Home Features Is it That We Want What We Can’t Afford?

Is it That We Want What We Can’t Afford?

51
2991

Would you be willing to pay extra for options such as power windows, door locks, cruise control, AC and an automatic transmission? Of course, you already do. Because you have no choice – assuming you choose to buy a new vehicle.

Before about 25 years ago, it was not uncommon for these features to be optional in modestly priced vehicles. Now they are standard equipment in all vehicles and for just that reason there is no longer such a thing as a modesty priced vehicle. There isn’t one available with a starting price under $20,000 and if you want a new truck, the starting price for a mid-sized one is well over $30,000.

This latter is particularly interesting because before about 25 years ago, trucks were less expensive than cars. They came standard with just the absolutely necessaries – i.e., an engine, transmission, brakes and tires. The rest was available, if you wanted to pay extra and could afford to do so. Some did, others didn’t. The wonderful thing was you could choose to pay for what you needed but were not (effectively) forced to pay for everything else.

Fast-forward to the present. You can’t choose not to pay extra for such things as power windows, locks, cruise control, AC and (with a very small handful of lingering exceptions) an automatic transmission. Even the Corvette is now automatic-only, as is true of nine-point-nine out of ten performance cars.

Well, what happened?

Attitudes changed. Not everyone’s, of course. But enough to change things, as is always the case when it comes to change (for good and bad). The change that happened was that a sufficiency of Americans got comfortable with living beyond their means and this has had the unfortunate effect of dragging the rest of us along for the ride. The 3-4 year new car loan that cost about $300 per month went to 5-6 years and more than $600 per month (in some cases, a lot more than $600 per month). This happened because it became possible. In the past, loans were shorter because most people – enough people to make it the norm – were not able to pay more than “x” dollars per month for a car. That is of course still true today but it is also true that it is deceptive because it is not the same thing. Doubling the payment period from 3-4 to 5-6 (or longer) in order to keep the monthly payment manageable is a way of hiding the cost of the thing that is financed. It is a way of deluding the debtor into believing that he is more affluent than he is by making it possible for him to play the owner of things he doesn’t actually own.

The person who owns his vehicle has an asset. The person who is making payments has a liability. But the person who proudly peacocks around in a $50,000 vehicle (this is the average price paid for a new vehicle as of now) seems more affluent than the person who drives his modest, but paid-for old vehicle. And seems appears to be more important to many Americans than being.

What happened to make this happen was a confluence of pernicious synergies, including of course the endless payment plan (just about) that has become the new normal. The car industry has been complicit; several of the major labels have their own financing divisions and they make more money there than they do in the showroom. There is more profit to be had selling a mark a car that is loaded than one that is stripped. As a personal example, a college buddy of mine bought a brand-new F-150 pickup in 1989, shortly after we got out of college. He didn’t have much money and so couldn’t afford to spend it. All he wanted was a basic truck he could use to start his roofing business. So he bought a base work truck, which back then meant a manual transmission, manual roll-up windows, manual door locks, manual 4WD and no AC. The upside was the truck cost him less than $10,000 back then – which works out to about $25,000 in today’s increasingly worthless money.

But it bought him a full-size truck with 4WD.

The least expensive 2WD iteration of the 2025 Ford F-150 stickers for $37,450. Part of the reason for the $12k-plus bump is that the ’25 comes standard with an automatic, AC, LED headlights, keyless entry, a digital instrument panel, cruise control and – of course – power windows. All nice to have – if you happen to have the additional $12k-plus it costs to buy the ’25.

Most don’t. Certainly not over the course of 3-4 years. So they finance it for several more years. This is great for the vehicle manufacturers on several levels, the obvious one being they make more money per vehicle sold and then more (again) on the financing. They subtler way they make more money is by standardizing what used to be optional features. It costs less, for instance, to make AC and power windows standard in every vehicle than to make some with and others without. It is also a great way to upsell everyone without them even realizing they have been upsold since all that’s available is already loaded. In the past, the salesman had to sell the buyer on options such as AC and power windows. Now it’s a given he’ll buy them.

Rather, that he will finance them.

Thus, here we are. Everything is loaded, even what are now styled entry level cars. Economy cars no longer exist – and that’s why nothing’s affordable anymore. The base price of ’25 VW ID Buzz I reviewed recently is $60k. The old Microbus of the ’70s cost about a third of that when it was new. It didn’t have all the luxuries the ID Buzz has because when the Microbus was new, most people knew they couldn’t afford luxuries. Now they think they can.

Or did.

