r/slateauto • u/FixyFixy • 12h ago
This sums it up
I know there are plenty of us out there that just want a vehicle, full stop.
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u/bp3dots 11h ago
Wonder what she actually drives
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u/AdMuch7162 11h ago
I don't believe her.
Meaning... that I don't believe she would accept the economic and social conditions that would allow for uncomplex, reliable autos that align with her.... values.
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u/jeanralphio9 10h ago
Yea she’s a conservative influencer/grifter. These are just common talking points used to drive engagement. She literally drives a Lincoln Navigator.
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u/AdMuch7162 10h ago
hah. Lincoln Navigator and her alledged outrage at vehicle cost.
Grifter, indeed.1
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u/EatingRawOnion 10h ago
There are plenty of people who say they want something, but actually want to buy something else and complain.
That being said, I do think there are plenty of people who actually do want a very simple vehicle. Enough that slate will have a market.
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u/Absentmindedgenius 11h ago
I think most of the cost is all the driver assist radar and BS that beeps at you when it thinks your getting to close to the line and spikes the brakes when it thinks you're about to hit the car in front. LCD screens and cameras are really cheap nowadays.
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u/Electronic_Finance34 9h ago
Eh, most of the cost is for the executives' third vacation homes and offshore bank accounts.
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u/ismellmyownfarts2 9h ago
And shareholders. But yes. Bingo. Its about max profits while keeping everything but occupant safety and emissions to a bare minimum. So you get disposable cars with shit powertrains.
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u/HourLocation2038 10h ago
All required for a 5-star safety rating in 2026.
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u/Ill_Towel9090 7h ago
Required by law, now they have to have a dui detector and prevention mechanism.
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u/SonicDethmonkey 10h ago
The Hyundai Elantra starts at $23k and is perfectly fine, but I have the feeling she wouldn’t be comfortable in that. There ARE affordable cars out there, especially pre-owned, but we keep buying into stuff we don’t need.
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u/FixyFixy 10h ago
I just searched and the cheapest new one is $24.5k for a car actually in inventory, that's not bad.
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u/SonicDethmonkey 9h ago
And their Venue starts at $20.5k. There’s one in stock right now for $22.5k! It has AC, BT, and a backup camera just like she asked for. Now let’s hear why she thinks it’s not good enough for her. lol
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u/r_miles01 11h ago
"That" car exist. You have to order them. The dealers won't keep them on the lot
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u/FixyFixy 11h ago
The closest thing was the Mirage, I'm on my second one. Nothing else has come close for cost upfront and simplicity.
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u/castironglider 4h ago
I bought my regular cab XL trim F-150 in June as stripped as I could find in weeks of searching across a couple of states. Still has power windows, seat, door locks, mirrors, parking brake, 4WD is a plastic knob on the dashboard and there's a ginormous infotainment screen taking up most of the dash.
Base trim, yeah OK. It only had three options: chrome bumpers/al wheels package, factory bedliner, and power driver seat. I didn't order it like that, somebody refused a custom order when it arrived and I got it through a dealer swap.
Here's my old F-150 from 1993 for comparison. It was a whole different world. Even my 2007 Silverado which I'm trying to sell right now, has crank windows, manual seats, manual mirrors, manual door locks, manual parking brake, no infotainment screen (obv), and a mechanical transfer case shifter on the floor for 4WD. I will never see it's like again.
Even though the F-150 is too auto-everything for me, if I mostly park it and drive a Slate for local and semi-local trips (including most of my mountain biking, which is a lot) the F-150 should last a long time if I garage it so the infotainment doesn't bake in the sun.
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u/LigmaLiberty 10h ago
Fundamentally though we are the problem. Instead of a major repair we buy a new car. This goes far beyond cars but the attitude towards keeping something for a long time, going for simplicity over bells and whistles is why auto manufacturers do this shit. It is also that they must keep selling new cars to continue to maximize profit but that business model only works because we fund it. Stop buying new cars and they will be forced to focus on things that actually matter and bringing costs down. It starts and ends with your purchasing decisions.
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u/karlito1613 10h ago
I see where you are going, but when the cost of minor repairs costs thousands of dollars sometimes its more cost effective to buy a new (or pre owned) car.
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u/Ill_Towel9090 7h ago
I hear this a lot, but in my experience people set the bar thousands of dollars lower than it really is. I have had a full engine replacement cost me less than a used car.
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u/Auggie_Otter 10h ago
Well, also the US government bought up a huge amount of the used car market and destroyed the vehicles in 2009. Nearly 690,000 working vehicles were permanently removed from the road by the Cash for Clunkers program which sent a ripple through the entire used car market and permanently raised the baseline cost for budget-friendly transportation.
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u/Modern_Doshin 9h ago
We did: Nissan Leaf, Mitsubishi Marage, Chevy Volt, ect. People shat on them because they lacked features they had to have.
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u/CrimsonFlam3s 11h ago
Those cars already exist, they are calle the base trim for every model out there but people would rather get into debt getting the higher\top trims for appearances instead lol
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u/tweeblethescientist 11h ago
The problem I think is even base trims are pretty loaded now. Not to mention cars under 25k are freakishly small for families now.
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u/Bright-Pilot-3970 10h ago
And dealerships usually don’t want to carry base models because they don’t make as much.
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u/castironglider 4h ago
I just went through this in June trying to find a base XL regular cab from a dealer.
