5 ms·

"a niceish $40,000 car," ish. High on the list of signs that you've bought far too much into lifestyle inflation is thinking that a car costing 70% of the US

by dgacmu 10y ago

"a niceish $40,000 car," ish. High on the list of signs that you've bought far too much into lifestyle inflation is thinking that a car costing 70% of the US median household income is only "nice-ish."

aardvark291 10y ago
Seriously. I have a cushy tech-job yet still drive the hatchback I bought fifteen years ago for $2000. Choices...
- wehadfun 10y ago
  I still drive a no frils Chevy I bought 10 years ago what happened to me was a wife + kid. Sure I could have bought wife a 19K car but with everone driving around trucks and SUVs it doesn't matter how great your air bags are the laws of physics are not in your favor. 40K is easy for a decent sized car/truck/suv
cyberpanther 10y ago
Lets take the product of Silicon Valley, the Tesla. Even take the cheap one at $35,000. I don't think that is much to expect in a lifestyle also considering you make more than most people. Henry Ford back in the day raised wages and cut hours because he noticed not even his employees had money or time to enjoy his product. I think Silicon Valley is at this same point. Work your butt off to not enjoy life. If your single I think the economics work out but for families the area is very hostile.
- skybrian 10y ago
  I don't understand why someone having trouble supporting their family would buy a new car at all. A nice used car is not that different and significantly cheaper.
- TheCoelacanth 10y ago
  Tesla is a luxury brand. You can get a new car for half of that. A used one for even less. And a six figure income is barely higher the median for the area.
- brockers 10y ago
  Nobody "deserves" or should "expect" a lifestyle. Life is simply a series of choices. If you choose to have a $40,000 car on 100K income, then you choose to take money from your stocks because you choose a lifestyle over substance. I make more than 100k, and I have never bought a car for more than $14,000... why? Because I choose my family over my lifestyle.
  - monochr 10y ago
    And no one deserves customers. What silicon valley is doing is destroying the consumers that would be buying its products. The guy doesn't work at Tesla, but if the average employee in Tesla can't afford their standard model and have enough money left over to live they are not a viable company, as Henry Ford figured out more than a century ago. It's capitalism 101, you cut labour costs only to find that you've cut demand as well.
VLM 10y ago
The author and I both make the same, about 90th percentile income for the nation so we "deserve" 90th percentile cars, which is probably much more expensive than $40K. I mean $40K isn't even enough for a fancy pickup truck or fancy SUV. I thank God every day that I don't live in California, so my standard of living at the same income is awesome and times are great for my entire family. All because I won't work in CA.
- rwmurrayVT 10y ago
  It's all dropped down the endless real estate rabbit hole in the Bay Area.
nunez 10y ago
I hate this argument. Perhaps you wouldn't consider spending $40k on a car. But I'm sure that there are items that you would splurge on, even if you didn't. Some people really enjoy cars. I mean, yeah, you're not going to get sympathies from people about the Bay Area being "so hard" to live in (let's be real: it is really fucking expensive to live out there), but at the end of the day, it's your cash. Then again, I'm biased; I would never drive a cheap beater car. Too uncomfortable, too unreliable, too much sadness. I like cars.
- dgacmu 10y ago
  No, I'm just saying that when you've inflated your idea of reasonably comfortable living to require a $40k car, that you should at least be somewhat self-aware that you're making a very deliberate tradeoff and spending far more than is required to achieve "nice." A newish Camry is "nice." It's reliable, it's comfortable. In fact, it's one of the most long-term reliable cars on the road. It's not exciting. It's not spectacular. It's obviously not what the person in the article wants. It's ~$23k new. Prius V. The list continues. There's a large gap between a $40k car and a "cheap beater." It's full of ... nice cars. There've been plenty of other examples in this thread. The author of the article didn't want a nice car. He wanted to indulge an expensive passion for high-end cars. I'm not going to criticize the passion - I'm in the middle of a hideously indulgent kitchen remodel (which is costing quite a bit more than that car, alas). Where I disagree is with the implied lack of awareness that these expensive hobbies are one of the underlying factors that rendered his lifestyle incompatible with his salary. "I love expensive, fast cars, and found that by getting a good job in a low-cost-of-living area, I could feed my family and still indulge my passion" -- good on you! Three thumbs up for making that move. I just moved back to Pittsburgh from Palo Alto. You'll get no disagreement about the cost of living in the bay area in general. Housing is offensively expensive there.

