Some people aren't very good with their interactions with other people and end up offending them without knowing they did. Case in point above.
If I get a chance, I do explain a bit more context on the cost. It's not an economy fleet car; it's a toy built in Japan and shipped over. When it came out 5-6 years ago, the price was pretty much what it was today, and it beat out other cars in it's class badly enough that it pretty much competed above its price class with things like the Porsche Boxster (non-car people hear Porsche, think pricey, and then kinda "get it"). These days, it's still priced about where its competition is (BMW 3series, STI, base Boxster, Camaro/Mustang/Challenger etc), but has stagnated a bit while all of these other models have had upgrades. Ok, well, the Challenger hasn't....poor thing.
But otherwise, it's a sexy toy with a serious motor and performance handling, but also with some comfort features like a GT car so it doesn't completely beat me up. A two-seater for fun and sitting pretty much in the middle of the price wars for fun cars.
Also, and my car guy friends do get jealous of this: The women do like this car and react to it. You can't get that from most accessible performance vehicles.