Which brings up an interesting aspect of this; i.e., the lag time built into things. Americans – a sufficiency of them – got used to living beyond their means and have been able to do so for quite a long time. But that time appears to be coming to an end, if it hasn’t already.

You can almost hear the music waning and people beginning to realize it’s time to grab a chair before they’re left without a place to sit.

. . .

If you like what you’ve found here please consider supporting EPautos. 

We depend on you to keep the wheels turning! 

Our donate button is here

 If you prefer not to use PayPal, our mailing address is:

EPautos
721 Hummingbird Lane SE
Copper Hill, VA 24079

PS: Get an EPautos magnet or sticker or coaster in return for a $25 or more one-time donation or a $10 or more monthly recurring donation. (Please be sure to tell us you want a magnet or sticker or coaster – and also, provide an address, so we know where to mail the thing!)

If you’d like a Baaaaa hat or other EPautos gear, see here!

 

 

51 COMMENTS

  1. Just look at the nice, clean, simple basic interior of that 89′ truck compared to that new Ford. God what an ugly, over gaudy, busy looking POS. I wouldn’t take it if you gave it to me. My 68′ Plymouth Satellite I had years back actually had reverse lights as an option lol! No wonder I’ll own nothing past the year 2000. Most people in this country have had a champagne appetite and a beer pocketbook for decades and paying the piper is coming due.

  2. Just a note Eric, many of the car guys are now doing 10 year financing. I am on the Board of a Credit Union, and our loan people are forever complaining about trying to compete with that model. Our Board has said 6 years max because even at 6 the buyer is upside down on the note constantly. We strongly encourage supplemental insurance to compensate for that, which also drives up the cost. It has become a nightmare.

    • Hi Ernie,

      Yup. It’s inevitable. We are now at the point that an average, nothing-special compact crossover sells for around $30k. You cannot buy a full-size truck or SUV for much less than $40k. They routinely transact for more than $60k. If trends continue, within 2-3 years, small crossover will cost $40,000 and a full-size truck or SUV will start around $50k. The only way probably 70 percent of the car buying public will be able to afford this is via 10 year loans, as you say. But then there is the “under water” problem.

      This will lead, in my opinion, to the New Normal of perpetual leasing for almost everyone; i.e., you rent the car for a period of time and then get into a new rental. You will own nothing – and be happy.

  3. I am still hunting for a low mileage ’90’s VW Golf II or III at a good price somewhere near where I live. They were built very well, are efficient and very durable. I think it will be a solid investment if for no other reason than that the Jewish central bankers are destroying the value of money at an ever increasing rate, while the Jewish mind controlled greens are set on eliminating the availability of cheap energy.

    I was once told that it takes more energy to create a car than is ever used by it. With EV’s that is still likely true.

    One could look at an automobile as the stored value of the energy it took to create it. In this case an older car in good condition is likely to go up in value as fast as inflation, and if it has some extra value proposition, even faster.

    • We all know that.

      Jews hate cars. They dream about the world of goyim-drawn buggies – I heard it first-hand from my rabbi.

      Jews also drink oil to keep the oil prices high.

      Did I miss any other pernicious anti-car Jewish idea?

      • LOL. Your and Rabbi are guilty of being accessories to genocide. Off to the oven with the both of you.

        One of the reasons “antisemitism” is on the rise across the planet is because the goyim are sick and tired of the incessant feigned ignorance of Jews. It is called Tikkun Olam, and the goyim know that you think you are gods chosen people and therefore have the right to force the goyim into the virtual ovens of your Noahide paradise.

        Whether it is Larry Fink at Blackrock or Klaus Schwab at WEF, Jews are at the forefront of the AGW scam, just like they are at virtually every financial fraud across the planet. Don’t listen to me, just listen to the Jews crowing about it at the Times of Isarel.

        Code Red for Humanity: A Jewish Response to the Climate Crisis

        • Poor Klaus Schwab. He never knew he was one of us. He missed out on his untold fortunes that every Jew stashes away from the goyim.

          Do you happen to have his address handy? I am thinking about mailing him a yarmulke soaked in the blood of my Christian neighbors’ children

          • Five things Jews can do to stop climate change

            “1. Take climate change as seriously as antisemitism.

            Climate change “has to go on the agenda of every single Jewish institution,” Nigel Savage, the founder of the Jewish environmental group Hazon wrote in response to news of the U.N. report. That means Federations, synagogues, the whole alphabet soup of Jewish nonprofits, need to define and enact a response as thoroughly as they did in recent years in addressing antisemitism. “A deeply serious public commitment, not to finishing the task, but to starting it as a central and systemic endeavor – that’s what we need,” Savage wrote, invoking a classic line from Pirkei Avot, Ethics of the Fathers.”

