Gotta largely disagree, and I think you'll see my point when I explain why.

1st, of course is inflation. The relative price of a car back then versus what you were getting paid back then is very close to today. In the 50s & 60s $3-5,000 bought you a really nice house in the suburbs. My parents bought a nice house in '71 for about 15 grand. A house in that neighborhood today starts at $75,000 and most run $120K.

2nd thing to consider is that today you can get a car with very little down & finance the thing for 6 years! Back in the 50s, if you didn't have half the cash for a new car, you'd have a tough time buying one. To top it off, financing was usually no more than 24 months.

3rd, cars didn't last anywhere as long as they did today. To pick up a used car at 70,000 or even 100,000 miles means that you are getting a car that's roughly half way through it's expected useful life. Just back in the 70s, a car with over 40,000 miles was considered high mileage, and if it had 100,000 miles, it was ready for the junkyard.

Cars today are expensive when you compare it dollar for dollar other decades. Adjust it for inflation, and you'll find that cars today are actually cheaper than they were a few years ago & on par with where they were historically.

Overall averages are thrown off by all those $35-40,000 Trucks and SUVs people are buying today. But when you look at Mustangs, Impalas, even big Fords, prices are on par or cheaper than they historically have been relative to wages. Grand Prix is actually cheaper! So is the current fully loaded GTO, when compared to other years of fully loaded GTOs (save the '73 midsized & the '74 Ventura based versions).


Dante93GTZ, your rule of thumb of buying a new car used & letting someone else take the depriciation hit is extremely wise & smart! There's no shame in having a used car unless it's a MUST HAVE.

However, not all cars are marketed to young buyers or people starting off. GTOs (as well as most all serious performance cars including Camaro SSs) have almost always been targeted at a significantly higher age group, or people who have extra money to burn.

Probally not what you want to hear, but certainly true.

 

Very true. With regards to where the GTO and other cars are marketed, its very true, but here's the thing: The may be marketed to a certain age group, but obviously they're not buying quite as much as needed, otherwise the F-body would still be around. My original point, more or less, was if people aren't buying the stuff at $30k+, then why not FIND A WAY to drop the price so the masses can afford it. I realize a $30k to $20k drop isn't realistic, but if the GTO and SS models are geared towards a slightly older or perhaps more financially suited individual and clearly not selling, maybe drop the price so we all can afford it - The sell more for less theory.

Maybe I'm destined for the next 5-6 years to drive the cracker0jack boxes. By then, the 5th gen will be out and if the price there is still too high, at least it'll make a nice LS1 T/A a real steal!