Quote:
Originally Posted by SneakyMilo
While I don't disagree with your math, I do think you are making a mistake. A car exists for long after the period it is produced. I wasn't old enough to remember the AE86 when you could buy one new. However, when I got my license it was old enough to be affordable for me, thus I was interested in it. Look at all the retro cars that are in the market today. I would wager that a lot of the owners weren't old enough to remember a 70's era Camero when they were new yet for some reason they really like the new '10 SS.
Someone can correct me if I am wrong because these figures change over time, but the last I read the average Scion buyer is 26 years old. You definitely do not see many people much past 30 buying them.
Which is once again - exactly why I said that Toyota/Scion wouldn't be smart if they put the car in the 30K base price range. At that price you probably lose a good chunk of 20-somethings (not all, but definitely a good number) who would have a very hard time justifying the price tag.
The concept of sports car has changed over time. Numbers that once qualified as "performance" now don't even cut it for a base model economy car. If Toyota wants this car to be successful as a sports car they will have to increase the power. The Miata already has the market for slow yet great handling cars locked down. They are marketing this car as the spiritual successor of the original not a carbon copy. Note: The horsepower of the car has absolutely no bearing on how "tossable" a car is unless that horsepower comes at the cost of increased weight or a front weight bias.
I was never trying to say that the new FT needs to be a drag car. Just have enough power output to be able to really enjoy the great handling characteristics that Toyota is bragging about.
From a brand identity perspective it makes perfect sense. This is Toyota's return to the sports car market. There are no celicas, there are no supras so you aren't stealing sales from yourself, plus you already have a great low end platform (tC) that you don't want to cannibalize sales from - speaking from the perspective of the US market since I can't comment intelligently about other markets.
Maybe I am looking at this issue too much from my own perspective. I know that if the only option is a 180-200 hp N/A engine with a base price of 22K I will not be buying it since I am not in the market for a relatively slow yet good handling sports car. If I was, I would have already bought an RX-8 or Miata.
Just my thoughts.
-Sneaky
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I think your analysis is spot on -- hopefully Toyota will be thinking along these lines as well.
Yes, it needs to be tossable but also quick enough to at least give folks looking at other sports cars a reason to reflect upon where they want to spend their money.
It won't be on the FT-86 if the best it can do is barely keep up with a Miata.