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Coming from a more practical background, it is hard for me to want to spend 40k+ for a vehicle. I am looking at getting two vehicles in the coming years: A comm
by SubiculumCode 3y ago
Coming from a more practical background, it is hard for me to want to spend 40k+ for a vehicle.
I am looking at getting two vehicles in the coming years: A commuter, and a vehicle that can carry stuff (lumber, soil, etc).
For the commuter I am looking at the 2024 Chevy Equinox (~starting mrsp 30k),or the 2023 Chevy Bolt (~starting mrsp 28k). With the IRA $7500 rebate, and the cheaper fuel costs, makes it attractive, with solid range too.
To carry stuff, I am looking at the 2023 hybrid Ford Maverick, a double-cab small/medium sized pickup truck goind for $22.6k starting msrp...which clocks in as the cheapest hybrid vehicle on the new market. 42 city 33 highway mpg.
I applaud these more modest and affordable entries into the fuel efficient market.
- JoBrad 3y agoI real put wish a single vehicle existed that combined those two things.
- spdif899 3y agoFingers crossed for a Maverick EV, it's the perfect size
- reducesuffering 3y agoEV truck, Model Y with seats down, or other efficient hatchback like Prius
- raisin_churn 3y agoI can fit 8' lumber or hundreds of pounds of soil in my Prius. That covers over 95% of my needs as a DIY homeowner. When I need 10' lumber, I rent a truck for $60 and a half hour of my time, which is more than paid for by the cheaper operating costs and insurance. When you throw in the purchase price, owning a second vehicle just to move large/heavy objects doesn't make sense unless you do it multiple times a week for a few years.
- reducesuffering 3y agoI also put a 50 gallon home water heater in my Prius. Agree that a second vehicle, like a truck, isn't worth it as it will easily cost several hundred $ extra per month for limited uses.
- SubiculumCode 3y agoTo be clear, I didn't want the vehicle just for moving stuff. Life is a lot easier for two working parents if there are two vehicles.
- raisin_churn 3y agoSorry, I did not intend to imply that was your case. I was more responding to a the reply (whether sarcastic or not) wishing that a car existed that combined both commuter and "move stuff" characteristics. I know an alarming number of people who do actually have a second "move stuff" vehicle, and my partner took months to convince to sell our second vehicle which was being (dis)used exclusively for "move stuff" after we relocated to a city with good bike and transit options.
- tass 3y agoGolf can carry bagged soil no problem, though it needs roof racks for lumber. I got a golf thinking I’d rent a pickup when I need to carry something big, but so far haven’t come across anything that required it.
- mckn1ght 3y agoThe problem there is that bagged soil is very expensive, and has to be trucked around a couple times to get it to the store. I picked up like 3 cu yds of compost/topsoil mix from a local horse farm for about 1/5 of the price. Can’t top load into a car/suv. Trucks are useful but I do wish shared ownership were more convenient, because a ton of miles driven in trucks are not for any of those uses.
- dymk 3y agoRe: Shared ownership: 99.9% of people who think they need a used F150 off of Craigslist can actually get away with renting one from their local UHaul or Home Depot the few times a month that they need it, and it'll still be way cheaper than ownership.
- jjav 3y agoA roof rack can't carry much weight, check manufacturer load ratings. Pickup are useful for projects. Recently redid a fence, bought over 2000lb of lumber. These weekends doing concrete walkway work, bought ~3500lb of concrete bags in one trip (way more than the weight of my commuter car!)
- nicbou 3y agoDepending on what you carry, a Renault Kangoo or American equivalent is just fantastic. It's a box on wheels that's insanely cheap to run.
- sentientslug 3y agoAmerican equivalent would probably be the Ford Transit Connect
- jjav 3y agoFor a commuter I'd want tiny and fuel efficient, for a hauling truck I want towing and hauling capacity. Very opposite ends of the car spectrum, how could you combine that.
- stevenwoo 3y agoI remember buying a Nissan mini pickup for 7000 back in I want to say 1993, I wonder how much of the increase in cost is the safety and emissions improvements versus inflation or just feature creep in vehicles.
- Scipio_Afri 3y agoWell, inflation makes that $7000 equal to $13,423.82 based on https://www.usinflationcalculator.com/ https://www.usinflationcalculator.com/ You’re also going to have to adjust for profit margins of car manufacturers back then to now, as surely productivity (use of labor and resources through automation) have allowed for them to do more with less materials. The inflation calculation is also an average and stuff like cars made with steel might have more inflation due to scarcity or cost increases of making steel. Then I’d say whatever left over is the actual increase in cost of making a car now vs then due to added functionality (including R&D for cars to be safer or more fuel efficient). Although maybe someone else can point out if I’m missing something else to consider.
- plantwallshoe 3y agoBuddy good luck getting an Equinox. That car is going to be vaporware for at least the next year and if you do manage to find one the dealer markup will be 10k over MSRP. And the “around 30k msrp” they quoted is so far a wish and dream. Chevy already dropped the bottom trim of their other new EV because they didn’t think it was profitable enough.
- lloeki 3y ago> double-cab small/medium sized pickup truck From a EU perspective that vehicle is nowhere near the "small/medium" scale, even for a truck. I recall watching some documentary about a guy who tried driving from the US to Brazil or something and cross some jungle. At some point he had to rent a car and all he could get his hand on was a Toyota Land Cruiser, which he immediately dismissed as being a small toy SUV barely any good for dirty roads and should be kept for suburbs. > goind for $22.6k starting msrp Is that because it's a truck? I seem to recall there's this weird US thing where trucks are on the cheap side because of whatever law or something.