USA car prices vs Australia

[zjm]

New, used, and pre-owned Volkswagen, cars, trucks, and SUVs for sale at Volkswagen of Downtown L.A. in Los Angeles luckily we live in australia where our VW's are so much better and we dont have to drive any of this half price rubbish if you look you can get a new GTI for $24 grand

[Vagabond]

No point comparing vs the US because they're a very different market ... Generally across most cars you'll find lower equipment levels and poorer quality builds, vs Aussie counterparts.

For e.g. Merc C-Class for Australia is made in Germany, for the US they're in made in South Africa. The cars aren't comparable.

A few years ago 4-speed autos and 89 RON petrol were the norm there. (Their 'premium' is 91...)

But enough US-bashing... point is you're best off comparing to the UK market (which is also cheaper but not as ridiculously cheap as the US). Our golfs come out 30% more expensive from memory.

That said for the same price as a GTi in the UK you could buy an Audi RS4 with low k's...

[Corey_R]

I've renamed the thread title to something more useful, and moved it to the General Discussion thread.
I did look for one of the many, many, existing threads which are on this same topic, but I couldn't find them.

As Vagabond stated, it's pointless trying to compare the two markets. Combine the pointlessness of the topic, with the complexities of why the differences existing between the markets, and the fact that each of the existing threads has largely turned into heated arguments, they've probably been removed by the mods that look after the "General Discussion" section

[gareth_oau]

VW had to halve the quality of their US cars so they remain competitive with US manufactured brands

[djorkboy]

Another reason why it is almost pointless to compare Australian car prices to USA car prices is that the USA has a much lower cost of living than Australia, which means everything is cheaper, not just cars (I discovered that within an hour of landing in California, at the Wendy's drive-thru, a large meal cost less than $5 and was HUGE, the drink was like a bucket!). USA also has lower average wages than Australia (but due to their lower cost of living they have still have a stronger buying power than us)

I agree with Vagabond, it is much more accurate to compare UK car prices to Australia but when you do that you need to take into account they have a much bigger population than us and European cars can be delivered for a tiny portion of the cost of shipping a car to Australia.

[Stan]

a lot of the price of an Aussie delivered car goes into the insurance to ship it here

[clip]

a lot goes in tax to the feds too.

anyone been to the used supercar underground showroom in Hong Kong that sells nothing but the best supercars? The prices just makes me cry!

[Molotov]

I disagree that it's pointless making comparisons.

Australians have been getting price-gouged for years by car manufacturers who blame everything under the sun to defend their bottom line. Since the advent of the internet, Australians have become a lot more aware of just how much extra wepay for fairly standard consumer products - even after you add on duties, taxes and shipping and insurance costs.

Cars are a little bit different but I think it's starting to become clear that as the population wisen up, people are becoming less and less gullible when it comes to the excuses put forward by the manufacturers. At the end of the day, Australian prices are significantly higher because we're willing to pay. The more discussion and awareness around the subject, as well as increased competition from China etc. the more likely we are to obtain more comparable pricing.

[Vagabond]

In all fairness, I just built a Golf GTI on http://www.volkswagen.co.uk/#/new/golf-gti-vi

Came to ~ 26.5k GBP = ~ A$40k AUD

I paid A$44.5k for my car.. Would have been a bit over A$50k without haggling/dealer discount I got. Not to mention the AUD is still historically strong.

All in all, very reasonable pricing given the extra distance to Australia. I consider the british GTI to be the identical vehicle, excl. the different numbers on speedo.

In fact that doesn't seem right to me.. I expected the UK vs Aussie difference to be greater??

[djorkboy]

I disagree that it's pointless making comparisons.

Australians have been getting price-gouged for years by car manufacturers who blame everything under the sun to defend their bottom line. Since the advent of the internet, Australians have become a lot more aware of just how much extra wepay for fairly standard consumer products - even after you add on duties, taxes and shipping and insurance costs.

Cars are a little bit different but I think it's starting to become clear that as the population wisen up, people are becoming less and less gullible when it comes to the excuses put forward by the manufacturers. At the end of the day, Australian prices are significantly higher because we're willing to pay. The more discussion and awareness around the subject, as well as increased competition from China etc. the more likely we are to obtain more comparable pricing.

I don't see anyone is saying it's pointless making comparisons, I think most people are saying it's pointless making comparisons between Australia and the USA