[dsfyu404ed]

>I spent 3 months watching used listings and wound up with a very low mileage 2006 Rav4 (for ~$10k) and it has been wonderful.

People think used Toyotas are made of gold. You could almost have a different Tahoe (in equivalent condition) for each day of the week at that price point.

[jki275]

Toyotas are the lowest maintenance used car you can buy. I've owned many and now only buy Toyota. When I can buy a 9 year old luxury model for less than 10k and drive it for another 200k+ miles putting minimal maintenance into it, that's saving me a ton of money and gives me a comfortable car to drive for my three hours a day commuting.

Tahoes? Yeah. You're going to put a significant amount of maintenance into an over 100k Tahoe. They're nice vehicles but the maintenance costs are more than I want to pay.

[dsfyu404ed]

The price difference between a Tahoe and 4Runner or Ranger and Tacoma could probably put a new drive-train in the latter. Buying a Toyota (truck/suv, the used prices for the cars are reasonable) is still paying for maintenance, you're just paying up front instead of over time.

[jki275]

I do my own maintenance in general. You pay extra for not getting stranded on the side of the road and with a 60+ mile commute I'm happy to pay it.

[dsfyu404ed]

If you do your own maintenance then it makes even less sense to "pay for quality" because the cost of addressing issues yourself is minimal. It's very rare to have issues out of the blue anyway.

I drive an early 90s shitbox and have an almost exactly 60mi commute. Obviously it would be a massive waste of time to try to keep it in tip top shape at all times but it's really not the stressful "am I going to break down today?" experience that some would think. The main difference between my current shitbox and the variety of late 2000s and early 2010s cars I used to drive for work is that the 90s interior rattles a lot more and there's more wind noise.

[jki275]

my time isn't valueless.

Buying quality means I spend less of it maintaining a vehicle.