A few days ago, we had a thread about games that released in 2004, and I made a comment that ended with "old shit is better." And then I started thinking about it... old things are better.
Case in point: vehicles. I needed a truck for the family farm, and I went shopping. Quickly I realized that 1) newer 3/4 ton diesels are designed to fail as a revenue stream and 2) buying a $80,000 truck that will probably need at least one, maybe two $5,000 service visits before it hits six digit mileage wasn't in the cards. So I bought a 20 year old truck... that every mechanic who has seen it has tried to buy. Total cost was less than a Tabroma with the same mileage.
This continues on to just about everything. My house was built before I was born, and has the original air conditioner, stove and hot water heater. The original fridge died a few years ago, and the washer and dryer finally shuffled off this mortal coil last year. I doubt, seriously, that any of the replacement appliances lasts a decade, much less two or three.
Printers? Unless it's Japanese, don't buy a new one. HP will remote control your printer, if you opt in to the program (which they don't make clear what it is), and Xerox is a crapshoot if it works out of the box. Meanwhile, I have seen cheap Brother lasers go to half a million pages easily.
Tractors? Buy a new John Deere, and if it breaks, you either have Deere's mechanic fix it, or it stays broken. (Keep making your payments, please.) Meanwhile, you can buy an older Deere or Yanmar tractor and keep it going forever.
The modern world is starting to give me serious 40k vibes. Almost nobody knows how things work, new things are bad knockoffs, and there are mutants everywhere.
$80,000 USD for a new truck…??
Sorry to only focus on that, but holy shit…
That is like… That’s beyond obscene. What is it, a fucking Cybertruck..??
We patently refuse to call utilities “trucks” in Australia, though you can buy American pickups, now. But $80K??!
That’s… I’ve never heard of one costing that much here. Ever. What features could it possibly have to warrant that price tag, even in current year..??
Multifaceted:
That's for a semi-basic diesel F-250, cloth seats, no engine options, 2 wheel drive. You can buy a regular cab for $73k... if you can find one. Tundra is about the same price for a crew cab 2WD. Crew cab FX4 F-350 with leather seats is six figures, six months lead time for delivery.
You see, trucks are now marketed here as the ultimate MAN ACCESSORIES. Most end up being used like the utes you Aussies have, but more expensive.
Ok, looked it up - you can buy those models in Australia, but they’re like… They go up to $200K ($53K base model, average is ~$100K)…
No fucking wonder these never took off here, my god…
That’s just fucking obscene. It really is…
"Conspicuous Consumption" is the phrase.
This is insane to me. Those prices are insane…
Mind. Blown.
I mean, you’re right about the “Man Accessories” thing, but even then…
The only people here paying that price for a car are buying Teslas and luxury German cars and the like…
I actually don’t think I’ve even heard of trucks being that expensive (here) - wow…
They do sell the F350 here, but I really, really don’t think the model on offer is that price…
That’s just… Nuts. Like absolutely wild.
If I had that capital, I would just be going for a house deposit, and/or paying off my (hypothetical) mortgage, lol…
Not paying for a bloody truck!
Something like 80% of new vehicles sold in the US are trucks or SUVs too. Both of which are in the 75k range. I see more trucks now than sedans on the road. Normies will by whatever is marketed to them.
How can I own the libs without a 100k truck though?
Truck prices have gone absolutely bonkers since the Covid clownery. I bought a brand new F-150 in 2013 for just over $30k. Not anywhere close to a top spec truck, but it was a nice 4x2 with a V8, crew cab, a few options but not luxury either. Totally fine truck overall it went on a ton of trips full of people, etc. Would have been perfectly serviceable as a farm truck around here if you don't need heavy towing. I just looked at the local dealer websites and a similar spec truck is listed with their discounts at $51k. Only thing I can pick out mine didn't have is a big ass touchscreen that I wouldn't even want. $20k price increase in ten years.