Truck Prices Then vs. Now…

[littletommy]

I can't imagine paying that much for a vehicle. Those numbers used to be reserved for Porsches, Ferraris and Lamborghinis.

ETA: I know those are much more than that today, but still... 70-80k was a high end luxury car, not a pickup.

We bought a new truck for my wife in 2019, she initially wasn’t even thinking of a truck, and test drove all the SUVs she was considering. When she finally saw an F150 in a color she liked, she decided to test drive it, and that was all it took, she said none of the suvs had anywhere near the comfortable ride as the truck, and road noise is non existent. I think it was in the mid 30k range, it’s not a top of the line vehicle, but it’s probably the most comfortable driving vehicle I’ve ever driven.

 

[bigretic]

I put a deposit on a CPO chevy today. Fingers crossed it looks as good as the photos when i see it.

 

[Timjoebillybob]

Did you read the link in the original post? They did inflation adjustments for all the options.

Yes they adjusted for the options that were available back then. An analog AM-FM Radio with 1 speaker in the dash then does not quite compare to a digital radio with 2 speakers, bluetooth, touchscreen. Power brakes with rear drums does not compare to 4 wheel anti-lock disk. A/C then doesn't quite compare to climate control now. Not to mention things like heated mirrors, rear window defrosters, and a whole lot more that weren't offered back then. The largest engine was a 454 with 240 hp and 370 ft/lbs of torque and what was the MPG of a truck with that?

Right now a base Chevy Silverado standard cab, long bed MSRP is $36,950. That includes all the options that they had listed plus more such as heated mirrors, power windows, backup camera, keyless entry, etc. And has 310 hp and 430 ft/lbs of torque with I'd bet a hell of a lot better MPG.

I will say you can't get a truck as cheap as you could, but the cheap trucks back then didn't have any options or very few that are standard today. Not sure when they stopped but a base truck in the mid to late 80s could be had with manual everything, no A/C, no radio, etc. About the only thing they had was power steering and brakes. I knew a kid that bought a new s-10 and paid for it delivering pizzas part time. But it was like I described with nothing but power steering and brakes.

 

[Ingomike]

Yes they adjusted for the options that were available back then. An analog AM-FM Radio with 1 speaker in the dash then does not quite compare to a digital radio with 2 speakers, bluetooth, touchscreen. Power brakes with rear drums does not compare to 4 wheel anti-lock disk. A/C then doesn't quite compare to climate control now. Not to mention things like heated mirrors, rear window defrosters, and a whole lot more that weren't offered back then. The largest engine was a 454 with 240 hp and 370 ft/lbs of torque and what was the MPG of a truck with that?

Right now a base Chevy Silverado standard cab, long bed MSRP is $36,950. That includes all the options that they had listed plus more such as heated mirrors, power windows, backup camera, keyless entry, etc. And has 310 hp and 430 ft/lbs of torque with I'd bet a hell of a lot better MPG.

I will say you can't get a truck as cheap as you could, but the cheap trucks back then didn't have any options or very few that are standard today. Not sure when they stopped but a base truck in the mid to late 80s could be had with manual everything, no A/C, no radio, etc. About the only thing they had was power steering and brakes. I knew a kid that bought a new s-10 and paid for it delivering pizzas part time. But it was like I described with nothing but power steering and brakes.

Can we factor in that technology gets cheaper over time? I paid near $4000 for my first laptop, a $200 netbook does more.

 

[Ingomike]

Modern diesels are not part of this post.

Gas mileage is only better if you are using the truck as a passenger vehicle, real work mileage does not seem to have changed much…

I had a 72 Chevy I pulled a 12,0000 trailer with, got 6-8 mpg.

I had a 85 Chevy I pulled a 12,0000 trailer with, got 6-8 mpg.

I had a 05 Chevy I pulled a 12,0000 trailer with, got 6-8 mpg.

What are you new truck guys that pull over 10,000 with a flat front getting?

Just found this on the topic.

“We also ran the 2017 Ford F250 6.2L gas V8 against the 2017 Ram HD 2500 6.4L V8 with a 12,500 lbs conventional trailer and unloaded.”

