Value of Golf R Compared to others

[team_v]

I was told that Ford dealers Aus wide have a non negotiable price of $67,990 for the RS, with reports that a few dealers had garnered cheques for $70-75k!!!

Now, this is a car (as I said, power and exclusivity and std recaro's aside) that has no knee or side airbags (due to the 'caros), no AWD, DSG, no sunroof or satnav, or RVC option, no Adaptive Chassis or electric seats. It has a Sony Stereo with a normal stacker (no HDD etc) and the recaros are bolted to the floor on a steel box frame that i'm sure Ford thought looked cool, but reminds me of the cockpit of a stripped out race car.

When you can pick up an AWD Golf R with Nav, Roof, DSG RVC, Leather, Bluetooth and MDI, and get it chipped by APR for 239kW for under $67k IMO you're ahead of the focus, and in a VW with great build quality, arguably better cornering ability, and a very nice interior.

Opinions?

This is the bit that gets me.

Obviosuly it is a track oriented - weekend warrior purchase
You can also purchase a brand new Lotus and it will not have a sunroof, or satnav or most of the gimicks but they still sell.

This car has a completely differnet purpose to the Golf, it is more hardcore compared to teh subtle and refined golf.

[pologti18t]

It will be interesting to see how the Renault Megane 250 sells. It is essentially the Scirocco R that VW wont import

[Big_Dave]

Yeah, but only in manual form isnt it?

[Corey_R]

Ok Guys,
Here is something to ponder.
I noticed while trollong the interweb that the new price of a Golf R in the UK is from 30,345 pounds ( all prices I am quoting are base and before on roads and delivery costs).
I then noticed some comparable prices for other marques.
Such as:-

Audi S3 31,045
Nissan 370Z 28,345
Subaru STI 32,995
Evo X fq-300 25,499
Evo X fq-330 30,999
Focus RS 27,895

Now, once one does a little currency conversion, the Golf r converts to AUD$49,025. And that with transport costs etc.
This means that VW Aus are selling this model at a HUGE discount to the UK market, and this is at today exchange rates, if you look a couple of months ago it would have been even worse.

When you see the price increase the other distributors are putting on their vehicles It makes the Golf R THE BEST VALUE globally of any sports hatch.

Look at the Nissan 370 z, these are $75,000 here.

And boy what a premium you are paying for your Focus RS. The equivalent cost in Aussie dollars in the UK is $45,081.

Wow, How lucky are we R owners.

Drive Hard or Drive Home

This is a very good point. The cost of the Golf R in Australia is exceptional.

[Big_Dave]

Yeah Corey, It's no wonder VW Aus cant meet demand ATM.
I'm feeling a lot more patient about my delivery ETA now, knowing I am getting the bargain of the decade.

[Tim]

The focus RS will need full servicing and spare parts support in Australia. Im sure its not cheap to bring in such a limited number of a specific model. As mentioned previously just look at the price the limited run of 200 MK4 R32s cost when they were released. almost 20k more than a current Golf R.

And definately the Golf R is priced extremely competitively. The price comparison to the UK was even more amazing when our dollar wasnt so strong.

[Corey_R]

And definately the Golf R is priced extremely competitively. The price comparison to the UK was even more amazing when our dollar wasnt so strong.

This is apparently one of the reasons why it took so long to get the official pricing out. Because VGA were negotiating with the factory and head-office all the way up to the week before release to secure that amazing price...

[Danny]

This is the bit that gets me.

Obviosuly it is a track oriented - weekend warrior purchase
You can also purchase a brand new Lotus and it will not have a sunroof, or satnav or most of the gimicks but they still sell.

This car has a completely differnet purpose to the Golf, it is more hardcore compared to teh subtle and refined golf.

Er, You haven't really been reading the thread have you? Because you've parroted the point that a couple of others (who also missed the point) have done, and I'm sick of clarifying. I'm TALKING about the price of the RS here for what it is.

Compare apples with apples mate, If the RS had the rawness, the speed, and the downright pinpoint accuracy and racecar dynamics of the LOTUS (and I pointed out earlier when I mentioned premium priced "track" vehicles with omitted options such as GT2/GT3 and M3 CSL, the Focus NOT being one of these types of car..) then MAYBE the car could be worth $75-80k hell maybe even more. It is NOT a racecar, nor a track car and it is NOT comparable to lotus PERIOD, so don't go jabbering on to me that I havent got my facts correct because a lotus is a honed lightweight vehicle, as it's track performances show, and you pay for the engineering in such a vehicle.... The Megane R26 had a LSD and 230kW with cup suspension and Brembo Brakes and was a limited number (100 came here) and they were a better handler than the big heavy overpowered Focus, but we didn't see Renault asking $70k+ for them did we? Its an unfair ask by Ford when the UK version is sold for significantly less.

YouTube - Top Gear - Focus RS review <- Focus will not ever be a track car. (and yes I know the R26r never came here, but the R26 Did)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cPNwm...eature=related < -Driven on topgear track alongside the R26R

Big Dave has hit the nail on the head I have been trying to drive in. The Focus RS is cheaper overseas. In my opinion, the jump from XR5 to RS (especially when the thing does not have AWD), should not be $30k plus as it is here. I this it is a giant cash grabbing excercise for Ford Au because they know people will buy the hype that the RS is so so special and rare, when the car should more be priced around the $55k mark. Okay $60k max.

Its all a bit rich to ask double the XR5 ask for Recaros, a bit more power, a Chav Jizzworthy Bodykit with kenworth exhausts and a RevoKnuckle LSD....

This is what gets me. It may be nice looking if a bit OTT, it might be AWESOME to drive (and I am sure it is), and it might be rare (EDIT and at 315 units I'd say not even THAT rare when there was only 100 R26's here or 15 Blood Orange Clio182 F1 Special Edition), but $68-78k is a LOT of money to pay for the good things that the Focus offers..

[AdamD]

Trouble is, value is such a subjective thing. Any conclusion you're going to draw can always be different to Joe Bloggs next door, and what's right for you may be terrible for him.

The Focus RS doesn't represent good value for me, because it doesn't really do it for me and so the ask isn't worth it. But I don't think it's massively unreasonable, when compared to the competition either. If you take the arbitrary benchmark of $/kw, the Focus RS costs $267, and the Golf R $257. Now I know that power in of itself is a fairly meaningless point of comparison, but at least it's objective and performance-based, and with less than 4% variance in that metric between the RS and the (generally-agreed to be) outstandingly-priced R, the RS isn't doing too badly.

In terms of justification for the price, Ford has no doubt had to spend a lot of money on ADR compliance, spare parts inventory, service tooling, training, marketing, not to mention all the other costs associated with importing a car.

And once you take all that into account, Ford sets a price that is the sweet spot between volume and profit per unit, where they believe they'll make the most money - after all, they're in the business of making a profit. I'm not suprised by the cost to be honest, given the low volume.

[MkVIGTI]

IMO Ford did the backflip on the Focus RS not purely because of profit but also as a marketing exercise. The RS receiving such positive rep overseas will help Ford locally to have a halo model other than the Falcons. This helps them send out the message that Ford is not just a Falcon company to the local market and provide the market with more awareness of the Focus. This is particular important to Ford as the large car market is continuing its decline while the small car flourishes. So I assume 'value' wasn't such an important aspect for the Ford guys when they were coming to a decision on the pricing, more about positioning and the sort of image that they are sending out. Just my 2 cents worth from a marketing perspective.