Found my copy of Carguide from 1999 which has specs and prices of all the cars for sale in Canada that year. I was surprised by how expensive cars were then. In the last twenty years inflation in Canada has been 47%.
Some examples:
1999 Toyota Corolla VE: $15,090
After inflation: $22,200
2019 Toyota Corolla CE: $16,790
I thought this was pretty amazing. Check out the Toyota msrp list from 1988 AutoGuide i have:
30 years ago a base automatic Corolla was $12K, and the fancy one $14K
$11,458.00 for the 5 speed Corolla DLX in 1988 works out to $21,445 in 2018. Hard to imagine given that it was the stripper model. In 1988, a base model was REALLY base. Power nothing, vinyl seats, no tach, no air, no cruise, either no radio or an AM only.
And $50,531 in 2018 would swing the Cressida.