Quote:
Originally Posted by DarkSunrise
Taking S2000, Prelude, and NSX prices, adjusting them for inflation, then stating what horrible values they would be if sold new today for those prices is beyond stupid for any number of reasons which should be obvious. But it's enough for this discussion to say that when those cars were released, they undercut their intended competition by a fair amount. Competition for the S2000 ($33k) was the Boxster ($43k), Z4 ($41k), and TT Quattro Roadster ($40k). The S2000 was cheaper by at least $7k over those cars. When it was released, the NSX ($62k) was designed to match up against the Ferrari 348 ($122k), which it undercut by a huge amount.
Not sure why you brought up the K20 (I didn't), but your point (that it would fail emissions standards today) is irrelevant for this discussion.
Honda used to be synonymous with motorsport in the 1980's and 1990's (six consecutive constructors' championships in Formula 1, six consecutive drivers championships in CART). Honda was also known for being a builder of consumer cars that were light, sporty, and affordable relative to their competition. There's nothing hyperbolic or overdramatic about those statements.
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You kindly ignored the percentage adjustment :p. But that's what I accused you of doing with Honda anyways, choosing what you
want to see - but I'll bite anyways, why is it a dumb idea (details please, I'm genuinely curious to know) to adjust for inflation and then modify with an (admittedly) arbitrary number when we're talking the hypothetical's of dinosaurs being released today? You'll also note I said if
released today and NOT brought over as a continuing generation of a model that has been out. So we're assuming no incentive/cut back and little r&d recovery. You do know what the CPI is, right? It's just an estimate and I didn't perform any specific weighting. So I took an additional %8 OFF the estimated adjustment. I'd say it's a general ball park figure of the car if new today.
I'd argue the S2000 was competing in the class below. The RX8, the 350Z, Crossfire, etc.
The Boxster, Z4, SLK competed in their own pseduo luxury class. Someone buying a Benz wasn't crossing shopping a Honda.
I'd like to hear your opinion on their values if released today as brand new models. If you have one?
My point is these cars were not as cheap/affordable when new as you make them out to be in some false sense of nostalgia (and you're comparing the NSX to a god damn Ferrari... I don't care what it was
supposed to compete with, a super car it was not, and that's why it died). And then you chose to ignore everything else I put and reiterated your original statement. Just look at the sales data, look at Honda's continued involvement in motorsport's both at grass roots (I don't remember Toyota leading the B spec series formation.. nope.. that was Honda and Mazda) and the top tier (Formula 1) and everything in between.
The K20 was for someone else, didn't wanna multi quote.
Here's each manufacture's US motorsports page:
http://www.toyotaracing.com/
http://hpd.honda.com/motorsports/
Take from it whatever you'd like.