I would call this one nearly 'better than new" owing to engine upgrades.
cost? Under $18K. or
cost, $14K and this is a is a diesel.
Posted on 06/07/2024 11:36:29 AM PDT by karpov
It’s not just the political class. America’s fleet of cars and trucks is also getting long in the tooth. Last month a study by S&P Global Mobility reported the average age of vehicles in the U.S. was 12.6 years, up more than 14 months since 2014. Singling out passenger cars, the number jumps to a geriatric 14 years.
In the past, the average-age statistic was taken as a sign of transportation’s burden on household budgets. Those burdens remain near all-time highs. The average transaction price of a new vehicle is currently hovering around $47,000. While inflation and interest rates are backing away from recent highs, insurance premiums have soared by double digits in the past year.
Many buyers are now surfing on waves of vehicle depreciation, picking up used and off-lease cars and trucks still under warranty for thousands less than new. That’s smart. Your Dutch uncle approves. But lately another, stranger element is showing up in the numbers: a motivated belief among consumers that automakers’ latest and greatest offerings—whether powered by gasoline, batteries or a hybrid system—are inferior to the products they are replacing.
That’s different. Americans have been trained from a young age that the New is better than Old, especially coming from the car industry, the people who brought you tail fins, planned obsolescence and generous trade-in allowances. Who are these wild-eyed dissidents?
In fact, new-car deniers form a broad coalition of the unpersuaded. Some fear that new, digitally connected vehicles could expose their personal information to the Chinese—or worse, to their insurance agencies. Other modern marvels people seem eager to avoid include stop/start cycling systems, which shut off engines to save fuel when vehicles are stationary, now all but mandatory in new vehicles; continuously variable transmissions (CVTs), commonly found in compact vehicles with small-displacement engines
(Excerpt) Read more at wsj.com ...
Too much d@mn money. I question the honesty and trustworthiness of any manufacturer who can ask $100,000+ for a pickup truck, with a straight face.
I think it was tongue-in-cheek. But nothing out there excites me to replace our 2005, 225,000 mile, Honda Odyssey.
I think it was tongue-in-cheek. But nothing out there excites me to replace our 2005, 225,000 mile, Honda Odyssey.
“I’m about to turn 70 and I can’t find anything I like more than my 19 year old Mustang.”
Go test drive a late model Mustang!
True. But you have to pick your battles. I’ll spend top dollar on high quality items that have utility. I spent $3,500 on a Rolex Submariner back in 1994. That watch was on my wrist for every mission I flew as a UH-60 Blackhawk pilot for over 20 years. It’ll get passed down to my son eventually. Lucky for him it has tripled in value.
Spending good money on furniture and mattresses makes sense too. Plus you need at least one nice suit and quality shoes.
But yeah, I try to be miserly with everything else…
I would like to buy a new car, but the new ones spy on everything you do and can probably be remotely controlled by “the intelligence community” if the “intelligence community” decides you are a liability, ala Michael Hastings.
Spending good money on an appreciating asset or an item that will never need to be replaced is one thing, spending top dollar on something that depreciates 20% in the first year is something entirely different.
Then financing that depreciating asset at a 6%+ interest rates is next level bad idea.
I recently got rid of my 2013 Chevy Silverado with 260,000 miles. I had to because the transmission was starting to go again and it needed a new engine. I’ve never owned a new car, but driving a new Honda Ridgeline now. It’s nice to have a new vehicle, but I really don’t like the modern gadgets. Especially when it shakes the wheel and tells me to brake for absolutely no reason.
That one "feature" is the thing that makes me swear at my car more than everything else. I have to press the button every time I start my car to turn it off and I have found no way to turn it off by default. I've seen and electronic pod that can detect when the engine starts and momentarily short the two wires on the button to simulate a button push. I don't want to install it until my warranty is done and I'm angry about having to spend about $100 plus labor to fix what is one bit in the software.
More wear on the battery, starter and engine to save a few drops of gas.
“”If you live in a densely packed urban center with lots of public transportation””
1) LEAVE!
2) If you cannot, will not leave, make sure your personal self defense is assured.
“”2003 Toyota Corolla here. 136,000 miles on it. Also a 2009 Dodge Grand Caravan with 162,000 miles. Run cheap. Fox cheap. Maintain cheap. Insure cheap.””
DITTOS - We have a 2006 Ford Taurus, 6 cylinders, minimal computing, 140,000 miles. Get up and go when you need it, great fuel mileage with cruise control. It is paid for, and yes, insurance is inexpensive.
I would call this one nearly 'better than new" owing to engine upgrades.
cost? Under $18K. or
cost, $14K and this is a is a diesel.
My vehicle is over 30 yrs old...
““yes, they could make them much better.”
“How?”
by having a disable switch
do you have a link for the diesel bus?
“so the new cars have less power.”
That’s hardly true. Still a HP/torque race. Many of the turbocharged fours have more of both than the NA V8s they replaced. But longevity might well be an issue.
“Unless it is the exact same 2.4 Liter 4 cylinder engine that they put in the 1980s Toyota pickups. Those are the engines/trucks that run forever”
So does the Z24i in Nissan hardbody pickups. I still have one, 119k miles.
“Stop/start cycling systems” <-— I can see so many reasons not to like this. Sounds like I wouldn’t be able to warm up my car on a winter morning without it shutting off, or keep my dog cool in the summer when I make a 5 minute stop, and I might even have to keep restarting it while stuck in a traffic jam. No thanks.
Anyway, have a 20-year-old Saturn here, 143k miles, in great shape. Won’t need to worry about rust, but the parts are getting a little hard to come by.
Yes, the Breitbart Extinguisher module is particularly frightening.
“It blows a little blue smoke on first startup and for about 300 feet down the road, then, nothing.”
I don’t know about that particular engine but the blue smoke on startup often is just leakage past the valve guides. Ignore it and check the oil level slightly more often.
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