New cars have always been a luxury good.
They’ve never been “affordable” to the bottom 40% of Americans.
Lower income households have always bought used cars. That’s how the market works.
The issue is now that used cars arent affordable anymore either. You used to be able to buy a used Honda civic or Toyota Camry for $5000 and go for another 100k miles now everything is clapped out at that price and if you do find something you’re very liable to have to pay for a major repair very soon. There are some exceptions sure but it ised to be much much easier. If you buy used at a dealership its either high mileage or just as expensive
That may be true. I’ve had my car for 10 years now. It’s a 2012 Accord I bought used in 2015. So I’ve been out of the market for some time. I’ve been looking at used Bolts, they’re in the upper teens.
Most people cant afford houses right now either interest rates for houses are also much lower and financed for longer. Dealerships put you on the hook for essentially another mortgage level payment
Larger petrol cars (hatchbacks!) used to be cheaper. Now they are these tiny cans on wheels stripped of almost all “luxury” for higher price. If you get a phone holder as standard, that’s already luxury because you’re not even getting infotainment system anymore.
It’s why I’m holding on to my 15+ old hatchback. It’s spotless and everything works, if I sell it for any money I’m essentially giving it away.
For the money these are selling now you could get Hyundai Tucson or Kia Sorento. Now it’s Inster and EV2. These cars are registered for 4 people. Not even 5, because they are insanely narrow.
I mean, larger petrol cars being shittier sounds like a good thing to me. Keeps people from buying them.
And skip the Tucson and get the Santa Cruz. Same car, but with a bed. I absolutely love mine. Literally the only complaint I have is the AC blows too hard on the low setting, and the cruise control likes to downshift when it’s not necessary (but then I get to drive it in semi-manual mode). But that’s literally me bitching that it has too much power, since it’ll tow 3500lb.
It’s not that petrol cars are getting crappier, it’s the opposite. “Cheap” EV’s are getting crappier. There’s “affordable” EV’s that are with normal equipment that you’d find in a normal petrol car (hatchback) that somehow cost 35.000 € and then there are these “affordable” EV’s that still cost almost 20.000€ and are worse equipped as petrol hatchback from 2010. Not to mention MUCH smaller and often MUCH narrower. And they all look “funky” in the most ugly way possible. Why can’t EV’s just look like a normal car? They always have to be “special”. It’s so stupid. Stop making them look stupid, just make one that looks like Hyundai i30, VW Golf or Renault Clio and has full electric drivetrain from ground up. Is that too much to ask?
Im so damn tired of hearing a $30k vehicle called “affordable” its not. Thats a years salary for many if not most people
New cars have always been a luxury good.
They’ve never been “affordable” to the bottom 40% of Americans.
Lower income households have always bought used cars. That’s how the market works.
The issue is now that used cars arent affordable anymore either. You used to be able to buy a used Honda civic or Toyota Camry for $5000 and go for another 100k miles now everything is clapped out at that price and if you do find something you’re very liable to have to pay for a major repair very soon. There are some exceptions sure but it ised to be much much easier. If you buy used at a dealership its either high mileage or just as expensive
That may be true. I’ve had my car for 10 years now. It’s a 2012 Accord I bought used in 2015. So I’ve been out of the market for some time. I’ve been looking at used Bolts, they’re in the upper teens.
It’s not the sticker price that makes things affordable. A house is several years salary and can definitely be affordable.
The key metric is percentage of your take-home pay.
Most people cant afford houses right now either interest rates for houses are also much lower and financed for longer. Dealerships put you on the hook for essentially another mortgage level payment
Larger petrol cars (hatchbacks!) used to be cheaper. Now they are these tiny cans on wheels stripped of almost all “luxury” for higher price. If you get a phone holder as standard, that’s already luxury because you’re not even getting infotainment system anymore.
It’s why I’m holding on to my 15+ old hatchback. It’s spotless and everything works, if I sell it for any money I’m essentially giving it away.
For the money these are selling now you could get Hyundai Tucson or Kia Sorento. Now it’s Inster and EV2. These cars are registered for 4 people. Not even 5, because they are insanely narrow.
I mean, larger petrol cars being shittier sounds like a good thing to me. Keeps people from buying them.
And skip the Tucson and get the Santa Cruz. Same car, but with a bed. I absolutely love mine. Literally the only complaint I have is the AC blows too hard on the low setting, and the cruise control likes to downshift when it’s not necessary (but then I get to drive it in semi-manual mode). But that’s literally me bitching that it has too much power, since it’ll tow 3500lb.
It’s not that petrol cars are getting crappier, it’s the opposite. “Cheap” EV’s are getting crappier. There’s “affordable” EV’s that are with normal equipment that you’d find in a normal petrol car (hatchback) that somehow cost 35.000 € and then there are these “affordable” EV’s that still cost almost 20.000€ and are worse equipped as petrol hatchback from 2010. Not to mention MUCH smaller and often MUCH narrower. And they all look “funky” in the most ugly way possible. Why can’t EV’s just look like a normal car? They always have to be “special”. It’s so stupid. Stop making them look stupid, just make one that looks like Hyundai i30, VW Golf or Renault Clio and has full electric drivetrain from ground up. Is that too much to ask?