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I drive mostly Japanese now, but the one car I actually miss a lot was my 97 Taurus. It had that domestic oversized comfort that my Japanese car cant even come close to matching. It had a smooth ride, great armrests on door and center, and did decent in snow for a fwd.
Had bad luck with my domestics, but the Taurus was pretty much indestructible. I'd buy another but I don't like the new Taurus.
I would say the slow death/decline of the manual transmission. I have that on my 2003 Ford Ranger and wish they would keep producing cars with manual transmissions. The thing I really miss the most is real bumpers on old cars. My dad had a Saab 900 which had real bumpers on it. Thick, solid bumpers that would not get dented or bruised if you were in an accident or bumped one of those polls in a parking garage. Shame they did away with real bumpers. Shame that GM ruined Saab.
Not much, but mostly because the cars my parents bought in the past were either very basic and/or complete pieces-of-sh#t.
The one thing I sort of do miss weirdly has to do with minivans. They all seem to be hulking behemoths nowadays that would never fit in our built-in-to-the-house garage. Our old Plymouth Voyager was a economical 178 inches long. Nowadays, you can't find a "normal" minivan that's less than 200 inches long. The only minivan that's comparable in size to out old Voyager is the Mazda 5, which isn't considered a mainstream minivan and is very rarely seen on the road. And even then, the 5 has considerably less room in the third row than our old Voyager, which while scant in leg room in the back could at least fit 2-3 adults comfortably enough.
1995 BMW M3 could be had for 34K
2002 it was 56,900 for a new convertible M3
2012 it was 75K+ (with options)
Yes, lower prices!
1969 Cadillac Fleetwood Brougham: base price $7,110
1976 Cadillac Fleetwood Seventy-Five Limousine: base price $15,239
1966 Plymouth Fury VIP: base price $3,133
1995 Lincoln Town Car Signature Series: base price $38,500
^ But not when you take inflation into account. Based on that, not only are cars cheaper than they've been in decades, but they also have a ton more features and luxuries than comparable cars in the past (obviously).
BIG windows !!! It's getting real tough to see OUT... There will be no need for windows in the 'Self Driving cars'. Just slip the passengers in a torpedo tube and TAKE OFF!
^ But not when you take inflation into account. Based on that, not only are cars cheaper than they've been in decades, but they also have a ton more features and luxuries than comparable cars in the past (obviously).
I don't think so.
In the late-'60s, many 18-year-olds were able to buy a new muscle car, which only cost about $3,200-$3,500, unless a lot of options were added.
I won't even get into the great styling of '60s cars, like the '69 Dodge Charger. Or that the Charger was available in a wide range of engines (225- 6 cyl., 318, 383-2 bbl, 383-4 bbl, 426-Hemi, 440-4 bbl) and colors (exterior and interior).
^ Based on an inflation calculator, $3500 in 1967 bought you $24,000+ in 2013 dollars, and $3500 in 1969 bought you $22,000+ in 2013 dollars.
Nowadays, you can buy a base Ford Mustang V6 for a MSRP of $24,000, and it would not only be faster than those old muscle cars, but have far more luxuries and features even in base trim (and not just different interior and paint colors).
I think you're both right on cost. Certainly the old prices do not directly compare to today's prices and thus one must figure in inflation. That said, wages have not inflated at the same amount especially at the lower end so buying power for someone in the same position today compared to late 60s is quite possibly less.
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