Toyota Pricing WOW!!

I'm curious who you think controls the price of gasoline?

 

I always liked the original 4Runner. I had an 89 Pickup, first gen of the pickup version of that body style. That was the first time I traded a Jeep for a Toyota!

 

Bet you'd like to have that one back! I know I would

 

It was a great truck! Had the V6 and the 31x10.50 tires, and went over 200k miles. Even after spending 3 winters on the east coast, it still looked great when I sold it in 99. Camped in the back of that thing many many times. Really miss it. I bought it on the Sunday after Thanksgiving in 1988. It was the only one the dealer had in stock, and they took my leaking-from-the-freeze-plugs CJ7 in trade. Paid $10k + tax/lic after the trade, and the interest rate was really high, ~10-12%. That was my first new car.

 

who or what??

edit: you push something without an alternate, you get what we have. I’m all for EV. I would love to own one at some point. We are begging for fuel from countries that aren’t as clean as the US. We have basically cuffed our major supply of energy, asked them to do more, when we have sufficient supply to become energy independent for a long time. We are moving toward EV, and I am all for it. The tech is just not there yet. Yet. It will be eventually

 

Here’s one contributing factor to high oil prices.
https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2022/apr/28/gas-prices-why-are-they-so-high-traders

 

https://tradingeconomics.com/country-list/inflation-rate?continent=world, think we are a little deeper than half the pack.

There are many factors, but if your government says they are going to do everything in their power to make you close shop, what you going to do, squeeze every cent out of your cow. And prices have a lot to do with futures, so again, squeezing every cent.

 

The absurdity about this whole thing is that people are not wanting to accept change, not willing to do anything different and complaining about the situation. Gas isn't going to get cheaper over the long haul people, so take that into consideration. Gas was under a $1 when I started driving and now look. Plenty of ways to reduce your usage and save $. Ride the bus, don't live in the boonies, go electric, carpool, etc. People not willing to adapt are just going to get left behind, regardless of how much complaining they do.

Edit: An all electric Taco or 4r would be at the top of my list. For those of you who haven't driven an electric vehicle, they're pretty incredible.

 

I don’t think it’s people not adapting it’s the assholes in the government and their sledgehammer approach which will probably fail.

 

At some point we all have to accept change. It's called retirement. But not necessarily a bad thing when you're driving a 4Runner. Fuel prices up but driving half as much. Trade off. Got my '22 ORP at the right time for well below MRSP. Seeing what inflation is doing '23 prices I'm a happy camper knowing that this is most likely the last truck I'll ever purchase. Now if an EV could haul my boat to the lake so I could fish every day that be a different story.

 

It's definitely some of that. Point being is being closed minded to other options is pretty silly. Thinking that gas is going to be cheap and available forever is a pipe dream.

I dunno if it's strictly retirement, but I remember old shoolers saying how shitty fuel injected bikes were when they first came out. Then they'd ride one, see how low maintenance it is, better gas mileage and increase in performance. And then they were all about it. For every advancement in tech there's always a segment of the population digging their heels in based on nothing. And we know how that turned out.

 

Some truth here as a retired auto mechanic I lived through the transition from carburetors to fuel injection and the first few years of fuel injection were terrible so many problems. Especially throttle body injected vehicles until the tech finally matured. Point is buying an old school 4Runner with no new age problems is a good bet in retirement. Gas isn't going away in my lifetime and the life expectancy of an EV vehicle tied to battery capacity is actually less than the expected lifetime of my 4Runner and EV is still a maturing tech that I'm not willing to pay for.

 

I am the same plan to retire in five to six and bought my 4Runner to tow my boat fishing. If I am lucky I will put 3,000 miles per year on it absolute tops.

I had the same thoughts gas is not going away in my lifetime and I know the history of the 4R. Gas might not be cheap but after enough people pay 70k plus on an electric who knows maybe gas will come down due to less demand.

I am not against change at all or the environment. Heck I love the Great Lakes and treasure our water and outdoors.

I believe in a slow progression and studying impacts across the board as transitioning to greener ways. As an example look at the small farmers and small truck operators that cannot afford diesel. It is clear many could care less and this may very well impact our food supply in the near term. In addition, clearly this should not be impacting our economy in a negative manner. Many suggested it would in fact be the opposite which is not apparent at the moment anyway.

Likewise anyone who does not believe electricity will cost more in the future is not thinking correctly. Investments will be need to be made especially as coal plants are forced to close to supply this new demand. Look at Europe it happened there.

