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Originally Posted by Cos270
Veloster N, Fiesta and Focus ST, Saabs (probably knocking on the door of $40k with inflation). Jason Cammisa had a good bit about it in one of his Hagerty videos recently. The other thing working against everyone is just having extra money for fun purchases. Wages have stagnated so much that people can't afford to compromise and have multiple cars for multiple purposes.
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Growing up as a teen and young adult in the late 1980s and 1990s in Kansas City, I'd have to say that I knew no one with parents that had extra cars for fun or other purposes. Seeing a BMW, Benz, much less a Porsche was a rarity and I lived in one of the wealthiest counties in Kansas and top 100 in the country.
I still live in the same county and expensive German cars are everywhere now. Homes are massively bigger. The overall stuff people have, the expensive hobbies, the extra vehicles, boats, etc are way more common now. People eat out way more, teens don't work so mom and dad buy them everything until they're out of the house, homes are full of electronics that replaced every few years, people pay huge sums for internet, TV apps, phones, etc. So while people may be more cash strapped now, it's largely their own doing, IMO.
A Camry may cost $35-40k now, but when considered for inflation, the price is consistent with they sold for in the early 1990s once inflation was accounted for. My dad paid $12700 for a new 1990 CRX Si. That car would cost nearly $29k now and it was bare bones.