Are whiz-bang features in cars/trucks to blame for high new vehicle prices?

[RobbieL2415]

Moreover, why is there an incessant need to add technology features that don't improve safety and/or don't enhance the driving experience?  I don't need Android Auto.  I don't need ventilated seats.  I don't need advanced telemetry or faux self-driving modes or even different handling modes.  I don't need to integrate my lifestyle into a machine that simply serves as transportation.  Then when I want to go and buy a new car instead of buying used beaters every three years, I'm stuck with base prices between $22k and $25k.  I'm a single person.  I don't want to have to manage a loan beyond what I'm capable of paying off. 

Right now I think that there's a donut hole of car buyers who desire a new vehicle out of longevity but are limited by high prices and maybe don't have or can't establish good credit.

[Max Rockatansky]

Mandatory safety features are way more of a culprit in driving up vehicle cost then entertainment features.  That said, a dealer is going try carry and sell stock on it's lots that have a lot features since those tend be an easier sell than the base models.  If you're looking for a car that will take you to/from work and last a long time there is still plenty to find around the 20k range in Sub-Compact and Compact lines. 

[hotdogPi]

I'm pretty sure it's just inflation. Some prices are increasing much faster than inflation, such as college tuition and fees, but cars are not one of them.

[hbelkins]

Wish we could go back to the days when a car was a car. I don't need, or want, all this computerized gobbledygook. I don't need a tire pressure sensor. I have eyes and a tire gauge for that. I don't need a rear backup camera. I don't even really need more airbags than a political convention. I don't need headlights that you have to take a fender off to replace.

[Bruce]

Unfortunately stuff like rear backup cameras and side-door sensors are there for a reason.

40,000 people die from car collisions. People can't be trusted to drive safely, and part of that is because of the way roads and modern cars themselves (namely SUVs) are designed.

[nexus73]

Moreover, why is there an incessant need to add technology features that don't improve safety and/or don't enhance the driving experience?  I don't need Android Auto.  I don't need ventilated seats.  I don't need advanced telemetry or faux self-driving modes or even different handling modes.  I don't need to integrate my lifestyle into a machine that simply serves as transportation.  Then when I want to go and buy a new car instead of buying used beaters every three years, I'm stuck with base prices between $22k and $25k.  I'm a single person.  I don't want to have to manage a loan beyond what I'm capable of paying off. 

Right now I think that there's a donut hole of car buyers who desire a new vehicle out of longevity but are limited by high prices and maybe don't have or can't establish good credit.

Go get a 2019 Ford Fusion.  They can be had for under $20K.  Your MPG's on the highway will run around 36 MPG while using regular gas.  Are there tech features?  Yes and guess what?  That is what you get these days.  Just pick and choose to use the ones you want.

Rick

[renegade]

I can see the purpose of backup cameras, tire pressure sensors and adaptive cruise control.  However, I don't like that I have to take my eyes off the road for up to five seconds in order to adjust the climate control on the touchscreen.  In my old vehicle, I only had to reach down and turn the knob, say, two clicks to turn the system from a/c to heat. 

Apple android carplay GPS on the largest touchscreen in the industry with lane-departure avoidance and collision warning or whatever is a non-starter for me, as I like driving to be my sole focus when I am in the car, not how many gadgets I can hook up and play with at one time, so I am still able to go when the light turns green and hold my own lane while driving down the road and apply the brake when needed, not swerving because my phone is beckoning. 

My brother and his wife will get into their new vehicle, start it up and the little screen says, "John's phone ... Connected!" then, ten seconds later, "Mary's phone ... Connected!"  Then, about fifteen seconds after that, it says, "OK to drive."  Really?  What the hell?  Yeah, good luck trying to sell me a car with that kind of bullshit on it!

Thanks for permission ...  could have been down the block by now! 

[RobbieL2415]

Moreover, why is there an incessant need to add technology features that don't improve safety and/or don't enhance the driving experience?  I don't need Android Auto.  I don't need ventilated seats.  I don't need advanced telemetry or faux self-driving modes or even different handling modes.  I don't need to integrate my lifestyle into a machine that simply serves as transportation.  Then when I want to go and buy a new car instead of buying used beaters every three years, I'm stuck with base prices between $22k and $25k.  I'm a single person.  I don't want to have to manage a loan beyond what I'm capable of paying off. 

