Originally Posted by Astro14
Originally Posted by oilpsi2high
Average car price in 1985 was $ 6,495. $ 15,795 in today's dollars.
Can you even buy a new car for 15k right now?
Average car price right now is $ 37,000! That's insane to me.
Average salary in 1985 was $ 16,135. So a car was 40% of salary.
Average salary now is $ 46,800.
Want that new car? It'll cost ya 79% of that. Hope you enjoy the ride.
I guess you could argue that cars are lasting longer, but I am not sure. My first car was a 1988 Cavalier that lasted until 2007. I don't see my 2007 replacement vehicle lasting until 2026...
Man that was depressing just typing out.
You've got to stop with the apples-oranges comparison.
Average cars then sucked. Really sucked, compared with today's cars.
That 1985 car was running an emission-controlled/strangled carburetor that was unreliable, cost a fortune to fix, and as a result, had 150 HP (if it was a V-8, less if it was a V-6) and got about 16 MPG.
Tops.
Plugs lasted 30,000 if you were lucky. Tires half that. Oil had to be changed every 3,000 miles.
You were lucky if it lasted until 100,000 miles.
Or, maybe you were unlucky, since it didn't have ABS, or cruise control, or air bags, or any of the safety/convenience features that even the cheapest economy car today comes with, standard.
Sure, it cost less.
But you got far less: it was achingly slow, it guzzled gas, wasn't very safe in comparison, and wore out quickly.
We live in an incredible age of cars.
The average econobox today is faster than my 1985 Trans Am while getting more than twice the MPG and lasting far longer with less maintenance and much greater safety. And that econobox costs LESS than my TA did, in straight up dollars.
Adjusted for inflation, an average modern car like the Honda Accord V-6 is about the same price as the '85 TA AND has nearly twice the HP along with far more room, comfort, speed, brakes, safety, features, and more than double the MPG.
You drove an '88 Cavalier?
Have you forgotten what a terrible heap that car was?
Actually the Cavalier was one of the most reliable cars we've owned. Only scrapped it due to rust.
That's cool that new cars have all of these great improvements. Where's the salary improvements so that we can afford one? Surely education has gotten better since that's way more expensive now too. Since we're better workers, why aren't we getting compensated as such?
This is basically an argument that nobody will ever win.
