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The $25k car is going extinct?

(media.hubspot.com)
319 points pseudolus | 5 comments | 29 Jun 25 15:59 UTC | HN request time: 0.321s | source
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paxys ◴[29 Jun 25 20:52 UTC] No.44416339[source]▶
One fact not mentioned in the article - Americans now owe $1.64 trillion in auto loans, and cars make up 9% of all consumer debt in the country. In fact we now owe more on cars than student loans. The average loan term is rising - almost 6 years now. 60-day delinquency on auto loans is at 6.6%, the highest ever recorded, and is as high as 9% in some states.

So while car prices keep going up, people also keep going deeper into debt to buy one they can't afford.

You can blame manufacturers or banks, but ultimately the problem is unchecked consumerism and treating cars as a status symbol, which is sadly pervasive in this country.

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1. JKCalhoun ◴[30 Jun 25 01:25 UTC] No.44418262[source]▶
When, as the article says, the $25k car is going extinct, I do blame manufacturers and banks (and the dealerships).
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2. leakycap ◴[30 Jun 25 03:48 UTC] No.44419156[source]▶
Almost all cars have turbos, all have abs/airbags/cameras... even counting the seat foam & covers, wheels, door cars... how cheap do you think a vehicle safe and comfortable for humans can be?

The average car has tons of moving parts that have to be weatherproof, shakeproof, pothole-ready... stuff consumer tech doesn't dream of. It also has to be repairable, be engineered to meet all the regulations in various countries so the manufacturer doesn't make 15 versions for different countries...

A lot of things are overpriced in the world; I'm not sure cars in general are high on this list. If you want a car similar to a high end 2015 car, the 2025 Jetta has more than anything you could have gotten in 2015 and I'd say with inflation the price is lower today when you account for inflation.

I had a Jetta as a service loaner recently and it drove great. $25k cars are still out there, you just can't get a $25k 4Runner.

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3. puzzlingcaptcha ◴[30 Jun 25 05:53 UTC] No.44419878[source]▶
Almost all cars have turbos since that's about the only way to get similar performance out a sub-1L three-cylinder engine that you could get from a cheap, naturally aspirated 1.6L iron block back in the 90's. Emission and safety standards are nice, but the customer pays for it.
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4. leakycap ◴[30 Jun 25 07:50 UTC] No.44420579{3}[source]▶
> cheap, naturally aspirated 1.6L iron block back in the 90's

VW sold the 2.0L naturally aspirated engine that made about 115 horsies and got a whopping low-30s mpg on the highway until 2015 in the base model US Jetta.

The same engine I had in my 1993 Jetta. Legitimately available since the 70s.

Thank goodness regulations forced that engine off the market. The only upside was it had decent torque... it wasn't even reliable after all those years!

5. potato3732842 ◴[30 Jun 25 11:37 UTC] No.44422032{3}[source]▶
Exactly. Same reason Europe hung onto manuals so long. Only way to make that kind of car drive good in a pre-turbo and direct injection era was to give the user the option to wind it out and shift when they pleased.