I always wondered how much a car would cost without all the unnecessary shit in it. One of the replies to an article I agree with: What a great idea affordable cars! $30 or$40k for a set of wheels is ridiculous especially when one considers the purchase ends up as scrap. One has to question the demand for safety equipment."Experts" whoever they are, claim that it is an investment but has that been proved? Seems that advocates of all the added cost devices are largely the ones that profit from them. The real problem with auto safety is the nut behind the wheel, the same as it has always been! I've read that "safety features" actually cause more accidents because they give people little bit too much sense of "security". Cost of Model T in today's money:$18,000
If you want to really waste your cash, then buying a car is where its at. I've fallen into the car trap before, not worth it.
The car for $15,000 will do the same for you what $30,000 and more car will do. I think that's what he meant.
Certainly a good point. That said, I think it can often be possible at many points in your life to choose to avoid driving (public tansportation, cabs, etc.). And yes, cars can be huge, huge money sucks, I am going to avoid regularly driving my own vehicle for as long as possible.
A few guys I know had driven around in sub-3000 dollar cars at one point in their life. One guy I know had an old Toyota Cressida that he purchased for 2000 dollars and he placed over 100,000 miles on it before he sold it for 1000 dollars. 4 cylinder Toyota Camrys and Honda Accords are the ultimate cars. Even if you were to drive them hard, you will get over 26 miles to the gallon. The Toyota Camry is a quiet comfortable ride. Even ones that are over 10 years old with over 100k miles on them are still very quiet, comfortable and cost effective. I was with my friend helping her find a car. She used to live in NYC and was moving to somewhere else. We went to the Toyota and Honda dealers. At the Toyota dealer, the salesman had a $4000 mid-90s Toyota Camry for sale in great shape. He also had a $13000 2004 Toyota Camry also in great shape. I pleaded with her to get one of the Camrys especially the $4000 one with 80k miles. She thought I was joking. I wasnt. She ended up getting a brand new Honda Civic EX with the navigation and probably paid over 20000 dollars. That was a huge waste. My experience with cars is negative. You just pump money into them and you dont receive much in return. Eventually, they turn to scrap. The $4000 Toyota Camry would have given her over 100,000 miles and years of driving and then she could have sold it for at least 1-2k when she was done. If she crashed it, then the maximum she could lose is 4 grand and she wouldnt have paid high insurance costs year after year. The guy who bought the $4000 Camry is a lucky man while the other guy who bought the brand new one is stuck with a mountain of bills and depreciation on top. Another point to think about is do you really care what I or anyone else drives? The answer is no. Who cares. So if no one cares, then why bother trying to get a big expensive luxury car or a sports car unless driving is something that really puts a smile on your face.
There are no "free" energy sources unless you have a car that runs on used french fry oil. As soon as more people have cars that can run on those, it won't be free, either. Sure, the sun and wind are free, but the gizmos needed to harness them are as much or more expensive than fuel. I think the neat thing here is that those little cars they are talking about from Tata not only are $2500 NEW, but had a 33 hp motor. With 33 hp you could get 80 mpg, I'm guessing. That's where the big saving is. We need to be coming up with cars that our gluttonous and debt ridden society can both afford to buy, but also feed. Personally, I'd like to see us figuring out a way to run on methanol, which could be made from wood or coal, instead of trying to make ethanol and gasoline consuming machines that run on corn, which I consider to be insane, because as soon as we have a bad harvest, we'll be foolish enough to burn it instead of saving it to eat. I think we need to find something to burn things that don't require plowing, watering, fertilizers, and could be harvested in multi year cycles instead of once a year. The fewer times you have to run equipment through the field, the less of the output the tractor is going to consume.
People are people, and we value things differently. I don't spend more than $30 on my shirts, but my gf spends $90 on a pair of jeans, $45 on a tshirt with a brandname logo, $80 on a skirt. (it's my money she's spending but I digress... ) OTOH, I like to stay in nice hotels but she thinks 3-star hotels are adequate. She thinks I'm crazy to get a Lamborghini. I think she's crazy to spend $40 on sashimi. Ok, I'm starting to wonder why we're dating each other. But the point is, there's probably something you think is worth it to you that someone else will think is a waste of money.