Car affordability in 2022 and beyond

And yet, they’re selling every one they make

 

Cars, EV or not, are getting more expensive.
Trucks, efficient or not, are getting more expensive.

The market, as a whole is demanding new technology.
The number of cupholders used to be a draw to customers.
Now it is parking sensors, auto park, CarPlay or Android Auto, auto opening hatch, etc.

It doesn't matter that you don't care about those things, for the market as a whole, those things sell. And, those things give great profit margins.

If society as a whole, or a large enough subset, demands cheaper cars, dealers will sell them.

 

^
Absenting CAFE.

 

New CAFE standards basically mandate large expensive bulldozer EVs towards the end of the 2020s. I am not on board with this similar to how most do not want an entirely EV vehicle. 55mpg cafe standard was impossible when it was implemented and still impossible now unless all vehicles are EV. Poor households living in an apartment or with one vehicle are really in trouble with the ev thing. Most don't allow you to run an extension cord out to the street from your apartment. lol

 

Car are cars, people are people and the economy is the economy. What else is there to life.

what'd ya want from life the tubes 1975
when we get kicked out of
the garden of allah Don Henley 1995

 

CAFE targets != window sticker mpg

CAFE values use the raw results from the EPA city and highway tests before they are adjusted down. The Prius LE is rated over 75mpg for CAFE. The current non hybrid Corolla likely reaches the 2031 CAFE target of 50.4mpg. The CAFE standards are not impossible to reach. The flaw in the system is that it forces the manufacturers to sell efficient cars without providing an incentive to consumers to buy them. When gas is cheap, the manufacturer ends up selling efficient models at discounts, or buys credits from someone that has them.

The CAFE footprint rule was misconstructed. It leads to larger car models, no matter the type of car. With EVs, the demand for longer range means bigger batteries, which leads to bigger models to carry them. Expand and improve the charging network, and the demand for long ranges will be tempered. It will even drop as the public gets more comfortable with EVs and their capabilities.

We do need to start addressing the issue of slow charging for apartment dwellers, and others without easy charging access. The market of those that can charge at home is not saturated though. Work on enabling home type charging for those that now, and it will be ready when EV market growth needs that segment to continue.

Current CAFE rule, Corporate Average Fuel Economy (CAFE) | NHTSA
MPG data for CAFE, Data on Cars used for Testing Fuel Economy | US EPA

 

I disagree 55 is impossible. The 2025 Camry is 53 and, I am sure smaller Toyotas are higher If they carefully control they produce less lower EPA vehicles, 55 is attainable.

 

55mpg CAFE is about 42mpg sticker window.
Also, 55mpg CAFE technically hasn’t yet been implemented (2026 will hit 60mpg CAFE or ~45mpg sticker).

 

Always loved manual sticks. Dad taught all of us on his old Ford truck: "Old Blue."

But in the past decade or so learned that various physical aliments sometimes made use of a clutch difficult, while handling an automatic was "do-able."
kris

 

The 2025 Camry is 61 mpg for CAFE. Even the AWD models.

 

CAFE uses their own testing regimen different than EPA?

 

No. They use the direct results from the EPA tests. From the beginning of requiring displaying the mpg results to buyers, the direct results were adjusted downward in some manner.

There are five EPA test cycles used in calculating the numbers that we see on window stickers and advertising.

• The two core tests are city and highway. CAFE uses the results from these.
• The other three; cold, AC use, and high speed, are used to calculate the adjustment for use on the city and highway results to get the numbers at Fueleconomy.gov.

So any numbers discussed for CAFE are unadjusted and higher than what you see published for your car.

 

I'd say cars aren't completely necessary. People and the economy have existed for millenniums without cars. Maybe the economy isn't completely necessary, or maybe even people aren't (wait a minute, I'm a person!). But sometimes I question if I should buy another car when this one is too far beyond repairing.

Sorry to hear of having such various physical aliments. I love driving 13 and 18 speed trucks. A guy at work hurt his foot and can't drive at the moment. I'm not sure when he'll be able to again, unless they get him into an automatic truck.

 

you must live in a city. Our here in semi-rural America a car is a necessity to get around. Driving farm tractors on the road for transportation is not a good alternative. i have never seen one parked at Walmart, for instance.

I sympathize with the ailments too. My wife has not driven at all for a while due to her cancer issues. After a brain seizure last year, her license has been revoked for 6 months.

 

Far from it and very likely much less populated than Central Virginia. Here in western Colorado I live in a town that I can walk from one edge to the other in about 45 minutes. Then it's an hour or more (70 miles or so) either West, East or South of here to the next town, with public transportation only running East and North, North being a dead end tourist attraction in the next town thirty minutes away. And by next town, I mean maybe a house or two in between those two towns as you drive through unpopulated wilderness areas.

I would not suggest driving farm tractors on the roads for general transportation. I'd suggest walking or riding a bike, even at these levels of distance, with perhaps public transportation for longer distances. But still, how did people get around 120 or more years ago? Why can't that work today?

Sorry to hear that. These things can hurt one's mobility, which further hurts one's emotional state. Walking would be the biggest strain on mobility as usually we lose our strength to walk before losing our ability to coordinate our hands and feet.

On the other hand, public transportation can be a better alternative to mobility both if one loses their strength to walk or their coordination to drive a car. Obviously public transportation has it's pros and cons, and there are many different types each with its own pros and cons. But at least it's better than being in the circumstance that you either stay home or are a car accident waiting to happen.

 

Hi Cris I remember your recovery struggles and wish you the best while you continue making adjustments.

This sure is a diverse group here and on the innerwebs too. While doing a photo shot today (new avatar depending on what develops), I though about your post and this is what I was thinking about.
I'll post um clickable in case your privacy settings forbid utubes.

opps
these shorts didn't work like I thought they might
- YouTube
- YouTube
- YouTube

 

Category:1905 in transport - Wikipedia

In short, people are a lot more spread out than they were in 1905 and there are more of them.
Life was also a LOT harder back then.
More trains than trucks, and lots of equine transportation for the 'last mile' stuff.

I grew up in Indiana where it was not at all uncommon to see Amish and Mennonites living that wonderful 1880's lifestyle.
It's sort of like living in one of those 'tiny-houses.'
It only looks like fun on TV.

Americans do love their privately owned automobiles, and that's a fact but there are many many places EVEN IN AMERICA where one can live - maybe even happily, without owning a car.
Many people consider the aforementioned Amish to be a 'happy' group of people.

-Just don't be fooled into thinking that it's EASY!

 

Yeah, it wouldn't be that easy.

I'm just trying to consider all options. Owning a car seems to only be getting more and more expensive, while everything else is too. At what point do you just forget about it?

I'm making more money than I ever have, but when I got my last paycheck and looked at my expenses, I felt kind of uneasy. There's not much slack in that paycheck and that's in spite of the fact I'm living way simpler than your average American. There's not much more I can cut back on without going cold turkey on something, and I'm not going to go cold turkey on eating food. The question is, where do I save from here or make more money without going to an extreme?

 

I am at least a 15 minute drive at 60 mph from the nearest towns.

Cancer is nasty! the bone cancer really affects her mobility. The drugs wipe you out. Now we are "looking forward" to an intense radiation treatment on the brain. We are tole it may affect memory so we are concerned and any prayers are appreciated. I hope to retain my wife mentally but God only knows...