Thread 28693941

Has this hobby changed in a bad way? I cannot put my finger on what has changed over the last 10-15 years. Have I just gotten older?

Bought picrel in 2012 for $2000. Things just felt good. Maybe I was just happier.

Cars were cheap/plentiful and social media was far less toxic.
Also fewer browns trying to flip cars.

Yes the hobby has changed in a bad way.
But if you're a super hermit introvert anyway all that means is mods / parts are more expensive and of less variety.
Yes, you were probably happier then as well.

Clout chasing.
People thinking certain used cars are status symbols.
Disingenuous people.
Nobody taking an L when selling their car.

Social media is the biggest one, short form content ruined us all.

>>28693941 (OP)
It's because your brain has rotted from the inside out due to too much social media, and now your serotonin/dopamine receptors are fried.
Everyone suffers this fate expect for me.

>>28693941 (OP)
Nah, things have gotten worse. Everything has, really.
The merchants have slowly redistributed the wealth to the point that having even a cheaper project car is a luxury if you can even afford it at all after rent or mortgage and now we're in full economic decline. The numbers are held up by ai companies passing money around in a circle to all of their friends while they just milk us for what's left untill we own nothing, live in the pods, eat the bugs, and are forced to be happy.
It's heartwarming that zoomers, who are the most drastically affected, are aware of who is doing this to them, however at the same time our rights and privacy are being stripped away and essentially it's all over, we got outplayed.

>>28693941 (OP)
>Things just felt good. Maybe I was just happier.
Perhaps you could even say you were . . . gay.

>>28693941 (OP)
Car culture actually still existed in a fun way back then, for me at least. As in, it wasn't all just PCA members and kei cars at Cars & Coffee events and Mopars and VQs at street takeovers at night.
Heck, back in my day (this wasn't that long ago), a "street takeover" would've meant exactly that, a car event where so many people want to go that it clogs the streets, clogs public parking, and everywhere you go, every back alley you look, are car enthusiasts. I was lucky enough to be around to experience some of these.
I don't know, it actually seemed fun to work on and prep your car for these meets, plus regular cruising on the weekends when it actually might mean you meet a few fellow enthusiasts (or ricers). As this was before LED headlights were prevalent, back then it was almost as if you could spot some blue ass ricer-tier HIDs on a Saturday night, and all you'd have to do was follow them and you'd end up at a meet, maybe do some friendly drag racing even.
I've never been to a modern "street takeover", but it just looks like it's all broccoliheads and felons with unregistered firearms watching some stolen car do donuts in an intersection until someone gets hit. That's lame, at least line up and race on back streets or something.

>>28693941 (OP)
Everything changed for the worse really,in cars it's just that young people cant really afford to buy and keep cars anymore,let alone new ones so all the cool cars are dying off

>>28693993
Even driving the cheapest shitbox today is more expensive than what it should be, since if you're in a minor accident with a modern car you're looking at repairs that exceed the worth of your vehicle two or three fold. I remember when I first started driving old folks would say that insurance gets cheaper the older you get but that's no longer true. Everything just gets more expensive.

>>28694082
>unregistered firearms
Where do you have to register firearms?

>>28694089
>Everything just gets more expensive.
Yup. If you look at gdp it looks like everything should be good, but it's inflared dramatically. If more people knew how bad things actually were, people wouldn't be spending, and thus they wouldn't be getting milked to make the rich richer.
My first car cost 600 dollars.
My current car cost me 38k, and my next car will probably be twice that. It's all going downhill. Quality of life is so much lower because purchasing power has steadily degraded over the last few decades, and at an even more rapid rate since 2020

>>28693941 (OP)
The street/track racing and wrenching/tuning scenes (aka actual enthusiasts) basically haven't changed.
Flexers, clout chasers, and hooligans are just fags as always but have taken to social media more than the other aspects of car culture and are therefore more highlighted

I'm broke as fuck and I own a car. Not a new car, but who the fuck wants a 2025 car?
If you're making at least $18 an hour and not hugely overpaying on rent, you can afford a car.

>>28694110
>you can afford a car.
A car that who owns? The bank, or you? Point is, even old shit boxes cost substantially more today than even 10, 20 years ago. It wasn't a luxury, it was hardly something you had to budget for. Damn near anyone could afford a car without sweating the payment. Now you're getting scalped 10k+ for a car that a decade ago was worth 3, maybe 4k tops

>>28694092
It's a figure of speech, watch any videos of a street takeover nowadays and you've got people waving their green and red-lasered guns around everywhere like you're at a shitty warehouse rave or something.

>>28694103
>40 years ago I paid $600 for a rusted-out shitbox and today I have to pay $38k for a brand new CX-90, the economy is collapsing

>>28694114
>A car that who owns?
Me, because I paid in cash to the old lady selling it on facebook
No clue why so many people seem convinced that the ONLY place to buy a car is the shitty buy-here pay-here dealership that runs ads on their local news channel

Hobbies have peaks and valleys depending on the state of the economy. Things have been dire for awhile.

>>28693941 (OP)
>Has this hobby changed in a bad way
Yes. Brown people.

>>28694110
>>28693993
>>28693941 (OP)
In 2014 I bought an 11 year old Toyota for $5000
Today those same toyotas (now 22 years old) are still going for $5000 or more

its fucked

The car world felt smaller. Like I know RCR is weird cringe shit, but the well known Miata review with headlights up/down only has 2.2 million views in 2025. Prices stayed low.

>>28693941 (OP)
It's called depression and we all have it

>>28693941 (OP)
The economy has fucking collapsed over the last 10-15 years

The bare minimum price floor for anything remotely "enthusiast" went from $5k with exceptions to $15k with exceptions.
Your average autist in 2010 could afford to have a car hobby and other interests but in 2025 you have to be a Takumi level automotive monk tending to your shitbox and eating ice soup if you don't have a high paying job.

>>28694126
>No clue
they're retarded

Jeets crashed the used car market quite literally by not buying tires in winter. They destroy all road signs.

>>28693941 (OP)
Diversity and international Jewry

You now live in worse conditions, in higher density, with higher cost, around people that are nothing like you.

Mass immigration and government deficit spending causing inflation is ruining everything


Look at how forums were run with organised meets and club days, vs Facebook groups and their meets

Everyone is poorer and lower iq on average. Fewer people with garage space or a driveway even.

The cars themselves are still ok, just slightly less affordable

>>28693946
Yes, the browns flipping (and stealing) cars has a huge impact

>>28693993
Agreed. We're not out of the game, though. When we swing the hammer back, we hit hard

>>28694082
I really like coffee and cars, but there's very little actual driving or engagement involved, and does tend to the clout side of social media as opposed to spending quality time with like minded people wrenching and driving.

>>28694107
They exist, but it's pay to play. Great if you can afford it.

>>28694703
Indeed

>>28697097
I hate jeets. They clog our roads and I had to sell my bike due to risk of driving around them

>>28694709
In 2015 I bought an 11 year old Mercedes AMG for $8999. Today, that same car with the same mileage is $15-20k. An 11 year old equivalent now (2014) with similar mileage to the one I bought back then is now $25-30k. Shit's real fucked.
Hell, way back around 2010 I remember seeing decently-used E36 M3s regularly going for $4-5k. Adjusted for inflation, and taking the same amount of years into account, this should mean I should currently be able to get into an E90/E92 M3 with 100k miles for $6-7k. It doesn't - and even now that barely gets you either a clean E90 328i or a clapped out 335i.
Nearly every example I can think of, with prices I've personally seen, all show that the dollar has been devalued incredibly hard. The excuse of "those cars are older" also falls apart when you see that a 10 year old Corolla that used to be a $2500 beater is now $10k+. Old cars used to be cheap, undesirable things for teenagers and poorfags. Now, the average age of car on the road is 12+ years and rising (understandable since nucars suck, but that doesn't tell the whole story when said nucars are averaging at over $50k).
Picrel is an ad I saw in January 2019, for instance. We had it good pre-coof.

Has anyone else noticed it's damn near impossible to find even basic transportation in recent years too? Particularly something with a clean title.

It's slightly better now than in the past, but private sales seem dire.

>>28698152
poor who spends $400 a month UBERing back and forth to work logic.
there's plenty of brand new cars under $20k
keep it for 10 years and that's only $166 per month.

>>28698152
Embrace your inner Mexican and take a gamble on a rebuilt title

>>28693941 (OP)
>Has this hobby changed in a bad way? I cannot put my finger on what has changed over the last 10-15 years. Have I just gotten older?
enshittification
everything just got turbo worse after 2001-2006 then again in 2015-2024

I noticed a huge shift around covid.

