Car, Tech or Beer?

On the surface this seems like an easy question, but somehow it’s not haha. I just bought a new car, but I typically stay with the same make and model that I trust, so it was a no brainer just getting an updated model.

Not much of a tech-y kinda guy, but when I make a legitimate investment on something new, I dig deep.

it’s so easy now to research a beer, gauge general opinions/reviews of it. On the basis of frequency, beer. On the basis of research on one item, definitely a tech item that I’d consider more of an investment.

 

I never "research" beers. As long as it doesn't say coffee or pumpkin on the label, I buy it.

 

What if it says hazy, orange, or juicebox?

 

Car was my answer and it should be the most frequent answer here just because of what we have to spend for them nowadays. I'll research a little bit for tech stuff, but I rarely research for beers.

 

I'm finding more and more beers that don't mention murkiness on the labels, so I often get unpleasant surprises.

 

CAR, hands down. I will never understand how people continue to buy cars online without seeing them in person to perform a PPI and test driving them.

Idiot searching the web: I love how this car looks, and it fits my style/personality. Eh, it's $5,000 over my budget but I love it nonetheless. 3 months later... I hate this piece of shit: it rides hard, the visibility is terrible, and it doesn't have enough space for all of my stuff.

 

Look at the number of people on this site who are from a big city. I would hazard a guess that quite a few of them have never done research on a car because they ride the train or bus everywhere.

 

There is a strong wording bias here. Is it research time per purchase or research time overall?

I have a hard time believing people spend more time researching beers per purchase than cars. A car is a purchase made every few years with the American average loan being 5 years (woah!). By contrast, a beer is paid for complete at the time of purchase (with the exception of rolling-over credit card usage). If we're discussing research per purchase reading even an hour about 4 different car models would put your total research time per purchase at 4 hours. In order to match this with beer, you'd have to read 4 hours per new-beer purchased - including draft beers. By virtue, it'll be more difficult to do a comparative level of research with beer than cars since new beer can be purchased by the dozens with ease in comparison with purchasing one car even every couple of years.

Now if we contrasted this with research time overall, that's a completely different metric. We're on a forum that discusses beer. By virtue, we're 'researching purchases' by browsing these forums. It may not amount to much time per specific beer, but it may account for more total research time than car purchasing research.

And on the other hand, some people lease their vehicles. There should be a fourth option to acknowledge this as a portion of the survey does not apply to them.

 

I don't give a shit about a cell phone, tablet, etc, but I'm serious about my motorsports/cars and beer. I voted car because of the cost but I do more fair share of beer research!

 

I have a car that runs and don't care for tech stuff so with the many beers on the market I want to spend my money on something good to drink so reviews help me see if the flavor profile matches my liking.

 

My research when buying beer is to ask for a sample.

 

Results have turned after 27 votes and cars are at 48%.. Maybe there is hope for sanity.

 

+1.... that's a really important distinction.

Regardless, for me research before purchasing beer is mostly non-existent. I discovered years ago that beer ratings and reviews don't necessarily line up with I like. I walk through the store and get what looks good or interesting to me [and fresh].

EDIT: I assumed it was per purchase and responded car. If it's overall research time then I would vote tech.

 

Time per dollar spent - beer.

 

I sometimes do a quick search on beer reviews when choosing a beer, though mainly to ensure I haven't reviewed it before. If reviews suck, I won't try it. As far as cars, twice I've bought a car without even test driving it. But electronics - I research the hell out of those. They can be glitchier than cars.

 

Not true anymore. We're getting worse. The average loan length is about 69 months, I believe, with 72 months being the most common loan. From Edmunds:

By the third quarter of 2015, 43.5% of new-car buyers had loans of 61 to 72 months, according to Experian. The credit reporting agency noted that 27.5% of buyers had even longer terms for making monthly new car payments: 73 to 84 months. The typical car loan length has also grown longer for used car buyers, with 41.3% of consumers in this category choosing 61 to 72-month loans, notes Experian. There are 16.2% of used car purchasers who finance their vehicles for between 73 and 84 months.

That means nearly three-quarters of new car buyers take out loans of 61 months or more, and 57.5% of used car buyers have a car loan length of 61 months or more – both of which are beyond what was typical just 10 years ago. In 2018, the most common car loan length for new and used vehicles 72 months, followed by 84 months, according to Edmunds, which recommends a limit of 60-month auto loans.

 

Yeah, beers I know, don't mind the gamble on the unknown.

Cars, I've never bought new, so whenever I'm looking at a car (actually truck), I have a pretty solid base idea of the history of the make/model/generation/year, and just go by price.

Tech? I don't know jackshit about that, and research the hell out of it. Read online, talk to all my techie nerd friends, ask my regular non-techie friends, shit, I'll ask the crazy guy on the corner what the hell he thinks. And, I still generally end up buying at least a generation behind.