Just for the sake of nitpicking, but going back to the BMW example, you could get a well-optioned Z4 in this range, which I would argue is rather exotic and will make heads turn, if not very expensive.
However you can get a lot of pretty surprisingly run of the mill vehicles at that price range as well, especially for at truck or EV. Like a Ford F-150, Tesla Model 3/Y, entry level Mercedes or BMW electric car, even a Ford Mach E, etc.
The slowing inflation, high interest rates and collapse of the economy in the coming 6-18 months will probably wind some of that back.
People love their pickup trucks.
The Tesla Model 3/Y range can easily run up above $70k with options now, and the bigger Tesla Model S/X is a six-figures vehicle!
Likewise, gas powered BMWs seem to have disappeared in the $30-40k range and pretty quickly get into the $50k+ range.
I certainly don't know many middle class people with 70k in savings to throw around, either everyone is doing a lot better than they otherwise expose or there's easy money on the table.
I think we'll see price corrections downward for cars over the next 5 years, as interest rates change. I've asked a handful of importers while I try and source a car from Japan, with the Japanese import market being hyper inflated. They've all suggested that during the pandemic, financed purchases were making up the majority of their sales. I imagine that's set to change as interest rates change and loans get harder to acquire.
Let's stick to the truck, though. F-150s are everywhere.
If I head to the Ford Canada website, an F-150 XL (the cheap one) is $39K before you get started. A Platinum brings you up to $87K, and the Limited brings you up to $98K.
The website is definitely NOT including taxes, licensing fees, financing fees, interest, etc.
I couldn't imagine paying that for a work truck. The trades are fairly well payed, but to that extent?
https://www.coxautoinc.com/market-insights/kbb-atp-september...
Why, back in my day, you could get a “stripper” model of a truck (my dad’s term for the most-basic-possible model with crank windows and a stick shift) for like $15,000. Now?
https://www.ford.com/trucks/f150/
Good luck getting off the lot for less than $40,000 for a full-size truck.
…though to give Ford some credit here:
https://www.ford.com/trucks/maverick/
They do still sell a truly cheap-and-cheerful truck. Will it tow much? No. Is it going to take you to the bottom of the Grand Canyon or whatever off-road macho fantasy? No. Will it get several bags of mulch back from Home Depot? Absolutely—which is what people actually use trucks for. (If that.)
In specific areas such as cars, you had complete dislocations. For example used cars which normally depreciate 15-20%/year, instead inflated about 15%/year for 2 years.
Over the summer I traded in a 4 year old car at the end of its warranty of 85% of what I paid for it new. I probably could have sold private party and haggled harder to get closer to 90%+ Normally 85% is what you can expect to sell your car for right after you drive it off the lot on your second day of ownership.
This was a knock on effect of new car production shortages, and pent up demand from low 2020 sales and people having a lot of cash on hand.
Related to this you had dealers adding market (ADM) on not even luxury/exotic vehicles of $10-15k in some areas. So never mind not being able to negotiate a few $1000 off, people were paying sticker+$15k for new vehicles for the privilege of being able to buy one. And this was on top of the sticker prices ticking up over the course of the pandemic and related inflation.
So no, for many things, it was not "just a year of 11% inflation".
Are you not in the US? We haven't even had 10% inflation for all of the past year.
https://publish.manheim.com/content/dam/consulting/ManheimUs...
Before the 2020s era inflation you could definitely pick up a mens one used for $2k, like a Datejust model for example.
Likewise a $70k car is neither particularly rare or exotic now with how much the average car price has been pushed up by big trucks and EVs.