OT: sportwagen

[AngryScientist]

Originally Posted by .RJ

Honestly, which features do you not want in a new car? All the safety stuff is by mandate but the rest? Its all pretty nice?

I totally agree with ChainNoise, I dont want all that stuff either.

Example: When we bought our Odyssey years ago, I specifically had to seek out the base model, and they were hard to find because I didnt want a bunch of pricey junk that will eventually break.

Mini-van auto sliding doors - NO thank you. They all eventually fail, and they add a lot of $$

Built in central vacuum system. Give me a break. I dont need a vacuum built into my car.

Power folding seats? Power lift gate. NO, no and no.

The manual version of all these things are less complicated, cost a lot less and will last a lot longer.

I very much dislike all the nanny systems that come on very modern cars I rent often. Lane keep assist, etc.

[superbowlpats]

Maybe everyone is just leasing cars today

[hokoman]

Originally Posted by AngryScientist

I look around my own neighborhood and I just dont understand it.

I'm not judging anyone, I'm genuinely dumbfounded. New folks just moved in around the corner and I was chitchatting with them when walking my dog the other night. Just bought the house (that I know sold for around $850k...because Zillo), husband drives a brand new 2500 Silverado, Wifey drives a brand new X5. Both are employed as elementary school teachers in NJ.

Someone, please tell me the secret of how that works....

(sorry for the thread drift...)

There is a school district in Bergen that the median salary is just under $120k. You would be surprised to learn that teachers with a masters degree and special education credentials make A LOT. New teachers with just a bachelor's is why people think teachers don't do well.

To stay on topic, we bought a 320e wagon last year. It's a nice car, but for how long/large it is (for Portugal), it's tiny on the inside.

[.RJ]

Originally Posted by AngryScientist

Example: When we bought our Odyssey years ago, I specifically had to seek out the base model, and they were hard to find because I didnt want a bunch of pricey junk that will eventually break.

Yeah I can see not wanting all that stuff in a van.

My VW is the top trim and there isnt any funny features to worry about, other than the big sunroof. But its also just a VW...

[ChainNoise]

Originally Posted by .RJ

Honestly, which features do you not want in a new car? All the safety stuff is by mandate but the rest? Its all pretty nice?

Also there's a bit of irony with all the firefly, pegoretti, etc bikes floating around this forum and calling out someone that wants to drive a nice car as making poor choices.

I don't need a 20 inch screen to control my entire car, making it FAR .ore dangerous than regular old buttons and knobs. Give me a car with crank windows, no power locks, no a/c, 13" steel wheels, 1.3L non-turbo, 5 spd manual. No lane assist, no blind spot feature (are you really going to rely on electronics rather than turning your head to see if someone is there? I'm sorry but this feature is the most ****ing ridiculous one there is!). The ONLY option I want is good old fashioned cruise control. No radar.

I have wanted a good work truck for a very long time. At least a 3/4 ton with a crew cab and 8ft bed. I am really considering buying a somewhat decent shape squarebody to start with and doing a bit of a restoration with a 6.0 swap (commonly found in 99-06 2500+ Chevys). I would probably end up being right around 45k but I'd also have something with no bull****. Nothing I don't want. Nothing complicated. Cheap and so easy to fix with parts availability all over the country. It just makes far more sense.

Commenting on the whole bike vs car thing, it's a little different to spend let's say 15k on a bike than 90k for a 2500 Ram. 15k in payments for 48 months is what, 350 a month? Not terrible. For the Ram? 2 grand a month for 48 months, zero down, 5% interest. That's a WHOLE different ball game. The difference is almost my mortgage payment.

Some people also want to ride a nice bike but don't really care about driving a super luxury 100k car. I daily drive a 97 Chevy 1500 WT trim, manual everything, unknown milage (at least 300k based off the Carfax, gauge cluster was replaced at least once). I also have 4 Serottas, a Super Prodigy, and a couple other bikes in my garage...

[AngryScientist]

Yes. This is the way.

Do it.

No kidding. If I needed to replace my truck this is exactly what I would do.

