I wasn’t referring to “guilds” but rather traditional trade unions.

1. Calm down...

The viper can and should be $30 grand less. If they dropped some of the silliness and relented to using the 6.4L instead of a V10 (that has no other applications in their fleet) forcing them to amortize R&D costs over such a small number of models.

“The reason why manufacturers make these vehicles is not just financial, it’s because it represents their best.”

I don’t think they are suggesting “free” necessarily, but the cost differential between installing the B-spec suspension pieces and the stock 1.0EB parts at the factory is minimal at best (retrofitting at the dealer is a different story...). It boils down to the marketing folks refusing to allow certain option…

The Viper in it’s current form is just over priced....if it was $30k cheaper it would be a contender.

Maybe it’s different in the US but in Canada there are plenty of trades people who are self employed/independent contractors but are also union members.

With reputation comes responsibility....turning out misleading click bait is no different than shilling a product you know is substandard or even dangerous but what the hell...I’m getting paid!

Have you even read the titles, never mind the articles he writes? He goes out of his way with hyperbole and superfluous commentary that specifically serves to paint a given example as an believable deal you would be stupid not to lay down your cash for. And its never for a model in general or sector of the market, its…

I agree with you 100%...that’s the click baity intent after all.

Adding some qualifier such as “found on eBay” doesn’t change the fact you write stories about specific cars for sale proclaiming them to be awesome deals.

No one is accusing you of doing the swindling.

Value has to be factored....a fully loaded E63 wagon is pushing $140,000. That’s just stupid money for what it is. So many better options at this price point.

So your, subjective (and arguably unfounded) qualifiers serve as a complete dismissal of the facts? Sorry, no matter how much you love this thing it is going to fall flat in both sales and comparos with equally priced cars in the segment and even those that can be had for close to half the price.

You need to understand that the direct competition to this is everything in the performance arena that comes in near or below $150k which is a lot.

They would sell 7. And you wouldn’t end up being one of them.

I think it’s because those sportwagens stand them $17-18k.

I’ve got a few thoughts on this:

So it’s $75k for a $28k Jeep with body kit and custom dash....with yet to be determined fit/finish and quality. Or am I missing something here?

Take a look at what was making the rounds on the car show circuit as Concepts in 2011...specifically in the high end segment. They look dated compared to today’s offerings. The model S is a prime example. It already looks old.