The Automotivist

Your car payment is $772. But Americans pay an average of $575 every month on top of that. In costs they never budgeted for. A thread on the hidden invoice. 🧵

@JohnToThePoint More is lost to indecision than wrong decision.

You can recover from a bad investment. It’s harder to recover from years of not investing at all. Time forgives mistakes. It doesn’t forgive delay.

If you are buying in April: 5 used vehicles under $28K where the 5-year ownership math works at median income. All-in monthly cost -- loan plus insurance plus gas plus maintenance. No estimates. Just numbers. 5yr at 7.5%, 900 mi/mo, $4.09/gal, median gross $83,730.

@DadisFIRE The wealth hack is not just buying cheaper cars. It's breaking the reflex that says more money means you now need a more expensive one.

🚗 My Car Buying Strategy = Wealth Hack 💰 I never bought a car with under 100k miles or sold one with less than 200k miles—until I became a liquid millionaire. 💵 When that happened 8 years ago, I went BIG… 🎩 Bought a sweet, big baller 2006 Mazda 3 hatchback. Brand new. 🚙 A few years later, I added a Honda Odyssey… with 90k miles on it. 🛠️ I still have both. 🚫 I’ve never had a car loan. Not once. 💵 I refuse to buy a car I can’t pay cash for. ⛽ Even when I was 16 years old making $5 an hour at a gas station in the mid-90s. 💰 Could I afford almost any car? Yes. 🚦Do I even want a new one? Not yet. 🔑 The biggest wealth hack? Mastering the ability to NOT always need more. 🔥 That’s how you build real wealth. Don't need more. 🚀

You have your tax refund in the account right now. What car are you actually looking at -- make, model, trim? I will run the real ownership math on it.

@torquenewsauto Some poeple are always going to be fundamentally opposed to EVs no matter what, simply because they're different than what was before/familiar. I think there's a place for both.

Something big is quietly happening around the BMW M3 right now, and I don’t think enthusiasts are fully processing it yet. On one side, the current gas-powered BMW M3 is still an absolute powerhouse: up to 523 horsepower in Competition xDrive form, razor-sharp handling, and one of the last true driver-focused sport sedans left. But at the same time, BMW is clearly signaling a major shift: an all-electric M3 is coming, likely with four motors and potentially 800+ horsepower, which would make it the most powerful M3 ever built. Look torquenews.com/1/something-bi… So here’s what I’m genuinely curious about: if BMW nails the performance with an electric M3, does that matter to you as much as the sound, the feel, and the character of the current car? Or do you think the M3 name fundamentally depends on internal combustion to mean what it has always meant?

The refund is leverage if you use it deliberately. It is a trigger if April uses it for you. I walk through the full decision -- buy now, hold, or already underwater -- in Friday's issue. The math is the same no matter what month it is. The pressure is not.

Right now 30.5% of all trade-ins carry negative equity. The average gap is $7,214. Most of those buyers did not plan to go underwater. They made an April decision. The refund felt like permission. Eighteen months later, it felt like nothing. Source: Edmunds Q1 2026.

The IRS issued the average 2025 tax refund at $3,182. About half of refund recipients have a car on their list. April is the highest-traffic month at dealerships. That is not a coincidence. The refund is not a down payment. It is a trigger.

@skumWgmi Taught to work hard and climb the ladder of life while the people before us were pulling the ladder up behind them.

Millennials are the most educated generation in American history. They are less wealthy then their parents were at the same age. They work more hours. They own less. At some point "work ethic" stops being the variable.

@theficouple No car payment will not build the whole list for you. It just makes the other three easier to reach.

I wish more people knew that having: - No car payments - 6 month emergency fund - 2-3 income streams - $100,000 invested Is a cheat code for a peaceful life.

@realUNICARNS Throw some decent wheels on it and murder it out. I kind of dig it.

Would you? 1981 Chevrolet Corvette Supercharged for sale via eBay Ad: ebay.com/itm/2676400976…

@randrewcworth Nothing more comfortable for all occasions 👌

My wife is trying to clothes shop for me but she forgets “this” is where it stopped for me. Never left this era.

@AccentInvesting A lot of people understand the investing side and still underprice what the car takes from the rest of their life month to month.

A $500 car payment is actually a $500,000 mistake over 30 years in an index fund.

@torquenewsauto I own a model Y, but I would like to try alternatives with how good the used deals are. The tech is great with tesla and charging infra is unbeatable. But with some of the $100k+ msrp from legacys on the used market for sub $50k, its worth trying.

I’ve been noticing something interesting lately with the Tesla Model Y, especially as more owners cross that 30K–60K mile range. Some are saying it’s the best all-around EV they’ve ever owned, while others are starting to point out small but persistent annoyances like suspension stiffness, tire wear, and those occasional phantom braking moments that just won’t fully go away. From my perspective covering EVs daily at Torque News, the Model Y still hits a sweet spot in practicality, charging network access, and software updates, but I’m not convinced Tesla has refined the “daily comfort” side as much as legacy automakers are starting to. So here’s the real question: if you’ve lived with your Model Y for a while, would you buy it again today, or are you starting to look at alternatives like Hyundai, Ford, or even the next-gen Tesla lineup? torquenews.com/1/ive-been-not…

I remember signing before I understood what I had agreed to. The lender ran my numbers. They cleared. Keys landed in my hand. I never saw the percentage. The average new car costs $1,242 a month all in. For the median household earning $83,730, that's nearly 18% of gross going to one depreciating asset every month. Approved and affordable are not the same question. The first one gets answered automatically. The second one you have to ask yourself. Source: Experian Q4 2025, Census Bureau 2024.

@skumWgmi A lot of people did everything "right" and still got dropped into an economy where one normal car problem can knock the whole month sideways.

I was supposed to work hard. I did. I was supposed to get good degree. I did. I was supposed to land a real job. I did. Now i have $340 in savings and i'm one car repair away from credit card debt. Nobody lied to me. They just described a different century.

@babyblueice22 @skumWgmi Salaries and fixed incomes are a modern invention. The idea of fixed resources (money) was never something humans historically dealt with. Feast and famine was normal so you learned to preserve.

@_automotivist @skumWgmi It always very easy to get used to things being BETTER -- wealthier, easier, more pleasant. It is very very hard to get used to things getting worse.

The "dream job" salary is $95,000. After taxes, that's $5,800/month. Rent for a 1BR in a major city: $2,400 Car payment+ insurance: $650. Student loans: $400. Groceries + utilities: $600. That's $740 left. For everything else. For the whole month. This is what "making it" looks like now.

$49,353 - that's the average new car transaction price in February 2026, per KBB. Median U.S. household income: $83,730, per Census Bureau 2024. Under the 20/4/10 rule, you'd need $147,900 in annual income to own that car responsibly. That's 77% above what the median household earns. The loan approval process has no such standard. It needs a credit score. Ownership drag doesn't.