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The ridiculousness of the current car/truck market.

No, I want to use a microwaves, vacuum cleaners, and HVAC systems that are exponentially more reliable. Your argument is logically fallacious.
 
I’ve been reading for 4 years on this site how “ridiculous and overpriced” cars and houses currently are. And while I don’t necessarily disagree, there has been no major adjustment. People just keep paying for them and buying them and they keep increasing in value.
 
I'm pretty sure the new vehicle (particularly trucks) market is crashing. Dealerships all over the country are now running out of space to store inventory, with significant inventory still sitting on their lots for hundreds of days, a significant portion of which is going to be 2 plus model years old. So, with respect to cars and trucks, they are NOT continuing to buy them. The US national average payment for a new vehicle is now about 700 dollars a month. That is financial stupidity.
 
There can't be many people who feel this way, can there? I am over 50 and I don't believe I've ever personally owned a car that lacked power windows. The whole premise of this thread is that there is a huge market for cars without power windows and I just can't fathom that. If anything, it would be a very niche market like people who might like to buy 8 track tapes.

I also have a butt load of old 8 tracks that I will throw in if you wanna buy my F150
 
I'm pretty sure the new vehicle (particularly trucks) market is crashing. Dealerships all over the country are now running out of space to store inventory, with significant inventory still sitting on their lots for hundreds of days, a significant portion of which is going to be 2 plus model years old. So, with respect to cars and trucks, they are NOT continuing to buy them. The US national average payment for a new vehicle is now about 700 dollars a month. That is financial stupidity.


Ok, so then where are the cheap new or 1 year old cars then if it’s crashing? And if new or lightly used nice cars are about to come crashing down in price why manufacture more, lower quality cars like you’re suggesting?
 
We bought my now 18 year old a ten year old Passat with 100,000 miles two years ago in an owner sale. Paid 10k for it. She’s got about 20k on it and haven’t had any issues.

My wife drives an 2023 Audi G5 Hybrid that set me back almost 60k. Solid car but still not worth 60 grand.
 
For many reason stated here, I can see TAAS (Transportation As A Service) taking hold very soon. I dont know what the pricepoint is, but a couple of hundred bucks a month for a Robotaxi subscription?

Sign me up.

Anyone who has experienced Tesla's FSD should agree, driving will be as irrelevant as cursive in the next 15-20 years.
 
Car companies completely ignored the frugal consumer, that just wants a basic vehcle, with manual controls (windows, mirrors etc.) steel wheels, and a good honest price. And now they're paying for it.

This country needs an auto manufacturer (or a division of one of the big 5) that only builds basic vehicles, let's say:

1 sedan, 2 pickups (light and work), a modest SUV or minivan, 1 two door compact, and 1 small hatchback wagon.

All basic trim levels, a choice of like 4 colors, and all affordable to the vast majority of US consumers.

That company would KILL it.

Cut out the dealerships and have a small satellite "dealer" at existing businesses such as Walmart, Costco etc. where you can test drive the vehicles, and arrange the purchase. Easy peasy...

Goood profit margins through volume, IOW
For years we only purchase program cars........ When we bought them we would also buy an extended warranty........The last three vehicles we have bought have been new.....I am going to trade my 2017 F150 in the spring.......I am going to buy me a vehicle that will last me the rest of my life............
 
Lastly, stay far far away from any car / truck / suv that has a CVT (continuously variable transmission). They are the death of many new cars. Lawsuits are starting to pop up everywhere because of these pos. It will be hard to find a five speed auto these days, but don't say no one warned you.
I want to get a car with low miles for my daughter and would like to stay away from a CVT as I have heard so many bad things about them. Any recommendations on what to look for in the $20,000-22,000 price range?
 
Those stupid CVT transmissions are coupled with the new power trend IIRC; those undersized/puny 4 cyl. turbocharged engines (ford ranger for example) and yes, they have a poor record and repair costs are sky high. I thought though, that most of the problems were with light trucks that had them, and then used for towing. I could be wrong though.
 
I want to get a car with low miles for my daughter and would like to stay away from a CVT as I have heard so many bad things about them. Any recommendations on what to look for in the $20,000-22,000 price range?

Buy a used Corolla. Hell, you can get one for a lot less than that, and even if it has 100,000 miles on it, it'll still run for years. SOME of them do have CVT transmissions, so check that.
 
Bought my wife a new kia a few years ago. Paid a fair amount with a down payment and the coupon book.
Wife works 4 miles from our house. Car had very low miles,(less than 20K on a 3 year old car) when she was involved in an accident not her fought. Both parties had same full coverage insurance by Farm Bearu.
FB offered us a ridiculous amount. Luckly, I had saved the sticker and all the paperwork from the windshield.
After showing all the extras on our car they up the pay off a few hundred dollars.
After review all we had paid for, down payment, taxes, insurance , cost of lost value the moment we drove it off the lot, there is no way in hell I would ever again buy a new car or truck.
 
I want to get a car with low miles for my daughter and would like to stay away from a CVT as I have heard so many bad things about them. Any recommendations on what to look for in the $20,000-22,000 price range?
I've just started to look into a new vehicle so I haven't done a deep dive. You can try this site to narrow it down and then double check the info from there. Just use the all filters button to get the results you want.


I said I wouldn't buy a new vehicle again because of the all BS associated with them like spyware, proprietary junk, CVTs, etc., but there is only so much you can do with old vehicles. Aftermarket parts are turning to crap and good mechanics are like hens teeth.
 
I forgot to mention a story that happened with me in 2021 at Carmax. My parents bought a used Nissan Rouge for $20k in January of 2021. Fast forward to August my mom passes away, then in September my dad passes away.

