Price Comparisons

Edric realises that cars are far better value now than they ever were.

- Edric Pan

FLIPPING through an old copy of the first motoring publication that I ever wrote for (a now-defunct title called Autonews), it dawned on me that car buyers now are getting a lot more for their dollar than they did 20 years ago.

In that April 1997 issue of Autonews, a Mercedes-Benz E200 (of the then-new goggleeyed W210 generation) was listed at $205,000 excluding COE.

With the relevant COE (1601cc and above) hovering around the $60k mark, that made a total price of $265,000 or so.

These days, Cycle & Carriage demands about the same amount for an equivalent W213-model E200 Avantgarde, but boot-lid badge apart, the two cars are hardly comparable.