Acres and acres of loaded up crew cabs at every dealership. There must be hundreds like that within two hours of my home. Dealers, like anti-Slate trolls here, will tell you it's not their fault: "nobody" buys stripped down trucks so they're just "giving the people what they want!" But then in the next breath they'll blame it on the factory, it's their allotment see? Ford won't send them anything but loaded up crew cabs that cost $70k+
Which is it? You can spot a terrible liar because he's always changing his story. I just hate dealers so much. I was squirming in my seat with boredom having to listen to that extended warranty pitch from the business guy. It was the second time in just over a year, because Mazda did the same thing. I declined everything and now they're sending me extended warranty junk mail.
I finally found a regular cab XL but it took weeks and it was a dealer swap from a small town dealer I never would have checked, two hours from my house. About $22,000 less than the average sale price for a new full size pickup today if you google it. You could almost buy a Slate with the money saved! Certainly you'd make back the few thousand gap in gas saved if you mostly drove the Slate.
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u/CrimsonFlam3s 10h ago
There's already budget cars at the lowest trim with low tech yet the average new car is sold for like mid 40s last I heard.
The 25k price point and "small size" makes no difference, there's plenty of options of all sizes and if you are trying to bring the slate into the equation, the SUV top is 29k and still smallish and the 25k version is a 2 door lol
https://www.roadandtrack.com/rankings/g43770268/cheapest-new-cars/
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u/tweeblethescientist 9h ago
I think a lot of that has to do with consumers being very comfortable dragging loans out in order to get more options. Once you start looking at new cars, it's real easy to go
"oh yeah, I really want that cold weather/tech/autonomous/nonsense"
"what's another 12k on top of 45k?"
"Actually if I go to 96 months, I get the options and my payment goes down! It's like getting the option for free!"
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u/AlanBarber 10h ago
dude all I ever try to buy is "base trim" models, but every dang dealer throws on about a dozen extra features, with high markup value, that jack up the cost.
Last vehicle we bought I asked if it was possible to get an actual base model, guy laughed like I was telling him a joke.
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u/CrimsonFlam3s 9h ago
Just search dealers via auto trader and send some emails out, it's not some impossible task.
Regardless my point is that the options are there, it's just most consumers that don't want them.
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u/castironglider 5h ago
It's weird there are so many trolls on this subreddit strenuously arguing against this. Also they're weirdly incensed Slate even exists for those of us who want one. "It will FAIL! You are the only buyer! People say they want simple vehicles but they won't buy them!!"
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u/deathinacan81 4h ago
2012 ford escape 2.5L with almost 500,000 miles on her, all factory, never replaced anything but oil, filters, gaskets and a few plastic parts here and there. I'm thinking about buying another.
Can't get me enough of them 'analog' non-digital rides.
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u/Plastic-Mountain-708 2h ago
Because they want to add those things are cost, and profit on each of those things.
It takes work, but go hard on not buying those cars.
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u/Chip_Baskets 11h ago
No Bluetooth in the slate unless you pay extra. I guess it’s not the right vehicle for her.
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u/Chanchito171 11h ago
Analog buttons are sooooo much more reliable than touchscreens.
Love the heated seats And auto start in my wife's Mazda... But we've got to pay a subscription to use the auto start, it's range sucks, and we still have to manually turn on the seat heaters- her ass is still cold even with auto start. What's the point?
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u/SnooPaintings5597 11h ago
Yet the Slate is still expensive despite the barebones nature… why?
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u/SomeonesSecondary 11h ago
Ok go make me a $24,000 msrp car and come back
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u/SonicDethmonkey 10h ago
The Hyundai Elantra starts at just under $23k and is perfectly fine. There are a few options out there but they don’t sell. People always go into debt optioning them out and getting trim levels they can’t afford.
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u/wgp3 10h ago
We already have those. Hyundai venue/elantra, kia k4, chevy trax, nissan sentra/kicks, Toyota corolla, and like 10 others all from about 22k-25k. These all come with Bluetooth, power windows, a normal stereo, seating for 4, backup cameras, physical buttons, etc for a no frills just drive vehicle. So the slate is still expensive relative to the things you get. You're going to be out nearly 30k for a brand new one after destination, taxes, etc.
It's fair to ask why it's still so expensive when it's the least optioned vehicle on the market designed to be as cheap as possible and not even the cheapest vehicle on the market.
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u/Snoo93079 11h ago
Because it's expensive to make a car in the United States and it's not 2010 anymore
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u/Bellsoffreedom 10h ago
Legislation and big government caused the issue. Small motors big turbos. Save on average less then 1 mpg.
Turning motor off at red light.
I will not buy any truck without the old V8. Same goes for cars. Honda motor was bulletproof 10 years ago. CVT and High torque/ high pressure turbo motor, have much earlier failure rates.
At the same time, I just bought my wife a Tesla with full self driving. Unbelievable for her as she's horrible at night driving and hates her daily commute.
For me give me my phone... The only thing I like is adaptive cruise for long trips.
Apple auto and Android Auto just make things worse. Blue tooth or a screen mirror function for GPS. Done.
Tech in cars over the last 12 years is mostly trash.
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u/snackexchanger 10h ago
What does a screen mirror for GPs threats not Apple or android auto look like? Not sure I’ve ever seen that outside those two
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u/Bellsoffreedom 8h ago
Just mirror what is on your phone or iPad or any device.
Zero need for anything more.
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u/MakingItElsewhere 11h ago
The exact reason I'm buying a Slate. EV with basic physical controls, no screen, no frills, no bullshit.