toyota FT-1 concept (possibly next Supra)

Rockhound

To be fair, he was referencing the then-new MSRP of the 1998 Supra adjusted for inflation, which makes it a nearly $70k car in today's dollars. Not what a 16 year old used examples sells for. How could that be used to estimate the new model's MSRP?

Or did I miss the sarcasm font?

Z_ealot

well then if we're going to go by that example then the Z should be even more expensive seeing as the 300zx turbo was going for $50k before they stopped production, so by all accounts the 370 should be in the $100k ballpark going off inflation

Rockhound

Well, $50k in 1996 is approximately $72k adjusted to today's dollars, so using that logic the 370Z would be $70k, too, not sure where the $100k comes from.

Look, I didn't say it was an infallible method, I was just explaining his logic - this example happens to come with a significant currency valuation overprint as the yen reached a peak against the dollar in 1995. This is what really caused the low-volume Japanese car price hike in the mid-90s.

Otherwise, for domestic goods, car prices have been fairly well behaved, although they have risen slightly compared to inflation. For example, my dad purchased a new base Camaro in 1972 for about $3500, IIRC. In today's dollars that's about $19k. A base Camaro today stickers for $24 (invoice $22.6k) but you get a whole lot more car for the $3 to $5k increase.

Z_ealot

And I'm not faulting you for it either, just merely reinforcing what you already said which is to say it's pointless comparing the old model to the potentially new one