by dgacmu 10y ago

aardvark291 10y ago

Seriously. I have a cushy tech-job yet still drive the hatchback I bought fifteen years ago for $2000. Choices...

wehadfun 10y ago
I still drive a no frils Chevy I bought 10 years ago what happened to me was a wife + kid. Sure I could have bought wife a 19K car but with everone driving around trucks and SUVs it doesn't matter how great your air bags are the laws of physics are not in your favor. 40K is easy for a decent sized car/truck/suv

cyberpanther 10y ago

Lets take the product of Silicon Valley, the Tesla. Even take the cheap one at $35,000. I don't think that is much to expect in a lifestyle also considering you make more than most people. Henry Ford back in the day raised wages and cut hours because he noticed not even his employees had money or time to enjoy his product. I think Silicon Valley is at this same point. Work your butt off to not enjoy life. If your single I think the economics work out but for families the area is very hostile.

skybrian 10y ago
I don't understand why someone having trouble supporting their family would buy a new car at all. A nice used car is not that different and significantly cheaper.
TheCoelacanth 10y ago
Tesla is a luxury brand. You can get a new car for half of that. A used one for even less. And a six figure income is barely higher the median for the area.
brockers 10y ago
Nobody "deserves" or should "expect" a lifestyle. Life is simply a series of choices. If you choose to have a $40,000 car on 100K income, then you choose to take money from your stocks because you choose a lifestyle over substance. I make more than 100k, and I have never bought a car for more than $14,000... why? Because I choose my family over my lifestyle.
- monochr 10y ago
  And no one deserves customers. What silicon valley is doing is destroying the consumers that would be buying its products. The guy doesn't work at Tesla, but if the average employee in Tesla can't afford their standard model and have enough money left over to live they are not a viable company, as Henry Ford figured out more than a century ago. It's capitalism 101, you cut labour costs only to find that you've cut demand as well.

VLM 10y ago

The author and I both make the same, about 90th percentile income for the nation so we "deserve" 90th percentile cars, which is probably much more expensive than $40K. I mean $40K isn't even enough for a fancy pickup truck or fancy SUV. I thank God every day that I don't live in California, so my standard of living at the same income is awesome and times are great for my entire family. All because I won't work in CA.

rwmurrayVT 10y ago
It's all dropped down the endless real estate rabbit hole in the Bay Area.

nunez 10y ago

I hate this argument. Perhaps you wouldn't consider spending $40k on a car. But I'm sure that there are items that you would splurge on, even if you didn't. Some people really enjoy cars. I mean, yeah, you're not going to get sympathies from people about the Bay Area being "so hard" to live in (let's be real: it is really fucking expensive to live out there), but at the end of the day, it's your cash. Then again, I'm biased; I would never drive a cheap beater car. Too uncomfortable, too unreliable, too much sadness. I like cars.

dgacmu 10y ago
No, I'm just saying that when you've inflated your idea of reasonably comfortable living to require a $40k car, that you should at least be somewhat self-aware that you're making a very deliberate tradeoff and spending far more than is required to achieve "nice." A newish Camry is "nice." It's reliable, it's comfortable. In fact, it's one of the most long-term reliable cars on the road. It's not exciting. It's not spectacular. It's obviously not what the person in the article wants. It's ~$23k new. Prius V. The list continues. There's a large gap between a $40k car and a "cheap beater." It's full of ... nice cars. There've been plenty of other examples in this thread. The author of the article didn't want a nice car. He wanted to indulge an expensive passion for high-end cars. I'm not going to criticize the passion - I'm in the middle of a hideously indulgent kitchen remodel (which is costing quite a bit more than that car, alas). Where I disagree is with the implied lack of awareness that these expensive hobbies are one of the underlying factors that rendered his lifestyle incompatible with his salary. "I love expensive, fast cars, and found that by getting a good job in a low-cost-of-living area, I could feed my family and still indulge my passion" -- good on you! Three thumbs up for making that move. I just moved back to Pittsburgh from Palo Alto. You'll get no disagreement about the cost of living in the bay area in general. Housing is offensively expensive there.