Tacoma from a teenager's POV

When I was 19 I bought my 1st vehicle which was a 1986 Tacoma. 27 years later I am on
Tacoma number 4.

 

A lot of people are really missing the point, we’re talking about a 40k loan for a truck. He didn’t have to get a trd sport if he wanted a brand new truck, nor did he likely need a 4wd. He could’ve gotten an sr if he absolutely needed brand new. Even still used financing would’ve made more sense. Like I said before, I like motorcycles, I’m not going to finance a 25k Ducati because I like bikes. I’m gonna get a bike that I can afford.

 

OP, good for you, getting an education and having a plan for your future. In my opinion, yes a new 40k Tacoma is overkill this early in your career (you’re still a student). BUT since you got a manual transmission and are genuinely excited about cars/trucks, you get a pass in my book. A lot of kids your age don’t seem to care about automobiles or even getting a driver’s license. Enjoy!

 

Hey man welcome to the small group of teenagers on here, I'm 18 as well and as soon as some of these guys find out you're young, you lose credibility but don't let them deter you. This is a great website full of great people.

 

Never once did I say not enjoy life. I just said don’t piss away money.

I enjoy life very much.


I don’t judge. We are all free to live our lives however we want. You want car payments all your life and a mortgage all your life have at it (just like someone else alluded to, don’t expect my tax money to bail you out at retirement because you didn’t plan).

We can all make our own life choices. What I argue with is people promoting the idea that cash for cars is not possible or realistic, you will never be able to own outright or pay cash for a house, borrowing money makes you richer, or you have to make some obscene incomes to build wealth.
Those comments hurt others by convincing them no matter how hard they work they won’t get anywhere.

If you are convinced if you plant corn that it won’t grow, you won’t plant corn.

People get incredibly defensive about money, so any time someone brings up a different opinion they take it as a personal attack.
And everyone here is doing it back. Like people are assuming I have no life, I don’t enjoy my life, I make a shit load of money etc.
None of those are true. I have a great life with low risk because of lack of debt outside my home, I have more income to spend on travel and fun things, and I don’t have that high of a household income.
I just made wise decisions and hope to continue doing that as I get older. Its not incredibly easy because our society is set up to promote buying too expensive of cars on loans, buying way too much house, going on lavish vacations etc.
Society is having what you want now and worry about paying for it later.
Well I’d rather be modest now and have my better options later.
I’m gonna live in the small simple home now and drive used paid for cars so that later I can have my small farm and full size diesel later (in cash).

When you look at interest payments in homes and cars people constantly work hard to make others money. Over the course of 40 years people have shelled out enough cash to buy several cars and a really nice house in full cash. They just paid it in interest. So you can’t tell others its not possible. It is possible.

I don’t care so much what people chose to do with their lives. I do get concerned when you see people making choices that hurt them without truly understanding the consequences (like an 18 year old).
I’m concerned not judgmental.

Live how you want to live, just don’t spread lies that prevent people from attempting to build their own wealth or maybe even convincing yourself you’ll never be able to achieve something. Own your decisions, don’t blame the world for why you can’t get ahead.

 

There are 2 people in this whole post that have their shit together apparently. Some People place way too much importance in having surplus cash on hand.

 

I agree with you that many folks have to take a loan to get into a home/apt/whatever. Some choose the beater life until they can afford something substantial to their criteria, others don't. My old man did many things right and has a solid life although he would never buy used cause of the risk of the previous owner and scoring a lemon. Some need that safety in a purchase, others don't. I'm the opposite and will likely never buy a new vehicle, but when you see a used taco of a few years old being 3k less with none of the new incentives...I would likely break my "used" rule for a third gen cause to save 2-3000 in the long run for any issue and depreciated warranty is simply not worth it in the grand scope of it. Again, that's just my criteria, but I can see why OP chose new with a third gen. Furthermore, what really scares me about a third gen amongst many other vehicles on my radar is the fact that there are so many damn recalls on it. I would be pissed if I got a used ride to find out that my truck is about to shit and for whatever reason I am denied cause I'm not the original owner and cool...just ate half of my savings to buy someone else's ride to begin with. Not that I want this to turn into a third gen pissing match by any means, but maybe OP had more plausibility in what he choose besides being a mindless 18 year old.

