• NoSpiritAnimal@lemmy.world
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    14 hours ago

    So many conspiracy theories in these comments about why American manufacturers don’t build smaller cars.

    It’s very simple, American Auto Companies are loan companies, not auto manufacturers.

    Why would they produce a $10k go-kart with a useable bed when they can get people to finance a $110k SUV at 18% APR?

    It’s not about oil, or other resources, or even labor and tooling.

    It’s just much more profitable to put you into debt.

    • ILikeBoobies@lemmy.ca
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      6 hours ago

      That sounds more conspiracists than “Americans like shit vehicles”

      The Canyonero Simpsons episode came out in 98 to make fun of this

    • gradual@lemmings.world
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      6 hours ago

      Anyone who cares about american auto manufacturing shouldn’t be taken seriously.

      Americans make shit cars.

      • andybytes@programming.dev
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        54 minutes ago

        It depends on your supply chain and the willingness of rich people to take the fair share that they deserve and give the workers the fair share that they deserve. But in America, it’s all about the lowest common denominator. So everything is made terribly. Americans can make better cars, but we don’t. Because we allow rich people to step all over us. Because we have no class solidarity or any goddamn common sense. We fail to see ourselves in the hierarchy. But at the end of the day, capitalism will destroy the planet.

    • FreakinSteve@lemmy.world
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      12 hours ago

      I’ve noticed that Americans do not consider using an armed rebellion against evil corporate practices but talk about 2A rights all the time.

      • andybytes@programming.dev
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        49 minutes ago

        I’m not really concerned about these idiots losing their guns, because they’re too much of pussies to actually use them on the correct enemy. They don’t know who the enemy is, let alone be able to read. They’re easily indoctrinated. Not only that, their co-opted, their messages are taken away from them. I mean, they’re just such a servile people. For me, I mean, if there ain’t no revolution, because there ain’t gonna be one inside of the Imperial core, the gun would just be used on myself to kill myself, so I just don’t have a gun. I mean emotions fluctuate, you know?

      • PresidentCamacho@lemm.ee
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        6 hours ago

        As an American I can break it down for you. The people who wont stop about 2A are sheep, sheep get told what to think, so when the “news” tells them that doing anything to make life better in America will actually make life worse and is some form of evil -ism (communism, socialism, etc.) that they have been programmed to hate, they believe it without question. These clowns are incapable of creating a personal opinion, they just accept the narrative that their favorite talking head gives them, and think they came up with it all on their own.

        This is without even getting into the tribalism that makes these beliefs they have been given feel like a part of their identity, and thus making it near impossible to change.

      • rumba@lemmy.zip
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        11 hours ago

        but talk about 2A rights all the time.

        Most of the 2A talks come from people who want to start evil corporations.

      • Nasan@sopuli.xyz
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        11 hours ago

        No armed rebellion is complete without a technical built from a Toyota Hilux, which we sadly only get the slightly larger variant, the Tacoma.

        • MBech@feddit.dk
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          8 hours ago

          The truth about the perfect vehicle for armed uprisings isn’t that they only use Hiluxs. That’s simply a myth. The truth is that no other vehicle has ever been able to complete even a single mission. You send 20 Hiluxs and 40,000 Tacomas into battle? You’ll soon have 20 Hiluxs and 40,000 heaps of burning inferior pieces of junk. The Hilux has proven time and time again that it isn’t just the perfect vehicle for an armed rebellion, it’s the only vehicle able to survive.

          And them’s the facts.

    • andros_rex@lemmy.world
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      13 hours ago

      Especially because we are a captive market. Public transport is essentially non existent in most areas. You have to get a car, and you have to take a loan on it. Without a car, a lot of places won’t even hire you.

        • andros_rex@lemmy.world
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          8 hours ago

          It’s still going to be at least $10k or so, unless you scour Facebook marketplace or know how not to get scammed.

          My stepfather’s job was to negotiate deals between the car dealerships and the banks. They were all fucking sharks. Used car salesmen are terrible people as a rule.

