might not really be a zoomer thing. if you’re young and making shitty money and the average price of a new car is like $40K, then there you go.

Describes most of the things I love.

Two things can be true at once; car culture is fun and bad for us.

Since when do enthusiasts like commuting by car? I love cars more than most functional people, and I am overjoyed to be able to take the train to work and have two treasured machines I can futz around with and enjoy in better ways than being stuck in gridlock.

The part of car ownership that you’re enthusiastic about is commuting?  Who hurt you?

As always, we find out that it’s the girth - not the length - that matters in situations like these.

This issue affects all models which use the 10R80, including the 2022-23 Ford Mustang, Bronco, F-150, Explorer and the 2023 Lincoln Aviator.

As a Colorado resident, I would buy it, smog it, and drive away happy. Colorado is far from California when it comes to emissions. Grew up in CA., live in CO. and anything car registration or emissions related is magnitudes easier to deal with here...for now.

The way that Americans drive around with fingers covered in hot wing sauce and French fry grease? Good luck with that.