If you have $ 30,000 to buy a car, you’re better off buying second hand. That’s the whole secret.
Here’s why there are so few new cars for under $30,000
Submitted 1 month ago by return2ozma@lemmy.world to aboringdystopia@lemmy.world
https://arstechnica.com/cars/2025/07/heres-why-there-are-so-few-new-cars-for-under-30000/
Comments
Diplomjodler3@lemmy.world 1 month ago
noodles@slrpnk.net 1 month ago
Used to be true, not consistently so since COVID or so. I had to buy a car about two years ago and brand new cars with full warranties were only $1-2k more and with better financing offers than 2-4 year used cars with limited warranties. It got better for a bit but apparently used car prices are spiking again
entropicdrift@lemmy.sdf.org 1 month ago
Used Electric cars are cheap, though. Everyone sees the battery tech advancing fast, so EVs depreciate quickly since the battery is a huge chunk of the cost.
xia@lemmy.sdf.org 1 month ago
My mom once showed me an ad listing cars in the $300 range. It might have been the model-t era, but still…
melsaskca@lemmy.ca 1 month ago
Why? Tariffs, Capitalism, greedy company men and greedy unions.
Dagamant@lemmy.world 1 month ago
I want tiny Japanese style cars, not oversized road boats.
Salvo@aussie.zone 1 month ago
Everyone (who doesn’t have waist-down body issues) does too, but car manufacturers can’t charge as much for them.
They therefore lobby governments for tax breaks for the oversized road boats and destroy the market for Japanese kei-cars with tariffs and “safety regulations”.
…org.au/…/big-ute-loophole-cost-taxpayers-over-25…
…com.au/…/imported-kei-cars-stranded-australia-bl…
ToastedRavioli@midwest.social 1 month ago
As someone who drives a 2002 sedan, it is amazing to me how large all cars have become. The only comparably sized thing from my car’s era to today’s vehicles were Hummers, which were literally regarded as an insanely oversized monstrosity at the time.
If you see a 2002 hummer next to most any modern SUV, the modern SUV is dwarfing the Hummer. Its ridiculous.
Now, many of those modern monstrosities are probably getting better milage than my 02’ sedan, but imagine what insanely fuel efficient cars we could make today if modern sedans werent the size of a 2002 era station wagon? Imagine how much better our roads would be if the average passenger vehicle didnt weigh well over 4k pounds…