Confused on Pricing....... Makes no sense to me.

[rijowysock]

I am coming from the Lotus/Porsche Forums.... thinking about an Atom for fun..

built just the way i want it, i'm looking at 60k from "TMI" or they have a vehicle coming up for sale that would suit my build and is $52,5k. BRAND NEW VEHICLES.

looking @ used vehicles, i dont understand how a "tracked" and "heavily driven" vehicle can be demanding 70k for a 74k msrp vehicle that is 2 years old... or demanding 60k for a 60k vehicle that is 2 years old... I have managed to find an Atom 2 for under 40k, but then again it's 8 years old and only 12,5k less than a brand new one.

can someone explain to me how you track an exige and it's worth less than a daily driven one because of the wear and tear, but you track an Atom and it's worth the same if not more than a brand new one from the dealer?

-Riley

[bolus]

Welcome

You probably see a lot of variation in pricing because of several reasons.

There are only about.... what.... 200 of these cars in the US so they are still pretty rare.

Some owners in certain states like California have already spent months or years to obtain registration (which follows the car) which can fetch a hefty price increase. There is one registered in Canada and it will probably be the only one registered in canada ever that is for sale for over $100,000.

There were a run of US made cars that come with GM ecotec engines that wont be ever available again. Some would rather work with that engine. More low end torque and what not. Specific options for tuning and upgrading.

Some of the used cars have had substantial improvements done as well. These can increase in value rather than decrease liked a riced up Honda with bolt ones.

That may include updated rod ends from cheep ones to high end race grade ones (which would need to be replaced any way), upgraded exhaust (which would need to be replaced anyway), custom much stronger uprights (that are no longer made). custom made carbon fiber parts that you cant buy anywhere. Lets say you want to run larger rear wheels and slicks. My car is set up for them with upgraded uprights, wheels that took 5 months to get and custom made fenders. except for the wheels you are going to have to start literally from scratch to get the uprights and fenders made, $850 just to get a fender mold made...

The Atom 2's have racing seats from recaro and sparco and these arent available anymore and it would involve having custom seat supports to go in if you wanted them. Want recaro seats in your Atom, better off buying a well kept up used Atom 2 since you wont be fitting them in an Atom 3 without a huge amount of custom work.

They're not daily drivers so many owners dont have to sell to get a replacement to drive to work. No reason to sell them for peanuts if you dont need to sell them for peanuts.

so... long way of saying that they keep their value and owners dont really dump them off for quick sales.

[rijowysock]

Welcome

You probably see a lot of variation in pricing because of several reasons.

There are only about.... what.... 200 of these cars in the US so they are still pretty rare.

Some owners in certain states like California have already spent months or years to obtain registration (which follows the car) which can fetch a hefty price increase. There is one registered in Canada and it will probably be the only one registered in canada ever that is for sale for over $100,000.

There were a run of US made cars that come with GM ecotec engines that wont be ever available again. Some would rather work with that engine. More low end torque and what not. Specific options for tuning and upgrading.

Some of the used cars have had substantial improvements done as well. These can increase in value rather than decrease liked a riced up Honda with bolt ones.

That may include updated rod ends from cheep ones to high end race grade ones (which would need to be replaced any way), upgraded exhaust (which would need to be replaced anyway), custom much stronger uprights (that are no longer made). custom made carbon fiber parts that you cant buy anywhere. Lets say you want to run larger rear wheels and slicks. My car is set up for them with upgraded uprights, wheels that took 5 months to get and custom made fenders. except for the wheels you are going to have to start literally from scratch to get the uprights and fenders made, $850 just to get a fender mold made...

The Atom 2's have racing seats from recaro and sparco and these arent available anymore and it would involve having custom seat supports to go in if you wanted them. Want recaro seats in your Atom, better off buying a well kept up used Atom 2 since you wont be fitting them in an Atom 3 without a huge amount of custom work.

They're not daily drivers so many owners dont have to sell to get a replacement to drive to work. No reason to sell them for peanuts if you dont need to sell them for peanuts.

so... long way of saying that they keep their value and owners dont really dump them off for quick sales.

sounds like i will be buying new, as far as ecotech, i personally would rather have the K24 (or the old K20a)... just need to talk with TMI about SC and so forth... I will not be tracking the vehicle so im not too worried about internal upgrades and so forth, my Exige had the toyota 1.8 2ZZ-GE and never a hiccup at all.. i personally think the K20k24 platform is even better than the 2ZZ-GE so shouldnt have any problems.

question on the SC atom's tho, they do or do not have intercoolers/etc setup on them?

[bolus]

Not on the honda I believe.