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That's because you are not doing preventive maintenance and repairs or listing everything you've repaired or don't know you need repairs and will dump the vehicles soon. I know you had to replace the batteries, tires, and if you didn't do anything else, the vehicles are not running/operating optimally and somethings going to give soon.
A good new battery will last 5 years. Good tires will get 70,000 miles. And I am a certified Toyota mechanic (have not worked in the trade for few years, but kept up my certs), Many of todays's cars are reliable up to 200,000 miles. Especially Toyota, Mazda and Nissan.
It is not that expensive to properly maintain a car.
A 1974 Ford Pinto was $2,400. It did not have a radio. It did not have air-conditioning. It did not have power door-locks. It did not have power windows. It did not have power seats. It did not have heated seats. It did not have anti-lock brakes. It did not have a driver's side air-bag. It did not have a passenger airbag. It did not have a driver's side curtain air-bag. It did not have a passenger side curtain air-bag. It did not have fuel injection. It did not have a rear-window brake light. It did not have dual side-view mirrors. It did not have signal lights on the side-view mirrors. It was not satellite capable. It did not have a DVD player. It did not have video monitors to watch DVDs. It did not have a video camera to see when backing. It not have a collision warning system. It did not have collision braking system. It did not have cruise control. It did not have anti-theft devices. It did not have an effective emission control system. It did not have a user interface to operate vehicle devices. It was maintenance intensive.
I could go on and on but, you should get the point.
You did read the part where I said it was difficult to compare, due to all the new complexity, but the bottom line is you could buy basic transportation back then for A LOT less than today. Monitors, displays, sound systems and power windows don't get you from point A to point B.
Hey, I'm a capitalist and believe in personal responsibility and personal accomplishment, but cars have just become way too expensive in general, a lot of it due to Fed mandates like back up cameras, and other crap they don't need.
A 1974 Ford Pinto was $2,400. It did not have a radio. It did not have air-conditioning. It did not have power door-locks. It did not have power windows. It did not have power seats. It did not have heated seats. It did not have anti-lock brakes. It did not have a driver's side air-bag. It did not have a passenger airbag. It did not have a driver's side curtain air-bag. It did not have a passenger side curtain air-bag. It did not have fuel injection. It did not have a rear-window brake light. It did not have dual side-view mirrors. It did not have signal lights on the side-view mirrors. It was not satellite capable. It did not have a DVD player. It did not have video monitors to watch DVDs. It did not have a video camera to see when backing. It not have a collision warning system. It did not have collision braking system. It did not have cruise control. It did not have anti-theft devices. It did not have an effective emission control system. It did not have a user interface to operate vehicle devices. It was maintenance intensive.
I could go on and on but, you should get the point.
A better example would be a 1972 Mustang 1972 Ford Mustang Brochure. You could get it with radio and A/C and other equipment for around $3,000 and it has a V8 and RWD, I don't want most of that regulatory garbage in bold, or even some of that extra equipment in bold. I won't argue that a 2019 V8 Mustang isn't a better car in many ways, but it's also at least 2-3x more expensive adjusted for inflation.
If you stay away from looking at fully loaded pickup trucks and SUVs, and stick to basic sedans or hatchback cars, there are actually some very good deals out there. The demand for sedans or small hatchbacks has gone way down, and dealers are open to offers on them just to get them off the lot.
I recently bought a new base model Honda Fit for less than $17K, and it has everything on it that I need for a car. There are several dozen other similar sedans or hatchbacks available for even less, but I wanted something that I knew would be an easy re-sale in the future.
Most people don't really need a big pickup or SUV for daily transportation needs.
That's the point, or a side point, at least. Americans are being forced into ever cheaper, smaller, fewer luxuries as our standard of living declines. It's inevitable given that China and Asia and Africa with which we compete works for less and has less. We are going to decline as they rise until we are competitive again. Except for the rich of course, who are getting even richer, fabulously rich off the low wages around the globe and stagnant wages here in the US.
Adjusted for inflation, new cars today are cheap. My parents bought a new Toyota Previa mini van in 1991 for $25k, base model. That’d be like paying $47k for the same van today. According to the Toyota website, you can get a Sienna van for $32k (base) or $45k fully loaded. And the fuel economy is much better.
Cars 10 years ago were probably “artificially” cheap because of the Great Recession. Car companies were offering deep discounts and/or special financing to keep their factories open.
And properly maintained, new cars last a lot longer than the old ones used to. We routinely have kept our cars for at least 10 years, sometimes as long as 12-14 yrs.
A good new battery will last 5 years. Good tires will get 70,000 miles. And I am a certified Toyota mechanic (have not worked in the trade for few years, but kept up my certs), Many of todays's cars are reliable up to 200,000 miles. Especially Toyota, Mazda and Nissan.
It is not that expensive to properly maintain a car.
They're not any more reliable than in the late 1990s to mid 2000s, less reliable and more expensive. If you are using good parts and paying someone to properly maintain and repair a vehicle it is very expensive today. Heck good parts are expensive even DYI and the vehicles are getting harder to work on. Most vehicles with high mileage may run but they don't run and drive optimally and anything is liable to break at any time.
They're not any more reliable than in the late 1990s to mid 2000s, less reliable and more expensive. If you are using good parts and paying someone to properly maintain and repair a vehicle it is very expensive today. Heck good parts are expensive even DYI and the vehicles are getting harder to work on. Most vehicles with high mileage may run but they don't run and drive optimally and anything is liable to break at any time.
Then you must know little about cars. Most maintenance the average person can do. Most cars made in the last 20 years need very little maintenance, they are designed that way.
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