        • blarghly@lemmy.world
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          7 hours ago

          Yes. It is quite straightforward. First you figure out the kind of car you want - eg, Toyota Corolla or Honda Civic. Peruse fb marketplace / Craigslist / etc to look at your options, note typical price for what you want based on model year and condition. Check your market once per day for a few weeks or months, and eventually a deal will come up - or else you can search in other areas you’d be willing to travel to. When you find a good (or at least reasonable) deal, you message the seller, and tell them the following things:

          1. You are very interested.
          2. The earliest time you are available to meet - ideally “right now or any time today”. Also ideally, this would occur during normal business hours for mechanics and banks.
          3. You can pay in cash.
          4. You want it inspected by a mechanic before you buy.

          When you agree on a time / place to meet, start looking up mechanics nearby. Getting a pre-sale inspection is a service offered by most shops for a small fee. Call ahead and ask if they can do an inspection around the time you are meeting the seller.

          Before you meet with the seller, look up a checklist of things to inspect yourself. These are basic things that are easy to check - do the lights work? The blinkers? The AC/heat/defroster? You can find inspection lists pretty easily online.

          Meet with the seller. Ask them about the car, its history, maintenance records, and why they are selling it. Take it for a test drive on neighborhood roads and on the highway. Drive to the mechanic and have them inspect the car.

          After all this, it is time to negotiate. If you or the mechanic found anything concerning, you can use this to haggle with the seller, who is likely ready to take a few hundred less in order to be done dealing with the headache of selling their car. With an agreed upon price, head to your bank.

          Most banks provide members with free notary services. You can have them notarize a bill of sale or the car’s title if necessary. Once the title is signed over to your name, go to the teller, withdrawal cash, and hand that fat stack to the seller.

          Drive away with your new car.

    • 🔍🦘🛎@lemmy.world
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      13 hours ago

      Not disagreeing with you, but Kei trucks lack a lot of standard safety features, so it’s not a black and white issue

      • andybytes@programming.dev
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        47 minutes ago

        Didn’t Trump start messing around with all that? Like our safety standards? Because his boy, Elon, wanted to be looked at as… The CEO that doesn’t create unsafe cars.

      • ysjet@lemmy.world
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        11 hours ago

        They don’t have standard safety features because it’s illegal to import the ones that do.

      • Dasus@lemmy.world
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        13 hours ago

        So the reason is because it’s unsafe, unlike, oh, idk, the sharp-edged Cybertruck?

        • 🔍🦘🛎@lemmy.world
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          13 hours ago

          …both things can be true?

          For the record I’d love to get a Kei truck. But they like… don’t have airbags lol

          • Dasus@lemmy.world
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            13 hours ago

            My point is that the Cybertruck is unsafe, and it’s on the market. So the American car market clearly doesn’t require safety, it’s just a marketing point.

            • ChapulinColorado@lemmy.world
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              11 hours ago

              You are missing the point, the cyber truck will kill/maim/damage pedestrians (no biggie), cyclists (no biggie) and other cars (darn, gotta deal with insurance) most of the time! It’s a feature for the kind of people that buy them.

            • 🔍🦘🛎@lemmy.world
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              13 hours ago

              I think we can all agree that Cybertrucks are a bit of an outlier here. I mean we used to ridicule vehicles with safety this poor. But yeah I wouldn’t want to be on the freeway in either a cybertruck or a kei truck. But moving stuff downtown would be perfect for them - basically give them moped permissions.

              • Dasus@lemmy.world
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                12 hours ago

                But yeah I wouldn’t want to be on the freeway in either a cybertruck or a kei truck.

                Why not? Because everyone else is in a truck so large they wouldn’t be able to see you?

                Not a problem here in Europe. Wiki says they can do 120 ungoverned. Seems fine enough. Large commercial trucks, as in “semis” to Americans, but even the smaller Large Heavy Goods vehicles, as in lorries in Britain, aren’t allowed to do more than 80km/h on the freeway. I’m sure the Kei trucks can do that even when encumbered.