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.)
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.
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!
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.
This assumes no home, food, or fun outside of work beyond daydreaming.
Who has the time or energy to daydream?
Who buys cars with cash??
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.
I make enough and I drive a 2007 accord. Fuck paying for a new car.
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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.
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.
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.
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.
But minimum wage -> minimum effort, right? I have no problem with
no effort => no reward.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
Clearly you’ve put effort into becoming an EE. Clearly it has paid back. I don’t see why you’re arguing.
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
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.
Yeah, and those blood suckers are the richest assholes out there
Not caring about the well-being of others is called Antisocial Personality Disorder i’m afraid
Strawman argument.
Your mom is a strawman argument.
I’ve worked minimum wage jobs and jobs that pay far more, and I definitely wasn’t working harder at the high paying ones
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I don’t think you hate telling people that.
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‘Enjoy’ is probably a better term.
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I hate to break it to you, but it was fun giving you a hard time :)
That’s why I bought an 18-year-old Porsche. I’m a sly one.
You’re supporting a local mechanics shop at this point
I have a recurring service appointment every two weeks where I drop off the car and throw a stack of money at them.
Actually, it’s a reliable car, but the previous owner ignored a few big service items. Now that those are done, it’s cheaper to maintain than you might think.
You have any recommendations on how to find a good range EV used?
Build one of those custom jobs that runs on fry oil?
Americans sure love wasting money.
If love is code for being forced to by horrible corporations that can do whatever they want because we have no consumer protections at all. Yup. If you mean buying cars, we kind of have to. Public transit is a joke outside like 3-4 major cities. I remember my first job out of college, had a light rail stop within biking distance from home and one right outside the office. Looked into riding it. Near 2 hours each way, multiple transfers. 20 minute car drive.
Big difference between buying a small car and buying a tank that costs twice as much and burns twice the fuel.
I feel like you don’t understand that, in addition to the transportation shortfalls from the comment above, people are also stuck buying whatever vehicle they can afford, which oftentimes are the tanks you describe, which unfortunately have the aftermarket values that fall into lower earners’ price range.
Short of that, I challenge you to get a popular rapper to talk about their pimped out Prius.
Lolololol you give me a zip code I’ll find you a car cheaper than a truck. What an absurd excuse.
I drive and EV, who said anything about a truck?
Who’s talking about trucks?
I have an 02 VW Golf diesel. My coworkers are constantly asking why I don’t get a new car. My TDi will still be running when I’m six feet under, I’ll never give it up.
There is some truth to this but small cars have been selling poorly for years now. I’m sure marketing campaigns are at play here but surely some people are capable of seeing through those. Why does no one buy small, affordable, efficient cars anymore? It’s baffling to me.
Nope. This is all driven by the car companies. They can get higher margins on large vehicles.
Also they’re barely offering sedans any more- except for high performance things
They’re all cross overs and “SUVs” and “pickups”
Barely offer sedans? Only if you specifically mean American manufacturers. Toyota, Nissan, Subaru and Honda all offer multiple sedan models. Claiming there aren’t any sedan models out there is just pure nonsense.
The fuel economy regulations are more forgiving for larger vehicles. Since the manufacturers fail at making efficient engines, they just make larger vehicles to get a passing rating. This is why small trucks no longer exist and an F150 is now the size of an elephant.
But is it? Even the few small models available aren’t selling. If this were being forced on us, the few economy models would be in high demand but it seems to be the opposite. What is going on in the American psyche? I don’t understand it.
Extreme wealth inequality causes Muricans to be the most insecure people on the planet. Understand this and you’ll also understand all the other stupid shit we are infamous for.
Unfortunately you might be right about this. It’s a difficult problem to fix.
Lololol just blame everyone but they market! I can walk into a Subaru or Nissan dealership today and buy a no frills car for under 20k (despite the false headline). People willfully choose to spend more on features.
I live in a car manufacturing city. I don’t work in the industry but have plenty of friends and acquaintances who do. Have 2nd hand stories of high level managers giving speeches where they literally say they are focusing on trucks and SUVs because the margins are better.
Oh don’t get me wrong, trucks and SUVs ARE the focus. They just aren’t the only option. I can point out like 5 sedans under 20k with availability. People matter the choice to buy bigger and with more features. There market represents it by making more of them. But you still have plenty of choices.
Go try. Last time I had to buy a car they wanted 3k over sticker. The market has been a nightmare for years.
Right? People can’t seem to cope with the fact that Americans want bigger cars.
Not just Americans. SUVs (less so trucks) are huge sellers in Europe as well.
It’s still cheap, only 20x the minimum wage
At least if you consider that in my country the cheapest is 50x the minimum wage
The minimum wage is not $1,000 anywhere in the United States.
At the absolute worst min wage, the car is 2x the minimum wage.
Yearly vs monthly wage.
A fucking Mirage? That’s even worse.
if the new mirage is like the old one id rather have used anyway.
The 1995 Mirage was one of the most fun cars I’ve ever owned, I’d take it over any newer model.
And with a jiggler it’s an easy one!
I hope China can flood the market with cheap EVs.
Detroit thanks Biden for standing behind trumps China trade war or else the American consumers may have been able to get a new EV at half that cost.
“Average sales price” what a shitty headline, but hey gotta soak that karma somewhere.
Consumers are choosing expensive vehicles and companies are responding. Stop blaming everyone else but the rampant over spending on features.
You poor bastard.
When your choices are made for you, you have no choice.
Blah blah blah, everybody but my own fault. You do have a choice. Instead of buying the model with 50 different features, you can buy the one with plain cloth and 5 inch shitty screen. But you won’t because you want ACC, heated seats, and cameras everywhere.
Edit:
Shipping all the Mitsubishis for sale.
Big “millennials and their avocado toast” energy
Lol apparently having AC in your car is a privilege and not a basic feature… It’s 2023 and it’s just getting hotter, I want AC sorry
Pretty sure AC is standard in most (all?) cars sold here so I expect he’ll start trashing us for “spending extra” on motorized windows next
No car comes with AN OPTION for AC. He is kinda right you know. No car on the market has equipment so basic it would be unlivable. All come with central locking ac, electric windows, ps, most come with cruise. I can see drivetrain options, but spending 19 grand optioning up a Mirage is just mad.
