Hey Cool Car Fans,
As The Cool Car Guy, I assist people in buying, selling, trading and leasing vehicles on a regular basis. I work with people from all walks of life, but as you might expect a good portion of my clients drive luxury and high-end vehicles. I also have clients who drive the no frills “bean can” as well or people who are on a limited budget. I often am asked by people why they should spend the additional money for an Audi, BMW, Mercedes Benz, etc. than on some of the less expensive vehicles on the market. Many people think that these vehicles are all created equal, but nothing could be further from the truth.
I decided I should take the time to write an article on why luxury vehicles are more expensive than other brands on the market. Many people assume that it’s all about just selling a vehicle for what the market will bear. Which is a nice way of saying that they think that all vehicles are the same and therefore they are ripping people off with a brand name. It’s true that the manufacturer needs to turn a profit, but when you buy a more expensive vehicle you are also getting a product that costs much more to produce. The components are more expensive to build the vehicle.
I actually run into this even with other people in the car business who don’t like Porsche, Audi or BMW or Mercedes Benz because they are expensive to repair. It cracks me up because some of these people are Used Car Managers and people who actually sell cars for a living. It’s as if they have no clue about what it under the hood and like a typical teenager think that just because both cars have a USB port they are the same technology. They don’t seem to understand that there is a difference in the quality of components being used in the vehicles. Let me illustrate this fact with just a few components to show the difference in pricing.
LETS LOOK AT THE BRAKES TO START
Brembo brakes are usually found on a vehicle like a Porsche 911 Turbo or a high-end Audi. You can grab a set of these over at Tire Rack at a discounted price of $1,916 for a kit at the time that I posted this and this particular one fits on a1983 Porsche 911SC Targa. Those do not include installation time at $150 to $200 an hour at a dealership or even at some of the specialty shops.
Contrast that with a set of rotors for a 2015 Hyundai Elantra GT that you can grab for $122.83 and these are much better than what the manufacturer would put on. These brakes are not even close to the same in performance or quality which is why they are more 15 to 16 times less money!
ENGINES AND TRANSMISSIONS
Here’s the engine for a 2011 BMW 335xi, which I happen to own and drive as my daily driver here in Colorado. It’s a 6 cylinder twin turbo engine that produces 300hp. If you needed to replace this engine it would cost over at CarMonkeys.com close to $11,000 for a used one and that’s a deal.
Contrast that with a 2011 Toyota Camry 3.5l V6 that was their top of the line motor for that year that produced 268hp and it would be about $4,500 for that used engine at CarMonkeys.com. That’s less than half the price even though they both have six cylinder engines. Why? They’re not even close when it comes to performance, components and technology that has gone into the two engines. It’s not as drastic in price difference compared to the brakes, but it’s 2.5 times the price on the used market for the same six cylinder engine. Obviously, they are not the same.
As you start to go throughout the vehicles and add up the cost of components like brakes, tires (run flats on the BMW or Mercedes Benz for example), the transmissions, shocks, struts, all-wheel drive systems, sound dampening, the quality of interior, you discover that everything costs more on the luxury vehicle. You can keep going with this sort of exercise in other aspects of the cars.
If it were truly a case of the manufacturers gaining huge profit off these cars and they were not that expensive to produce than companies like Hyundai would be much more competitive with their new Genesis vehicle. Instead they have only been able to beat the price of a Lexus by a very small margin in their pricing. They are focusing on offering a longer warranty as a key buying point. After all, the cost to surround a person with airbags and have the same quality components to compete with their target market of a Lexus and Acura isn’t any less.
The bottom line is that you get what you pay for when it comes to buying a vehicle.
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Auto Consultant – John Boyd: The Cool Car Guy
John is an auto consultant who owns CoolCarGuy.com that is a licensed car dealership in Lone Tree, CO. He can help you save time and money on any make or model, new or used, lease or purchase – nationwide! Call or email John about your next vehicle! jboyd@coolcarguy.com or Twitter @coolcarguy
Finally, here is what Google, Uber, Lyft, Tesla and even Ford and the other car manufacturers are apparently forgetting and missing when it comes to selling vehicles. Hummer was a successful brand for a while, so were Saturn, Suzuki, Oldsmobile and Pontiac. Don’t forget that Chevrolet and GM needed to be bailed out for their bad decisions in the past and even filed bankruptcy. Many of these car companies trade hands like a deck of playing cards because the market is saturated from a manufacturing standpoint and the marketplace is extremely fickle.
Hey Cool Car Fans,
This particular vehicle has the 7.0l V8 that produces 505hp. My client also had the following modifications done to the vehicle, but nothing that would affect the overall value of the car. The wheels are the factory ZR1 rims with Nitto tires. Air Raid exhaust. Full cat back. It also has the carbon fiber ground effect parts (side skirts), but my client liked the way the vehicle looks better without them installed. He’s including them with the vehicle to the new buyer, should they want them.
