Edmunds says:

[Kal-El]

Very predictable comparo.

Thing is, the Yaris is intended and was built to be a very low cost car. The Yaris, imo, is the best car you can buy in it's lower price points (under $15K).
As soon as you load it up like this one, it becomes almost silly to buy it - $17.9K? Come on. Your on your way to a Camry at that point.

How does Toyota sell a Scion xD with still more equipment and a bigger engine than this loaded Yaris for $16K? Doesn't make sense.

[GeneW]

Originally Posted by Kal-El

Very predictable comparo.

Thing is, the Yaris is intended and was built to be a very low cost car. The Yaris, imo, is the best car you can buy in it's lower price points (under $15K).
As soon as you load it up like this one, it becomes almost silly to buy it - $17.9K? Come on. Your on your way to a Camry at that point.

How does Toyota sell a Scion xD with still more equipment and a bigger engine than this loaded Yaris for $16K? Doesn't make sense.

Work in manufacturing, it might make sense to you.

The price is probably how the market shook out... people were willing to pay X amount more for added features to a Yaris. So they did, the volume stayed sufficiently high, profits were either decent or not too painful, and this loaded Yaris ended up costing more than a "standard" xD.

A bigger motor is not necessarily more expensive - there may be a handful of differences in parts between a 1NZ-FE and 2ZR-FE. I have read that the 2ZR-FE is "die cast", am not sure about the 1NZ-FE. What of the internal parts? A 1NZ-FE might end up costing Toyota more, or less, than a 2ZR-FE. You can NEVER assume that price reflects what it costs to make something.

I once worked for a MAJOR TV manufacturer. They offered two lines of TVs - regular and premium. The difference between the regular and premium models were four premium grade speakers and some software. The picture difference was stunning - the premium model was like looking through a window onto the world. The Company was very proud of their hard work. So were we though we were amused that the differences in the TVs were trivial - different software, four extra speakers and a SLIGHTLY DIFFERENT cabinet. Mainly three or four plastic pieces.

Some of the more enterprising engineers would buy a regular model, take it home, program the "better" software into the TV and then plug it into their stereo systems. For the cost of some cables (which were often laying around in scrap bins) they achieved a one or two thousand dollar difference in prices for their own home entertainment systems. The Home Office would have crapped a brick if they knew, but everyone kept quiet, and nobody went around "upgrading" TVs.

Where I work now a certain added "feature" to some of our wares costs money, something like several thousand dollars. To add this very desirable feature costs twenty minutes of engineering time, adding four wires and about an extra two hours of testing time., mostly on setup and tear down. The actual test takes about ten minutes of time but the necessary gear is tough to move and takes most of the time.

It's not a scam - the trick is at the end of the day to make enough extra money to make it worth someone's while to keep us employed and to justify research to create those extra features. In part this was why "Socialist" products were so plain, because nobody had any incentive to make things a bit better.

Gene

[Kal-El]

I do "get it". See, with the Yaris available as a simple, bared boned car, what happens when you start adding the "extras" (that almost every other car has standard), it really shoots the price up quickly. That's economics. Every time things are bought or added separately, it costs more.

So Toyota can build a whole car and sell it for $12K. But add power features, upgraded wheels, and a ground affects kit, and price goes up about 33%!

It's kinda like when McDonald's will sell you a whole Double Cheeseburger for $1 and then charges $1.89 to add 2 half strips of thin dried out bacon.

[GeneW]

Originally Posted by Kal-El

I do "get it". See, with the Yaris available as a simple, bared boned car, what happens when you start adding the "extras" (that almost every other car has standard), it really shoots the price up quickly. That's economics. Every time things are bought or added separately, it costs more.

So Toyota can build a whole car and sell it for $12K. But add power features, upgraded wheels, and a ground affects kit, and price goes up about 33%!

It's kinda like when McDonald's will sell you a whole Double Cheeseburger for $1 and then charges $1.89 to add 2 half strips of thin dried out bacon.

It's what the market will bear..... Price theory is bizarre, a blend of statistics, judgment and psychology.

Makes sense to say, 'How the heck can two slices of bacon cost 89 cents plus tax?" Point is that they don't cost 89 cents, but McDonald's can sell them for 89 cents. Since they can charge that kind of markup they'll be doing it for a long time.

A smart shopper takes this into account and gets the best bargain.


Gene

[eht13]

The Cube is just ugly IMO. And at this point it almost seems like the Fit is the de facto winner any time a media outlet is doing a subcompact comparison. Almost like they can't really be bothered to really judge things fairly and come up with their own opinion; "um... so yeah... the Fit wins, we guess."

Anyway, the Fit is pretty nice, but they are overpriced I think (and I had two Hondas before that I didn't think were overpriced). My only real criticism of the car itself: it looks like a mini-minivan, or a clothes iron (especially the newer design).

[Sandwash]

I test drove a Fit and came close to buying; better handling and nicer interior maybe, but all in all i'm glad i went with Yaris especially when I bought a month ago and gas prices were not yet on the rise and dealers were very ready to deal. Also, something about the exterior stying of the Fit didn't set with me well. What is it; what is it? You hit it right on - yes - a clothes iron! That's the image, definitely!!