Heavy trailer (12,500 lbs) fuel economy.

2017 Ford F250 6.2L V8: 8.6 MPG

2017 Ram HD 2500 6.4L V8: 7.3 MPG

Heavy Duty Pickup Truck Towing Fuel Economy Numbers You Can’t Get Anywhere Else

Heavy duty pickup trucks with a Gross Vehicle Weight Rating (GVWR) of over 8,500 lbs are not rated for fuel economy by the EPA - Environmental Protection Agency

tfltruck.com

 

[1nderbeard]

I bought my first "finally made it" vehicle in 2015.
A new Tundra. I bought a nicer trim package than I really wanted. I paid about $65,000. Aside from a house it was the most I'd ever spent on anything. I don't have any regrets now, but I'm still shocked I spent that much on a car.
That's just touching the base trim packages of domestic trucks right now. Even if I got $50,000 on a trade I couldn't afford to get rid of it.

 

[Timjoebillybob]

Can we factor in that technology gets cheaper over time? I paid near $4000 for my first laptop, a $200 netbook does more.

Sure we can factor that in. And yes it does. It also improves. How much does a laptop that will do more than that netbook cost now? Heck the cheapest smart phone now would outperform my first desktop that was about $2k and near top of the line then, which would outperform a $2k+ apple IIe from 10 years previous. But a $2k desktop now would outperform it and it wouldn't be near top of the line. How does this near $4k laptop compare to the one you had?

https://www.bestbuy.com/site/msi-creator-z17-a12u-17-touch-screen-laptop-intel-core-i9-32-gb-memory-nvidia-geforce-rtx-3080-2-tb-ssd-lunar-gray/6501202.p?skuId=6501202

Back in the 80s-90s what did a vehicles ECU do? What do they do now? Heck how many does one have now? Current estimate is about 100 different modules with about 1000 total chips in a modern vehicle. Electric is double that.
https://electronics-sourcing.com/2022/05/04/how-many-chips-are-in-our-cars/

 

[Timjoebillybob]

I bought my first "finally made it" vehicle in 2015.
A new Tundra. I bought a nicer trim package than I really wanted. I paid about $65,000. Aside from a house it was the most I'd ever spent on anything. I don't have any regrets now, but I'm still shocked I spent that much on a car.
That's just touching the base trim packages of domestic trucks right now. Even if I got $50,000 on a trade I couldn't afford to get rid of it.

A base 1500 silverado MSRP right now is about $36k. Here is what you can get for $60k MSRP now.

Site Maintenance

www.chevrolet.com

 

[1nderbeard]

A base 1500 silverado MSRP right now is about $36k. Here is what you can get for $60k MSRP now.

Site Maintenance

www.chevrolet.com

Minimum for a v8 and crew cab is 50K

 

[Bosshoss]

Minimum for a v8 and crew cab is 50K

50K is not really close to the 65K you said the domestics base trims start at.
I have found over the years that prices amongst all the manufacturers are pretty close if comparing the same configuration and options.
Sometimes rebates and other things can make prices seem more or less but usually the bottom line is very close.
Buy what you like.

 

[Timjoebillybob]

Minimum for a v8 and crew cab is 50K

Yeah pretty close, but that's not the "base" model. And it's still well under the 65k you stated. What I posted wasn't the base it was the next to highest and it was still under that. Highest trim with a crew cab and v8 starts at $64k. Figure destination would probably put it right around $66k or so.

 

[Ingomike]

A base 1500 silverado MSRP right now is about $36k. Here is what you can get for $60k MSRP now.

Site Maintenance

www.chevrolet.com

Is all that worth 233% more? Not to me. Not to a lot of folks.

My pet peeve is that they do not build the trucks most folks I know want. Most I know are not looking for a truck dressed like a Mercedes’, they do want leather seats and a few more options than the base truck but a lot of the stuff, is just stuff. I’ll be in a friend’s vehicle, he has had a couple of years, ask him to turn on a feature to see it, the reply is not sure how that works. It is the flashing time on the VCR all over again.