[.RJ]

Originally Posted by ChainNoise

Give me a car with crank windows, no power locks, no a/c, 13" steel wheels, 1.3L non-turbo, 5 spd manual. No lane assist, no blind spot feature (are you really going to rely on electronics rather than turning your head to see if someone is there? I'm sorry but this feature is the most ****ing ridiculous one there is!). The ONLY option I want is good old fashioned cruise control. No radar.

You must be the only one left in america that still wants to drive a 1988 geo metro.

[ChainNoise]

Originally Posted by AngryScientist

Yes. This is the way.

Do it.

No kidding. If I needed to replace my truck this is exactly what I would do.

I already have a regular cab long bed that's getting a frame swap amongst a slew of other things as a father-son project for my oldest. I look every day for a crew cab dually but they are pretty expensive where we are.

[ChainNoise]

Originally Posted by .RJ

You must be the only one left in america that still wants to drive a 1988 geo metro.

I'd love to daily a CRX. It would get stolen within the week of me buying it

[Alistair]

Originally Posted by AngryScientist

New folks just moved in around the corner…

Both are employed as elementary school teachers in NJ.

Someone, please tell me the secret of how that works....

These days, it’s often family money. It’s not uncommon for upper-middle-class couples to receive substantial (six figures) gifts or inheritance from family.

Of course, there are a lot of people living beyond their means as well. Like failing to max out their 401k (while also not saving much in other accounts). One of the engineering managers I work with is like this … drives a new Rivian, his wife has a Tesla Y, but he isn’t maxing his retirement accounts (he’s around 40). On a cash flow basis, he’s fine, but that lack of early savings could bite him in the ass in 20 years.

[.RJ]

Originally Posted by ChainNoise

I'd love to daily a CRX. It would get stolen within the week of me buying it

So instead you drive a CR-Z or a Mazda2?

[dmitrik4]

Originally Posted by ChainNoise

Some people also want to ride a nice bike but don't really care about driving a super luxury 100k car. I daily drive a 97 Chevy 1500 WT trim, manual everything, unknown milage (at least 300k based off the Carfax, gauge cluster was replaced at least once). I also have 4 Serottas, a Super Prodigy, and a couple other bikes in my garage...

“Well, THAT discretionary spending is foolish, but MY discretionary spending is not, according to me” is certainly a take.

There’s no way I would ever finance a bike. $350/mo for four years for a bicycle? If that’s what you’re into, cool, but don’t pretend it’s any different from someone else spending what you consider to be stupid money on something you wouldn’t. That’s the point; someone else might reasonably want a comfortable car and be happy as a clam riding a basic aluminum-framed Giant.

Even springing for electronic shifting seems wasteful to me, but plenty of people here wouldn’t think twice.

[martl]

Originally Posted by .RJ

Or we could feel better that cars are more efficient and continually getting safer - death rates have dropped by more than half or as much as 2/3 depending on which metric you're looking at (per capita or per miles driven).

Efficiency: The internal combustion engine is pretty much at the end of its evolution capability, efficiency-wise. VW TDI Diesel engines would reach 45% in 2000, which i'm pretty sure is the world record holder to this day. There are still improvements, which amount to fractions of a percent today.

On the other hand, cars have gained on average 200-300kg in the last 20 years, which is due to added assistance systems requiring more motors, more cables etc. for "nice to have" gadgets the market has been told they need. I really wonder how hard it is to close a door or a bootlid by hand

It would be possible to design a small car which enough space for the job at hand (carry 4 people with luggage) that has sufficient power to get from A to B in todys traffic situation problem-free which would weigh around a ton and probably do 80mpg, but no one would buy it.

Traffic related Death rates have dropped but accounting only improvements in passive and active car safety systems is shortsighted. There also were changes in the shape traffic as a whole, also in legislation and enforcement thereof. The biggest impacts we saw in the past decades were tightened up laws for DUI, mandatory seat belt use, and an increased focus on traffic surveillance like speed cameras etc.
Many of the other technical additions did not show much change in the statistics.

What did change, however, is the ratio of fatalities among unprotected traffic participants in relation to those in cars. Which should be worrying for you if you yourself or your loved ones occasionally participate in traffic in an unprotected manner, like, lets say, by riding a bike