[Gustoo]

Just look for a used version of any toyota car, its a lot of money, or 200+ K miles

Regularly I find 200,000 mile 4 runners for 20,000 dollars. Thats a totally whipped car being sold for about half of a high spec brand new one. Thats insane. Thats loyalty, and thats trust in a platform. Nothing else comes close.

It is a shame that a regular pickup is so hard to come by. Last I checked a regular basic F250 could be had with Zero features and rubber floors and stuff, but I'm sure they are 30K or close to it.

Stick shifts are not my favorite in trucks, but it really depends on the car. I like them on things that I need as much control as possible or that I need the most power out of as possible, like a small light car. The other good application is something you want to last as long as possible (WAY LONG) and have no high maintenance surprises. An auto is great until it breaks, and even toyota automatics (aisin?) can fail once you get above 150k but usually in the 200k miles mark. With an auto thats 2000 dollars or more, with a manual thats a 250 dollar clutch set and a saturday.

So, ya. The trouble is that cars because they are directly connected to the cost of raw materials, labor, health care for that labor, insurance, etc are direct indicators of the cost of business. A normal persons ability to buy one outright is a very good indicator of the weakening of the American middle class and their relative wage decreases over the years against inflation.

Since this is a forum for insanity to take place, I would propose that wages that employers pay have gone up SUBSTANTIALLY they are very generation, but those increases all go to health insurance fleecer / scalpers and liability insurance fleecer / scalpers and none of those increases go to the employee.

It is the legal liability system that cripples most of what people want to do in the USA. We have a non common sense based system that ruins lives all over the place. Many things are decided against not because they are good or bad but because they expose someone or some company to liability that isn't worth the trouble. Its hell.