Originally Posted by cgocifer
Unfortunately, Americans base a lot of opinions about worth on image... I told someone the other day that I traded in an Infiniti for the SRT6 and they asked if I had lost a lot of money on the stock market (hahaha) or if I was in financial hardship.
Another colleague said that we should take his car to lunch because I might not want to be seen in a Crossfire at a 5 star restaurant.
It comes down to why people buy cars, for some it's strictly for transportation, for other's image, and for the group in here, performance (why else buy the srt6).
Prior to the SRT6 I had a SRT4 Neon, I got a lot of comments about driving a girls car or a Neon. For me it was always about performance for the $ - I tired of front wheel drive, and the deals on the SRT6 made it to hard to pass up
Bottom line I would argue is that the masses aren't spending 40K+ for function, they're buying an imagine, they're sucked in by the marketing and as long as the brand has an imagine they identify with they'll continue to sing the praises of Lexus, Acura, Infiniti. (I'm always amazed at how many people don't know that these are just brand extensions of Toyota, Honda, and Nissan).