- In 2013, $70k could buy you a lot of car (or truck)
- How much car can $70k buy you today?
- Inflation happens
For many of us, the year 2013 doesn’t seem that long ago. I mean heck, many of us already had iPhones in our pockets, and those phones were running familiar apps: Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram. Films such as Avatar and The Avengers had already come and gone. In the car buying world, the Subaru BRZ was on the roads, Ram had been its own brand for years, and the resurrected Dodge Charger was already onto its second generation. But when it comes to MSRPs, 2013 was a very long time ago. Here’s how much brand new car $70k could buy you just ten years ago.
In 2013, $70k could buy you a lot of car (or truck)
2013 Dodge Charger SRT8 | Stellantis
Let’s return to that Dodge Charger: 2013 was two years before the Hellcat debuted, and the top-of-the-line Dodge Charger SRT8 began at just $45,450. In 2013, you could buy two of the next trim level Chargers (the R/T plus) for $70k. The Mustang GT 500 was one of the more expensive muscle cars, starting at $54,995.
Today, six-figure luxury pickup trucks are not unheard of. But in 2013, the Ford F-150 Limited started at $49,180. An entry-level F-150 cost $24,600. Yes, you could buy three of them for $83k.
On the SUV end of the market, the 2012 Cadillac Escalade ESV started at $65,770. Cadillac’s crew cab pickup truck configuration was even cheaper: $63,060. You could even get into a G Wagon for under $70k. The 2013 Mercedes-Benz G 550 started at $58,526, while the top-grim G 63 had an MSRP of $64,544. The Mercedes GL350 was right in the middle: $62,400. The 2013 Toyota Land Cruiser went a bit over our budget at $77,995.
Fancy a sportscar? The 2013 Lotus Evora Coupe had an MSRP of $68,285. The Cadillac CTS-V (sedan, coupe, or wagon) started at $63,215. $70k could also get you two 2013 Mitsubishi Lance Evolution GSR Sedans, two Subaru Impreza WRX STIs, two Nissan 370Z Touring Coupes, two Volkswagen Golf R 2-door hatchbacks, two Audi A4 2.0T quattro sedans, or two MINI Cooper Clubman Jon Cooper Works editions. Or I suppose you could mix and match if you wanted to.
The 2013 Audi RS 5 Coupe had a $68,900 MSRP. The 2013 Merceds-Benz SLK-Class SLK55 AMG Convertible was $67,990. The 2013 BMW M3 Convertible would have set you back at least $69,050. The Audi S5 Sedan went a hair over, at $71,900. These MSRPs are courtesty of Zeroto60times.com
How much car can $70k buy you today?
2013 Mercedes-AMG G63 | Mercedes-Benz
In 2023, the Dodge Challenger SRT Hellcat still starts below $70k, with an MSRP of $66,045. That said, the Redeye tune or the widebody kit will cost much more. 2022 was the final year of the Mustang GT500, and its price was up to $76,820. But you can still get a Mustang Mach 1 Premium for $58,665. Over on the General Motors side of things, the new mid-engine Corvette C8 has an MSRP of $64,500.
The lower end of the pickup truck market is interesting. In 2000, the Ford F-150’s MSRP was just $20k. In 2023, the company finally bumped this price above $30k. In the same time frame, the price of a Big Mac has doubled. One thing that may keep this price low is the needs of fleet owners who are happy with trucks without many options. But in the rest of the truck segment, we have seen options pile on, and prices rise.
The top trim of the regular F-150 is the Limited with an MSRP of $84,910. SVT’s tuned F-150 Raptor starts at $76,775, while the Raptor R, with its supercharged V8, commands $109,145. We certainly didn’t have Detroit supertrucks commanding these kinds of prices in 2013.
We have seen even more feature creep in the SUV segment. We have also seen plain old price hikes there. The Cadillac Escalade ESV rose modestly to a 2023 MSRP of $82,295. The Mercedes G-Class, on the other hand, has tripled in price. The G550 now starts at $139,900, while the AMG G63 commands an MSRP of $179,000.
The Toyota Land Cruiser climbed to $87,030 before essentially pricing itself out of the market, robbing sales from its Lexus cousins. Toyota has since discontinued U.S. Land Cruiser sales.
Not all of the sports cars I mentioned climbed. The 2023 Cadillac CT4-V does start at $46,595, and the Volkswagen Golf R climbed to $44,740, while the Audi A4 climbed to $40,300. But the new Nissan Z debuted at $39,990, the John Cooper Works MINI is holding at $35,900, The 2023 Subaru BRZ dropped to $28,595, while the WRX dropped to $30,605.
Car prices flatlining and dropping might be due to the decrease in car sales altogether. With the ubiquity of the crossover, automakers have to work harder to sell sedans and coupes.
Inflation happens
2013 Toyota Tundras | Daniel Acker/Bloomberg via Getty Images
Unfortunately, a global supply chain shortage has caused a long waitlist for many vehicles. After some extreme inflation, 2023 MSRPs shot up, and many buyers are suffering sticker shock. For instance, when Ford finally gave up on a $29,990 F-150, it bumped the MSRP all the way to $33k.
But when you look at decade-long trends, price increases in most segments have been reasonable. What has really changed since 2013 is the number of ultra-expensive flagship models in every segment. But if we can resist the temptation to option up, some vehicles aren’t a whole lot more expensive than they were 10 years ago.
Next, read about the rise of the supertruck or find out why some think used car prices will finally drop this year in the video below:
Learn more about what an MSRP is and how it works in this final video:
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Keyword: How Much New Car Could $70K Buy You 10 Years Ago? How Much Now?