[Perfectlap]

^ I guess it depends on your frame of reference/perspective.

Back when interest rates were much higher and these sorts of loans weren't securitized as is rampant now, you could never buy a car providing that much comfort, tech, fuel efficiency and styling for that kind of money. Not even close. The first time I drove a fully loaded Sonata my friend was driving a 5 series that I got into afterwards. I could not believe the delta on price for the two could be justified.

Ditto on safety. In the past, unless you were rolling along in two tons of steel, riding in an economy class car was no guarantee in a crash. Anyone remember the Suzuki Samurai? You had to wear your helmet in that car.
Luckily there weren't nearly as many SUV's and pick ups in those days and cars had much smaller engines/went slower.
It would have been economy class car carnage on the streets every day with the way traffic looks now.