Monthly Payments!

[gpburdell]

Totally agree. I just meant for this to be a fun thread just to see the different ways people get their Tacomas. Hopefully everyone can still be friends after this exchange lol. All in all I found everyone's experiences to be very interesting. Yes things are expensive now, yes they were at times before, but I'm assuming everyone in this forum has their Tacoma so we're all doing ok.

No worries. If someone gets upset at something a Random Internet Stranger writes, that’s not on you. Probably a topic for them to discuss with their therapist.

A forum like this will have members of many different ages and backgrounds - so your post elicits many varied views and experience.

I do find it interesting that what I’ll likely pay for a 2025 4th gen is roughly what I paid for my 3rd gen in 2016 when adjusted for inflation.

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[bsquaredMTB]

[

No worries. If someone gets upset at something a Random Internet Stranger writes, that’s not in you. Probably a topic for them to discuss with their therapist.

A forum like this will have members of many different ages and backgrounds- so your post elicits many varied views and experience.

I do find it interesting that what I’ll likely pay for a 2025 4th gen is roughly what I paid for my 3rd gen in 2016 when adjusted for inflation.

Yeah that's one of the things that was interesting to me too. I got my 3rd Gen in 2016 "used" with 3000 miles on it so I got a bit of a discount on it so this was the first one I bought new.

 

[SilverSurfer]

I never found a used Tacoma worth buying because for 2k more, I could buy a new one with 0 miles instead of 45k.….

 

[bsquaredMTB]

I never found a used Tacoma worth buying because for 2k more, I could buy a new one with 0 miles instead of 45k.….

Back in 2016 I paid about 30 for a trd off-road. At the time it was a pretty good deal. But yeah they do hold their value very well.

 

[wire4money]

No payment here. I’m not old, not young. I see both sides, but today people expect everything because “I work hard for it”. I bought my first house in 1999. It was old, orange Formica countertops, gold refrigerator, 800 sq ft. In order to afford this, I drove a $500 car which would rain bits of trim when you slammed the door. No eating out, no cable. It’s a much different time now when most have a $6/day coffee habit, eat out, newest cell phones, big tv, etc. Most first time home buyers would not buy what I did

 

[Stebo19]

I worked and invested for 30 years and bought my retirement truck cash. 1st loan free vehicle I ever had, feels good!

 

[bitflogger]

Zero...

Same here for the pickup truck. Our car was a 0% and $0 down promotion purchase so an exception to our general rules about finance. We still pay our mortgage that's at all time lows for same money earning more in savings.

There have been times in life when I've had debt but I was trying to be smart about it. What I mean is get good rates, and in the big picture it did more good than harm to have had modest vehicles and living. That really helped my wife and I get to a good neighborhood and have vehicles paid for.

lol the amount of grandstanding from those who didn't have to to finance their car is hilarious. As if that makes them a better or smarter person. If you're privileged enough to have no debt, at least recognize that's hardly possible now, compared to 1995. Cost of living is so high that the majority of people can't save up to buy a used car outright, let alone a new one. The system is set up to keep you in debt.

Also, I don't know what the point of asking is. Monthly payments are wildly different based on the car, the interest rate, the down payment, the trade in, the taxes. One person $500 payment is not the same as another.

Privileged? Nothing felt privileged earlier in life when I was so challenged that I lived between a truck sleeper and storage locker except maybe the lower tuition from the public university I attended to build skills and a better life.

BS on the thoughts of limited possibilities now. I'm retiring in a job where current young people are still working and building skills. We have 3 gen z kids who are finishing school, working, and driving modest older vehicles they also repair.

I'm not saying it is easy, but I know many young people who've taken same path as I did and that our kids are wrapping up. There are many ways to get skills where the whole world pays a living wage.

You're not completely wrong, but building a foundation in life is also not impossible.

 

[bsquaredMTB]

Same here for the pickup truck. Our car was a 0% and $0 down promotion purchase so an exception to our general rules about finance. We still pay our mortgage that's at all time lows for same money earning more in savings.

There have been times in life when I've had debt but I was trying to be smart about it. What I mean is get good rates, and in the big picture it did more good than harm to have had modest vehicles and living. That really helped my wife and I get to a good neighborhood and have vehicles paid for.

Privileged? Nothing felt privileged earlier in life when I was so challenged that I lived between a truck sleeper and storage locker except maybe the lower tuition from the public university I attended to build skills and a better life.

BS on the thoughts of limited possibilities now. I'm retiring in a job where current young people are still working and building skills. We have 3 gen z kids who are finishing school, working, and driving modest older vehicles they also repair.

I'm not saying it is easy, but I know many young people who've taken same path as I did and that our kids are wrapping up. There are many ways to get skills where the whole world pays a living wage.

You're not completely wrong, but building a foundation in life is also not impossible.

Well said!

 

[TacoTuesThey]

The "privileged" people you refer to are often those who made sacrifices when they were younger.


I can only speak from my own experience, but I bought my first car in 1978 for $1,350. I was just 14 years old. I saved diligently until I had enough cash to buy a used car. At the time, I earned about $2.50 an hour. Adjusted to today's standards, that's roughly equivalent to $15 per hour. I worked around 20 hours per week—about 10 hours on the weekend and 2 hours a day during the week—earning roughly $50 a week back then, or about $300 per week in today’s wages.


I saved at that rate for around four years. While I didn’t work every single week, I worked most of them—let’s say about 45 weeks per year. That added up to around $2,000 annually in 1978. Using today's wages, that would be about $13,500 a year.


The point is, with hard work, discipline, and by living within your means, it's entirely possible to achieve similar results today. The so-called "privileged" often just worked hard, saved diligently, and avoided spending more than they earned.


After graduating from college, my mother gave me wise advice: don't buy a car until you can pay cash. She suggested I calculate what a loan payment would be and put that amount into a “car account” instead. Once I had saved enough, I could start looking for a car that fit within that budget.


Unfortunately, many people today—let’s call them the “underprivileged”—see a credit card as a ticket to freedom. The sad reality is that relying on debt can lead them deeper into a financial hole that’s very difficult to escape.

I scratched and crawled my way out of debt. Saved up for a Tacoma. I battled inflation and saved money. I finally cash purchased my 1st brand new vehicle; a 2024 TRD OR Hybrid. I financed two new vehicles previously for my wife.

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