The $25k car is going extinct?

welp, guess my corolla needs to last until I die. I spent about $9k usd (in australia though) on it second hand pre covid and I'm just gobsmacked at the prices of vehciles now even years post covid. I make good coin and I just can't see how non-"enthusiasts" can justify spending so much money on their vehicle. there are houses in my suburb with 3-4 of these expensive, new model cars out front.

If Australia is like the US, all those cars are leases or debt-financed

Cars are the worst spending many, perhaps most people make.

It's remarkable in Australia how many people are borrowing and paying much more for them as well.

Driving a Corolla, Mazda 2, Kia Rio or something can save so much money.

These days these are remarkably good cars too.

One downside in the US of driving a small car now is considerably more lethal in a crash with larger vehicles.

I drive a Mazda 3 and sometimes it feels like a bicycle compared to some of the enormous SUV and overdone trucks.

Gotta spend all that FIFO money on something, and a new car makes them feel good about their shitty FIFO situation.

It is. From Australia's largest Toyota dealer I know that ~70% of new car sales are financed. A proportion of the rest would be funded by home equity but that is harder to measure.

An interesting trend that I've heard from multiple dealership (friends and family) - the number of people being rejected for financing has dramatically increased in the past 12 months. There are some dealership areas now where a third of applicants are being turned down.