That was quoted from autocar.co.uk

This reminds me of this example. Seemingly overpriced, but everything is new, and esseentially engineering at its best. From a business standpoint, perhaps charging this amount isn't a great idea. But if you really think about it, from a business standpoint, developing this product may not be a good idea either. Just like how the LFA is probably not a good business move (ie: making money). But MD wouldn't be the type of company it is if it didn't develop cool stuff like this, right? So it seems to me, it actually is a good business move, because that's what they're all about.

Who woulda thought in a million years that the acoustic qualities of some type of swirling echo thing would make my car go faster? Pretty neat and maybe it is worth $660? More power to ya =)

 

How do you know it costs less than $460 to make? Tony could very easily be losing money by offering the dyno discount. Even if he did, it's still a good move IMO. Also, look at the difference between these and testpipes. There's probably at least twice the amount of materials, not the mention the added cost of the resonators. Then there's the fact that this is a new design and obviously has far more time put into R&D than testpipes do, more labour involved, etc. The price seems fair to me, especially with the dyno discount. It's not like these will perform the same the testpipes, they will outperform them. I can't wait to pick a set up in the spring

 

seriously - there aren't many mods for this car that is worth the price... making 40 hp na on this car is plain expensive... once you get past the low hanging fruit, power is harder to come by...

you can very easily avg $100 per hp once its all said and done.

I've said it before - and every day it becomes more apparent; the G35 is falling into Civic territory... hack job mods, b!tching about spending money, and sh!tloads of uniformed statements are all way more prevalent these days than 2 years ago...

I don't care who gets offended by this... I think it's sh!tty for so many ppl to **** in the thread about pricing. If you don't want to buy it, don't. But let the thread be about the function of the mod not your opinion about what it should cost... it's like so many other things about this car, boatloads of people want to say how it should be done, or how it could be done different, easier, cheaper - well then do it. In the mean time and until then STFU!

 

^^+1..

 

I agree 100%

 

that's fine and all....though i'm not sure why people are clamoring for a higher price.

and tony wouldn't sell these pipes at a loss. he's too smart for that.
- he's a rocket scientist. i study marketing. it is very obvious they do not cost 460 to make. anybody that thinks otherwise is a victim of the US's poor education system. wise up! i won't go as far as guessing how many he needs to sell @660 a pop to make his ROI, but I'm fairly certain it won't be very many because the profit margin is VERY VERY VERY large.

MD is not a company like Apple or Microsoft however, so we won't ever truly know the actual costs.....and i've never stated to sell it AT COST....IN FACT, if I were Tony, and had this idea, I'd sell it for as much as I possibly could get away with. After a while once my order volume decreases significantly enough, or entirely, I'd lower the price to rake in the remaining dough available.

At this point I'm only posting because it's shameful to see this many people so defensive about a product that isn't theirs and so moronic as to argue that the profit margin per item sold isn't extremely large.

 

Doesn't the HKS hipower have the same or similar technology or is that strictly a resonator?

 

yes it does as does the new version of the shockwave.

i believe these dead chambers have resonators in them unlike the hks or shockwave dead chambers.

 

jsky350gt, I agree with you that the price is high but I don't mind paying this price to Tony for a few simple reasons.

-I am 100% confident in MD and Tony that they are not selling snake oil, even without any independent dynos to show it.
-His track record with all of his products has been exceptional.
-His track record on supporting his products on the forums has been stellar.
-Tony has been by far one of the most personable vendor/mfg for out platform. He's down in the trenches with us.
-The concept of a side resonator is not innovative at all, but Tony has to be credited for trying different usage of it. If it was that obvious why hasn't anyone thought of this ever since people started removing cats on their cars for the past couple of decades.
-I support capitalism and in essence innovation. Even though Tony is as technical as it gets, money is still the driving factor. I want to keep his drive up for trying and making new things for this hobby of ours.
-Down the line someone will copy and sell these for cheaper (really depending on his patent's coverage). At that time and similarly to some of the points above, I don't want Tony to feel burnt which will in turn lead him out of this hobby.

 

$660 is a pretty high price for these pipes, but it's not remotely as insane fas the prices ARC charges for their bunk parts. You have to consider some things here:

1) I believe a US patent application is about $10K.

2) MD isn't a company like Megan or something similiar that does knock-offs. The location of the chambers, piping size, etc. has been researched, modified, rearranged, and tested religously. These parts have true R&D process compared to most companies that look at an ugly OEM parts and automatically assume that it's restriction without fully undertanding what they're looking at. Tony knows and understands why engineers do what they do. If the part can't make gains, he sees no point in offering an aftermarket part for it. This is why MD doesn't offer an intake for these cars. There's really nothing to improve.

3) Fit and finish. You've got to pay to play. If you want the part to fit right, you need to use a qualified company that can build a reliable jig and has a QA/QC program in place. You're not going to find that if you cheap out with the manufactuer The welds, the bends, and the flanges of the ART pipes show me that quality is high on the list.

4) Cost to build. You're greatly underestimating the cost to have a manufactuer take on the job to build these parts. Typically, the company will agree to build part "X" at a cost of "X" assuming you order "X" amount. The fewer sets you order, the higher the cost. It's simple economics. If these parts become wildly popular, then I'd imagine the price will go down. Tony takes a risk in ordering a certain amount of sets and the buyers take a risk is that the price might be lower the day after they buy the part. Case in point, LCD TVs and computers. You can never win. Cost will always fall as more and more people buy them.

These parts are expensive, but you know they're going to work as advertized. The numbers will be lower on a Dynojet, but still, these pipes will perform. I'd think Tony wouldn't wager this much time, effort, and money on a part that isn't going to work. There will surely be knock-offs once these become popular, but you can be assured the same quality and attention to detail won't be there. I've made the mistake in the past of buying the cheaper part only to have to replace it a year or two later and in the end, I spend a lot more than just having bought the more expensive part from the start.

 

We all understand that you would like the price to be lower. None of us think "Boy, I'd really like to pay the most I can" for ANYTHING. If you are so good at marketing, maybe you need to take a gander into the world of R&D and figure out what TIME is worth as well as KNOWLEDGE...not to mention the costs he has put into the development. From an outside perspective it seems easy enough, but often you overlook 80% of the costs that went in to making and testing a product.

We're defending TONY, not his price point. He is an upstanding guy and the most genuine honest people I have dealt with in business for a long time. I applaud him simply for his integrity that seems ever so evasive in business.

+1


Consider the fact that you would pay $400 - $600 for HFC. From a $$/HP standpoint these are one of the best mods you will ever find for your G. The price range is not much different from other pipes but will dramatically increase performance. These are better gains than most cat-back systems and for much less.

Other TP are 150-300 - and do not have the gains these have. Thats it.

 

He was here to simply troll and used price as an excuse.

The content of his 16 posts suggest to me he's been here before under a different alias. A previously banned scammer?

.

 

can the mods check please..?

 

^ He's already been banned

 

lol, so anyways, nice pipes

Anyone get them yet?