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Comment by itsdrewmiller | Hacker News Reader

They adjust car prices based on feature improvements:

https://www.bls.gov/cpi/quality-adjustment/new-vehicles.pdf

Certainly debatable since it is impossible to actually buy a new car that doesn't have a bunch of those features now.

Debatable is an understatement. their discount model is completely disproportionate to the benefits that those features bring. If an auto now costs 50% more, and CPI really is 0% increase, then I expect to see a monetary benefit of 50%, either through reduced maintenance cost, increased MPG, or maybe it makes me breakfast of the equivalent cost. but, I don't see new cars have anywhere near this benefit.

And it becomes even more preposterous when you look 50+ years back. CPI, says x3 increase in cost of car, but it's actually about x10. So, how does a car return +233% of it's value to a user when MPG hasn't even doubled over that time.

i mean sure, monetary rewards are not the only advancements but they should the primary basis for the inflation discount model. those auto-dimming mirrors and countless other features just don't mean very much.

A typical new car practically lasts way longer than a car built 30-50 years ago, early 2-3x the value there. Account for significant reduction in chance of death, MPG improvements, and these numbers make complete sense.

Cars my family bought in 1990 (i.e. 31 years ago) drove happily for 15-20 years. I don't think the "lasts way longer" claim stands up to scrutiny.

Yeah but compare it to a truck in the late 90s not really a huge difference in economic value. Bit more luxury but a 1/2 ton truck is still a 1/2 ton truck it can do about the same amount of work but it can go 0-60 a bit faster

That is how it is supposed to work, yes, but those numbers are questionable - I'd be curious to see if that data actually can be shown to pan out, esp as certain vehicles have systemic issues which cause them to not last as long as the claimed lifetime.

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