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Here's what else you could buy for the average new-car price of $40,573

Autoblog may receive a share from purchases made via links on this page. Pricing and availability are subject to change. The average price of a new car in America hit a new record in December 2020: $40,573. Not that we're surprised — the average has been over $35,000 for the past few years — but seeing that baseline figure crest 40 large is still a sticker-shock to the system. So, as we do every once in a while, we put our collective heads together and came up with a list of alternatives that you could choose to buy for that sum, new or old, classic or practical. Now, let's be crystal clear about one thing here. We're not actually recommending you make this type of decision. That said, we wouldn't blame you if you did. Managing Editor Greg Rasa: $40,000 will buy a fully loaded Camry or moderately equipped crossover. Or, for $39,997, to be exact, one could go motoring in a fine British automobile. This 2006 Aston Martin DB9 Volante in Alabama has 21,452 miles on it, and depreciation has worked its cruel magic: It is listed for less than one-quarter of its $168,000 starting MSRP when it was new. A check of other used DB9s nationwide indicates this is a fair price. This Aston's CarFax reveals two owners. (One, really, as the second was a dealership. Looks like it got traded in for a Porsche.) If you're understandably concerned about reliability, its service history indicates no surprises to date. Remember, it has a 450-horsepower 5.9-liter V12. And spring is coming. Of course a used Aston Martin is riskier than a new Camry. But as Louis Prima sang, "Enjoy yourself, it's later than you think." What price beauty? Less than $40 grand. Associate Editor Byron Hurd: This price point opens up a ton of options in the "nearly new" luxury space, including a few good enthusiast picks, but my nod here goes to the Cadillac ATS-V. The discontinued, M3/M4-rivaling, 465-horsepower sport sedan and coupe can be had all day long in this price range with low miles. In fact, the real challenge is finding one in the spec you want, since it's one of those old-fashioned cars that actually presented the buyer with choices. Here's a clean, six-speed sedan in an actual color for less than our target price, for example. Coupes are more plentiful than sedans, especially in interesting colors, but there are plenty of them out there.

Cadillac confident attitude will attract the elite to ELR plug-in hybrid [w/video]

Cadillac is not going to pull any punches when it comes to promoting its plug-in hybrid ELR. In the real world, the company is showing off the Wreath And Crest's coupe with Chevy Volt technology at exclusive events with "groups whose members are affluent, green-minded and have an appreciation for design and innovation," says Automotive News. That evidently means young Hollywood celebrities and other well-to-do demographics. As Cadillac global chief Bob Ferguson recently told the industry publication, "If you live on the West Coast and you're an architect and you've given to environmental causes, you're probably going to hear about the ELR. We have sliced and diced who is likely to buy this vehicle." "We have sliced and diced who is likely to buy this vehicle" - Cadillac's Bob Ferguson In the realm of advertising, Cadillac evidently thinks a fast-talking, USA-USA-USA! Type-A personality is just the kind of guy who will convince those celebrities and architects to buy one. For proof, look no further than the star of this new ELR ad called Poolside that Cadillac is airing during the Olympics. There are almost no details about the ELR in this ad, just a whole lot of attitude mixed with humor (the "We got bored" line is funny). In fact, there's almost no indication that the ELR is an extended-range hybrid at all. Short of a brief moment where our hero, actor Neil McDonough, unplugs his car from its charging station, you'd probably never know it's got an EV mode at all. That's undoubtedly a calculated bet by Cadillac, whose ad execs have undoubtedly noted that most electric cars are not selling well with an eco-first message, so they appear to be going with style and swagger instead. Scroll below to see what we mean. The ELR has a starting MSRP of $75,000, and at that price, it's already out of reach for most Americans. Automotive News suggests that annual ELR production is likely to be just shy of 5,000 units, so Cadillac could be on stable ground trying to appeal to such a limited number of buyers. What type of buyers? Well, that remains to be seen. Related Gallery 2015 Cadillac ELR: First Drive View 25 Photos News Source: Cadillac, Automotive News - sub. req. via YouTubeImage Credit: Gallery images copyright 2014 Michael Harley / AOL Green Cadillac Electric Hybrid PHEV cadillac elr elr poolside

Car subscription services: A slow, expensive start — but the potential is huge

Americans are used to paying for subscriptions — to magazines and cable television, for instance — but experience shows they'll cancel when the price of admission gets too high, or there are more tempting alternatives. Cord cutters ditched nearly 1.5 million pay-TV subscriptions in 2017, according to a survey by Leichtman Research Group. Cable TV started out cheap with basic offerings, and then got expensive. The auto industry's subscription offerings are new, but they're starting out costly, and not price-competitive with traditional leasing. The upside is that they take the hassle out of car ownership for busy people by letting the service take care of maintenance, insurance, licensing and taxes. And they give consumers choice, often allowing relatively painless switches between different cars in the automakers' lineup. Subscription services also point the way toward an ownership-free auto experience, and offer an easy transition to a potential world where ride- and car-sharing will be dominant. Subscriptions are here to stay, but consumers may take a while to "get" them. Lincoln's subscription service for lightly used 2015 to 2017 models, offered through the Ford-owned Canvas beginning this year, got off to a slow start. Many early subscribers canceled. Last month, Cadillac announced it would " temporarily pause" its $1,800-per-month Book subscription service for "adjustments" as of December 1. According to the Wall Street Journal, "Snags with the back-end technology used to support the service made some customer-service functions tedious and time-consuming, adding costs for the company." The challenge for automakers is to come up with a strategy that offers consumers a compelling, affordable option to regular ownership, and one that can also make a profit. I think they'll find that sweet spot, but they're not there yet. Jack Nerad, former executive editorial director at Kelley Blue Book and author of " The Complete Idiot's Guide to Buying or Leasing a Car," points out that "A lot of people expected that subscriptions would be very valuable for people who wanted inexpensive transportation, but the reality is quite the opposite. Subscriptions are offering more choices for the wealthy.