            LOL. Jews themselves kvetching about how “climate denial” is tantamount to “antisemitism”.

            Of course anything Jews dont like is antisemitic.

            To paraphrase Gutle Schnapper Rothschild, “If my sons did not want global warming then there would be none”

          • I asked Grok:

            why do jewish organization push climate change?

            “Jewish organizations engage in climate change initiatives because their faith and values, rooted in concepts like tikkun olam (repairing the world) and bal tashchit (do not destroy), emphasize environmental stewardship and responsibility for future generations. The Torah’s call to “till and tend” the Earth (Genesis 2:15) aligns with addressing ecological crises. Many see climate change as a moral and ethical issue, disproportionately affecting vulnerable communities, which ties to Jewish principles of justice (tzedek). Organizations like the Jewish Climate Action Network, Dayenu, and the Jewish Climate Leadership Coalition mobilize communities through education, advocacy, and sustainable practices, such as reducing carbon footprints and divesting from fossil fuels. Surveys, like one from the Jewish Electorate Institute, show climate change is a top concern for American Jews, especially younger ones, driving institutional action. Additionally, Jewish history and experience with persecution amplify concerns about global stability, including climate-related threats like droughts and floods impacting regions like Israel.

            LOL. Yet you come on ericpetersautos in typical arrogant Jewish fashion and try to pretend that Jews aren’t pushing global warming and zero carbon. You Jews aren’t only arrogant liars, you are truly insufferable. That is why you got thrown out of 109 countries over 1000 times.

          • Doesn’t count unless you kill the Christian children and soak the yarmulke with your own blood-soaked hands, otherwise, it doesn’t qualify.

            While you’re at it, send one to Bibi.

            I found your goat, it was scraggly, hungry, ribs showing, tired, weak, so I took your goat and nursed the poor thing back to health.

            You obviously aren’t capable of keeping your goat in good health, so I got him now.

            The kind old goat was being treated like a Palestinian.

            You can’t get my goat, it’s the goat that can’t be got.

            Don’t forget to kill a few Christian children, you can be a dancing Israeli.

            • “Doesn’t count unless you kill the Christian children and soak the yarmulke with your own blood-soaked hands, otherwise, it doesn’t qualify” Isn’t this what I implied, that I did it myself? Every self-respecting Jew kills his Christian neighbors’ children personally, otherwise the matzah for the Passover does not taste good.

              BTW, your relentless obsession with Bibi seems…gay.

  4. Nicely equipped Caprice Classic in 1975 (454, air, etc.) ran around $7,250. That is like $44,000 today, which provides an upper-trim Camry, Accord, Sorento, Rav4, Maverick.

    I’ll let you decide which makes you feel more special.

  5. Oh the memories of that car on top.

    I was being transferred by the Navy from Chicago to San Francisco by way of Florida. My trusty ’71 Opel GT gave up an oil pump. I had to get a car to drive across country, the local dealership just received their first shipment of these cars. After a quick test drive I was hooked, bought it on the spot.

    What a hoot, so fun, light, handled like a demon, first gear was short so it took off like a, well like a Rabbit. Lots of room and the drive across country was fantastic with every gas stop people asking me what it was.

    I recall going up the PCH with two buddies, both wanted to drive it, both ended up buying one.
    After my first cruise, I drove it back home and left it with my dad, after the cruise he drove it from Jacksonville FL to San Diego. He flew back home after a week and bought one for himself, saying it was most fun he ever had behind the wheel of a car.

    My was an orange 2 door, I’ve been smiling all day after seeing that ad.

  6. Two things changed:

    1) Half ton pickups replaced V8 sedans/station wagons as grocery getters and/or commuter vehicles in the suburbs, and women started spending more time in trucks.

    2) Since the pandemic, a clever F&I room cannot get Papi into his extended crew cab “man’s truck” on a payment of $500/month to make Mama happy.

  7. I have a friend, who has a family trust who bought him HIS vehicle. A $15K dollar asset, you might say. To him, it’s a liablility, when it’s what stands in the way of getting a public defender, or having an affordable insurance bill. And when his trust does fuck-all else for him, that’s a big liability.

