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...best guess for new, ready to run, 1/32 slot cars you've purchased in the last 3-5 years?

Given the range of slot cars I buy is from $30 - $100, and that I buy more of the $30 cars than the $100 cars I think I would average around $40 a car.

For brands like SCX, Scalextric NInco etc - I would consider $40 or less a good buy (including postage if bought online). With brands like Slot.it and NSR , Scaleauto etc I will happily pay more than this though I think my slot.it purchases recently were under $60 each.

cheers
David

I felt that the RTRs in 1/32 were fully worth the money when they were $30 to $45. I didn't even look for sale items, I just bought what I wanted and was grateful. Then two things happened almost at the same time. One, stupid decisions in this country ran the value of the dollar into the dirt making an opportunity for the greediest European manufacturers to gouge us far more than their increased costs and our devalued money, and second, a whole new crop of cars that were actually worth more came on the scene. Ninco was the worst and first offender on the gouging scene, making the customer feel like a fool for paying triple price for the same exact car he bought a year before, and the new manufacturers with unusual quality and innovative designs that were truly worth a higher price were Slot.it, NSR, and Pioneer, among others.

Of all the cars being produced, no one is even a close second in value-per-dollar category to Pioneer. Better made parts (and available seperately to improve other manufacturer's cars), excellent detail and paint, very good choices of what to build-- everything. What stands out is that Pioneer still costs what RTR slot cars should cost, and that is the feature. Jules is doing well, and being rewarded well, and it is because he delivers value far in advance of other carmakers, and the combination of excellence in production, coupled with a respect for the customer that is reflected in the price is going to keep him on top for a long time, I'm sure.

I've seriously curtailed my purchases this year so I have some more money to dedicate to the cars I want to keep. I find I troll the sales a lot.

Recently paid $25 for a few Pioneer cars. The one type of car I can't stop buying are the R/M GN Stock Cars and Can-Ams. Depending on which one it is, I have been paying between $19 - $36 for them. A set of Paul's tires and some tuning, and I'm over the moon with them.

More like $50, but I live in Australia. Sometimes it's more than that, closer to $70.

Then there's the cost of all the tune-up parts you often have to buy to make them run right. A couple of my cars owe me at least $200

In most cases, I figure the real cost of a no mag car to run on my wood track to be $50-$70, some a little more. Every car I buy needs tires so add another $5 there. The bargain basement cars such as Monogram most often need a whole rear axle set of good quality. Add another $20. Add this all up plus various shipping charges, your $35 bargain car costs in the neighborhood of $50-$70. There are exceptions of course. I have a mountain of SCX cars here that I bought in the $40 range plus shipping that needed nothing but tires. With SCX's recent bankruptcy, I bought a bunch of their cars for $25. Often you can buy a Slot.it in the $50 range plus postage that needs nothing more if you use the spare silly tires that come with it. Those $50 Pioneers need only tires. I buy a significant number of sub $40 Carrera's. Usually their build quality is good, but they often get an axle/wheel/ bushing/guide change due to Carrera's penchant for over engineering everything. If you want to save money on a Carrera, buy the digital car. They usually cost only a few dollars more than the analogue version and their digital chips can easily fetch $15 dollars on the various For Sale boards. Another way to save money is to order the car plus all of the parts you know that you are going to put in it from a dealer who offers free shipping over a certain dollar amount. Often the dollar figure is $75.00. You can save $10 or more in shipping charges.

Since I have retired, my Slot Car Allowance has taken a drastic hit. I have had to shop the bay for used cars. The kids play H.E.double hockey sticks on my stock of Artin Cars. Since the last race Friday I am down to 38 Artin cars which still run. I need to find supply of pieces parts.
I am currently saving my Allowance to purchase a full track of Legend Racers from Jules. I hurts when I see a car I would like but have to wait for.
Frank (I want my track back)

Actually, I don't know and I don't think I want to know, but since most of my purchases are either scaley or slot.It I'd say that $50 is real close to my average.

Depends on what strikes me, if I like it enough I`ll pay for it. At This point in the hobby for me, there hasn`t been any car I haven`t been able to get to run and make me happy.
But to answer the question $55.00 as of now.

Hard to say, because my current buying is tilted towards Le Mans Miniatures. I've slowed down on buying just any old car, but if I see a deal around 20-30 bucks, I buy it. For every two of those, I pick up a LMM at a hundred bucks. So, the average still comes out somewhere around 50 bucks. Not sure if everybody's average figure is really what you're looking for...

Over the last 5 years I have bought most cars at the going price at one of the internet stores. I have somewhat cut back on my purchasing so getting the shipping free is about as good a discount as I have got. I have recently bought a couple of NSRs for $80, and then also purchased a number of Racers both the main range and the Silverline range. Given the price of these I have hunted down the best deal.
I have also started swapping cars to get others.

Mark

About whatever I have vs. what the car costs!

Over the years I have paid as little as $20.00 and as much as $80.00. Most of the time I spend around $40.00.