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.

 

[bitflogger]

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.

There's a lot of success envy, and if not that, people short-sighted on things you bring up.

Now at retirement age and seeing younger people move in our neighborhood I see some question how they do it as well as catch jealousy. Getting to know them has been fun, and their reality is really just people who made good choices when young and combining some smarts and hard work.

 

[bitflogger]

The new book Abundance by Klein & Thompson covers complex dynamics underlying some problems being complained about. I don't lean or sit at the extremes where most are these days so when reading two of the Klein books kept thinking it is too bad many might dismiss them for Klein also being an opinion writer, but in the two books his sources were excellent and accurate.

Knowing the housing inventory matters, knowing the vehicle costs & inflation, I still see the richness of choice likely influencing some young and all people. When I did my extensive shopping another small business owner friend a carpenter and his wife were doing just about similar. I thought about where I was decades ago and having actual need for a pickup. Then and now were no different for how much less a basic model cost and now a basic SR was downright loaded compared to my nothing but vinyl bench seat, no AC and a simple radio but my wife and I having the modest pickup then was real money saved for our first home.

Being honest and fair, there were also times when we did splurge on vehicles but I'm glad we reversed that. We did frugality and modesty for home ownership a 2nd time so we could move our kids to an excellent school district and not do all the to me inane commuting many do. Something interesting with the move to a much more expensive neighborhood was and is far more modesty with what people drive. The super interesting point is now seeing people who could driving fancier stuff just not even interested in that.

Ah you're one of those old timers that has it easy and got all your shit paid of before y'all wrecked the economy. Lucky you!

Last fall I was at my 1970s but "generation jones" boomer high school class annual mini reunion when someone at the bar spouted that crap on how we wrecked everything. That was really juicy for our physical location, surviving the birth of rust belt, how so many retrained, and rolled with the times to mostly do okay. Technically we were the first age bracket to be seriously impacted by structural change we did not create and it was not what most chose.

It's already been said here such as when I was near homeless from crashed rust belt economy.. I see another important point someone mentioned about doing the right hard work early. I see in people I supervise same as our kids chose. Some key choices almost always do a whole lot for a life better than most.

Aim to beat important means and medians while you aim to have skills where the whole world pays a living wage. If there were laughs when we had modest, used and old stuff, while we were building our skills and degrees, we probably got the last laugh for the foundation that built.

 

[goin2drt]

Crazy now how working hard, paid your way through college with no freebies, worked every day in life since 13 yrs old, socked money away in a 401K rather than $8 a day coffee is now the definition of privileged. Well I am definitely privileged and I love every minute of it as I get close to retirement at 59.

I have 2 boys 24 and 29. That entire generation is about "getting by". They value work/life balance WAAY more than we ever did. Our focus was working hard, getting promoted to make more money NOT demanding more money for doing the same job every day just because "the big bad CEO/boss makes a lot". We strived to be the CEO (even if we didn't stand a chance)

It is life choices. YOU AND ONLY YOU have the choice to make. STOP blaming everyone else and take accountability for your actions. I know NO ONE these days takes accountability, it is way to easy to blame the right, blame the left, blame their parents, blame their boss. Look in the mirror or start when you are at Starbucks buying that coffee, gas station buying the $10 smokes, or ordering door dash for food rather then going to the store.

Peace out - privileged Tacoma owner.

 

[DENNISD]

Crazy now how working hard, paid your way through college with no freebies, worked every day in life since 13 yrs old, socked money away in a 401K rather than $8 a day coffee is now the definition of privileged. Well I am definitely privileged and I love every minute of it as I get close to retirement at 59.

I have 2 boys 24 and 29. That entire generation is about "getting by". They value work/life balance WAAY more than we ever did. Our focus was working hard, getting promoted to make more money NOT demanding more money for doing the same job every day just because "the big bad CEO/boss makes a lot". We strived to be the CEO (even if we didn't stand a chance)

It is life choices. YOU AND ONLY YOU have the choice to make. STOP blaming everyone else and take accountability for your actions. I know NO ONE these days takes accountability, it is way to easy to blame the right, blame the left, blame their parents, blame their boss. Look in the mirror or start when you are at Starbucks buying that coffee, gas station buying the $10 smokes, or ordering door dash for food rather then going to the store.

Peace out - privileged Tacoma owner.

Very well said.


I'm only slightly older than you, and I, too, am tired of being labeled "privileged" for working hard and achieving success.


The house I grew up in didn't have air conditioning—and that wasn’t unusual. Our cars lacked features like tilt steering, cruise control, and other so-called "luxuries."


I'm not complaining—just making a point. Those extras were available back then, but most people didn’t buy them, partly because we didn’t rely on credit cards. We usually paid with cash or checks, and if something was too expensive, we simply didn’t buy it.


Sure, some people got into financial trouble, but many lived within their means. It was a different generation with a different mindset. So, being called "privileged" now feels a bit rich—pun not intended.

 

[bsquaredMTB]

Wow this post continues to get deep. I'm enjoying the different perspectives!

 

[gpburdell]

I'm not complaining—just making a point. Those extras were available back then, but most people didn’t buy them, partly because we didn’t rely on credit cards. We usually paid with cash or checks, and if something was too expensive, we simply didn’t buy it.

Sure, some people got into financial trouble, but many lived within their means. It was a different generation with a different mindset. So, being called "privileged" now feels a bit rich—pun not intended.

Remember putting something on layaway at the store?

I wonder how much of the differening mindsets come from the era in which our parents grew up, thus forming some of their lifelong perspectives which they instilled in their kids?

Observing my kids (adult) friends there are two guys who buy the fancy stuff - clothes, house, cars, bourbon, etc. One does so for his own enjoyment - he likes the finer things in life and is successful enough to afford them comfortably. The other also buys the top of the line stuff - but more for appearances and how he feels he's perceived by others. While he and his wife make a good living, they're skating on thin financial ice. Having met both their parents, their perceptions do seem to have a connection to what they saw/experienced during their formative years.

Good discussion.

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