What’s the most important factor in buying a vehicle
#31
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Thats ridiculous lol. Looking at pictures of things on a screen is not the same thing as going and experiencing those things for yourself. Travel and experiencing new places and seeing new things is really one of the best parts of life. Hiking and being out in nature are good for you.
Anyhow, back to the thread-topic.......priorities when buying a vehicle. I look for driving comfort, reasonable quality/reliability, affordable price, nice interior, and suitability to my driving style, which, in my case, is now something small and maneuverable, higher off the ground, and easy to drive and park. That's why I chose an Encore GX...it fit all of those criteria better than anything else currently in the U.S. market.
Last edited by mmarshall; 07-30-24 at 06:04 PM.
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#32
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Eh, having better stuff allows me to experience things others can't. Like why would I ever pay to go to a concert when I have access to an 120k stereo? It will never sound as good and I have to deal with a bunch of people or pay for a private box and still not have as good a time. I went to broadway and blew $850 on a box a few times, it was fine but hellishly overpriced for what you get....
I would rather listen to live music from a no name band in some bar than recorded music on that $120k stereo lol
Whereas most will never run a 4 car convoy with friends all in fast cars going 150+ with countermeasures and radios.
Ridiculous? Not IMO. I've been to a lot of places myself, and, being from a military family, spent a lot of my youth traveling and living in different countries. I've all driven all over the Eastern U.S., both alone and with family. You see a lot of the same things (not everything, of course) I saw with Google's street-level function.
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#33
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Stuff is just stuff, you are cheating yourself of real life experiences. Seeing the musical acts for instance that I have seen live are great memories, there is no replacement to seeing and feeling live music...certainly not a recording of music on however incredible a stereo.
You realize what you describe is an experience right? Thats not a thing...the car is a means by which you can have experiences but the real joy is in the experiences.
If you truly believe you get the same experience from Google earth that you get experiencing a place yourself I think thats really sad, and I feel sorry for you.
You realize what you describe is an experience right? Thats not a thing...the car is a means by which you can have experiences but the real joy is in the experiences.
If you truly believe you get the same experience from Google earth that you get experiencing a place yourself I think thats really sad, and I feel sorry for you.
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#34
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Sorry, looking at pictures somebody else took on a screen will never be a replacement for experiencing something for yourself. Its one thing to be unable to travel (I know people who can't walk at all who travel and people 100 years old who travel, so can't is relative) but another thing to pretend travel has no benefit because you can look at pictures.
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#35
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Sorry, looking at pictures somebody else took on a screen will never be a replacement for experiencing something for yourself. Its one thing to be unable to travel (I know people who can't walk at all who travel and people 100 years old who travel, so can't is relative) but another thing to pretend travel has no benefit because you can look at pictures.
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#37
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Methodology is key, but to say "only 8,400 people" implying that the sample size is small is a looking for a problem where none may exist. You don't need anywhere close to 8400 people, for example, to survey the entire adult population of the United States with a 3% margin of error (in other words, a 95% chance that the survey result will be within 3% of the population value). Probably even half of that could get that margin of error down to 1.5%%
I think the time period when the poll was taken also played a part in fuel efficiency ranking so high.
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#38
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Right? Most people i know outside of work do not have an extra $2-300 per month to spend. They run out of money before they run out of month.
I only paid $30k OTD for my 540i, and I still hear a lot of "must be nice.....". If they knew I paid cash i think their minds would be completely blown.
Pretty much everybody on this forum is in the top 5-10% of income in the US(unless they're like me when i joined as a broke college student driving an LS400 at the time).
I only paid $30k OTD for my 540i, and I still hear a lot of "must be nice.....". If they knew I paid cash i think their minds would be completely blown.
Pretty much everybody on this forum is in the top 5-10% of income in the US(unless they're like me when i joined as a broke college student driving an LS400 at the time).
I think car insurance costs have been much more significant in last 2 years and have probably really hurt lower income folks badly.
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#39
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LS430 is like a fancy bordello inside with all the wood and leather hahaha. There's chrome in there too. It is just such an old car now, but man they did them right.
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#40
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I understand young people worrying about a few hundred bucks but if you’re in your 30s and older, it’s not a huge deal. If you want to talk crazy expenses then try raising a few kids lol - summer camp, sports, clothes, food etc. My gas expense is probably one of the last things I worry about.