Right now I think that there's a donut hole of car buyers who desire a new vehicle out of longevity but are limited by high prices and maybe don't have or can't establish good credit.

Go get a 2019 Ford Fusion.  They can be had for under $20K.  Your MPG's on the highway will run around 36 MPG while using regular gas.  Are there tech features?  Yes and guess what?  That is what you get these days.  Just pick and choose to use the ones you want.

Rick

But why should I have to pay for features I don't want?

[MNHighwayMan]

But why should I have to pay for features I don't want?

Build your own car, then.

[formulanone]

Any feature of any product is generally considered to be part of the price tag. Frankly, we've rarely (if ever?) been in scenarios where the average price of an automobile actually went down. You're basically answering your own question.

Consumer demand and government mandates play a big role. Unfortunately, a lot of features are bundled in together, because there's no way to figure out the precise demands of each and every consumer. If you want to special order your car and wait a month or so, it can be done. But few manufacturers will do so (BMW, Mini, Audi, Porsche, and a few luxury/exotic marques allow it for a fee.) Or, pick out the right used car without the latest toys when it becomes available.

So you're generally stuck with an option package which has one or two desirable features you might like, two others which don't matter much, and a few more that are just irksome. Don't worry about the last two, you can hopefully shut them off, and you'll forget all about them until the warning light goes off or your car fails to start because they malfunctioned two years after the warranty ceased to provide coverage.

That said, a lot of these features have become commonplace over the past few decades and we've mostly gotten used to them with each generation. But I don't think power steering and power windows changed the masses' driving habits quite like blind spot detection, radar sensing, lane departure sensing has jammed its way into taking more responsibility out of a driver from paying attention. On one hand, it might save someone's life, but I'd personally like to negate features I'm not fond of. And for every situation where ABS or traction control is useless, there's many other scenarios where it can be useful. It's easy to play armchair driver against each and any incidents one wants to cherry-pick.

The automotive market hunts, chases, and swallows its own tail on a daily basis and has never quite finished digesting the meal. Good luck trying to stay completely out of its way, though. Your options are to buy a motorcycle, bike, use public transportation or stay out of the car game, which are usually a bunch of sub-optimal choices.

But why should I have to pay for features I don't want?

Build your own car, then.

You can stand there finishing fault, or you can knit me some seatbelts...

[Max Rockatansky]

But why should I have to pay for features I don't want?

Build your own car, then.

Not only that most dealers will locate a base car you do want.  You don't have to roll off the lot with what the dealer has. 

[ce929wax]

I was going to buy my brothers old (99) Ford Ranger until he was coming home from work one day and had to slam on the brakes and blew a brake line.  I didn't want a truck sitting in my driveway that I couldn't get fixed right away, so I told him to go ahead and trade it in.

My grandmother, who is 91 years old, told me the other day when I was talking to her that she didn't really like to drive anymore.  She has a 1998 (I think) Buick Century that her and grandpa have had since at least 2002.  I don't think that the car has been out of the state of Michigan since then, so I am going to ask her when I talk to her again what she is planning to do with the car.  I'll make her an offer, but more than likely she will just give it to me when she is ready to get rid of it.

I'm to the point where I don't want a car payment, because with a car payment I have to carry full coverage insurance and that is expensive as fuck here in Michigan, and also because I don't make a whole lot of money to begin with.  I just want something to get around town in, i'm not planning on using it for a road trip.  If I want to take a road trip, i'll save up my money and rent a car.

[GaryV]

Back in the 1990's Chrysler discovered it was cheaper to bundle options together into packages, rather than allow feature by feature ordering.  It saved assembly labor; one guy didn't have to install part X on every 8th or 17th car.

Yes, some of the cost of vehicles is due to mandatory equipment (safety, emissions, fuel economy, etc.)  But some of the features are desired by a good number of buyers, and are cheaper to install as a package rather than piecemeal.

