“New cars are too expensive,” is a sentiment you are likely to hear whenever pricing for a new model is announced in SA.    

A March 1994 edition of Top Car magazine listed the cheapest Volkswagen, a Citi 1.3 Shuttle, at R35,032. According to an online inflation calculator, this is equivalent to about R239,346 in 2022. The least expensive offering sold by the German carmaker today is the Polo Vivo, priced from R235,200 (1.4 Trendline)...