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- Hacker News
- The median US commute distance is <10 miles [0], which is well within ebike or motorcycle range. You can get a new ebike on Amazon that will go up to 30mph for $500, or get a used motorcycle that will go highway speeds for ~$2500.
There are of course other trade-offs with these modes of transport, but they are usually just as fast (and sometimes faster) at single-digit-mile distances. My hope is that as we improve biking infrastructure, biking will become an increasingly-viable primary mode of transit.
[0] https://nhts.ornl.gov/assets/2022/pub/2022_NHTS_Summary_Trav...
by rsanek - I cycle everywhere in Shanghai and I would not even buy a bike if I lived in the US. Motorcycles are for wannabe organ donors. Maybe I’d change my mind if robocars took over from human driven ones but I’d be hesitant about commuting by bike in Ireland, never mind anywhere in the US. Good bike infrastructure is rare.by barry-cotter
- Unfortunately the US is moving hard in the opposite direction, making cycling choices less achievable.
https://ctmirror.org/2026/03/12/bike-walking-trails-lose-fed...
by jjav - I'm not poor but I think it's ridiculous to pay tens of thousands of dollars for a car. I learned that after buying a new car when I got my first job. Since then about $5k is my limit.by SoftTalker
- One solution that exists in third world is motorbikes. New motorbikes cost ~$1000. These are perfectly acceptable, ideal for the western economies, if there are enough of them on the road, it will get safer. One bike in between 10,000 cars is hard to see, but enough of them create bike-awareness.
China's EV cars are known, but it also has 350 million electric motorbikes.
- I think if anything, this shows that cheap cars aren't that bad of a solution. Motorbikes are viable, and people still go for the cheap cars.by hn993302
- My honda NC750 at 10 years old cost me $4200. I had to replace wheels once (rubber, $600) and the transmission failed on me ($850) all within my first 8k kilometers.
My last car was a Subaru forester that did cost a little less, was older tho, on that I spent about $800 in total per year on to keep it alive, easily doing 20k kilometres a year.
Motorcycles arent so much cheaper necessarily.
by herbst - You keep quoting prices that make no sense in 2026 such as cars under 20k. See https://www.theautopian.com/americas-cheapest-new-car-now-co...
Please link to some prices for motorcycles that can go 75 miles per hour (necessary on the highway) that cost < $1k. 5 seconds of googling says they start at around $5k. I have a moto so I agree with the premise broadly that more should consider them. They are not as useful in all weather and of course there is risk of injury which most poor people will have no ability to pay for in our US health care situation...
by runamok - They will not get as safe as cars. They are inherently dangerous, it's like taking a car and removing every safety feature. Removing doors, windows and belts. There's a reason that there is a legal requirement in many countries to wear a helmet.
I spent some time in Vietnam back in 2005, after getting a few lifts on the the back of mopeds in both Hanoi and Ho Chi Minh City, I decided to look up some road traffic accident stats for those cities: I never took another lift like that again.
by pipes - In the course of my work I deal with organizations who sell cars out of impound lots. There is a whole capitalistic recycling industry of buying junked cars and reassembling them into functioning vehicles again.
Interestingly, a fair portion of junked cars get shipped overseas where the labor is very, very low cost and high tech, cheap labor chop shops in places like India or in some countries in Africa will have highly skilled workers basically cut out crumple zones and restore completely totaled vehicles into new looking cars and turn around and sell them. This would never be viable here in the States because of the labor cost, but when you are paying someone $1 USD a day to do highly skilled and technical labor like this it becomes very viable.
Another popular tactic where I live in Texas is to steal a car and drive it south of the border and strip it. Then buy a junked car same make and model with a clean VIN. Then ship that clean VIN second car south of the border as well and rebuild it with the stolen parts and ship it back over for resale.
by SOLAR_FIELDS - To get back to the essay's point, car know-how has traditionally been a blue-collar preserve. YouTube and a bespoke forum for each make and model changed all that. Fixing and maintaining a beater is a source of pride, particularly for the well-heeled who, like Zuck's bow hunting foray, will go out of their way to simulate a more rustic existence.
- I honestly don't know what the essay's point is. It starts off promising, gives good general advice about looking at friend of friends to finding these cars and looking past cosmetic issues. But it stops there.
