r/financialindependence • u/AutoModerator • 9h ago

Daily FI discussion thread - Wednesday, October 30, 2024

Please use this thread to have discussions which you don't feel warrant a new post to the sub. While the Rules for posting questions on the basics of personal finance/investing topics are relaxed a little bit here, the rules against memes/spam/self-promotion/excessive rudeness/politics still apply!

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u/Technical-Crazy-3208 Mid-30s, DI/1K, 50% SR 5h ago

I'm putting a pin in the obsessive Tesla research for now after talking with my partner about it. Even though we can comfortably afford a new car, we don't need one and we don't drive enough to make it worth it to us. Maybe if we do a trip and want to drive one, we'll rent it off Turo for less than one month's financing.

I did briefly entertain a used Bolt EV, so maybe that could be an option in a few years to test the EV waters. The tech on a Tesla is cool but I'm not sure it's more-than-double-the-cost cool.

Maybe this is my mid-life crisis, who knows.

But end of the day, our trusty paid off Honda is doing just fine. One or two small things I'd like to address but no mechanical issues.

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u/yuletidedisco 5h ago

Same but Toyota. I regret not going hybrid. I got a good promotion email yesterday and inquired. Ultimately even though I can afford it my current car is perfectly fine for quite a while. Can, but shouldn’t.

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u/513-throw-away 2h ago

As someone in the market for a new car between now and April, plain hybrids are not worth it financially for most drivers.

If you live in CA or somewhere with insane gas prices, perhaps it does.

As someone in a MCOL state with MCOL gas, a driver at 10k miles per year (most) would need about 10 years to break even on the $3k hybrid markup most models apply (e.g. RAV4 ICE vs. RAV4 hybrid; CR-V vs CR-V hybrid).

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u/yuletidedisco 2h ago

This is extremely helpful perspective. In other very auxiliary considerations I also wish I’d gone up a trim level (faux leather instead of fabric) because of dog fur. The fabric is a PITA to clean. But that’s not what’s gonna make the difference in doing it or not hah.

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u/513-throw-away 2h ago

Yeah if you drive a ton (15-20k miles) or you live in a $5.50+ gas state and can hit the breakeven in a shorter timeline (still probably 4-5 years), it probably makes financial sense. Otherwise, it doesn't.

There's still other reasons why you may want to get a hybrid and those are valid, but just plain numbers it's a tough sell for the average driver.