  8. When people are in debt, they tend to be more compliant. Because you voluntarily entered slavery by trading your freedom for perception of status and comfort. When it comes to large businesses, if you are carrying debt, you are not likely to speak up at work when they ask you to do something you know is morally wrong or will have to work this weekend and every weekend.

    The CO2 as a pollutant false argument plays into the automakers desire for planned obsolesce. The vehicles have smaller more complicated engines that will not last like the late 90’s Toyota Corolla. Breakdowns are coming after 100K. EV’s take less labor to assemble. FU to the autoworkers union with robotics and easy assembly. Plus, they don’t last long either. They are both expensive creating slavery which the government and big business likes, and these wear out faster ultimately creating more slavery.

  9. The other downside to making car payments for years is the lender will require full collision insurance for the duration of the loan, which will be a significant expense as well. Both my cars are 20+ years old so I only carry the mafia mandated liability insurance.

  10. I remember the story that my grandfather bought a stripped down car in the 70s with power nothing because he wanted it to be reliable. No power steering, no power brakes. Dude was sweating up a storm in the summer turning it, but the steering wheel was still big enough at the time for leverage. I dealt with electrical issues on a 1999 grand Cherokee and ended up buying an army truck for the same reason. I love the lack of carpet inside. Makes it no problem having the top off in the rain, dealing with water leaks, or washing it out.

  11. ‘You can almost hear the music waning and people beginning to realize it’s time to grab a chair before they’re left without a place to sit.’ — eric

    Big picture: the economic expansion which began in June 2009 according to the NBER rolled on for sixteen (16) years with only a brief, artificially-imposed 2-month interruption during the covid shutdown of 2020.

    That’s the good news. The bad news is that this endless summer of growth was financed with $2 trillion annual federal deficits which, thanks to the big, butt-ugly bill, are now locked in until AOC is inaugurated in January 2029.

    Big deficits once were only a wartime thing. In our pre-1930s history, the Civil War and WW I stand out as brief spending binges. Then Frank Roosevelt came along and created the welfare state. Next up was his successor, the little haberdasher from Kansas City, who forgot to demobilize from WW II. To add insult to injury, Truman gave us the permanent Natsec/Intel black-budget security state in 1947.

    US fedgov debt is closing on $37 trillion, whereas nominal GDP is under $28 billion. The imminent next recession easily will kick that debt to $50 trillion, especially if another big war is started to divert attention from Donnie Fubar’s epic tariff f*ck-up.

    Human folly on a grandiose scale: that’s America, as it approaches the 250th anniversary of the Declaration of Independence. Debt out the wazoo means the US is an abject captive of its creditors, who may well pull the plug and begin liquidating the failed empire.

  12. About 24 years ago, I was in the market for a new vehicle and there was a 2001 Saturn L100 on the lot. Even by that time, you could barely order a car without windows and locks. Mine had AC, a radio and a 5 speed manual transmission.

    I couldn’t understand for the life of me why more people wouldn’t do what I did. The only difference between my car and the higher trim models was the locks, windows, an upgraded radio and maybe some different cloth on the seats. Mine wasn’t bad.

    The engine was the same. The 5 speed transmission was bullet proof.

    I drove it 197,000 miles and except for the paint and the need for a new alternator, it never gave me a problem.

    It was the cheapest to maintain of any vehicle I have ever owned.

    I would probably still be driving it today had it not gotten towed by my condo’s HOA at the time. (long story).

  13. Bottom line is that the US economy has been hollowed out by decades of currency debasement and financialization.
    It is the same as if the framing of your house were to be completely devoured by termites, and your roof was only standing because of them.
    You can call an exterminator, but you won’t like the results.
    Easier to order more vermin (in this case infinite debt creation/expansion.)

    • I endorse this comment. The global fiat currency regime inaugurated by Nixon on 15 August 1971 was never expected to last even this long.

      The termites can’t believe their good luck, as they chomp into another tasty 2×12 joist under the floor. Mmm, tastes like chicken!

      • 10,000 dollars will get you three Troy ounces of Au.

        3375×3=10125, you’ll get a good neighbor discount when you buy three ounces of gold.

        Three ounces will buy a used car in good shape.

        Nine ounces of gold will buy you a new car, a good deal.

        At 2000 cents for an ounce of gold back in 1900 CE, 3375/2000=1.6875, every copper penny, cent, is now worth 1.68 USD. That’s at a minimum, the price of a penny can increase in value.

        Inflation works in reverse too.

        Fiat madness is here.