About three weeks after my mom passed away I took the Rouge to Carmax to see about them buying it. They gave me an offer around $23k. I was shocked, but told them I would be back to finish the deal in a few days. The offer was good for 30 days.

Within a week of that offer my dad passed away. Needless to say, I didn’t get back to Carmax within 30 days, so the offer was no longer available. I was able to go back in late October, and they started the offer process over again. This time they came back with an offer of something like $26k to $28k. I was stunned. I accepted and did the paperwork before I left that day.

I remember thinking how crappy of a deal whoever bought that Rouge would be getting.

That experience made me decide to drive my Taurus and F150 until the blow up.
 
I forgot to mention a story that happened with me in 2021 at Carmax. My parents bought a used Nissan Rouge for $20k in January of 2021. Fast forward to August my mom passes away, then in September my dad passes away.

About three weeks after my mom passed away I took the Rouge to Carmax to see about them buying it. They gave me an offer around $23k. I was shocked, but told them I would be back to finish the deal in a few days. The offer was good for 30 days.

Within a week of that offer my dad passed away. Needless to say, I didn’t get back to Carmax within 30 days, so the offer was no longer available. I was able to go back in late October, and they started the offer process over again. This time they came back with an offer of something like $26k to $28k. I was stunned. I accepted and did the paperwork before I left that day.

I remember thinking how crappy of a deal whoever bought that Rouge would be getting.

That experience made me decide to drive my Taurus and F150 until the blow up.


I sold my Rogue to carmax in January of 2021 I think it was. Total piece of crap with a dent and sometimes the car wouldn’t turn on and I had to jiggle the battery. They offered me something ridiculous like 20k. Anyway I had 7 days to turn it in so on the day I could do it I was driving from work to the store and I side swiped a deer. The entire passenger side of the front bumper was covered in blood when I rolled into the parking lot. I didn’t say a thing. They took the keys and handed me the check and I got out of there as soon as humanly possible.
 
I'm not sure car companies could save that much money simply by using mechanical windows and steel wheels etc. In fact it might be less expensive to use mechanical. Can't imagine many people not wanting a car with safe power breaking and steering.

At any rate to make a different model like this you would have enough sales to justify it, otherwise the cost of design and production would not be offset. Let's say you succeed with a more basic car and sell it $500 less than the current base vehicle. Who would not want to just pay the difference and get something more modern?
 
Have 90 Silverado, my wife’s 2004 Accord, and her 84 El Camino

We don’t ever drive very far and for trips we rent from Hertz

Don’t see me ever buying a new car again
 
I drive a 2006 Lexus RX 330 ; it just turned over 100,000 miles this month. The only real problem with it is the power sunroof gets stuck sometimes, so I just leave it closed, no big deal.

I THOUGHT I wanted to trade it in for what I drove for many years, a pick up. That's until I began pricing new ones, then used ones. I'm just going to install a hitch on my Lexus and buy a smallish boat to fish local lakes. I refuse to pay what they're asking, even for 10 year old P/U's. It's insane.

I retired about a year ago, and just recently took a PT job, two days a week to supplement my income, so I don't drive a lot as it is. Thus I'm going to keep it until it simply dies or until the market corrects itself....assuming it ever does.
 
Those stupid CVT transmissions are coupled with the new power trend IIRC; those undersized/puny 4 cyl. turbocharged engines (ford ranger for example) and yes, they have a poor record and repair costs are sky high. I thought though, that most of the problems were with light trucks that had them, and then used for towing. I could be wrong though.
I wouldn’t knock a turbo 4 cylinder. Manufacturers are getting really impressive power figures out of small engines these days.

A turbo can squeeze an awful lot of power out of a small amount of displacement. The most powerful engine in the history of F1 was BMW’s turbo 4 cylinder. They managed to get 1,400 hp out of a small 1.5L engine.

They may sound like garbage, but a lot of them are pretty good little engines nowadays.
 
I’ve been reading for 4 years on this site how “ridiculous and overpriced” cars and houses currently are. And while I don’t necessarily disagree, there has been no major adjustment. People just keep paying for them and buying them and they keep increasing in value.

I worry about delinquency rates for both, as both are rising along with CC delinquency. I also wonder how many lower and middle class families are sitting on their used cars for longer, simply because they can't afford new ones, and therefore, this becomes sort of a growing problem beneath the surface.

Looks like in 2012 it was 11 years for average age of used car on the road, and it's now 14. The problem is, that number simply can't go much higher because we all know most cars don't last. So it's not like we have this huge runway where we can go to 30 years for average cars. There's also the factor of these older cars no longer providing a cost savings because repairs start to come fast and quick.


But you're also right, people keep buying them. Prices keep going up.
 
I drive a 2006 Lexus RX 330 ; it just turned over 100,000 miles this month. The only real problem with it is the power sunroof gets stuck sometimes, so I just leave it closed, no big deal.

I THOUGHT I wanted to trade it in for what I drove for many years, a pick up. That's until I began pricing new ones, then used ones. I'm just going to install a hitch on my Lexus and buy a smallish boat to fish local lakes. I refuse to pay what they're asking, even for 10 year old P/U's. It's insane.

I retired about a year ago, and just recently took a PT job, two days a week to supplement my income, so I don't drive a lot as it is. Thus I'm going to keep it until it simply dies or until the market corrects itself....assuming it ever does.

The nice thing here is that you must not have had to drive much if a nearly 20 year old car just hit 100k miles. Which is awesome because I sort of do the same. My Mazda is 11 years old/105k miles and was driven a lot when I first got it for work travel, but since WFH I think I put 20k miles on it the last 5 years.

Sadly though, not a lot of people are in the same boat.. or car.
 
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