My next car is... no car??
 

Ok. Deceptive title. 'Cause I'm one of those:
But some have suggested me moving to improve my economic situation. One of those suggestions was (or seemed to be) to move to a city where I'd need to commute in terrible traffic so I could have a job that could afford me a car so I could have the privilege to commute in the terrible traffic. But why not move where I don't need a car instead?

P.S. I'm not opening this up for a political discussion on whether we all need to vote for or against this idea or stuff like that. Just, what if a person chooses to not to own a car and maybe even move to where there's little to no need for one? Then what? Pros, cons? What if you have a wife and kids?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sCSkNiyYv8g

During the latter half of the 20th Century, maybe around 1980 or so, I built houses for the Cerro Gordo community.

Think of them as a consortium of equestrians and railroad enthusiasts. They wanted a town without cars. When an island in Alsea Bay fell through they settled on land that had a BLM access road through it. That doomed the project even though a steam excursion train ran along the shore of Dorena Reservoir. Today the train is gone, and the track is now a biike path.

Cottage Grove is quaint? This tells you it's a bunch of transpanted Californians.

Anyway, I divided my needs between a car, a bike and the city bus [seniors ride for free] more or less equally prior to Corona-chan, but between the masking required and the Schwinn Collegiate rear axle being Unobtainium I am walking more. Good thing my knees are getting better (with age :)).

The author of this excellent blog post agrees with you. As do I.

https://www.mrmoneymustache.com/2011...-four-or-more/

Maybe it's time to put flashing lights on the bikes and bike as much as possible. Maybe I'll get an e-bike for the wifey.

Still about a year away. I'm thinking of the Arcimoto micromobility solution.

It might be easier to get a hub motor than a stock axle for my bike.

Anyways, a town without cars is as elusive as ever. Paolo Solaeri tried it with Arcosanti. https://www.arcosanti.org/

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_car-free_places

Rate your home town: https://www.walkscore.com/ Springtucky rates as 60 Walk Score (somewhat walkable), 40 Transit Score (some transit) and Bike Score 92 (Biker's paradise)

For me, biker's paradise means paved alleys.

I've suggested you move to a place with low housing costs where you could afford to own a house instead of renting and being pushed farther and farther out of town. Those are not places with terrible traffic because they have low housing costs as a result of large population declines.


On the other hand I do live in a metro with 2.5 million people and moderately bad traffic and we had one of the highest percentages of bike commuters despite 7 months of rain. What if you have a wife and kids? Once a kid is about 5 they can peddle their own bike (I was riding a bike without adult supervision a mile to 1st grade). Until then there are these (which I see on my commute as well) Handy for carrying groceries home too.

https://tinybeans.com/wp-content/upl...4357.png?w=640

Isaac, you're very intelligent and can solve your problems should you address them honestly, sans victimhood mentality (even if you're legitimately a victim of circumstance, as we all are).

My friend in Eugene often bikes his 3 kids to daycare down crazy steep hills and long distances. He does this because he likes biking, not because of necessity. He owns crappy old vehicles because he's frugal, not because of necessity.

The only advice I have is copied / pasted from Scott Adams. Decide what you want from life, and then pay the price to obtain it. There's no free solution, only trade-offs.

As an aside and huge assumptions on my part, you appear to be way too smart to be relegated to lower wages.

That Mister Money Mustache reference is gold for those not familiar with the concepts. It reminds me of Robert Kiyosaki's main principle that there are 2 kinds of people; those that work for money, and those who make their money work for them. Diligent attention to the small gains will seed the larger gains.

I prefer to estimate the cost beforehand, but this. Everything else is lying to oneself.

"No sympathy for the devil; keep that in mind. Buy the ticket, take the ride...and if it occasionally gets a little heavier than what you had in mind, well...maybe chalk it up to forced consciousness expansion"

Instead of endorsing any further restrictions against car ownership, I'm more favorable to incentives for compact and more efficient cars.
https://blogger.googleusercontent.co...%20Vanessa.jpg

Compared to an 1965 Oldsmobile "98" we had in the '70s, or even my stretch F250 longbed, cars are absolutely miniscule today. Cant see half of them in the mirrors.

Even more so in the UK, but their fuel was £ 2.15 @liter in the smaller remote towns. So perhaps $10 USD.

The best-selling car in Brazil in '65 was the VW Beetle, which is quite small, and the Brazilian market much more oriented toward small cars than in the United States and Canada. I grew up mostly around small cars, and some newer cars which are now sold as compacts are noticeably larger than the smaller models of their manufacturers 10 years ago. Even the Japanese automakers, despite still making their compacts slightly less than 1.70m wide.

I saw mostly old Beetles around 2008 in Mexico. By old, I mean they made new ones there on the old platform, I think. Mexico City was a polluted and terrible city with some beautiful standouts.

They were only phased out there in 2003. Most likely because of that ban on 2-door taxis in Mexico City than anything else.


Valley of Mexico is quite like a trap for the pollution, that's why Mexico City is so critical environmentally-wise.

I love biking! Haven't done it recently as it's winter and all the streets are snow packed and snow banks make for less space. That and another person I know got ran over and killed on his bike a month or so ago.

But as soon as they finish these new condos between here and my place of work there'll be a bike path to my work again.

Right?! Right now used cars are burtal. I have two friends who bought used cars and both were lemons. One bought a 2017 Ford Escape with almost 100,000 miles for $17,000 (in payments) and less than 6 months later it now needs a whole transmission.

It would be nice to have cheap new cars even if they were small, underpowered, opposite of luxurious, etc.

EVs should reduce the abuse / defect factor. Should.

I just wouldn't buy a non-EV at this point unless I was a renter, in which case, I would be driving the cheapest car I possibly could until I was no longer a renter.

