• Wooster@startrek.website
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    1 year ago

    So I looked up the specs for the first 5K-ish India car I found.

    https://www.cardekho.com/maruti/alto-k10/specs

    As far as I can tell, it has every feature you’re saying is responsible for western automakers charging around 6 times the cost of this car… sans heated seats and purported safety standards.

    Chevy charges an additional $1K for the package that adds heated seats to their Bolt EV.

    So, am I to take you at face value that you’re inferring that safety concerns and standards are responsible for the remainder of the price gouging?

    • tim-clark@kbin.social
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      1 year ago

      You can get a golf kart with tye same accessories. Safety, reliability, and quality are a big part of the cost. So is profit.

      A 5k car is a golf cart with doors.

              • vivavideri@lemmy.world
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                1 year ago

                I’m with you. I paid off my 2014 but sold it so I wouldn’t have to tow it cross country. I got $8,500 for it from carmax which was a lowball for 2022. Two years before that, it nearly totaled itself when it blew its head gasket at 51,988 miles. (That was a $5k expense that ford refused to reimburse even though those ecoboost engines are prone to fail)
                We moved to a small town and the car market is extra fucky up here. There wasn’t much available and I needed a car for my upcoming commute, so I picked up a 2001 Forester for $5k. Unbenownst to me, the tires were 12 years old, transmission hadn’t been flushed, and the driver’s side head gasket was leaking.
                Luckily I have some buddies who are Subaru enthusiasts so I’ve only had to sink maybe $1500 to get it in great condition instead of $3-6k. Had a shop do transmission and differential flushes, and it took three months but I got gaskets, heads, spark plug goodies, and exhaust shenanigans done myself.
                We just brought home a 2001 Honda insight for $3500. It’s gonna need some work too, but luckily the hybrid engine is pretty sturdy so long as we deal with battery maintenance.

                You ought to be able to change the alternator yourself to save a buck-- check rockauto.com.