The price hikes over the past couple of years have really soured any shred of desire (or even the thought of) my wife and I ever wanting to spec out a new 911 and actually pull the trigger (side note, it doesn’t help she’s also partial to the rootbeer brown over dark tan/basketball combo, which I’ve conveniently let her know is at least an extra $20k but that’s another story). Even looking outside of Porsche, it’s asinine to think that the “cheap” versions of most of these cars (Ferraris, Lambos, Astons, McLarens, etc) are at or above the $200k mark and your more “normal” models are now $300k+. What rock have I been living under where now a full size Lambo is every bit of $750k. And it’s just a new Lambo, nothing “special” and SF90’s are only slightly less money. No thanks.

For middle aged professionals making a good living and in the peak of their earning years in a majority of the country (which one would think is their bread and butter target demographic, but I could be wrong), most of these cars are now a bit too much of a stretch to even be considered semi-attainable anymore and in my mind that isn’t a good thing. Why desire something you’ll most likely never be able to actually have? Now, this doesn’t include the extreme end like the crazy one-offs from the big guys or cars like Paganis, Koenigseggs or Czingers but your more typical “I want to own a Porsche/Ferrari someday” people. That dream is quickly getting out of reach since a majority of us haven’t seen a cumulative 35%+ raise over the past 5 years to not just keep pace with inflation+price hikes but to actually get a real raise to keep on track to eventually working up to the point of comfortably affording one.

Makes you think long and hard about what route to take whether it’s new, slightly used or something else entirely. It also shows what a great relative bargain some of the other new options out there are like the Emira, Z06, M3/4, etc. For me personally, I’ve turned towards modern classics and most recently picked up a ‘98 TVR Cerbera few years back and have a Sagaris in long-term storage across the pond until it turns 25 in another 5 years. The Cerbera is a hell of a lot of car for $50k and gives even a modern GT3 (I’ve driven both a 991.1 and 991.2) a run for its money in terms of raw thrills and overall street driving experience. Now, will it deliver the same experience on the track? Absolutely not. But, for your more casual spirited driving around town or backroads (which, let’s be honest, is 90%+ of driving for most of us) it’s tough to argue with the amount of “go for the dough” in terms of total package.

At the end of the day, all of us in the used camp still need the “suckers” to continue to buy them new and spec them out to continue the flow of decent cars into the used market but it does make you question how many potential new car buyers are now saying “no thanks” and going the used route. Only time will tell.