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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.

Super Cruise’s failsafes

Even though Super Cruise is not a fully autonomous system, it incorporates redundancies like those used in aircraft to ensure failsafe operation. Before taking off on a 700-mile, 11-hour test drive of the system — and putting my life in its hands without my hands on the wheel — I sat down with Daryl Wilson, lead development engineer for Super Cruise, to get a deep dive into the system and its critical safety backups. Autoblog: First, what makes Super Cruise different from similar systems? Wilson: The key differentiator for Super Cruise is hand-free driving. It's an industry first in that respect. Our competitors require the driver at minimum to place their hands on the wheel with some frequency to ensure that the car knows that the driver is there. We don't. Two key technologies allow us to do this. One is our Driver Attention System, which is our methodology for making sure the driver is engaged with the vehicle and engaged with the road. This is a driver assist system, not a fully autonomous system. So it requires driver engagement. We use an infrared camera that constantly monitors the driver's face to determine the direction they're looking. We're looking for the driver to be what we call on-road — not on the center stack, not to left or right or down. That's all done by the tracking of the face. We also track that the eyes are open. It's infrared because at night you need to illuminate the face and you can't be shining a light into the driver's face. Then we have our lidar mapping that provides a foundation for control and redundancy to ensure safe performance. Autoblog: How does the mapping act as a redundant feature? Wilson: This system is only for use on divided, controlled access highways. What I mean by a divided highway is something more than a painted line between you and oncoming traffic. Whether that's a grassy area in between the lanes or a concrete barrier, anything that separates you from oncoming traffic. That's the divided highway part. The controlled access part is entrance ramps and exit ramps. Not with roads that cross at grade, with traffic crossing at the same level. To do that we geofenced these roads to ensure that operation is only allowed in these conditions. We don't just recommend you use it there; we ensure that you only use it there.

2021 Cadillac Escalade price increases take starting price to $77,490

Update: This story has been updated with official pricing from Cadillac that includes the destination charge and pricing for the long wheelbase ESV model. The modified story continues below. As the 2021 Cadillac Escalade prepares behind-the-scenes for duty in front of real-life red carpets, more information on the brand new fifth-generation SUV bubbles to the surface. GM Authority got its hands on some MSRP figures the other day, but we have the official pricing from Cadillac now. GM kept pricing of the other full-sized SUV family — the Tahoe, Suburban, and Yukon — unchanged or close to the outgoing models. Escalade intenders will be happy to know the same goes here, the 2021 example priced at $77,490 after a $1,295 destination charge is added in, only $1,000 more that the soon-to-be retired 2020 Escalade for a fancier cabin and lots of new tech inside and out. Cadillac reworked the trim walk for 2021 to its Y-trim configuration, splitting into Luxury and Sport models above the base trim. There were four options in 2020, not including all-wheel-drive versions: Base, Luxury, Premium Luxury, and Platinum. There are five for the new year: Luxury, Premium Luxury, Sport, Premium Luxury Platinum, and Sport Platinum. The switcheroo makes it hard to compare all but the bottom and top trims, but the price walk for rear-wheel-drive versions goes: Luxury: $77,490 Premium Luxury: $84,290 Sport: $86,890 Premium Luxury Platinum: $101,290 Sport Luxury Platinum: $101,290  Add $3,000 to any of those trim prices, and you'll have the corresponding long wheelbase ESV price. Four wheel drive is a similar $3,000 charge on any trim. That means the base price on the top trim Escalade ESV with four-wheel drive is $107,290. The 2021 Platinum models are $7,700 more than the 2020 Escalade Platinum. The standard engine is the 6.2-liter V8, shifting through a 10-speed transmission. And the 3.0-liter Duramax diesel is a no-cost option, so take your pick. Customers could end up waiting for the Escalade as well, depending on when every kind of manufacturing can restart in earnest to serve the Arlington, Texas, plant all the parts it needs to build the new SUV. Related Video: