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.
>>28693941It'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.
>>28693941Nah, 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>Things just felt good. Maybe I was just happier.Perhaps you could even say you were . . . gay.
>>28693941Car 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.
>>28693941Everything 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
>>28693993Even 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 firearmsWhere 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
>>28693941The 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
>>28694092It'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>Has this hobby changed in a bad wayYes. Brown people.
>>28694110>>28693993>>28693941In 2014 I bought an 11 year old Toyota for $5000Today those same toyotas (now 22 years old) are still going for $5000 or moreits 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.
>>28693941It's called depression and we all have it
>>28693941The 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 cluethey're retarded
Jeets crashed the used car market quite literally by not buying tires in winter. They destroy all road signs.
>>28693941Diversity and international JewryYou 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 everythingLook at how forums were run with organised meets and club days, vs Facebook groups and their meetsEveryone 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>>28693946Yes, the browns flipping (and stealing) cars has a huge impact>>28693993Agreed. We're not out of the game, though. When we swing the hammer back, we hit hard>>28694082I 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.>>28694107They exist, but it's pay to play. Great if you can afford it.>>28694703Indeed>>28697097I hate jeets. They clog our roads and I had to sell my bike due to risk of driving around them
>>28694709In 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.
>>28698152poor who spends $400 a month UBERing back and forth to work logic.there's plenty of brand new cars under $20kkeep it for 10 years and that's only $166 per month.
