larchmont said:
Nice job, Ferg.
And Ferg's response over there brings us back to the subject of "comps."
He's thinking of getting a Scion tC, which IMO is arguably a rough comp for the TSX. Admittedly a VERY rough comp, because it's a coupe and it's truly a comp for the RSX. But I think there's going to be some cross-shopping of the tC and the TSX.
As usual, I say that the very significant price difference doesn't keep them from being comps even though I know that few others would agree. When I go car shopping, I look for cars of a certain type, not of a certain price, and I can't understand that more people can't relate to it. If I have a certain amount of money to spend on a car, I'm not going to look just at cars that are in that price range -- I'm more than happy also to look at cheaper cars -- and in the current instance, if I hadn't done so I would have wound up with a car that's far less suitable for me than a TSX. In fact, for a while I did, but that was before the TSX existed.
IMO if someone really likes the tC and it meets his needs, why tf should he only look at more expensive cars? :donno:
....And on the subject of "comps", I think everyone thinks about the subject differently. For instance, when I was shopping for a car 6+ months ago, I considered many, many vehicles, ranging from the low-end compact cars like the Civic and Mazda3, right up to cars in the $35K range (used BMW 330's, new G35's, new Maxima's, etc). Just because I considered a Mazda3 and the 330i does not, to me, mean that they are "comps" in the traditional sense of the word. I tested the Mazda to see if by chance it would meet my minimum requirements, but alas, it did not. So I moved on to a higher price bracket, yet one in which I could still afford a car.
Most people don't quite shop this way. A good number of people set a price limit, and consider other cars in that price range.
When you were shopping for a $30 thousand-dollar-plus car, it was not inconceivable that you could step back 5 grand and yet still find a suitable car, which you did when you found the TSX. However, if you were looking at spending $15 grand on a car, it becomes increasingly unlikely that you can scale back another 5 grand and still find a car that meets your requirements. And this is probably the case for most shoppers. They want to get the most vehicle for their money, so price is the deciding factor in whether or not vehicles are comps. Heck, some folks might consider a Honda Accord and a Nissan Xterra comps because they are similarly priced, even though they are really very different vehicles.
KnowwhatImasayin?
Ferg