centric

Are new cars really more affordable? Take a look at this thread:

http://forums.corvetteforum.com/zerothread?id=546283

Highlights:

1. A $5300 1965 Corvette = about $30,992 today.

2. 1967 Corvette with total cost of $4686 taking 9 months of starting engineer's take-home wage to purchase versus new Corvette taking 22 months of starting engineer's take-home to purchase.

There is a reason that we have leases and 72-month financing today, when we didn't have them back then: cars are overpriced.

So nearly 40 years of progress = more expensive cars that offer less colors and less choice. I find it very sad that today's robotized factories, using parts outsourced to who knows how many low-wage countries, cannot compete with hand labor and vertical integration that's 40 years out of date.

mcsslover1987

Thats why I'll tell someone at auto shows that's what I'll be buying in 10 years when I can afford one.

WERM

Yeah, but now they last more than 50,000 miles.

BTW: What kind of Engineer are you talking about? If I use $46,000 as the cost of a corvette, that works out to be about $25,000 a year.

stars1010

Please dont say Mechanical Engineer ! Thats wat I'm going to school for.

Meccadeth

lmfao that's gotta be scary

I wonder where all of this extra money that we're spending on cars today is going? I KNOW its not all going back into research and development of new cars/SUVs...

Darth Xed

Well, think about what you get today compared to yesterday....


Things that weren't even dreamed up back then are standard on most cars. EFI, ABS, Traction Control.

Heck power brakes and power steering if you want to go back far enough.


The safety of a car today is lightyears ahead, the fuel economy, the emissions, the equipment...

Meccadeth

The same held true for cars 4 decades ago too...people hadn't even dreamed of owning a car that u didnt have to crank manually back in the '20's ...Well maybe they did dream of it. And having a radio in the car So I think its still progressing at about the same rate...

ol'93formula

I don't think that a Vette is good example to use when comparing the cost of cars today vs yesterday. The Corvette has gone upmarket.

A better comparison would be a Grand Prix. Here is a copy of a motor trend test from 1965. This car had a price as tested of $4868 with a base of $3500.

http://www.pontiacserver.com/mtgp5.html

So if a $5300 1965 Corvette = about $30,992 today.

Then a $4868 GP should cost about $28,466 today. This looks about right.

stars1010

Well if its not research and development then maybe it will go towards my future payroll!

guionM

ol'93formula is dead on. BUT....Also consider what you get todaystandard that you didn't before:

*Air Conditioning *Power windows, doorlocks,& mirrors, *Warrantys that last alot longer than 3 months, *Engines that typically last well over 100,000 miles, not 30,000, *Onboard computers that have nearly 4 times the computing power of all the ones used for a Apollo moon mission...COMBINED, *Anti lock brakes, *Air bags, *Longer lasting equptment & sub-systems, * longer (and cheaper) service intervals (remember replacing plugs, condensers, & distributor caps every few thousand miles?), *Electronic stereo systems w/ CD players & 8 system speakers, *Energy adsorbing bumpers, *Body structure engineered to adsorb impact instead of forcing you through the front end in head-on collisions, *alarms & anti theft ignition systems, *346 cibic inch engines that get more ACTUAL horsepower and at least 3 times the fuel mileage of 454 cubic inch "special production" high performance engines of the past, *The complete elimination of 99.99% of carbon monoxide, and over 90% of most all other emmisions over the past 30 years, let alone 50!

Throw in far better build quality (easy to forget that cars today are built bank vault tight, right down to Daewoos) and the fact that car makers have to throw in billions of dollars on regulations and increased development costs for a far more demanding consumer.

When all of this is taken into consideration, AND the fact that cars (taking inflation and average wages into account) is still running about the same as an average person's salary, it's a nothing short of a miracle cars don't cost a whole lot more!!

Few examples of salaries over the years:
http://www.mde.k12.ms.us/Account/200...t/CTNoSa03.pdf
http://www.iaap-hq.org/ResearchTrends/salaries.htm
http://nces.ed.gov/pubs2002/digest2001/tables/dt081.asp

Jason E

I agree, for what you get sometimes, cars are WAY overpriced, compared to what you used to get. BUT...cars have made such huge advancements since then, in terms of durability. Sure, some people are crazy enough to do 72 month financing, but at least at the end of the 6 years there is a car left! My dad's '69 Camaro was a rustbucket by 1975 that barely ran a year later, with 100k miles on it. Conversely, my '95 Grand Am I sold last summer with 121k on it was like brand new in and out, despite never being inside, hardly washed until I got the car with 109k, and having oil changes done every 6-7k during that same time frame. Show me a '60s car that could do that...AND have not a speck of rust on it!

guess who

People dont look at what the dollar is worth these days.All most think is "HOLY F-IN' POOP $35,000!!!"

If thats the case why arent you thinking of what a pop used to cost.5 cents!It is plain fact that the cost of the american dollar has gone upUP UP! since 53 or earlier.So has everything else at the same time,Its all about what guionM said.

It's life learn to live with it I say.

kizz

You guys know the good ol' phrase "America's love affair with the automobile" , right?

Well if you ask me, today's lower bang-for-buck factor and reduction in choices and individuality are no accident; They are a direct result of the automakers being pushed against the wall by a government smackdown designed to gradually get us accustomed to drones, i.e. electric cars and mass-transit cars. To get us to fall out of love with the automobile in the long-term. I'm not saying today's cars are unsafe or stripped down, because they are just the opposite. But look at their appearance. You just can't fall in love with a car's soul anymore. They don't make them like they used to. Hell, I'm only 27, and I already miss the "old days".

Maybe the ousting of Saddam Hussein and the subsequently cheaper crude oil availability will have some impact down the line, but it's a lost cause. This cookie-cutter thing has been in the works for double-digit years already. Today's cynicism-generating car environment is a carefully orchestrated thing, no accident.

gt

Eric Bryant

Note that they said "take home pay", which would be roughly $25K with a $40K base salary. Sounds 'bout right for a starting engineer

Yes, cars have more content nowadays, but so does everything else that we buy.

centric

So most of you don't have a problem with telling your grandchildren, "Wow, it's great that your new Corvette takes 4 years of take-home income to buy, and is only available in two colors?" Because if you extrapolate the trend, that's where we're going.

But hey, it will last 250,000 miles, and have 3mm panel gaps, so that's OK.

Seriously, though, longer lifespan and better fit and finish should be cheap with the automation and better machining/production technology we have these days. More computing power? We're talking pennies.

What I'd like to know is how today's cars, with hundreds or thousands of fewer, cheaper parts (go ahead, compare a glove box door on a 1966 and 2000 Corvette and tell me that the cast metal/stamped aluminum/painted/riveted/with chrome badge one on the 1966 is a cheaper part compared with the molded foam 2000), and better factory automation, can cost more and offer less selection?

And I'd argue the Grand Prix is not a good example, either. It's gone downmarket from a V8 RWD stepping-stone to Cadillac to a generic V-6 front driver. The Corvette has maintained its relative position fairly well.