It's ok - we won't match on everything, but most things
Always enjoy the candor.
Now I'd really like to throw a bone into this argument -
In 2003, we saw the debut of the Evo stateside. The WRX STI was finally nearly in the states for a MY2004 debut. The S2000 was here as well as the 350Z and the RX8. As far as "performance oriented" vehicles, that was really it. I'm not including the Neon SRT-4 though because wrong-wheel-drive. All those above are RWD or AWD.
Adjust $42,000 USD for inflation from the year 2003, and you get... $32,356.94. That money in 2003 buys any one of those cars I listed above at some point in their model range. So are these cars really getting more expensive? Are entry level luxury cars getting cheaper? If you look at inflation, cost and availability of materials, etc... it's kind of crazy to see where we are now versus even 10 years ago.
Another thing to look at is - how nice is our range of tuner/performance cars these days? There's SO MUCH to pick from! Only Nissan is playing on the more expensive end of the spectrum.
/threadjack