[jeffandnicole]

Moreover, why is there an incessant need to add technology features that don't improve safety and/or don't enhance the driving experience?  I don't need Android Auto.  I don't need ventilated seats.  I don't need advanced telemetry or faux self-driving modes or even different handling modes.  I don't need to integrate my lifestyle into a machine that simply serves as transportation.  Then when I want to go and buy a new car instead of buying used beaters every three years, I'm stuck with base prices between $22k and $25k.  I'm a single person.  I don't want to have to manage a loan beyond what I'm capable of paying off. 

Right now I think that there's a donut hole of car buyers who desire a new vehicle out of longevity but are limited by high prices and maybe don't have or can't establish good credit.

Go get a 2019 Ford Fusion.  They can be had for under $20K.  Your MPG's on the highway will run around 36 MPG while using regular gas.  Are there tech features?  Yes and guess what?  That is what you get these days.  Just pick and choose to use the ones you want.

Rick

But why should I have to pay for features I don't want?

No doubt you just typed that on a phone or computer with features you didn't want.

[ozarkman417]

Moreover, why is there an incessant need to add technology features that don't improve safety and/or don't enhance the driving experience?  I don't need Android Auto.  I don't need ventilated seats.  I don't need advanced telemetry or faux self-driving modes or even different handling modes.  I don't need to integrate my lifestyle into a machine that simply serves as transportation.  Then when I want to go and buy a new car instead of buying used beaters every three years, I'm stuck with base prices between $22k and $25k.  I'm a single person.  I don't want to have to manage a loan beyond what I'm capable of paying off. 

Right now I think that there's a donut hole of car buyers who desire a new vehicle out of longevity but are limited by high prices and maybe don't have or can't establish good credit.

Go get a 2019 Ford Fusion.  They can be had for under $20K.  Your MPG's on the highway will run around 36 MPG while using regular gas.  Are there tech features?  Yes and guess what?  That is what you get these days.  Just pick and choose to use the ones you want.

Rick

.. Before the Fusion and almost every other American-Branded non-luxury sedan gets cut from lineups.

[hbelkins]

Can you even get a car these days that doesn't have power windows or power locks?

The last new vehicle my dad bought was a 1998 Chevy pickup truck. He ordered it from the dealer. He could not get a truck that didn't have power windows or locks, and he wanted no part of them. He preferred manual locks and crank-it-yourself windows.

If he was alive today, he'd hate these new cars. I'm pretty much right with him. All I really need is cruise control and a stereo with an "aux" jack, and plenty of lighter ports to charge/power my accessories, and I'm happy.

[Max Rockatansky]

Can you even get a car these days that doesn't have power windows or power locks?

The last new vehicle my dad bought was a 1998 Chevy pickup truck. He ordered it from the dealer. He could not get a truck that didn't have power windows or locks, and he wanted no part of them. He preferred manual locks and crank-it-yourself windows.

If he was alive today, he'd hate these new cars. I'm pretty much right with him. All I really need is cruise control and a stereo with an "aux" jack, and plenty of lighter ports to charge/power my accessories, and I'm happy.

The Nissan Versa that my boss recently had as a rental didn't have power windows.  I think that it had power locks but I'm not one hundred percent on that. 

[vdeane]

But why should I have to pay for features I don't want?

Build your own car, then.

Not only that most dealers will locate a base car you do want.  You don't have to roll off the lot with what the dealer has. 

It's generally a bad idea to buy a car you haven't had a test drive for, though.  My parents did that with their 1997 Honda Accord and were immediately upset with its first model hydraulic clutch (seriously, that thing was so finicky that I'm amazed I didn't burn it out when I was learning to drive, the the amount of resistance to pushing the clutch pedal was enough that driving it in heavy traffic was sheer agony).

Can you even get a car these days that doesn't have power windows or power locks?

The last new vehicle my dad bought was a 1998 Chevy pickup truck. He ordered it from the dealer. He could not get a truck that didn't have power windows or locks, and he wanted no part of them. He preferred manual locks and crank-it-yourself windows.

