At a time when Americans increasingly want pricey SUVs and trucks rather than small cars, the Mirage remains the lone new vehicle whose average sale price is under 20 grand — a figure that once marked a kind of unofficial threshold of affordability. With prices — new and used — having soared since the pandemic, $20,000 is no longer much of a starting point for a new car.

This current version of the Mirage, which reached U.S. dealerships a decade ago, sold for an average of $19,205 last month, according to data from Cox Automotive. (Though a few other new models have starting prices under $20,000, their actual purchase prices, with options and shipping, exceed that figure.)

  • Changetheview@lemmy.world
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    1 year ago

    At the current minimum wage ($7.25), it’s takes 2.757.6 hours or nearly 70 40-hour weeks to reach $20,000.

    That is over 1.3 years of full time work to equal the one “cheap” car option. And it completely ignores any other costs, like taxes and interest, let alone god-damn housing, food, medical bills, etc.

    This economic system is fucked. If you’re not fighting for income and wealth equality, you’re sociopathic.

    • Steeve@lemmy.ca
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      1 year ago

      Don’t worry, if you can’t afford it in cash you can always take out an 84 month loan at 6.5% if you’re lucky, so it’s actually only ~$25,000, or 3,448.3 hours/86.2 40hr weeks!

      • SCB@lemmy.world
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        1 year ago

        Yes that seems very reasonable. Also why the fuck are you buying a new car on min wage lol

        I make about 8x the min wage and I would still probably never buy a new car.

        • IonAddis@lemmy.world
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          1 year ago

          Covid fucked up the car market pretty bad for several years and it’s only NOW just barely recovering. People were selling used cars for more than they bought them new. And used shitty cars that used to go for cheap are going for premium prices.

          If you’re going to pay out the nose anyway, it starts to make a lot of sense to get something new because it’s both cheaper and you’ll know the full history and have the full warranty.

    • foggy@lemmy.world
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      1 year ago

      This assumes no home, food, or fun outside of work beyond daydreaming.

    • Nutterthebutter@lemmy.world
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      1 year ago

      That’s why, if you or someone you know doesn’t make enough, you get a used car. Brand new cars are such a waste of money. With that being said, prices across almost everything today is still fucked in the US with housing definitely being the worst offender.

      • PsychedSy
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        1 year ago

        I make enough and I drive a 2007 accord. Fuck paying for a new car.

    • NatakuNox@lemmy.world
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      1 year ago

      If you are minimum wage there’s no way you are getting full time hours. Minimum wage employers will only schedule works for 20 hours a week to ensure they won’t get close to getting benefits.

    • SCB@lemmy.world
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      1 year ago

      minimum wage is too low

      Very reasonable take. I’m here for it.

      all jobs should be compensated equally and wealth should be distributed equally

      Hard pass.

      • WhipTheLlama@lemmy.world
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        1 year ago

        Communists should take a long, hard look at how well communism has worked elsewhere. Capitalism has many problems, and wealth inequality is one of them, but it’s the economic system that has worked best so far. The fact is that my surgeon should earn a lot more than my gardener.

        • ephemerality@lemmy.world
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          1 year ago

          Really, the problem stems from the idea of wealth in general. To use a Communist structure like that would require eliminating the concept of non-tangible “wealth” entirely. Because otherwise you get the kind of incongruencies that you describe.

          It’s hard though, right? Without wealth, how do you value the work of others? It used to be done by bartering. Or perhaps people did it because they were good at it, and didn’t mind helping out. People worked together.

          Obviously this doesn’t fit in the modern era, when people generally work specifically to earn money, rather than for some general purpose. People probably aren’t going to want to do the job they already have in exchange for nothing but goodwill. They have to have a purpose. Our purpose in Capitalism (unless you are very lucky) is to earn Wealth so we can continue to exist, and as a guiding philosophy that does a decent enough job for most people.

          • WhipTheLlama@lemmy.world
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            1 year ago

            how do you value the work of others? It used to be done by bartering. Or perhaps people did it because they were good at it, and didn’t mind helping out. People worked together.

            You’re romanticizing an era that never existed. Even if we can build such an economy, it’s absurdly impractical in a modern, complex world. Sure, if we only had to build homes, hunt, and make babies that’s fine, but too many modern necessities, such as sanitation, require a reward beyond being good at it or helping out.

            • ephemerality@lemmy.world
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              1 year ago

              Yes, this was my exact point. Money is how we quantify the value of effort in the modern era. It’s why Communism will never work with our current framework. They are fundamentally incompatible. Our purpose in life is to make money, we cannot just start giving everyone equal quantities of it — life would be meaningless. It requires a paradigm shift on how we value effort.

    • Illecors@lemmy.cafe
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      1 year ago

      But minimum wage -> minimum effort, right? I have no problem with no effort => no reward.

      • SeducingCamel@lemm.ee
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        1 year ago

        I’m making way more money as an EE than when I was a teen making minimum wage at a factory. That shit is grueling and far from no effort

        • Illecors@lemmy.cafe
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          1 year ago

          Clearly you’ve put effort into becoming an EE. Clearly it has paid back. I don’t see why you’re arguing.

          • SeducingCamel@lemm.ee
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            1 year ago

            I don’t see why I wouldn’t want my fellow man who is struggling in the system to do better just because I went into huge debt to be an EE

            • Illecors@lemmy.cafe
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              1 year ago

              Nobody wants your fellow man struggling in the system whether you went into debt or not. Some fellow men, however, are blood sucking assholes living off others’ effort.

      • jscummy
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        I’ve worked minimum wage jobs and jobs that pay far more, and I definitely wasn’t working harder at the high paying ones