Okay, I can ignore things like the car doesn't look nice or doors don't lock. But what should I actually look for? What are the things I shouldn't compromise about? Is there some useful metric to calculate useful life of the car? Rules of thumb for issues that may arise, like bad brakes, tires, engine noise, etc? What are things I can fix myself?
by bko - Growing up, my Dad would buy cars from bulletin board ads where he worked at NASA. I was third of six kids and we had a fleet of as many as six cars at a time at our house. Oil changes were unnecessary, but adding oil every tank of gas was common.
I'm driving a 2005 Toyota Matrix with 230K miles that I bought new in 2004. It's just recently needed oil added before an oil change is due.
by memcg - Interesting. I'm far from poor, but that's pretty much exactly how I buy cars, and I have never regretted it. The couple of times that I bought more expensive cars, I've regretted it. The only time I'd take out a loan to buy a car is in an emergency situation. That's happened once, and is one of the purchases I regretted.
The car I currently drive is a 2007 economy model I purchased for $2,000 with ~150,000 miles on it. I've had it for almost 10 years now, and it remains solid and reliable. I am meticulous about regular maintenance, though.
by JohnFen - Are you able to do your own work though? I use and prefer old cars, but I know I won't always be able to because I won't personally be able to deal with the issues on my own.by duskdozer
- I drive an 04 Civic I got from a coworker for $2000 seven years ago. One door handle is missing, the trunk leaks a bit when it rains, some of the ceiling fabric is starting to droop, the clear coat is mostly peeled off, first gear requires some finesse, and if you roll down one of the windows too far, it's going to take two people and 45 minutes to get it back up.
But it drives, requires only the usual regular maintenance, and isn't tracking me. I'm going to drive it until it turns to dust beneath me (or more likely, like the article says, when repairs get more costly than what it's worth).
by abound - > when repairs get more costly than what it's worth
I've never understood why that would be a relevant criteria?
If the car is cheap enough, it's easy for any repair to cost more. So what?
The comparison to make is not whether the repair cost or car value is higher.
The interesting comparison is whether repairing this car I already own is cheaper or more expensive than selling it getting a different one. Nearly always (unless catastrophic failure like blown engine etc) it is cheaper to repair the one I already own.
by jjav - I have never owned a vehicle newer than 20 years old, I have just never seen the point of doing so. The financial math just never worked out.
With that said, I have always done my research and managed to obtain vehicles which, after maybe some high-importance fixes in the beginning, managed to last another 5-20 years without any other major work done to them.
Hell, aside from oil changes and minor fixes that I did entirely by myself, I got my last car for nearly free and it lasted me a good decade before some idiot with a jacked-up pickup - he couldn’t even see me behind him - backed into me even though I was laying on the horn like crazy.
Besides, anything prior to 2006 is going to be much easier to fix, does not have DRM, and will not spy on you unless it comes with OnStar.
Honestly, the biggest pain point these days is the lack of a true manual clutch, with the full three pedals on the floor. These vehicles are becoming distressingly rare.
by rekabis - My wife was from Reno, I was from NY. The week before we got married (in 1996) we were out there and her sister lent us a 1979 F150 at about 2O0k miles —- 3-on-the-tree, no air, AM radio, lap belts. The passenger door would fly open on left turns unless it was locked. I nearly lost my brother when I picked him up at the airport and forgot to warn him.
Maybe cause I was about to get married but I loved that truck.
by JackFr - I always wanted to try a three one the tree, just cause they were so different. Alas all the cars I've ever owned were 5 or 6 speeds. Today I drive an EV with no gears. Maybe someday a collector will trust me with his car - but I wouldn't myself with something classic.by bluGill
- There's an incredible amount of value in simply not worrying if your car will run when you need it to. Cortisol is one hell of a drug.
In many cases it might be better for someone to go deeper into debt on the car if it means they will be able to focus and perform better at work. It might even be worth engaging with less scrupulous financiers. Stability in transportation unlocks a lot of opportunities.
by bob1029 - Hubberman says spiking cortisol in the morning is good. So the $1000 car can solve that problem.by dainiusse
- For me a loan would be far more stressful than fixing a 20 year old car, but I have worked for myself for 15 years so my priorities are probably skewedby interstice
- There's an incredible amount of value in having a job. In caring about your job. In having a job where it matters if you perform well or not. In being in a position to engage with less scrupulous financiers. In stability. In having opportunities in the first place.by cooperadymas
- People say buying used car is a lottery, but so is buying a new released car model. I've seen people having to send their brand new shiny car to the shop on a regular basis. The odds of getting a good experience are higher than blindly buying a second hand car with unknow history but not necessarily much better than buying a 20y old car (whose typical failure points are well known by that point) with complete documented history and knowing a good maintenance shop.