Usually you see fancy cars at apartment complexes, and old cars parked in wealthy neighborhoods. I wonder why?

It seems most of what would be a defect in an EV would be the battery, and that is usually easy to track. Either they catch on fire or they degrade quickly.

I'm very interested in getting an EV for my next car even though I rent and don't have level 2 charging at my house. Sadly EV's are still slim pickings. For my budget, there's the Bolt and the... Well I think that's just about it. And I wouldn't even get the tax credit and don't know of anyone who would and who would let me buy one in their name either.

So, full priced Bolt or I'll just keep driving the car I have for now.

Put 'em to work.

https://i5.walmartimages.com/asr/660...0&odnBg=FFFFFF
i5.walmartimages.com/asr/6608e228-2791-42fb-8fa8-cdc92be5d075_1.6a69d14d6811945f9380ee48f1b3c083.jp eg

They do neither. Properly cared for and kept within parameters they do make design life which is 10-15 years. Don't change oil and run water saturated gas then see how long a modern gasser lasts.

IIRC a decade or two ago, in Bleugene, I saw a road train of a parent with two helpers.

It will be interesting to see the crossover when EVs begin to remain on the road longer than their ICE counterparts.

With 10 year warranties on batteries, I expect most modern EVs (from circa 2017+) will have useful range left at 15 years old.

The first Leaf, VW, and lesser known EVs had rapidly degrading batteries, but modern EVs appear to have much more robust conditioning and chemistry.

We'll know around 2032.

I live in Austin, Texas.
Roads here are designed to FORCE you to drive.
You cannot walk more than a mile without having to cross a busy intersection.
NO ! More like 1/4 mile.

I have extreme anxiety / panic, as well as fear of driving.
So that makes it easy to live without driving.

You just live in a 300 yard area and never are able to escape.

This is a video on Houston urban planning.
Austin is the same - if not worse because of the huge mass of people moving here.
https://youtu.be/uxykI30fS54

3:43 in the video is the part where he shows how crazy it was for him to walk 800 meters to a store.

Moreso than anyone else? Since the 1950s we all expected to die in car crashes, most of us are still here (mostly).

I saw a Norway rat dodging cars on Main Street a few moments ago; and, being an ararchist jay-walker myself, I found a moment of sympathy. ...as long as they stay out of my kitchen.

What are your thoughts on self driving cars?

Sounds like Texas. We were there once for a visit south of Houston. We thought it would be nice to just take a walk around the neighborhood. But car after car would stop and ask if we were alright if we needed a ride. It was nice that so many strangers were so nice and helpful. But at the same time, it seemed like the idea of people walking instead of driving was completely foreign to them.

I don't understand your post.

Chevy Bolts caught on fire due to a deffect (or two deffects in one).

My Nissan Leaf dropped a capacity bar in the first and only year I owned it and I don't live in neither a hot area nor did I drive it like a maniac, usually never going above 25mph, nor did I ever DC fast charge it except on one trip.

So you're saying that batteries don't come with deffects and it's all about how they are cared for? What do you mean?

P.S. I don't own a garage, so does this disqualify me from having the ability to keep them "within parameters?"

Those were extremely rare conditions resulting in zero injuries. All batteries were replaced, which I consider to be more valuable than batteries that didn't have defects in the first place, because you get a fresh battery, with more capacity than the original, and an extended warranty.

There's no downside to the Bolt battery issue.

Those were extremely rare conditions resulting in zero injuries. All batteries were replaced, which I consider to be more valuable than batteries that didn't have defects in the first place, because you get a fresh battery, with more capacity than the original, and an extended warranty.

There's no downside to the Bolt battery issue. People that bought in 2020 were huge winners.

Thanks! That's kind of what I was originally getting at. With an ICE you may not see a defect for years and then it suddenly pops up right after the warranty expires. But on an EV (especially with 100,000 waranties) a battery defect is either noticeable or it just isn't there.

"Moreso than anyone else ?" - Most certainly. It completely controls my life.
And it's getting worse each year.
Thoughts on self driving cars ? - A godsend - except that I can't afford one.
Taxis ? - Too expensive.
City bus - I have anxiety in crowds.
Bicycle - See post above ( No sidewalks ! You are supposed to ride in the street with traffic behind you.
NOPE !
I also have money anxiety, since 2/3 of my check goes to oay rent.

You sound like me, like an Average American.

Well, except I'm not too sure about self driving cars yet. But if it gets all the idiots away from the steering wheel I'm all for it!

I'm a commercial truck driver and I still feel anxious driving!

I would seriously plan on looking for a new line of work unless you are close to retirement. That job is about to go the way of bank tellers (Down by 1/2 in the last 15 years with stagnant wages)

Oh, I've already stopped. Now I clean toilets for a living as I'm too old to get back into construction. I quit driving when I was told that I was getting fewer hours, less pay per hour, and all benefits cut, and told to drive 2 hours per day in my car to get to and come back from the next town where they could still use me, but that commute would be on my own time because in the town I live I no longer had a job. I keep up my commercial license, but that's all.

Commercial truck is getting to the point of needing different law and intervention.

If you don’t mind screaming kids bus driving is choose your own hours and uses the commercial license, depending on what kind of janitorial you work it may pay the same with less hours but no real benefits besides time off.

My father broke his back and worked part time bus usually driving the short bus and taking “trips” half his life.

Well, being a school bus driver starts at $16 per hour right now, which is just above the state's minimum wage, with zero benefits. It's a possibility if I end up needing it. But I don't think I'll drive bus any time soon. I'd be paid more to work at McDonald's, plus get benefits.

Something just like this for instance? I guess you know the Opel Corsa B was the most effective contender to the VW Beetle in Mexico, ultimately being its replacement for a while there.
https://blogger.googleusercontent.co...0e%20Rocky.jpg