I’ve just been taking a look through some old car magazines from the late Eighties and early Nineties; don’t ask why, it just seemed like a good idea at the time. Doing some data crunching for a magazine, I was struck at just how cheap today’s cars – or should that be how costly they used to be?
If you wanted an entry-level Citroen AX back in 1992, you’d have paid £5764, with a range-topper costing £9154. A Ford Escort 1.8 Ghia was the thick end of 13 grand, while a Merc 300E was a rather strong £30,587. I could go on, but I’ll resist the temptation, because I’m sure you get the point.
Suffice to say that in many cases, you were paying about the same number of sovs 15 years ago as you are today, for a supposedly equivalent car. Except the greenbacks of 1992 were rather more valuable, and the cars of today are infinitely superior to those of two or three generations ago.
So don’t let anyone tell you that new car bargains don’t exist any more. Compared with 15 years ago, car makers have never offered so much for so little. The problem is that today’s car depreciate faster than ever before, so while buying costs may be lower than ever, it’s the running costs that can cripple you.
Cars certainly seem a lot cheaper when you compare their relative costs to house prices. Perhaps less so when you compare them to average wages. Going back a little further down memory lane, I recall my dad paid around £2,900 for a brand new Diamond White Mark II Escort 1.3L back in 1979.
Gerry Pollard | 12 Feb 07 - 11:58