Buying new has never been cheaper

Did you know that right now the Australian car buying public have never had it better? Not only is the choice of new cars simply staggering, ranging from a $13k Suzuki Celerio to a million dollar McLaren 675LT, but the price you pay is actually the lowest its every been. Comparatively speaking if you look at the performance, safety and standard equipment packed into cars today, you'll wonder how manufactures ever managed to sell cars in the 1990's. Let me share with you some like for like examples, with the 20 year currency inflation taken into account.

Let's begin with a Munich legend, a performance hero, the BMW M3. Back in 1997 an E36 generation car was yours to the tune of $131,750. Readjusted for inflation that works out at just under $215,000. Compare that to the cost of a brand new M3 today, roughly $150,000 and the legend begins to look almost like a bargain. Yes you still get a chassis tweaked by the geniuses at M division but now you also get 2 turbos, an extra 100kw of power and driver aids that can both make you go faster and stop you from having a crash. It's also going to be less temperamental and more reliable than 20 years ago. The fact BMW can do all this for less money than it has ever cost is astonishing. Jury's still out on whether it's owner will no what an indicator is though....

The same can be said for the M3's biggest rival, the Mercedes AMG C63. Back in the late 90's the C43 AMG was the halo car of the C-Class range and it was a rare beast, not a lot of Aussies shelled out the $155,000 to buy one, which when you consider that in today's money it works out at over $250,000 you can see why. Right now however Mercedes will sell you a brand new C63 for exactly the same as the C43 cost 20 years ago, not the inflation corrected price. The years might have passed but the price hasn't crept up with them. And whereas in the 90's you were lucky to get heated seats and a CD player today the C63 comes loaded with active safety tech, connectivity and enough performance to absolutely annihilate its grandfather in the traffic light grand prix.

   

It is not just luxury manufacturers pulling off this trick of engineering far superior cars and selling them for less money. Take the humble Honda Civic, now in it's 10th generation and injected with some of the mojo it lost over the past few generations, a new VTI-S can be yours for a drive away just shy of $28,000. Roll the clock back and a new VTI sedan with an auto would have cost you $32,900 in 1997 (that is over $50k in today's money). Yes some dealers would have given you a saving, but ultimately today's Civic is substantially cheaper to buy and certainly a lot less likely to make people think you perform in the Sunday church choir.

Bland??

Spaceship!

Even at the budget end of the market new car buyers have it good, take the Suzuki Swift. In 97 around $12,000 got you behind the wheel. That's roughly $21,000 adjusted for inflation. Still not an unreasonable sum for a new city car today by any means. However when you consider the Swift of old had 3 items on its standard equipment list, those being a radio cassette, body coloured bumpers and a remote boot release, the drive away pricing right now on a 2017 Swift GL is looks like an absolute steal. With keyless entry, cruise control, bluetooth, and a 5 star safety rating for $15,990, millennials look like their getting a much much better deal.

Check out those body coloured bumpers...

Now in no way am I trying to butter up any manufacturers here, the 4 cars listed are totally random. In fact most car makers probably still get away with charging too much for some cars in their lineups. I do think however that time has been kind, the advancement in technologies and manufacturing techniques over the last 20 years means that today you get far more car for your money than ever before. It really couldn't be a better time to be alive when it comes to new cars!

Oh and on a final note, if like me you want to spend far too much time seeing how inflation can change the price of something head over to the Reserve Bank of Australia's calculator.             

Run Out Savings: Top 5 for 2017

In today's gadget obsessed fully connected world cars are a bit old hack. For over 100 years the basic principles of internal combustion pushing along four wheels has not changed one bit and car companies are well aware their products have nothing on the advancement of other smaller technologies; such as mobile phones. So to keep people interested the least they can do is release new models and with this comes immediate savings for buyers who are fine with a new car being "so last year bro".

With most car makers churning out thousands of cars a day, the surplus of vehicles when a model changes over is huge. So not wanting to sit on tonnes of old (yet brand new) product manufactures shift these cars at big savings to make way for shiny new fully connected, actively safe replacements. The truth of course is that the cars being replaced have been updated so much from their original release that they share much of the advancements in technology, merely wrapped up in some old sheet metal. Here are some excellent cars getting replaced this year that might incur some run out savings.

Audi A5

Do you love the Audi A4 but crave fewer doors and a sloping roofline? Then the A5 is the answer to your Teutonic coupe needs. This year will see an all new A5 hit the market, although given Audi's tendency to evolve the design of it's cars rather than totally redo them most people would be hard pushed to spot the difference. Of course this is good news if you crave a little four ringed goodness on your driveway for a reduced rate. Expect the asking price of the current 8 year old design to drop as dealers try to move their stock in preparation for the new arrival. Still available with a 2 litre turbo, quattro grip and a level of interior quality that some other car makers can still only dream of creating, the original A5 still has a lot to offer.

All new Audi A5

Spot the difference? This is the last gen A5

Audi know how to do interiors

   

BMW 5 Series

Much like the A5 above BMW's current 5 Series has been with us for a long time and again much like the Audi the BMW's transition into its seventh generation is a gentle one. Despite being all new from first glance you'd be hard pushed to see. With that good old BMW staple of front engined rear wheel drive the old 5 Series still fly's the flag for driver involvement in the luxury sedan market. You certainly wouldn't be disappointed taking a previous generation car of the dealers hands, for a reduced rate of course.

All new BMW 5 Series 

A bit more spot the difference, this is the previous gen car

Land Rover Discovery

Another luxury car that's getting long in the tooth is the current Discovery 4, on sale since 2004. A newfangled Disco 5 is due later this year which might finally see prices for the current car take a hit. Despite it's age the Disco 4 holds onto value for good reason, 7 seats, Range Rover levels of comfort and genuine go anywhere off road ability. When the new one lands buying a previous gen example for a little saving won't be silly idea at all.

All new Discovery 5

Previous gen Discovery 4

Mazda CX-5

Australia's best selling SUV has been with us for 5 years and later this year will be bowing out to make way for an all new sharp looking newbie. However the current car is still doing the business for Mazda, providing buyers a high riding SUV which drives more like a car. The engines are efficient and the safety tech such as blind spot monitor, city brake assist and rear cross traffic alert will likely be exactly the same stuff offered on the new car. Connectivity is taken care off too with MZD Connect allowing users easy access to all their smartphone functions. Savings could be well into four figures.

All new Mazda CX-5

Previous gen CX-5 is still Australia's best seller 

 

Suzuki Swift

Finally a budget car in this otherwise mostly prestige list, yes the current Swift which has been with us for 7 years gets totally rebooted later this year and with any luck yours truly might get to sample it. Now with Suzuki's already being aggressively priced compared to their competition, one can imagine that when the new Swift drops so will prices of the old car sitting on forecourts across the land. Good news, as despite it's age the current Swift represents the very ethos of what a modern small hatchback should be. It is light, nimble, nippy, big on the inside, has decent connectivity and is cheap to run. Getting a brand new one at a reduced rate merely sweetens the deal.

Current Suzuki Swift

The world is changing and so are the cars we drive, although that doesn't mean you need to have the latest and greatest to fit in. If you want to save a bit of cash and still walkaway with a new car consider the run out savings you could negotiate on one of the 5 cars above. All are still excellent, it is simply that their makers want to grab your attention with something totally generation Y instead.