Quote:
Originally Posted by wild03
Interesting to note, the 2009 s2000 with an msrp of 35.5k would cost 42k in today's dollars as per.
https://www.usinflationcalculator.com
I think a lot of this, ”Subaru should have done this or I prefer that" talk lacks prespective. Kind of pretentious to assume to know what a car company should and should not do in a market were the wrong decision costs millions. We can all pretend to want something but until we put our money where our mouth is it's all talk. Would most people pay 5k more to have no dip? One would think that Subaru crunched some numbers and projected sales didn't justify the cost...look where the s2000 ended up....great car, but at the end the consumers stopped buying it and now it's history....
My 2 cents |
Inflation can't easily be applied to all products though. Just look at TV's for example. They don't go up with inflation they have gone the other direction. Cars are similar. You get way more technology and quality in a car today for what you would have spent in the 90s. For example I had a 1995 Integra GS-R (94hp/liter, 8200RPM redline with no annoying holes in the powerband) that had a MSRP of 21400 back then. If I use your calculation that would be 35500 today. But in reality 35500 would get a WAY nicer car than my old Integra. A comparable car to the Integra today would be the Civic Si. A 2018 Civic Si is night and day nicer than the 95 GSR and it's only 24100. If the S2000 sold today I doubt it would sell for $42k.
Emissions regulations seemed to really kill the old NA, high HP/L high revving japanese engines with super linear power bands. Today they have all gone to small displacement FI engines with lower redlines. Now that the emission standards have been dialed back a bit it will be interesting to see if the auto industry follows or if they play it safe and stick with the Obama standards figuring that the next administration will just rachet the standards back up. Our engine is impressive with 100HP/L under Obama emissions regulations.