Just wonderful’
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I am going to hold on to my 2012 and rebuild engine/ transmission someday and just keep it until I die
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Will drive my 2014 Prius V until it hits 200,000 or I die.
At the present rate and odometer reading I will be 93, in a nursing home or dead.
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My 2008 RAV has 58,000 miles. Good to my death.
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Watch their market share drop or watch hackers get around it
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$48k average new vehicle cost, $1000 per month car payments, and that does not include repairs, insurance, fuel, oil, tires, batteries, broken windshields. And on top that $135 in subscription fees? At what point should people just give up if they can and switch over to a combo of true ride sharing (carpooling), transit, bikes or e-bikes, and Uber? I don’t have the answer but these costs really make you wonder. Makes me want to prioritize my retirement place by where can I live and NOT have to own (or subscribe to) a car.
Both our cars are keyless and both are subscribed to remote services. We like the features and our Hyundai is a paid subscription that includes full-time diagnostics and geo-location services for $199/yr.
Our Volvo comes with full-time diagnostics, automatic updates and remote locking, climate-control, locator, etc. at no charge.
People pay for stuff they value… like insurance, maintenance contracts and credit card perks. I think we’ll see more pay-if-you want-it offerings and they’ll become a routine thing.
The situation takes me back to the 1960’s when I watched a popular news anchor make fun of the new “BankAmeriCard” and how absurd it was to carry around a little plastic card to pay for stuff. He had a long list of reasons it would never catch on. And we all know how THAT story ended… 
Manufacturers of cars, like homebuilders, are going up market because “that’s where they money is”. But the population of people who are not cost sensitive can be mined out, especially as loan interest rates rise. Then people will substitute with something else.
I remember when $199 per month was my entire car payment! Then I paid it off in 1992 and have been a cash buyer since. People are paying for cars what I paid for my first house in 1987. Yes, inflation… I know… but I will never pay $75k for a vehicle, not unless it’s a tiny % of my total net worth.
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Things haven’t changed as much as you think. Home builders and car manufacturers have always gone “up market.” And although they themselves play a big part in that upscaling process, they are in large part just meeting market demands.
In comparison to your 1992 car payment example, In 1990, I bought a new 1990 4WD Chevy 150 Sierra P/U for $17,500. It had a 350 V8, four-speed manual trans and a simple cloth interior. A 1990 dollar today is worth $2.28.
Today a comparable Chevy Colorado LT P/U truck lists for $40,335. If you multiply $17,500 by 2.28 you get $39,725. You can buy the Colorado P/U today for $39,585.
As older folks we tend to forget that back when we were young, and cash was scarce, we bought cheaper cars and houses. But the old folks back then were buying Buicks and Chryslers and complaining about how expensive cars and houses were getting.
It’s our turn to complain now… 
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