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Originally Posted by Hitch
I tend to run to the uber-cheap on bloody CARS. I'm sorry, but when the price of the average car meets/exceeds the price of my first home....ya, not doing that. My current vehicle is just now 19; the Hubster's truck is 20. My theory is, it's a bloody tin can that takes you around from A-->Z. That's all they are. I drive them until literally, the car wears out.
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The most economical way to own a car is to buy a good quality car, maintain it according to factory specs, and run it completely into the ground.
A late friend would buy junkers and run them into the ground, thinking he was saving money. I thought about the problems his various vehicles had, and said "What value do you place on your
time? The amount of time and effort you must put into keeping the junkers running vastly exceeds the savings you think you get by buying a junker."
A long ago girlfriend bought a used car. She and her mom did the research about which cars had the
least reported recalls and problems, and she got a Dodge Dart that performed flawlessly for years. (And this was back in the days
before The Internet Ate the World, and there weren't things like Google, so doing the research took a bit more effort.)
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Appliances, though--I admit, I tend to go higher-end. My experience is, and has always been, that some of the better manufacturers have products that last longer. I recently replaced the washer & dryer, and it was ouchy in terms of dough (ditto our air-conditioner, which should NOT have been looking in death's face, but was...) and we've seen a difference in our electrical (no gas). We're fortunate in that our house is remarkably well-insulated, so we pay less in this house than we did in our much-smaller former home, but yes: we are seeing a measurable difference with our new front-load pair. <shrug>. FWIW.
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In general, you get what you pay for, so buying quality is the preferred method. An old friend talked about contracting, and said "You toss out the high and low bids, and look at the stuff in the middle." The high bid will be more than you need, and the low bid will be low for reasons you will find out the hard way if you go with it. He was talking specifically about government contracts, but the strategy is broadly applicable.
Certainly, current appliances are all pushing energy efficiency. So is ConEd, our local electric utility. They are pushing energy efficiency and conservation hard, because the
last thing they want to do is build another generating plant. That would be a political nightmare. First the question would arise of where to put it, and the answer from everyone would be "Not near
me!" Then they would need regulatory approval to build, with reams of environmental impact statements. Next would come actually raising the money to do it, which would require bond issues and more regulatory approvals. (We are talking several $billion.) Next is actually building the plant and bringing it on line. And last but not least would be getting approval to raise the rates to
pay off the bonds as they come due. They
really don't want to go there. I wouldn't either.
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Dennis