Usually buying a new car that already went to a facelift is your best bet as it means it has been significantly long enough in the market to get most of its early gremlins known and sorted.
Having said that I would now only consider buying a new car if I can pay it in one installment. I once loaned a new car and I regretted it immediately. Car was good but the amount I paid each month would have been better spent/invested elsewhere. I now drive a 20y old car that I paid cash last year. I checked before buying what were the main failure point (CVT transmission if not maintained properly) and bought a car with all the invoices and documentation checking it had been maintained properly and had her CVT oil changed. I expected a few things to fix (audio speaker, shocks) and negociated taking those into account.
The car drive very well, is spatious and comfortable, I could afford replacing it if it died suddently. I would only consider a new car if I decided to go electric but gas price would need to multiply by 3 at the very least. I've seen people going EV then back to gas when they realized that after ~8 years of use their EV needed a battery replacement whose cost negated any saving on gas. I think battery price needs to go down for more EV adoption. Nobody wants to buy a second hand EV if it needs a usd10-15k for a new battery and an EV becomes pretty much unsellable at this point without a replaced battery.
by prmoustache - > There's an incredible amount of value in simply not worrying if your car will run when you need it to.
True, being able to know for sure you can get to work (or wherever important) is a huge peace of mind. And more than peace of mind, can be critical to remaining employed, etc.
A new car does not guarantee you that. I've had partners who are way more into new cars than me and those new cars have failed to be usable in various ways.
A brand new EV was in the shop for 3 weeks. Oops, can't go to work.
A near-new car had an ECU lock up so no way to start it. Call a tow truck to the dealer ($$$) and took a week ($$$$).
A near new EV had an EV-specific problem: it refused to charge. Car ran fine, but couldn't charge so only so many miles left. Drive to dealer, took a few days. At least warranty covered it.
> In many cases it might be better for someone to go deeper into debt on the car if it means they will be able to focus and perform better at work.
Going into debt for a car (a fast depreciating asset) is always a terrible idea. If you're super rich and can afford it, fine, have fun. But for anyone counting money, it's the second worst financial decision you can ever make (second only to carrying credit card debt).
Back to having reliable transportation, which is super important for most people.
Solution? Buy two used cars for way less than half of a new car which can still fail.
I only buy cheap used cars, but always have more than one available. Occasionally one needs maintenance and is out of commission for a few days. That's fine, I have another one (actually a few more, but even one more would do). All my cars put together cost no more than an average new car today. And insurance is way cheaper since they're all old beaters.
It's like servers. You can spend gazillion on the highest end server but it can still fail resulting in downtime. Or you buy a few cheap servers for redundancy and accept that failure is ok and redundancy is in place.
by jjav - Before getting a job in software, I used to buy cars from insurance auctions. Plenty of cars that run and drive end up there for various reason and if you were patient, you could get running and driving cars for $1000 or less (This was 7+ years ago). The catch is that you don't know what you're getting. You either have to have be mechanically inclined or know somebody who is to walk the lot and check the cars out before you bid.
Case and point, I bought a car that was fine when we inspected it, but when they picked it up with the forklift they knocked a hole in the oil pan, and we had to get it towed. $100 for a new oil pan (for the wrong year lol) and I got many years out of it.
by nbf_1995 - If it fits, it's not the wrong year. I once put an exhaust manifold from a 95 Civic into a 98 Civic (replacing its cracked one that was filling the cabin with toxic exhaust fumes). I had gone to a Honda dealer to inquire about a new one; it cost too much, but the guy gave me some free nuts for bolting on a used one before I went on my merry way. Did the work myself. I seem to remember those things have two oxygen sensors that had to be moved from old to new.by kazinator
- This using fork lifts to move cars is crazy. When the car runs why tf do it?! Seen many YT channels show it happening and there is almost always damage.by e40