New Cars Too Pricey for Many

[Merlin]

There's always the unforseen costs of certain cars as well.  I won't buy an AWD because I've heard horror stories of having to replace all 4 tires if you have a problem with 1 of them.  Depending on the brand, the tires have to all be the same size, so if 2 years in you have to replace 1, you have to replace them all.  Yikes, not a price I want to pay.

I have a friend who has a 2005 Honda Odyssey with the PAX run-flat tire system, and she has to replace all 4 tires almost every year.  Not even kidding.  I told her she was insane to continue with that kind of upkeep, as I think we pay for new tires every 5 years or so.  That is a HUGE expense.  More than $100/mo just to keep your tire budget going.  No thank you.

I like the thought of the hybrids for my kids, but with what I'm willing to pay for one, it would probably need the batteries replaced sooner rather than later, so that's a no-go.

Most of my vehicles have been AWD (or 4WD) and while it is true to a degree that you should ideally replace all 4 wheels when you replace them, it isn't a requirement. As long as you rotate your tires on the proper schedule they should wear pretty evenly so when it is time to replace one, its time to replace them all anyway. If you do have to replace a tire early (due to a flat or something) the important bit is to replace the opposite tire at the same time. So if you have to replace your right rear, you should ideally replace the left rear at the same time so they rotate at the same speed, otherwise the rotational speed difference can cause undue strain on the AWD which can lead to damage over the long run.

I haven't come across the PAX run-flat system, but my old BMW came with run-flat tires, and yeah those tires are more expensive but they seemed to wear less quickly, so getting 3+ years was pretty common. This PAX thing seems terrible.

Being able to replace your tires every 5 years is pretty amazing, you must not drive much or you have really low-wear (and low-traction) tires. The average tire is closer to 2-3 years of tire wear of normal use before they need to be replaced. We managed to go 4 years in our SUV and that included one cross-country trip and I thought that was pretty good at the time.

Hybrids are a bit of a mixed bag. Yes you can get a bit more MPG out of them and they are more environmentally friendly, but you also pay a lot more for the extra equipment needed to support it (battery, electric motors, etc.) They're also a lot heavier, which can be handy if you're in a windy area but that does make them a bit less performant. The prices have come down quite a bit though and the batteries last much longer now as well. You can expect 8-10 years out of a battery easily. The issue is typically not that the battery will die outright, but they lose capacity over time, so your electric range degrades. I know someone with a 15-year-old Prius with the original battery and it still runs fine. I suspect the car has to spend a lot more time charging the battery though since it probably doesn't hold as much of a charge but it still works.

As long as you're looking at a relatively new hybrid, you shouldn't have any worries. Though with the Prius-c and a few others, you can pick up the entry-level hybrids for under $20,000 now so they are pretty economical even as a new car.