Lastly my opinion is that we and the world should demand China and India get on board with cleaner operations if the world is going to be more green. Why should they always get a free pass. China in particular gets too many free passes from the world I think it’s well past time the world demands otherwise.

 

I'll get on the EV bandwagon when I can get a Nissan Sakura in the US. That thing is small and cheap and complements my 4Runner and is not a big fat question mark of a lithium fire like the current cheapest in the US but not really cheap Chevy Volt or Bolt or Please Buy Our Potential Lithium Fire That Got Our Shareholders Pissed Off At Us Because We Tried Fixing A Physical Battery Problem With Software Updates While Hyundai/Kia Did The Actually Responsible Thing From The Start And Recalled Their Vehicles That Use The Same Battery Packs While We Looked Like Big Fat Greedy Corporate American Dipshits.

Also, I'm still waiting for Biden's e-bike subsidy or tax credit or whatever it was he said. I was actually credit card in hand close to buying one last year but decided to wait. It's been more than a year. I wish I just got it last year.

And screw Volkswagen for not bringing the smaller hippie bus EV to the US and for overall jacking up prices and chasing the luxury market in general. Car Of The People my foot.

 

I've been toying with the idea of an electric motorcycle strictly for commuting. The vast majority of my driving is by myself, to and from work, <20 miles each way. Most of my travel is on back roads, with zero interstate - i.e. I almost never get over 50 mph. Here in South Carolina, the weather is almost always decent. I could get an electric motorcycle for ~$5k that could easily cover this route.

At some price point, the break-even of gas vs upfront cost would make this a win. it was a 3 -5 year break-even when I ran some back-of-envelope numbers a couple of weeks ago but if the costs of gas keep going up, it becomes closer.

edit: ran a more detailed analysis. It's probably closer to 6 years. if the cost of gas goes up to $8/gal, it becomes a 2 - 2.5 year payback. If gas hits $6, that's when I start thinking about this closer.

 

ITT- people bitching about a push to EV while simultaneously bitching about high gas prices

 

Lol definitely a b**** rich environment. And I'm bitching about the MSRP increases and it's not even EV yet. I guess it's $10,000 to go from gas to hybrid than another $10,000 to go from hybrid to EV so we're basically looking at a $20,000 increase over the current 4Runner prices to get it to EV. So that puts the Gen 7 4Runner starting at around $65,000 with inflation. Hopefully I'll have antique car plates on my 5th gen by then though

 

Really?

You don't want AC? Cruise? Power windows?

Also, if you take inflation into account, a base SR5 4×4 now is cheaper than the base 4Runner was in '94. So, you're not actually paying for any of that stuff anyway.

Furthermore, with add-ons, the one in the quoted post would be $56K today. $56K, with cloth seats.

 

I would pay for AC cruise and power windows but I'd like to remove TSS 10 Way power seats fog lights roof rails running boards and aluminum wheels and the fancy big screen stereo to save $5,000

 

Nissan s-trim in the New frontier got it right

 

Lol. I guess I'll take the bus up to the trails, and then carpool in someone else's 4×4.

Electric isn't an option for the way I drive.

There's no denying the benefits of electric. But, they're nowhere near ready to replace ICE vehicles.

And, anyone who calls them zero emissions vehicles is a fucking idiot.

 

And the SR Tacoma is just about perfect for me from a trim level perspective. Only if they would do an Sr trail that would be just right

 

TSS is a safety feature, not an option

I don't believe running boards are a standard feature. So, no one is forcing you to pay for that.

The wheels, fog lights, stereo, etc are not actually costing you anything extra. As mentioned above, the current SR5 base cost less (with inflation) than the base 4Runner did in '94.

 

I don’t think many of us are bitching about EV. It’s an evolving technology. It’ll get there one day. People are bitching about the cause and effect of WHY gas prices are so high

 

Don't forget that a 2x6x8 cost $19.95 plus tax right now

 

And impending food shortages as farmers and truckers of a smaller scale cannot absorb diesel costs. It is pretty awful when we force the people that feed us to go out of business. I wonder if we will import bread and wheat similar to baby formula.

 

Yeah I know why gas prices are high. I just don't like it. I'm driving less. I'm moving less than 1 mile from work. I'm hanging onto my 4R as long as I can. There is no possible way this government can make the switch from gas to all electric seamlessly. They can't even ride a bicycle without falling down.

 

Lol, if the bicycle thing is the worst thing you've got on him, I'll run to the polls to vote for him again!

 

How are they not?

 

Seriously?

Well, I guess if they just appeared out of thin air and electricity came from magic then they would be.