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Old 12-17-2009, 01:30 PM   #30 (permalink)
theDreamer
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Quote:
Originally Posted by JonBoy View Post
Apparently a number of you have zero idea what one-off, custom made equipment costs to design and fabricate or machine. This car is using some off-the-shelf equipment but it will also have a fair bit of fully custom work done to it. It doesn't take long to add tens of thousands of dollars just in labor to such a car, not to mention the materials costs. Development work is extremely expensive and this project is no exception.

Consider that you get charged a minimum of $75 per hour for work done on your car. Consider how many hours are going to be put into this car before it's done and that alone will probably add $30K+ to the "street price". Add in the literal cost of off-the-shelf parts (wheels, tires, brakes, suspension, exhaust, forced induction at some later point, tuning time, aero kit, paint job) and you're adding in tens of thousands more. Consider then if they strip it to lighten it, add in a roll cage and body stiffening elements, possibly do a seam-weld job on the car (requiring it to be stripped down - very time consuming!), add in more monitoring equipment, etc, etc, and you're going to have a very expensive car that is very quick around a track but it's also extremely expensive, does not have a warranty, and is worth a lot less than what you've spent to get it to where it is.

There are racecars that cost the owner $10K (or less) that can beat a GT3 around a track. It's not impossible by any means but when you take a brand new car, you take a big financial hit up front and it's actually quite a bit more expensive to develop than an older car since the platforms are not nearly as comprehensively supported by the aftermarket.

What I can guarantee is that 99% of us would still pick the GT3 over the heavily modified 370Z. Why? It'll still be the better package (even if it is possibly slightly slower), as well it should for the cost that's been invested to buy one.
What custom work has been done to this car?
Most of the parts that are throw into this car can be bought, heck even some are sold by Nissan. Maybe once he gets into the engine he might be doing some custom fab for performance, but it will not cost 50,000USD. People are throwing on twin turbos already for 15,000USD (custom built), throw in the rest of the upgrades needed to compete against the GT3 and you will probably spend 32,000 to 34,000USD on the car and 8-10,000USD on everything else. You are looking at under 60,000 for a car that competes very well, heck you could drop another 20,000 some how and still only be at 80,000 with room to spare.

Now I am not saying the Porsche is not great, I would love to own one, but at the same time having the Z and adding to it myself and getting it all the way I want is worth something. Then again, the Porsche does have a warranty.
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