Does anyone else thing the mods for the GT could be cheaper? <slight rant>

[SWP-LegacyGT]

I'm not going to try and bash anyone too hard on this but hear me out.

 

It seems that most of the performance mods, exterior styling mods etc are inflated right now.

 

To me a Cobb AP is worth $450 for stage I maps, not $650. Stage II maps... maybe, maybe $650. Exhausts, well they're just metal and piping and welds. So those basics covered, I know the more extensive up/down pipes, tmic, fmic are more of a high end item so I suppose they warrant the price.

 

Now getting onto the exterior stuff. I know a lot of us are RBS fans (and I am as well, even though I don't have any of their parts yet) however, it seems like to me... to fabricate the piece, paint and ship, they should be selling most of their grills for $200 tops. That's right, EAT the cost of making it to SELL more grills. Right now maybe 15-20% of the people (maybe) on this board have an RBS grill, seems like to me if they reduced the cost of them by $100 bucks, they could sell more and have more exposure. Same goes with the lips, splats (which I hope they make eventually) and whatever else.

 

Anyways, with the mod bug bitting and bitting hard, it's hard to justify paying the prices that items are currently set at.

[leftride]

i think the AP price is pretty fair, i was looking at reflashing my ecu on my TSX and was looking at spending $600, for that you have to take it out and ship it out. the AP allows real-time maps too.

 

i agree about the grills though $300 is a lot, thats why i havent considered buying one.

[TSiWRX]

I think it's an issue of demand and "sheer numbers."

 

Look at prices for DSM parts. Or Honda. They're low simply because there's enough of a repetitive customer-base that will support the vendors and aftermarket makes.

 

In that light, exactly how many LGT owners - or even combined Outback, etc. - mod?

[PeterJMC]

There is also not much competition... so those that make the products can charge whatever they want.

 

The AVO fuel pump for example... the only plug and play pump available and it's $300 compared to a Walboro fuel pump which is $99 but requires modifications to fit correctly.

[SC GT]

And in RBS's defense, WRX_LGT started RBS just because he wanted a mesh grill that fit the USDM LGT, but no one made one. He is a LGT.com member and enthusiast first, and parts manufacturer by necessity. I don't think he quit his day job over RBS, so he is probabaly more interested in making sure he does not lose money than making a ton of money.

 

The fact that no actual parts manufacturer has stepped in and started manufacturing a cheaper grill should tell you a lot about the overall demand for LGT-exclusive mod parts.

[4boxparts]

honestly, I love all the pricing for lgt parts. Parts for my m5 were downright insane!! $1800 exhausts, $1100 intakes, $1000 rear diffusers!!

[GTTuner]

I agree the prices are crazy right now, especially for the new Legacy. Exhaust system prices are crazy. I think things will calm down by the end of this year, hopefully.

If your interested in header systems, up or down pipes, JSC Speed has some reasonable prices. They have a stainless Borla header for $499.00. I think it also includes the up-pipe.

I am considering one, anyone have comments on the Borla?

 

Disregard that last question, I found my answer in another thread.

[praedet]

I think they are price as they be should be given the market and what is required...

 

Ted

[Boostjunkie]

RBS is just a side project for Rommel. I can pretty much assure you that he would be losing money on each grill if he sold them for $200. As of now, the money he makes off of RBS is just mod money for his car... it ain't going to replace his day job

 

On another note, may here know that I've been working with Megan Racing on a few products. I was supposed to get my catback on yesterday, but it was held up in customs or something like that :sigh: However, they did give me an idea as to pricing on the coilovers and the catback. The coilovers will carry an MSRP of about $1050-1100. The catback will MSRP at $600-650. Expect "street" prices to be around $50-$100 lower on each. We also discussed the FMIC I'm working on and agreed that should sell for less than the current cost of the Perrin TMIC. I've actually gotten off my butt and fabbed up some of the piping for the FMIC and I did manage to keep the stock airbox. The core fits prefectly behind the stock bumper beam, the fog lights are retained and there is no metal trimming required at all.

 

So what I'm trying to say is that there is a light at the end of tunnel for better priced mods. =)

[RuskiTrombone]

Sue the companies without competiton for being a monopoly. Sue all the stores for charging the same price for Cobb AP for collusion. Sue those charging low prices for predatory pricing. Business is business all of this can be explained by simple supply and demand. Monopolies choose to reduce production and charge high costs and thus are called to have productive and allocative inefficiency. They really have a competitive monopoly meaning it is not really a monopoly as a new contender can always enter the market since there are no barriers to entry. If we had more competition then the prices would automatically level off to where price equals the marginal cost of production. Example, look at aftermarket stuff for civics and then look at stuff for say a huyndai elantra that is as cheap as a civic, but the market holds very limited demand.

[illt3ck]

I agree on the RBS pricing and legacy aftermarket in general.

 

Hence, why my car is completely stock.

