FORD FOCUS RS $42,000 w/manual only tranny!

RicerX

The GT-R was never meant to be "affordable" just like the upcoming Ford GT won't be.

The current Mustang is how many years newer than the current Z? The Focus RS is technically not even out yet.

I understand your sentiment of Nissan not currently offering comparable performance options to Ford's lineup that is less than a year old, but let's be realistic - these things don't happen overnight, either.

When Nissan incrementally improved the 370Z over the 350Z, it decimated... for one model year. The competition has been responding very effectively ever since. Don't you think this time around it might be wise for Nissan to sit back and let their competition blow their wads first? The market is in a crazy place of fluctuation as there is a completely different demographic for a Z type car now than there was in 2009.

Furthermore, while I think the Focus RS is awesome, when has Nissan EVER competed in the hot hatch segment for the American market? Hard to lose a game when you're not playing. Would I like to see a Nismo Pulsar here? Absolutely! But imagine if that concept two years ago showed up with a 220hp turbo from a Juke RS... it would get stomped and sit on the lots.

On the subject of badge snobbery and such, I'll leave you with an elaboration of a point I made earlier...

It's a great time to be a performance car guy. The 370Z is still a damn good car for the money (if we're talking sport package only, which is really what performance guys should be concerned with), but there's just a lot of other options out there. However, the Nissan badge snobbery is really only effective if you're into crossovers, because no one has the crossover game handled quite like Nissan.

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