this post was submitted on 13 Feb 2026
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Fuck Cars

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A place to discuss problems of car centric infrastructure or how it hurts us all. Let's explore the bad world of Cars!

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This is the question posed on CityNerd video titled "Walkable Cities But They Keep Getting More Affordable"

If you ditched your car, could you afford to leave the suburbs for a great urban neighborhood?

Ray Delahanty answers the question in the 26 biggest US cities.

The analysis assumes the all-in cost of owning and operating a car is $1,000 per month, including purchase, insurance, fuel, and maintenance.

In the city, transportation costs might total about $250 per month for transit passes, biking, ride-hailing, and other small expenses.

This results in an effective $750 per month increase in the housing budget for city center residents who do not own a car.

The results of the video are quite interesting, as you can get more m² in walkable areas in most cities

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[–] ColeSloth@discuss.tchncs.de 18 points 22 hours ago (3 children)

A grand a month for a car? Only if you can afford to blow money. I bought my car used 6 years ago for $4,000. Between repairs and maintenance, tires, oil, repairs, etc I've spent about another $4,500. Plus $1,000 a year fuel (Prius). And $800 a year on insurance. So my all in cost is like $280 a month and dropping the longer I keep it. Plus what I can get from selling it.

[–] AA5B@lemmy.world 8 points 21 hours ago (1 children)

YMMV but if you look around online you’ll see much higher overall costs are more typical and more importantly most people greatly underestimate them

[–] ColeSloth@discuss.tchncs.de 4 points 20 hours ago

Depends on what you're able to learn and do yourself and what you buy. I bought a Gen 2 Prius with 160,000 miles on it with a hybrid battery issue. I could buy a nicer one for less money right now than I could back then. It's currently at 284,000 miles and not showing a hint of slowing down. One of my tpms transmitters went out recently, so that will cost me $100 for 4 new ones next time I replace my tires. I don't like seeing the yellow light for it on my dash. Lol

[–] Soup@lemmy.world 3 points 18 hours ago (2 children)

I spend under $70/mo on my metro pass, and they’re normally “expensive”* at $104/mo. There are zero added costs, ever, except for if I didn’t also own a car I would need to use a carshare service probably once a month, but it’s hard to gauge since sometimes I use my car just to make sure it actually gets used. Without a car there are no parking fees, no gas, no maintenance, and not even any need to shovel snow or anything else that you likely don’t even realize you do simply to keep owning a vehicle.

$280/mo is a pretty bum deal to not even get other benefits like being driven around or never having to deal with the concept of rush hour.

[–] P00ptart@lemmy.world 3 points 13 hours ago (1 children)

Plus you can travel as drunk as you want as long as you're not a problem.

[–] Soup@lemmy.world 2 points 1 hour ago

Also true! I don’t drink much, but it’s still a huge benefit, and it also means that I don’t need to think about the timing or anything when I do have a glass.

[–] ColeSloth@discuss.tchncs.de 1 points 17 hours ago (3 children)

What I dislike about the fuckcars instance. Ignorant people who just think people only live in big cities with public transport and that all of their families and friends and relatives they want to see are all there a mere bus ride or train trip away. Just ignorant to 90% of the land people live on. Most of the country requires a vehicle.

[–] Soup@lemmy.world 0 points 58 minutes ago (1 children)

First, the post is literally about moving into a city.

Secondly, we all know that rural places exist and you’re not being smart for bringing it up as if we don’t. This sub is based almost entirely on making cities, which are inherently worse off with car-centrism, into better places.

Lastly, there is zero reason why rural communities need to be that spread out. You 1000% can have mid-density, walkable towns and many older villages in North America have town centers that are built closer to that ideal. Those places were then surrounded by sprawl and suffer greatly for it.

The ignorance is your own.

[–] ColeSloth@discuss.tchncs.de 1 points 4 minutes ago

The post is also about cars costing you a thousand dollars a month that you could be saving. That number is just silly. You can have a car for significantly less.

Also, you're talking like you can just eliminate all of the small towns and housings and redo them to group them up. Any small places like that would still need to own vehicles in order to leave those small towns when needed. Not owning a vehicle is only a possibility in larger cities. Especially if you have to work outside of your town.

[–] Ibuthyr@lemmy.wtf 2 points 5 hours ago (1 children)

Yeah, but this post is about moving into an area with such infrastructure...

[–] ColeSloth@discuss.tchncs.de 1 points 3 hours ago

The post is claiming you can afford such a neighborhood by saving $1,000 a month by not owning a car.

[–] P00ptart@lemmy.world 3 points 13 hours ago

I have 2 cars in a rural "city" cars are absolutely required here. We used to have a trolley, but it got killed in the GM/Firestone conspiracy. Things could have been so much better and as much as I love my MX-5, overall I totally get fuck cars. I wish I had the option to opt out of ownership. But since I don't have that option, I chose to maximize the fun, and minimize the damage. It's honestly the best I can do in the Midwest. If the winters continue to get warmer I can get rid of the Wrangler entirely, which ... Fuck that's not good either. It'd be nice to live in a world without cars, and I want that. I'd absolutely give up both for a bus pass or light rail but logistically, I can't. And it's bullshit that that was once an option, but our lives were made worse by capitalism and forces outside of our control.

[–] socsa@piefed.social 2 points 18 hours ago (1 children)

That's definitely not a normal price for a used Prius though. Typically one that is in reasonable condition is closer to $15k.

[–] ColeSloth@discuss.tchncs.de 2 points 17 hours ago (1 children)

Lol. Not even remotely close for a Gen 2 Prius. I dunno where you live, but you'd be insane to pay $15k for one of those. There's a nice one for sale with under 100k miles on it right now for $5,000 that's about 20 minutes away from my house right now. That one happens to be a good deal, but at the same time, it's been up for sale for a few weeks now.

Special note: avoid buying a 2010-2014 Prius. Especially an 11 or 12. Head gasket seal issues. If recognized early when they start to leak it's not a big problem if you know how or are willing to learn to replace yourself. Full day job if you're not used to doing that sort of thing. Expensive job if you have to pay someone else to do it. If the problem is ignored you'll end up needing an engine and likely a catalytic converter.

It's pretty easy to find a 2015 under 150k miles for under $10k.

[–] socsa@piefed.social 2 points 16 hours ago (1 children)
[–] ColeSloth@discuss.tchncs.de 2 points 15 hours ago

It's in missouri on Facebook marketplace. Just do a search there for a 2006 Prius with like 84,000 miles on it and it will pop up. It's red.