If he was alive today, he'd hate these new cars. I'm pretty much right with him. All I really need is cruise control and a stereo with an "aux" jack, and plenty of lighter ports to charge/power my accessories, and I'm happy.

Interesting.  I can understand power locks, but power windows?  Manually cranking the windows wasn't hard as a passenger, but I can't imagine how a driver could do it.

I do share the sentiment with regards to many "features" out today, like touchscreen everything and lane keep "assist".

[Max Rockatansky]

But why should I have to pay for features I don't want?

Build your own car, then.

Not only that most dealers will locate a base car you do want.  You don't have to roll off the lot with what the dealer has. 

It's generally a bad idea to buy a car you haven't had a test drive for, though.  My parents did that with their 1997 Honda Accord and were immediately upset with its first model hydraulic clutch (seriously, that thing was so finicky that I'm amazed I didn't burn it out when I was learning to drive, the the amount of resistance to pushing the clutch pedal was enough that driving it in heavy traffic was sheer agony).

Don't disagree with that.  That said, usually you can get a good idea for the feel of a base car even if you drive a tarted out one on the dealer lot.  Back in 2011 I test drove a top level Fiesta Automatic which had an infamous firm shift.  The firm shift was present in all variations of the Fiesta so long as they were automatic.  I put a $500 dollar deposit down and the dealer made an inventory swap with another Ford dealer in Tucson that had a more base level SE trim that I wanted.  With volume cars it's easier to pull off the dealer inventory swap, with something less volume you can test drive then order what you want usually if you are willing to do a deposit. 

[Max Rockatansky]

I just attempted to build a poor man's Versa and it seems the 2020 model now includes power windows.   

That said, a 2020 Spark LS manual can be bad for a little over 13k with no power windows and power door locks.  Too bad paint deleted bumpers and uncarpeted floors aren't options, it would be truly then the premium Poverty Man's automotive choice in transportation.

[US71]

Then you have the Ford Pinto where a few safety features were skimped on to make the car more "affordable".

My war wagon has a few features I rarely use, but came with it.

[jakeroot]

when I want to go and buy a new car instead of buying used beaters every three years, I'm stuck with base prices between $22k and $25k.  I'm a single person.  I don't want to have to manage a loan beyond what I'm capable of paying off.

I think you need to shop around a bit. That's not normal base-model pricing, even after taxes.

Looking at my local Kia dealer (Car Pros Kia Tacoma), they have a 2019 Forte 6MT for $13850, as well as a 2018 Rio 6MT for $13999. Both have automatic windows, A/C, and the former has Android Auto/Apple Carplay and a reversing camera. No automatic braking, but that'll be standard soon enough. Both are their cheapest cars, and only cars under $15k.

Point is, there's still plenty of base-model cars around. You just gotta look. And be willing to drive a manual transmission, evidently.

[Max Rockatansky]

Then you have the Ford Pinto where a few safety features were skimped on to make the car more "affordable".

Somehow I think non-exploding gas tanks is a feature even the cheapest of consumers would want. But then again I think it's hard to for people to truly fathom that there was some really hardcore penny pinchers in the 70s and 80s (and how common those types were) who would intentionally not get cars with safety features just to save a buck. 

[kalvado]

Then you have the Ford Pinto where a few safety features were skimped on to make the car more "affordable".

Somehow I think non-exploding gas tanks is a feature even the cheapest of consumers would want. But then again I think it's hard to for people to truly fathom that there was some really hardcore penny pinchers in the 70s and 80s (and how common those types were) who would intentionally not get cars with safety features just to save a buck.

I heard of a 80 year old gentlemen, who explicitly refused to get LED light bulbs as those would most likely outlast him. A pretty good point, if you ask me.

[US71]

Then you have the Ford Pinto where a few safety features were skimped on to make the car more "affordable".

Somehow I think non-exploding gas tanks is a feature even the cheapest of consumers would want. But then again I think it's hard to for people to truly fathom that there was some really hardcore penny pinchers in the 70s and 80s (and how common those types were) who would intentionally not get cars with safety features just to save a buck. 

Or airplanes