this post was submitted on 24 Aug 2023
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The part I don't understand is when a truck costs more than my mortgage. That's just nuts!
In my mind, a truck is for getting work done. If I ever get a truck, it probably won't have a crew cab and it'll be all about making sure the towing and bed capacity can do the job. That's it. I'll probably get something with an MSRP of $30-40k, because that's all I'll need to get the job done.
I dislike driving trucks though, so I guess I don't get it. In fact, I dislike driving in general, I only do it because it's the most practical way for me to get around. I've driven a variety of cars, from trucks (least favorite) to manual transmission sports cars (my favorite), and I've settled on a Toyota Prius because it's so practical. If I could pick anything to drive for fun, it would be a middle tier sport bike (like SV650), but it's impractical because my area gets a lot of snow in the winter, so I'd only be able to drive for about half of the year.
Maybe it's a cultural thing. The only person in my family that owns a truck is my brother, and he pretty much only uses it to haul his MTB or skis out to the trails. It's just big enough to get the job done and not get stuck. My only friend that drives one drives a beater, because hauling mulch and whatnot is a lot easier with a truck.
Because after a day of working on my home or racing I want a comfortable ride to home Depot or coming home on a 3 hour drive. If my wife needs her car I might need to use it for I understand not everyone needs these things but I'm tired of the reddit/lemmy standard arguments coming out of fuck cars so here I am mouthing off to dev/null
To each their own I guess. I find my sedan and minivan are plenty comfortable, so to me it's a question of efficiency.
Your mini van doesn't tow. I don't understand what's complicated here 🤷♂️
I don't have anything to tow (I could tow something small), and I rarely see any trucks in my area that actually tow.
If you regularly tow, then a truck makes total sense. But you don't need a $1k truck payment to tow something.
You don't NEED anything. Many of these are wealthy buyers who have disposable income and choose to spend it on a nicer truck.
And that's precisely what I'm getting at. A lot of people complain about their car/truck payment, but most of it is 100% a choice.
People point to average car payments like some kind of evidence that owning cars is significantly more expensive today, but prices for new cars have mostly come back to "normal" and average payments are being skewed by these high value vehicles (e.g. high end electric cars, trucks, massive SUVs).
So if your car payment is too high, there are most likely much more affordable options that'll fit your needs, so average monthly payment is a really silly thing to look at.