Society today for the new guys is rent and real estate are likely more expensive region wise than they were for the good ol' baby boomers and the young professionals of the 80s and early 90s. Its becoming more accepted that unless you got family backing or rents to live with while you start your cash pot, then hey get a loan like everyone else. To some degree the mentalities that worked 30 years ago just arnt there today. Imagine what guys did in the 80s to buy a home in cali...and try buying that same home now. In some ways I wish I did live in the 80s in my career as things weren't as inflated as they are today to where some folks just wont get that some opportunity that others had then.

Anyway rant over.

 

Don Neto would agree.

 

Since everyone seems to be chiming in ...
It's great you have a truck you like, but I think a lot of members (IMO correctly) point out that for a young high school/college aged guy, buying a new car with a multi-year auto loan doesn't seem to make sense. Add to that the expense of full coverage insurance etc. That's a big monthly nut.
As a young guy you should know, everyone on the internet has an opinion. To be expected!
That said, yo money - yo life. Enjoy the truck.

 

Why thank you

 

It looks like you're getting your money's worth on the financial and life advice here at TW OP! Have fun and enjoy your new truck.

 

First off warranties cover mileage or years and don’t become void because of ownership change.
2-3k buys you a new engine or trans. So buying used to save that goes more than far enough to self insure any potential issues.
The 3rd Gen problems bother me greatly as well. Which is why I won’t buy one used or new lol. Don’t buy vehicles you have no confidence in.
Lemons are VIN tagged. Easy to tell if it was a repurchase. So those I see more as excuses not reasons. I’ve bought only used vehicles. All of my spouses vehicles being under $5k and none of then have seriously failed us.

Real estate has not changed that much since the 80s or 90s. I’m not sure where you are getting that information.
The realestate market crashed in early-mid 2000s. Just about everywhere except for the occational rural community has recovered. But it has not gotten to the point where values are disproportionately higher compared to income vs the 80s and 90s.
I was saving for a home while renting for 9 years. I got my bachelors and masters while cash flowing it and then saved for a home. Took 9 years... so what? I’m not going to cry about it and complain my life wasn’t as good as others back in the day. You just do what you gotta do.
In fact my home was built right at the realestate crash in 2000s... I bought my home for the same price the previous owners did 13 years ago. Realestate has not seen this epic rise in the last few decades.

I disagree that the world is keeping us all down. Its not. You just need to set priorities.

 

Buy 10k truck, spend 30k on toys and travel the world,
Or buy a fancy turd gen

 

Also, my truck, camper, 3 motorcycles, atv and other goodies was less than a turd gen

 

So...what about the many guys on here that get to learn from their own experience whether new or used that their vehicle fails enough to become a lemon? Now what? I'm with you that if I don't have a certain confidence interval in a vehicle platform, I'm not playing that which is why amongst the look of of the third gen, I don't have faith in the mechanics of it. Part of that drives my background and I feel the operational equipment is still too risky which is probably similar to your perspective. Where you lose me completely is the market hasn't changed in the 80s and 90s? I now live on the west coast and yea...try telling a Californian to buy right now unless they make significant 6 figs. Washington state is similar to cali now due to the tech boom. Living in the dc area, houses have gone up anywhere from 2-4X. If you live in the boonies, then maybe its not that much difference, but for the most part you lost me on that argument. If you want proof, surf the socal threads and see the current consensus of why AZ is becoming the new spot for them. As far as my source...many tw people, my old friends from cali, my next door lawyer neighbor who pretty much flipped his house in cali that alone funded his current retirement when he is already an established lawyer. Top of that, things like trulia can also be great geo data in case you want to compare prices of today and whether that fits your income.

I don't think the world is keeping us down, but you need to evolve. The simple days of a one person income to make things happen isn't always plausible. Doesn't mean its impossible, but times are not so simple as they used to be. I cant tell you how many times I heard the "in the 80s and 90s I never had to worry about my rent" and blah blah blah when I was in college in early 2000.

 

Financial institutions love 18 year olds ready to start their life of debt.

 

This is sadly very true.

 

Way to go kid! Good purchase and nice to hear that you got it on your own dime .... It's nice seeing young people take ownership and responsibility. So, good on ya' for that one . Me? I have a 2018 Sport - though it is automatic. Anyway, this is my second Taco and I'm very happy with it. Happy motoring!

 

"Newfiebruh" as in Newfoundland??

 

I was struggling in retirement until I stumbled on the TW crypto currency thread. Applied that knowledge and now I'm Phat, yo.

So maybe not rolling mod style but still no more Bud Light.