We lived in Japan for a few years (2011-2013), and there the annual vehicle tax goes UP each year. Japan’s way of encouraging people to buy new(er) cars. Don’t ask about the horrors of getting a Japanese driver’s license! 😬

 

I've had people actually tell me they were cheap. I was using their own words, not mine.

I generally abide by that philosophy myself......though I generally don't deny myself a new car every 4-6 years, I've always been opposed to spending more than one makes. That's one reason, among several, why I could retire when I did.

 

I know lots of people who self identify as cheap. Again, if they are self identifying as cheap, being "cheap" is what they want to be.

The point is someone is not "cheap" because they don't replace their cars often.

 

we still have our 2004 TSX, 2004 LX470, 2006 IS350. All running great

 

Many, many years ago as a single guy I lived on a 27' sailboat in Marina del Rey. Back then I drove a concrete truck, even though I had an engineering degree from a tough school (I know, don't ask; probably gave my mom half the grey hairs on her head back then). The truck job paid fabulously well, as the Teamsters union had a lock on the LA market, and my living expenses were next to nothing. I got used to saving most of my paycheck and I think now, many decades later, that habit still lingers. We certainly don't save most of a paycheck but I guess we'd be considered "cheap" in some ways.

So, yeah, the 2010 RXh that I drive is not worth all that much now after four trouble-free years, but it's still a beautiful car and runs great. Heck, wife still drives a 2001 Lincoln LX, which also has had a streak of zero repairs for many years now. Tires, brakes, oil changes, that's about it. When something major breaks, away it will go, but until then, it's really a lovely car with a nice leather interior, and the chassis is a Jag XJS (Ford owned Jag back then) so it is no slouch if one is feeling aggressive.

By contrast, a very good friend can't keep a dime in the bank no matter how much he's made, and he's made a lot over the years. Everybody's different.

I should add that I just finished a book by Richard Bach (of "Jonathan Livingston Seagull" fame) in which he buys a little amphibious seaplane called a Sea Rey, and then tells of his experiences bringing the little experimental-category plane across country from Florida, its previous home, all the way to the San Juan Islands in NW Washington State. You can pick up a really nice one of those things for, say, $75K, then sell it for $75K years from now. Hmmmm...

EDIT: Lincoln LS, not LX

 

Everybody's priorities are different and nobody is wrong. Personally, I love cars and will spend on a car I like, not too much of course and not to the point of stretching myself thin. However you're only young and able for a short period of time. I want to enjoy things while I still healthy and young rather than be old, sick sitting on a bunch of money. My old boss was a Forensic Psychiatrist who got rich doing big cases, he said he kept working to keep his mind active and to spend his money because what else is he going to do? Sit around counting his money until he dies?

 

If my 2001 GS430 wasn't totaled I would still have it and still love that V8 torque and styling. I still miss it even though my GS350 has so many more features, luxury over it, it still doesn't have that V8 or those looks with the 4 lights in front and big spoiler I loved on the GS430.

I know a lot of people that are holding on to cars longer, those cars have been reliable and they see no real need to get something newer and pay all that money, for me I can't stand the touchscreen everything interiors/numerous menu's/getting rid of physical buttons of newer cars and sticking a 4 cylinder in almost everything, my 2014 GS350 lux is more then enough car for me for a while and I have no real desire for anything else. There are only a small handful of other cars I am interested in and they are pretty expensive right now.

 

New cars are out of the reach of people working low to medium wage jobs. Those people just care that the car gets them to work and back.
Used cars are more expensive than ever these days. Except whatever car I own, it seems to be become worthless the moment I hand over the check

 

There are still a few new vehicles available in the American market under 20K...but, yes, I agree that the automakers have dropped many of them, simply from the lack of profit per vehicle. And, needless to say, you usually won't get much vehicle for that price.....just something to scoot back and forth to work in.

 

New cars have always been out of reach of low income people, that’s nothing new.

I think however we have far better cars today at the 20-25k price point than we have ever had...

 

Yes and no. Hyundai, Kia, and Yugo, in the late 1980s, once tried to market to very low-income persons, with new vehicles from 5-10K....and I think most of us old enough to be around back then can remember the results LOL. Today, in the American market, Mitsubishi targets that group with the base-level Mirage hatchback ($13,995)...and, of course, they are just holding on by a thread, although a young recently-married couple that lives close by me bought a new Mirage not long ago, from that new Mitsubishi franchise that opened up near me last year.

 

cars are a lot more reliable today than compared to in the past

 

In the 1980s $5-10k was a lot more money than it is today, the same issue existed that new cars were out of reach for low income people.

 

There were a lot of good points brought up here. In addition to improved reliability, I also think a factor over the long run is reduced maintenance costs. I'm dating myself, but I remember when you changed your oil every 1500 miles, coolant every 2 years, spark plugs every 3000 to 5000 miles and you had to change the points too.

However, I can tell you my prime factor in keeping my vehicles, depreciation. A car is by far the worst depreciating asset you can own. The shortest I have ever owned a car (excluding the 2 I had stolen and 1 that was totaled) was 5 years and that was only because I had to sell it because I needed the money at the time. The car previous to my 2007 LS was a 1995 Infiniti Q45a and I actually kept that until 2011. Earlier this year we sold my wife's 2001 Jaguar S-Type which we bought new in March of that year. We actually would have still kept it as it looked great, but New England winters took its toll and there was serious internal and mechanical rust.

 

..............and don't forget crawling under the car (or working under a lift) with a grease-gun, pumping the grease into the nipple-fittings for several of the underbody parts. Remember having to guess just how much grease to put into the rubber boot-fitting to expand it without having the fitting pop or break from too much pressure? Many drum brakes also lacked self-adjusters and needed periodic manual-adjustment.

In a tune-up, BTW, in addition to the parts you mentioned (plugs, points, etc...), you also usually put on a new distributor cap, spark-plug wires, distributor-rotor, and condenser. It was a PITA.....and most of that went out in the 1970s with electronic-ignition and lubed-for-life underpinnings. Later on, the switch to EFI (which, IMO, occurred about 10 years or so too later than it could and should have) vastly improved drivability and eliminated the need for periodic carburetor work, too.