Paying more for less

[squala]

Did any of you notice this when buying a car or any part for it? One obvious thing is a 4-door vs. its 2-door sibling. While the Lancer GSR coupe is less expensive than a GLXi sedan equivalent, 2-door is generally more expensive than a 4-door.

Take for instance the 3-Series. Why is it that less sheetmetal costs more? A coupe is simpler in design than a sedan. You need less reinforcements for it. Most, if not all 2-doors don't even have B-pillars unlike 4-doors. Considering that the list of equipment is the same, the coupe still has a higher sticker.

Another is in tires. You pay more for less rubber. Lower profile tires usually cost more. Why is this?

If you know of any technical facts behind this, please post up.

Thanks

[Hero]

maybe its the price of desirability (if there is such a word..)

[Josh0027]

IMO, you can take into account mass production costs. For the Mitsu, let's say you have two fabrication lines, the GLXI and GSR. Market for a sedan would be much bigger than a 2 door. So the GLXI line will spur out more units... the cost per unit goes down The GSR on the other hand, does not have an equivalently large market demand, so the line would produce less units. To even things out, the unit price is ramped higher.

Another thing would consider that the GLXI came before the GSR (assuming this is true). The additional engineering costs would also contribute to the higher sale value of the GSR unit, like redesigning the body.

In general, you could compare the spec sheet of a sedan and a coupe. Usually features are more ramped up for a coupe than a sedan. Like it has a better suspension, traction control, increased creature comforts, etc.

[Josh0027]

Hah I think I read something wrong... the GSR is less expensive than the GLXI... hehehe... well just put my analogy on the more add on features of a coupe than a sedan...

[scarab]

Another is in tires. You pay more for less rubber. Lower profile tires usually cost more. Why is this?

...tinanong din ako ng erpats ko nyan when i convinced him to put 17" rims on his ride, napansin kasi niya ang mahal ng goma. di ako makasagot agad, sabi ko na lang mas mahal technology sa pagdevelop ng lower profile tires.

[Hayward]

...tinanong din ako ng erpats ko nyan when i convinced him to put 17" rims on his ride, napansin kasi niya ang mahal ng goma. di ako makasagot agad, sabi ko na lang mas mahal technology sa pagdevelop ng lower profile tires.

I agree with brod Josh0027. The higher the production volume, the lower the cost of the product. Mas malaki ang market at demand ng stock tyres vs the low profilers.

[wildthing]

you pay for aethetics (kumbaga sa restaurant the "ambiance") too.

OT: Life becomes short if you sleep less (comment on Gustav Graves quote of Squala)

[empy]

since you talk about the 3-series bmw, the coupe version does have sports suspension standard, while it's an option on the sedan. also afaik the coupe needs more body reinforcement to maintain the same structural rigidity as the sedan (and even then the sedan is better - at least that's what the guys at Turner Motorsport say, which is why they build their Touring Car Championship cars on the sedan chassis).

all that said, the coupe is only a few hundred dollars more than a sedan - not a big deal.

re: low-profile tires, the reason they are more expensive is not because of their sidewall height, but because they are high-performance tires that are made of softer and more expensive rubber compounds.

malaki ba ang cost differential ng 3-series coupe at sedan sa pinas?

[j_avonni]

IMO, you can take into account mass production costs. For the Mitsu, let's say you have two fabrication lines, the GLXI and GSR. Market for a sedan would be much bigger than a 2 door. So the GLXI line will spur out more units... the cost per unit goes down The GSR on the other hand, does not have an equivalently large market demand, so the line would produce less units. To even things out, the unit price is ramped higher.

Less supply higher the cost & high supply lower the cost. This also applies in common commodities.

[Bry]

AFAIK, 2 door cars are taxed more heavily than their 4 door siblings.

[mazdamazda]

AFAIK, 2 door cars are taxed more heavily than their 4 door siblings.

AFAIK - there is no such thing.

===

btw, the C-Class Coupe is cheaper than the C-Class Saloon.

as for the 3-Series Coupe vs Sedan, AFAIK - that might be because the Coupe is an indent order (from Germany) compared to the Sedan which can be sourced from China & Malaysia.

[theveed]

Also, it's harder to design a coupe, the fact that you have less spots to make a brace or support makes it harder to design a cockpit that resists twisting and flexing. It's not just the sheet metal.

[spiff]

economies of scale my friend

[Bry]

MazdaMazda, isn't the C Class coupe very different from the saloon? They're not exactly brothers, I think.

[theveed]

Insurance is higher sa US etc.

[niky]

Insurance is higher, cost of production is higher due to lower volume, and demand is lower due to lack of utility. Thus, fewer cars, higher prices. This doesn't necessarily hold true in all cases, and in the case of luxury cars, since they're all low volume anyway, I doubt that this makes much of a difference in prices.

[alwayz_yummy]

eto di ko sure kungpasok sa topic:

kapag magpapalagay ka ng freon sa aircon ng sasakyan....

kung sa aircon-shops r-12 freon will cost you 300-600 pesos, but only 1/4-1/2 kilo lang naman ang nakalagay sa whole system mo....but when you buy your own r-12 freon, 250/ kilo.... exclude the labor kuno... it may qualify to "paying more for less".

[squala]

MazdaMazda, isn't the C Class coupe very different from the saloon? They're not exactly brothers, I think.

Yup, the C-Class coupe is not exactly a C-Class sedan stripped of 2 doors. Actually, it's a hatchback. To make things clearer, there also used to be a 3-Series hatchback, the E46 model being the one with those ugly pseudo-projector headlights.

If I'm not mistaken, the CLK shares similar underpinnings with the C-Class, though it looks more like an E-Class coupe.

[oldblue]

vanity.

[StraightSix]

... there also used to be a 3-Series hatchback, the E46 model being the one with those ugly pseudo-projector headlights.

This should be the E46/5 Compact. In the E46 family, the least produced, least priced and least desired. Ugly's the right word. So there you go ... that's one exception