[CasopoliS]

I don't think they are THAT bad. I owned a Mazdaspeed Protege and a Unichip Piggyback ECU was $800, and most other options were even higher. Not many people made stuff for the Mazdaspeed, thus everything was more expensive. I paid $275 for a USED CF grill, they were like $325.

 

I guess it is all in how you look at it. I just learn how to DIY for the parts I can.

[jarrod]

You pay to play..bottom line is if you want it bad enough you'll drop the $$ on it

[mccorry]

A general rule of thumb that I learned in the classic car hobby.....

 

Something is worth as much as someone will pay for it.

[panamajack]

It's not that bad. Just not that many options here in the US. In Japan you can find whatever you want.

[crash]

Buy everything used like I did

 

$225 RBS grill

$300 Ion Springs

$150 Flow DP

 

[GTsleeper]

A general rule of thumb that I learned in the classic car hobby.....

 

Something is worth as much as someone will pay for it.

 

agree!! accually i agree with everyone some how, some way to everything that has been commented.

 

here is one thing i really like...... the sti front lip, want it, am i going to pay the $ for it, not yet. I, MYSELF at this time cant justify spending alot of money on it that to ME seems like not-much-to-it product for the cost.

[dan_m]

yup, only thing holding me back with RBS parts

is cost, ie front grille

+ 300 USD

+ shipping

+ US/CAN conversion

+ duties / taxes

= ±500 CND at my end, way too much for my blood,

money better spent elsewhere imo, his stuff is

nice tho'- not arguing that point...

[RuskiTrombone]

DIY grill FTW

[jazzymt]

In general, I think many products in the auto industry are hugely inflated. That's not to say there aren't fair prices, but I see many products that I know approximately how much it would take a small manufacturing company to fabricate (since I work for one), and they're sold at insanely high markups...mostly because well, hey, who cares if it's $100 instead of $30 when everyone else on the market is selling them for that much? Lightened crank pulleys I think are the best example of such a product.

 

On the other hand, products like the accessport are a poor example to bitch about because they take a high risk investment and hope to pay it off over time at a set price. Sure, the nuts and bolts of the actual circuit board aren't that expensive, but the reverse engineering and "forward" engineering to develop a plug and play solution like that are pretty big. I think we all know the quality is more than up to par with their price as well.

 

I see examples of overinflated pricing all the time though - it's a matter of marketing and competition. The iPod revolution is the best example of this kind of crap. Remember when a good computer speaker set cost $30-40? Now, market it as an "iPod accessory" and you can easily sell it for +$200. It's rediculous, but there's lots of people out there willing to pay it, so there ya go.

 

I could probably sell my boards for +$100 each, but I guess I'm too much of a softie. I don't want to see a thread like this bitching about prices of my parts, so I slip in under the radar and keep people happy. On the other hand, I know what it's like to make stuff on the side, put a lot of work into it and not see much return since at first, I was selling them for probably too cheap, so I understand RBS's position if that if $300 is what it takes to make building a grille worth his time, then so be it. If you think it's worth it, you'll buy one. If not, and you're willing to do the work yourself, then you can do that too.

 

How much are you willing to pay for convenience? If it's not something you can do yourself at all, like build ceramic coated headers from scratch, well then hey, they've spent the dough on investing in tooling and expertise (welders, benders, engineers) to make it happen and they should make a buck too. I know...it drives me nuts when I see a $1 plastic piece sold for +$100 (ie. eyelines), but what's the alternative? Did you pony up the $10,000 to have an injection mold made and do a run of 1,000 parts to pay it off? No, probably not.

[raz-0]

I think the OP jsut doesn't liek paying for expensive parts. stage I is worth $450? stage II is worth $650? Heck they gave you a magic box and BOTH for $650. Howabout you give them $1100 like you suggested.

 

What youa re paying for is the little box, all the electronics in it, and some professional expertise in form of a tune. About the only people getting away for cheaper are very popular high-volume GM and ford vehicles.

 

As for body panels, aero kits, etc. They are very labor intesive and you have to recover costs in very few parts in general. Esecially if the market is like the LGT market, and mostly provided by enthusiasts. And the parts that have the broadest appeal in their limted market (grills, eyebrows, bumper skin replacements) all have the shortest lifespan as the car companies often hit them every 2-3 years on model refreshes.

 

As for exhausts, I'm frankly suprised we are seeing the prices we are seing as quickly as we are seeing them.

 

Heck when I got my elipse in 97, an exhaust cost about $600. 8 years later I buy my LGT, and I can get an exhaust for about $800. Given the increased price of metal, the dual muffler design, and inflation, it seems like a pretty reasonable price and my model of vehicle was LESS than one year on the market.

 

Frankly the only parts out there that pricing baffles me is brakes. Maybe it's the liability factor, but beyond that they manufacture in volume, and their is a lot of cross model/platform parts sharing in the actual product. But then again, liability could be a very big factor.

 

 

So you wish mods were cheaper.. big surprise.