Gas expense is one of the last things you worry about because you are rich. Most people worry about every expense and fuel is one of their biggest expenses outside of their housing and their food.
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#41
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Again, you are totally out of touch. Those crazy expenses you mention are a big reason why $200-$300 a month is a huge amount of money to the vast majority of families. Most families can not begin to afford sending their kids to camp for example, buy clothes for their kids at Walmart and in secondhand stores. 20% of American families are on welfare. Middle class families are stretched financially like never before, and $200 a month is a huge amount of money to save for a family.
Gas expense is one of the last things you worry about because you are rich. Most people worry about every expense and fuel is one of their biggest expenses outside of their housing and their food.
Gas expense is one of the last things you worry about because you are rich. Most people worry about every expense and fuel is one of their biggest expenses outside of their housing and their food.
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#43
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If you want to learn about the poll:
https://www.statista.com/chart/13075...pping%20around.
Its part of Statista's Global Consumer Survey, which is a very well regarded and well used survey of buyer behavior and wants and needs across many different industries. They know what they're doing lol
https://www.statista.com/chart/13075...pping%20around.
Its part of Statista's Global Consumer Survey, which is a very well regarded and well used survey of buyer behavior and wants and needs across many different industries. They know what they're doing lol
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#44
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Here's another chart again from Statista (like I said, not fly by night). 50% iof households in the US don't make $75,000:
![](https://cimg6.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.clublexus.com-vbulletin/2000x1047/screenshot_2024_07_30_at_11_31_40_pm_a8293ab1f81c6f1e4e93c0e599d4d9bb28690618.png)
$300 a month is an amount of money of consequence for a family probably up until $150,000 a year in income, if not more depending on where they live and the size of their family, so that is nearly 80% oif families.
Last edited by SW17LS; 07-30-24 at 08:35 PM.
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#45
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and more importantly, the chart DOESN'T SAY "fuel economy is the #1 concern'", it says that a bigger percentage of people rated it as 'especially important' vs other factors, and even then only 56% rated it especially important which means 44% didn't rate is as especially important.
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as always, 'tougher' is relative, and nothing's free. i agree that cleaner air is a good thing, but will people support huge car price increases to have cleaner air?
If we didn't have CAFE standards, you'd get the performance because that's relatively cheap and easy to deliver, but not the economy because that's more difficult and more expensive. And you wouldn't be paying any less than you do today for a vehicle that does a better job today at delivering both.
So regulation isn't always bad.
If you have to decide between spending money on stuff vs experiences, spend money on experiences. Experiences enrich your life so much more than stuff. ...
Looking at pictures of things on a screen is not the same thing as going and experiencing those things for yourself. Travel and experiencing new places and seeing new things is really one of the best parts of life.
Looking at pictures of things on a screen is not the same thing as going and experiencing those things for yourself. Travel and experiencing new places and seeing new things is really one of the best parts of life.
1) not everyone has the time or resources to go all the places they'd like to, and some travel video on youtube can give a real taste of a place, especially since so many vloggers take the video exactly as they experience it, not some slick packaged piece. so sure if you want to see the great wall of china, and can do it, go for it, but for someone who will never be able to go, watching videos of it is better than nothing.
2) virtual reality will make their experiences massively more immersive and 'real' feeling with massive resolution, reacting to one's movements, and 3d sound. they will come very close to being there.
3) many virtual experiences are BETTER than the real thing. no lines to wait in, no bad weather if not interested in that, no going to a place and there's no northern lights you were desperate to see, and vantage points you CANNOT experience, like from drones for example.
Hiking and being out in nature are good for you.
Seeing the musical acts for instance that I have seen live are great memories, there is no replacement to seeing and feeling live music...certainly not a recording of music on however incredible a stereo.
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Being amongst people is part of the experience.
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I have seen musicians perform that you can't see anymore because they're dead or no longer performing, etc.
I would rather listen to live music from a no name band in some bar than recorded music on that $120k stereo lol
You realize what you describe is an experience right? Thats not a thing...the car is a means by which you can have experiences but the real joy is in the experiences.
If you truly believe you get the same experience from Google earth that you get experiencing a place yourself I think thats really sad, and I feel sorry for you.
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