by Anthony Fongaro - 03/04/2022
Speaking of ticking options, let’s do some digging. I’m going to look at a few vehicles with common features such as heated seats, a sunroof if possible, and advanced safety features. I also want to see the cost of an upgraded engine and/or an AWD option. There will be a few vehicles on here that I like or have some laughably high options. If you think a brand like Porsche won’t be on this list, you’ve never priced out a Porsche before. I gathered three different vehicles, one of which will surprise you. Let’s start with one of the cheapest cars around.
The first car on this list is a car I don’t like. In fact, it’s one of the worst cars I’ve driven in some time. This is the Mitsubishi Mirage. On the Mitsubishi website, the ES with a five-speed manual costs $14,645. For that, you don’t get very much. If you want your Mirage with an automatic which you probably would, that increases to $16,000. For something like a Mirage, heated seats aren’t needed, but you would have to now go up to $18,000 for an SE. So, when a company like Mitsubishi says that they have one of the cheapest cars with the Mirage, it isn’t true in the real world.
Next up is a car that I love. I tested the Genesis G70, and it is one of the best cars on the market. Since there are two motors, I’m going to tell you both why you should get the bigger, 3.3-liter turbocharged V6. The starting price for the G70 is $37,000 for the rear-wheel-drive, 2.0-liter inline-four. If you want to get an all-wheel-drive and add a sunroof, you add $2,000 for all-wheel-drive and $4,000 for the Prestige package. This gets you up to $45,000, or an $8,000 price increase. My favorite Genesis G70 has a 3.3T engine that starts at $42,000 and has rear-wheel drive. When you combine heated and ventilated seats, sunroof, and other features, you can get up to around $56,000. While that is high, you can get a recommended G70 for $51,000.
From the Genesis G70, let’s look at the starting price of…a Porsche. Surprise! You can’t really say “the cheapest” Porsche, but the least expensive Porsche is the base Macan. What’s funny is that, by no means, do you really need to get a bigger engine for the Macan. What’s funnier is that the $55,000 starting price can quickly get to over $60,000 in paint and interior trim. This build only had the $3,600 leather package, rather than the $5,900 for an extended leather package. The sunroof and heated seats are in a $5,000 package, but the heated steering wheel is separate. You even must pay $1,000 for Adaptive Cruise Control and $700 for Lane Keep Assist! Oh, Porsche. Total price: $68,000.
Well, that’s not too terrible for a Porsche. Going back to the main topic: I still think that “starting at” is misleading. If it’s a vehicle that doesn’t have many options, then sure. Most of the time, the base vehicles that manufacturers make go-to car rental fleets. Still, I have a suggestion. You can still say that a vehicle has a starting price, but you should really list what the base car doesn’t have. From there, have a “starting price” with popular options, like the ones I listed above. For now, I’ll just go and build a car that only starts at…oh never mind…I just added $15,000 worth of options. See what I mean?
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