  14. The standard options are because of the dealers. They order from the factory and stick ’em on the lot. After a while you start to get the manufacturer bundling the same options into packages because they see the same orders, with the same options all the time. Eventually they stopped designing in features like floor vents because everyone was ordering AC as a way to keep prices high. Even goes to paint color too. Harder to sell a burgundy car than a grey one, so we get the “choice” of grey, white and black. No controversy, no excitement. Just bland and identical, because that’s what the dealers think will sell. And I’m sure the sales managers have their Excel™ workbooks open all the time, dutifully produced by the admin assistant upstairs, tracking what color sells more than the others, who’s better at pushing the navigation systems, what zip codes want sunroofs.

    Pseudoscientific research into the art of the deal and the false premise that there’s a perfect automobile for everyone.

    Now we’re to the point where if you go to the “build and price” tool on the website every time you check off an option it brings up a list of other options that are part of the package that is the only way you can get the one option you want. In some cases that means a different engine, in others it might require an upgraded interior. Just depends on what the dealer usually pick and choose.

    • Apparently you’re not aware of the various OEM order guides that dictate what the dealers may order.

      The dealers don’t have the power you think they have

      • I believe it. I worked for a car dealer for a couple of weeks and found out that dealerships were made to pay for the brochures and marketing. It’s disgusting.

        They also are responsible for not speaking up. They have a giant association. They are worth hundreds of billions themselves. Or are they. Most of their inventory is “floor planned” which means debt.

        Car dealers end up getting into crap contracts with manufacturers which they can’t get out of.

        No one has a mind of their own these days. Dealers are caught up in hive mind thinking and have been for at least 45 years.

        • Just be clear, I’m trying to badmouth RK.

          As you state the dealers have NADA (National Automobile Dealers Association) and that IS a powerful lobby both in the States and in DC.

          During the 2008 downturn and GM and Cerberus / Chrysler bankruptcies, GM & Chrysler tied to close many underperforming and poorly rated (by customers) dealerships.

          NADA to the rescue. Turns out that many of those crappy dealerships were exceptionally well connected politically. They survived the attempts to close them down.

          So I don’t mean to imply the dealers are powerless either.

          It’s a complicated if not outright dysfunctional relationship between dealers and the OEM.

        • No doubt – I’d like to see a return to a la carte options but it’s just not in the cards.

          The amount of complexity that customization drives into the vehicle validation process and the assembly plant complexity is insane.

          As things today stand today, something seemingly as benign as which stereo system the car has can affect how ADAS and “safety” features function.

          How so you ask? CAN bus has load limits. Depending on how optioned up a bus is can affect how other seemingly unrelated options function by not being able to transmit bus messages fast enough or reliably enough. It bogs the CAN bus down. There are solutions (like fiber optic MOST network) but they are costly and bring other issues into play that we won’t like either.

          It’s not 1950 anymore in the automotive world.

          • BID,

            I used to work in the school bus industry. Our orders were highly customized. Some people wanted certain warning lights and switches. Some wanted destination signs, some wanted a radio, some didn’t I could make the list go on.

            One of the selling points of automation in the factory was to allow for the customization via build sheets and all that just in time bullshit. I don’t know.

            It seems as if they outright lied. We now have four color choices. Gray, silver white and black. Interiors are puke beige , gray or black.

            Every car is run off can bus as you say and every car has a touchscreen.

            It’s not even 1990 anymore.

  15. The ’89 Ford truck interior you have pictured is actually an up-optioned one — it’s an XLT Lariat. The base XL would have had a vinyl bench seat, not cloth, without the fold-down center arm rest.

    I remember trucks of that era pretty well, I wanted a new Ranger in ’86-’87 (couldn’t afford one). They were about $4000 and the REAR BUMPER was optional!

    But I think people today (and particularly the motoring press) have come to EXPECT up-optioned vehicles as the norm. Manufacturers are happy too oblige… by raising the base price.

    Frankly if they were to offer a stripped-down, base model equivalent of an ’89 Ford XL today, I doubt it would sell. Some of US here might buy it… but most wouldn’t.

    People seem to be pretty happy enslaved to their payments in their Cadillacs-masquerading-as-trucks these days.

    I refused to buy vehicles with A/C for YEARS… still have a truck without it. Wife insisted on having it on what she drives. People today think they can’t live without that stuff… maybe in Texas they can’t, but I live in the North where you “need it” for maybe two months.

    • AC in the gulf states is probably a necessity. Way out here in the west one nice thing is the dry heat. If the sun isn’t beating down on you directly it’s not a bad feeling. I often roll down the windows on slow back roads in the desert and feel the heat. Sure, I’m getting desiccated so one has to drink a lot of water, but it isn’t unpleasant if there’s moving air.

      Last Sunday I was down in Grand Junction getting fuel. A 1940s era pickup truck pulled in to another pump, equipped with a small swamp cooler mounted to the passenger window. That’s all you need out here. Just a fan with a water mist will cool down a vehicle 20 degrees easy.

      • I either wear a tie to work and business casual on Fridays. A no A/C car in Florida is a no-go for me and many others.

        But all of this garbage about screens and Apple Carplay and automated braking and the fancy new cruise control is irrelevant to me, but to the younger people, they demand these things because they’re more into their phones than they are driving. Add to that Uncle’s requirements for cars (CAFE and safety) and we wonder why the average transaction price has gone up 10-fold in just a few years.

        I bought a used Nissan Maxima to be my daily driver and the car was covered with a thick layer of dust on a dealer’s backlot when I went to look at it. The reason was simple: Everyone expected their Maxima to have a sunroof, leather and a Bose stereo, not to mention an automatic. Mine was a white GXE with cloth seats (the old school terry cloth that gave your back the sweats in Florida summers), a stick and no Bose or sunroof.

        The dealer’s loss was my gain. I tried to buy a stripper work truck with 4WD and a V-8 at the Chevy and Ford dealerships (no way would I consider a Ram), but I had to get package A and add package B to do so. I might as well get the Lariat or Trailboss trim because everything I want is on there at a cheaper price than just adding things ala carte, along with a lot of things I do not need. Along with a fatter payment. Thanks, but no thanks.

        • Once it gets to about 100 degrees here in Oklahoma, the AC in the car is a must. 5 minutes driving and you are soaked. The wind coming in the open windows feels like a hair dryer, no relief. Then you get caught at a red light and bake for a minute or two.

          What gets me is during nice days of 80 degrees and a cool breeze, EVERYONE else on the road has their windows up, and I assume AC on. They move quickly from one air conditioned space to the next. I’m living in a world of automatons.

          • “ . . . the AC in the car is a must“

            Let’s face it. As a people, we’ve become weak and and we are mollycoddled.

            There was no AC in cars for decades and decades. People survived.

            • This is true, as a whole, and I try to remind myself of that. But if you find yourself in a dark room, do you hesitate to turn on the light because people lived without them for centuries? Life is so full of suffering, a little respite on occasion is understandable, especially in extreme conditions.

            • Or in houses either. I like it a little, but as it sits, the thermostat is set at 82 degrees day and night.

              People are way to profligate with AC.

              It’s ridiculous.

              In Texas when the temperature goes above 65 degrees, they apply the AC full blast.

              • If it weren’t for cheap accessible AC large swaths of places like FL, TX, NV, NM etc. would not have populated up like they have.

                For better or worse there are now millions upon millions that are now dependent on AC.

                • Probably so. Houston still had people. The population of Houston in the 1960s was around 1 million. In 1950, it was 596k according to Google AI.

                  I wish that condition existed today. Expensive AC. Non air conditioned cars. Vent windows. I could live without it.

                  The temp in the house is 82 degrees right now. Most people would melt.

          • I used to like to blast down the highway, no AC on 2 windows cracked 80 mph on Oklahoma freeways, which carry about 1/3 of the traffic of Texas.

            I miss the place in many ways.

              • It is. I lived in OKC. For what it is, I liked it pretty well. Everything you would want is less than 20 minutes away. Rural OK is awesome because there is a wide variety. Texas is a land of sameness by comparison. I feel like traveling. ….

  16. For what it’s worth, I can afford to buy a new car. The question then becomes one of can I afford to own one? From higher insurance, maintenance costs, lower durability over the long term, complexity and way too many blind spots; the answer is a hard no. I’m happy driving old cars.

  17. A new Tundra at a showing of new automobiles was priced at 74,975 dollars, a new RAM was over 75,000 dollars.

    I bought both of them and donated them to a museum of automobiles, too valuable to drive in traffic, park them outside the museum doors, then have a look at one or the other from time to time.

    No licensing, no yearly inspection, you’re free of all of that.

    No insurance needed, no license plate, just a better world.

    Leave it on the showroom floor, done deal.

    On another note, Trump uses his thumb to clean the toe jam from between Bibi’s toes.

    Trump is happy to be an obsequious, subservient slave to Bibi.

    Can’t deny the truth, it is entirely evident at this point.

LEAVE A REPLY

Please enter your comment!
Please enter your name here

Skip to toolbar