Could new vehicles actually be getting less expensive? Well, in relative terms, it appears the answer is yes. According to the folks who track such data, Comerica Bank, the purchase of an average-price new vehicle during the first quarter of 2000 required 23.7 weeks of median family income, before taxes, compared with 23.8 weeks of income required for a purchase in the fourth quarter of 1999.

Before you get too excited, the Detroit-based bank's Auto Affordability Index also noted during the first quarter a year earlier that a new vehicle purchase took the same 23.7 weeks of income. The average new vehicle price in the first quarter was $21,009, up 1.4 percent from the year-earlier price of $20,720.

"Median family income rose 2.9 percent between the first quarters of 1999 and 2000, more than covering the 1.4 percent rise in average vehicle prices," said David L. Littmann, chief economist at Comerica Bank. "Affordability would have improved more had financing costs not jumped by 0.60 percentage points over that same 12-month period."

In these times of rising wages, nearly full employment and well-controlled inflation, the Auto Affordability Index has remained below 24 weeks for five consecutive quarters. The index is compiled from Commerce Department and Federal Reserve data.