Hacker News new | ask | show | jobs
by crazygringo 1214 days ago
Your link shows an extremely outlier case, which is the absolute cheapest car available (not a representative or average car) compared to the median income (which is different from inflation).

It's easy to look up prices for something average though. A 1990 Toyota Camry was $11,588 MSRP [1]. A 2022 Toyta Camry is $25,395 MSRP [2]. That's a nominal increase of 119%. Meanwhile, the CPI increase from 1990 to 2022 was 124%.

So, a Toyota Camry has decreased slightly in price, in real terms. But it's also a better car, e.g. the 1990 one got you 24 MPG combined, while the 2022 gets you 32 MPG combined. Not to mention a host of other improvements over more than two decades.

So your assertion that cars cost double even after inflation doesn't seem to hold up, at least not for an average representative car, from the data I'm able to pull.

[1] https://www.jdpower.com/cars/1990/toyota/camry/4-door-sedan

[2] https://www.kbb.com/toyota/camry/2022/

[3] https://www.minneapolisfed.org/about-us/monetary-policy/infl...

[4] https://www.fueleconomy.gov/feg/noframes/6763.shtml

[5] https://www.mariettatoyota.com/2022-toyota-camry-mpg/

1 comments

Also, the 2022 Camry is a significantly bigger car. The 1990 was a compact, like the Corolla today. The 2022 is a midsize car. Comparing 1990 Camry to 2022 Corolla would make more sense.