>>28698503
everyone got project cars
we let in a bunch of illegals who obviously drove something

>>28697963
holy shit

>>28697963
wow, 2400 for an unmolested, 5 spd 240sx...seems completely unfathomable today

there have been a lot of layoffs in a job market where people are already struggling to find work.
the unemployment numbers still look good but it's misleading due to the amount of NEETs who gave up on looking for work.
a lot of people are also relying on making scraps from rideshare and delivery apps so they're technically not unemployed. but truthfully a lot of people aren't making ends meet right now.

throughout all this, inflation has been rising so the fed has been cutting interest rates, which is a recession indicator. i'm sure we'll be in one soon.
heck, we might already be in one. if inflation keeps rising during a recession they call it stagflation, like in the 70s-80s.
i hope we can agree as a country to stop pitting geriatric fucks and zionist puppets against each other by 2028.

>>28694709
>>28697963
checks out. wife bought an econobox in 2020 so we could both have cars since I never remoted to work. paid 15k then, and the same MY car with accrued mileage in 2025 is still 15k

my shitbox from 2012 was purchased for 12k (with only 25,000km on the clock), and up until last year they were going for 10k with 200k+ on it

the real crazy shit is how a used civic up here is going for near new pricing for a 2022/2023 even with miles on it

some shit was still bad then. the following screenshots were done by me in 2013-2014

the idea that "things" will get better is laughably naive. the truth means nothing going forward, only money has any value or meaning, so get yours and fuck everything else or risk being left behind with the failed egalitarian ideals of the 20th century

idk i had fun cruising down the highway with a random shitbox miata in my sn95 and were having a jolly good time.

t. brown

It's just more expensive in general. The people who have stocks/crypto/RE are way ahead of everyone who doesn't.

my shitty obamacare went up $200 for 2026. monthly.

now it's $550-$600 just for okay insurance. that's $6000 a year that I could spend on hobbies, now it's for a boring black hole just so I don't get bankrupt.

everything just gets worse, poor people who don't embrace debt and consumerism get squeezed the hardest.

>>28702000
My health insurance went from $100 a month to $500 so i dropped it
Uncut, unvaxxed, and uninsured, baby

>>28702023
High school dropouts are known for making poor choices in life

I own a nd2 miata and I thank god for being able to afford one. Car ownership as a hobby has gotten better, as cars are objectively better nowadays than before. It's just that it comes with severe downsides such as sensors, telementry and much higher costs. That and all the social media clout chasing faggots wrecking old cars and doing shit mods.
Like the other anon said, the economy is better than ever, but the average worker has been going backwards in terms of wealth ever since 2009. The billionaire class has won, we got outplayed.
>>28702023
I recently visited the usa for work relates business. I talked to some americans there after work over a beer. They would avoid calling ambulances and an uber instead to save money, and that's with health insurance. What will you do if you have an accident? Just commit suicide?

>>28693941 (OP)
Everything has gotten worse anon.

Everything.

We're all the victims of the largest scam and squeeze in the history of human civilization and we're not even at the bottom yet. The perpetrators want you to own nothing. They want you to have no original thought. They want you demoralized and isolated from your fellow man, detached from your community, and pitted against people who are more like you than different.

We face a great crisis and the only way out is by connecting and cooperating with people face to face, taking back control over the information that shapes your behavior and worldview, and getting the grifters out of power. They know it and they will fight it as if their lives depend on it. They will do everything their resources can muster to deflect your frustration and hope for a better future into serving their ends. They will subvert you and manufacture distractions and conflicts.

You must be aware and skeptical of everything. You must live for the world that can yet be, on the other side of it all.

>>28702107
Unfortunately this decline is probably gonna outlast us, and I really don't think anyone will come out ahead.

>>28693941 (OP)
Welcome to inflation anon. Make sure your portfolio outpaces it.

It could get better, but all signs say it won't.

EV performance and even crossovers have really ruined the roads. Every loser boomer can go toe to toe with most "sporty" cars in their CX5. EVs can accelerate like a rocket from a stop light.

Feels like we've forgotten about the finer things in life. It's all death by spreadsheets these days.

>>28698503
This happened with all sorts of collector hobbies. COVID coincided with stocks and crypto going through the roof. People with nothing to do and money to burn started speculating on all sorts of shit, including cars. Prices never went back down.

>>28705395
Yeah. My brother graded my old Pokemon cards and this thing is somehow 2k kek