Thing that sucks is how the manufacturers force you to take crap to get what you want. When I got my suburban I had to take a DVD player that probably cost $1500 of the $2500 option price to get the Bose sound. Never used it and to add literal injury to insult, if I had a dollar for every lump on the head from that DVD hanging down in the way I would take a group of you to Ruth’s Chris for steaks…

 

[Timjoebillybob]

Is all that worth 233% more? Not to me. Not to a lot of folks.

My pet peeve is that they do not build the trucks most folks I know want. Most I know are not looking for a truck dressed like a Mercedes’, they do want leather seats and a few more options than the base truck but a lot of the stuff, is just stuff. I’ll be in a friend’s vehicle, he has had a couple of years, ask him to turn on a feature to see it, the reply is not sure how that works. It is the flashing time on the VCR all over again.

Thing that sucks is how the manufacturers force you to take crap to get what you want. When I got my suburban I had to take a DVD player that probably cost $1500 of the $2500 option price to get the Bose sound. Never used it and to add literal injury to insult, if I had a dollar for every lump on the head from that DVD hanging down in the way I would take a group of you to Ruth’s Chris for steaks…

Cheapest is $36k which comes with more options than that $30k with inflation truck you stated. So not a whole lot more. Guy I mentioned earlier who bought the S-10 got it without a radio and added his own. Don't think you could do that now, but could you have bought that suburban with the bottom level radio and had it upgraded yourself for cheaper than that package? I'm guessing probably.

ETA And I agree with you on the packages. It would be nice to order just what you want without the extras.

 

[sixGuns]

I had a 4wd '05 ext cab Silverado with leather. It wasn't direct injection and didn't have that stop/start crap. I miss that truck, so much so that I've been looking for a good used one. I feel like that was the last era before a more severe ideology of planned obsolescence came to exist.

 

[hooky]

Honestly, not much has changed when you stop and think about it.

In 1972, my granddad could take 4 steers to the sale barn and stop by the ford dealer on the way home and use the sale barn check to pay cash for a 1972 F-250.

Today, I could take 4 steers to the sale barn and stop by the ford dealer on the way home and still use the sale barn check to pay cash for a 1972 F-250.

 

[Ingomike]

Honestly, not much has changed when you stop and think about it.

In 1972, my granddad could take 4 steers to the sale barn and stop by the ford dealer on the way home and use the sale barn check to pay cash for a 1972 F-250.

Today, I could take 4 steers to the sale barn and stop by the ford dealer on the way home and still use the sale barn check to pay cash for a 1972 F-250.

For me this wins the internet for the day!

 

[1nderbeard]

50K is not really close to the 65K you said the domestics base trims start at.
I have found over the years that prices amongst all the manufacturers are pretty close if comparing the same configuration and options.
Sometimes rebates and other things can make prices seem more or less but usually the bottom line is very close.
Buy what you like.

Yeah pretty close, but that's not the "base" model. And it's still well under the 65k you stated. What I posted wasn't the base it was the next to highest and it was still under that. Highest trim with a crew cab and v8 starts at $64k. Figure destination would probably put it right around $66k or so.

I was speaking generally/figuratively, but I do appreciate your desire for literal language on this thread. Perhaps I should have said:
It would cost me a lot more now to buy something I wouldn't want as much.

 

[tv1217]

I just wanna be able to buy a new diesel Hilux.

 

[KLB]

ETA And I agree with you on the packages. It would be nice to order just what you want without the extras.

That would raise the price of all of the trucks.

 

[Timjoebillybob]

I was speaking generally/figuratively, but I do appreciate your desire for literal language on this thread. Perhaps I should have said:
It would cost me a lot more now to buy something I wouldn't want as much.

That would have probably been a better thing to say. But when you say the price of a base truck is actually the price of the highest trim level... Well I guess it's still the base price for that level of trim without other options. And why wouldn't you want it as much? Heck you said the one you bought has a higher trim level than you wanted. You can get a good bit cheaper trim level if you would like, for less money.

That would raise the price of all of the trucks.

Quite possibly.