Air Conditioning
Separate Driver/Front Passenger Climate Controls
Interval Wipers
Daytime Running Lights
I am expecting that it won’t last long on the market since so many owners keep their corvettes for a long time. Corvettes have been being built by Chevrolet for over 60 years and they have built close to 1.5 million Corvettes over six or seven generations. The majority of them have been really good cars and a few have been pretty terrible. The C-6 platform that was from 2004 to 2016 with the LS7 engine in 2006 was definitely a winner!
Hey Cool Car Fans,
These cars are super cool, but the race series is not winning over new fans and that’s a problem for the future of the Formula One racing. John Malone’s Liberty Media has agreed to buy the racing series in a deal that values it at $4.4 billion, plus debt that will take it up to $8 billion. That’s big bucks for a racing venue, but this is Formula One racing, which is the Super Bowl of race car driving and a global audience.
Since the announcement was made back in September other news reports have said that they intend to put spending caps on race teams. This is a great idea because Formula One has been dominated by Red Bull and Mercedes Benz. This is because they can spend $400 million or more on putting together a racing team and other teams have been spent into ruin trying to compete, which has created an unfair advantage for smaller teams. It’s not a big win for the fans when two teams can dominate the racing circuit with better technology and loads of cash, so it will be interesting to see how it all shakes out with the new owner.
Auto Consultant – John Boyd: The Cool Car Guy
Hey Cool Car Fans,
One of the reasons why I selected these two vehicles is because of the incredible disparity in price between the two vehicles. I wanted to use this article to illustrate the fact that no two vehicles are ever the same, especially when it comes to classic cars. Much like a piece of a artwork the beauty is in eye of the beholder and what has gone into the creation of the vehicle. Many factors come into play from vehicle restoration, make, model, year, original miles, overall condition, who did the restoration, color, popularity, scarcity, etc.
First I spotted this 1962 Porsche 356B that was yellow and black with about 100,000 miles on the vehicle. The description of the vehicle didn’t really say much about it though. This vehicle was being priced around $72,000 with auction fees and shipping. Here’s what they had to say about it, but let’s get some more research on this year and model as well.
“The 356 was created by 
One of the reasons why the 356 is popular is because it was originally created by the son of Ferdinand Porsche and it’s a cool body style. In addition, it’s an extremely popular Porsche model and is claimed to be the world’s largest classic Porsche club of all the models. They also are popular for rally and racing car events as well. What about the 1962 though compared to the 1960? Actually, there were not huge changes in these vehicles from 1960 to 1962 since the biggest changes to the 356 actually occurred in 1959.
The second vehicle I spotted was a 1960 Porsche 356B convertible, which I’ve put some photos in this article of as well. This vehicle was a complete restoration with an asking price of around $189,000 with auction fees. The first 1962 Porsche that looked like a pretty sweet ride was being listed at around $72,000 and this one was being listed at around $189,000. That’s a big spread in price.
The Listing: “1960 Porsche 356 B Super 90 Convertible Signal Red Tan Leather Interior 1600cc Super 904-Speed Vin/Serial: 87746 Full Restoration in 2014 500 Miles Since Restoration Rust Free Body Rebuilt Drivetrain Solex P114 Carburetors New Clutch New Brakes and Suspension 12-Volt System Leather Trimmed Seats Leather Trimmed Door Panels Leather Trimmed Dash Detailed Undercarriage New Seals and Weather Stripping Constant refinement has always been the watchword at Porsche but the new-for-1960 356B represented a marked leap forward in both mechanical and cosmetic features. Most notably the traditional dropped nose and slanting headlight covers gave way to a raised front bumper and fenders and more upright headlights. The T5 body style also introduced such new details as opening front quarter windows except on the Draus-bodied Roadster so named to appeal to the fast-growing American market. 
Famed photojournalist Jesse Alexander described the 356Bs new T5-series body as a rather drastic face lift that will come as a shock to Porsche owners all over the world but today it is symbolic of Porsche excellence. This superb Drauz-bodied 1960 Porsche 356B T5 Roadster is presented fresh from a three-year no-expense-spared nut-and-bolt restoration completed in 2014. After being stripped to bare metal the rust-free body was finished to high standards of fit and finish and expertly painted in Porsche Signal Red. In addition to all new seals weather stripping and exterior trim it features excellent glass chrome and canvas top Concours-standard detailing including the undercarriage and a crisp clean Tan interior with leather-trimmed seats door panels and dash pad square weave carpets and fully functioning controls and instrumentation. The restoration included rebuilding a Super 90 1600cc flat-4 engine with Solex P114 carburetors. The transmission was also rebuilt and a new clutch installed; the completed driveline now has approximately 400 miles of use. All steering linkage brake system and suspension components have been restored or replaced and the electrical system upgraded to 12 volts. This marvelous collector-grade 356B Roadster is offered with the Porsche Certificate of Authenticity.”