Like the title says, are our cars dead in the water now? I mean, we are looking a 3 year production run with low sales for the Ralliart... The aftermarket has all but died for this car, and the Guys in PR aren't giving out any secrets yet... This isn't a thread about the new up and coming Ralliart, but wether or not this car will survive...

For instance, I hit a deer 2 years ago with my Ralliart... I was more than willing to put an OEM used front bumper and door on the car... However after 2 years of searching for used body panels, I ended up going to the dealer as no one in the junkyards had any lancers, let alone the 04-06... I was even willing to go with aftermarket bumper cover (OEM Re-pop) but there wasn't even one on the market... Sure, I could get junky bodykits, but thats not the point...

The Ralliart_on_LSD needed a small part for his transmission, but nothing was available... Used and aftermarket tranny parts are like finding a needle in a haystack... Does no other model transmission match up with the 2.4?

I know everyone says that we have a unique car and thats why is soo expensive to modify or repair, but I think they are trying to justify what the limited aftermarket prices are as well as trying to make this car out to be something its not.... The used parts I have purchased for this car were higher priced than any other car I have owned (Specifically OEM Parts here) and the used aftermarket parts i did find were practically given away because the seller couldn't find anyone interested... Im finding this problem with lots of the For Sale posts on the board here...

So, Limited Aftermarket, Short Production run with small sales numbers, Extremely Limited Used Part Market = First Generation RA Dead?

 

Supply and demand... low supply due to low demand. There aren't enough RA's out there to be a high demand vehicle like say.. the civics or something.

 

Yeah, I understand that... I guess Im just wondering how long we will see these cars on the street... Any major issues (transmission/engine) and I think most people will just start dumping them... They aren't a fun car to mod, not a cheap car to repair, etc....

 

They better stick around - I just bought mine brand new less than a year ago ... over $30k....

 

$30k for a ralliart????.............i hope that was a typo

 

i think its pretty safe to say the 1st gen RA is dead, limited to no aftermarket and way too expensive for parts, installs, etc. for what the car is worth. i probably would have been better off buying an OZ for modding a cheap car.

 

I agree, sometimes I wish I had a 2.0... Hell, at least you can find parts for those cars...

 

I don't know if dead is the right word for it. I have a 1982 Bmw 320is in pristine condition that you could consider dead because there is none around. I have heavily modified it and done a complete engine rebuild. It is extremely hard to find parts and mod, but that makes me love the car that much more. I love the feeling of having a rare car and rarely seeing others on the streets. When I go to BMW meet I know I will be the only 320 and I love that. It is similar with the RA. All the Mitsus here are EVO's or OZ's and I am always the lone RA. It is a pain to find parts but they are out there. I have had to buy parts from all over the country. If anyone lives in No California it might not be a bad idea to talk to Top End Performance in Hollywood. They did all the work on my Bmw and seem to love to mod cars that are rare or limited production. They can get a ton of different parts and might be willing to work with the RA. It is worth a try.

 

thats nice but what about guys on the east coast? also im sure they loved working on your 26yr. old bmw but i doubt they would care about an 04-06 RA. maybe theyll enjoy working on it 20yrs. down the road but for now they wouldnt really care IMO. shops that work on evos and OZs dont really care to work on RAs so what does that tell you about our cars and their aftermarket.

 

Point taken. It does suck, but the lack of aftermarket is not going to make me give up my ralliart. And I was just giving Top End Performance as a suggestion. They seem to work on cars no one else will. Trust me I can't find anyone who will touch 26 yr old BMW's and they would so you never know.

 

I highly doubt that was a typo, Canadian car prices are unreal. I paid 25k for mine, and with financing I don't even want to think about how much this thing has cost me. Thats Canada for you.

 

thats true, i just get a headache everytime i try to put something together with this car and it ends up being shot down due to money and how much im willing to spend on this car and as you all know mods, custom work, installations get real expensive real quick for the RA. not to say that other cars arent costly when it comes to those things, it just sucks that you pay so much for such little results.

 

i paid 22k but after my tax and the rest i owed on my civic it came out to almost 30k

maybe they will become collectors items :P

 

I got mine for 19k after MSRP. I got it on Jan 2 2004. They were pretty cheap then....i noticed after i got mine that prices went up.... I am going to make a rotating assembly for this car to handle more HP/TRQ.

 

Bought mine for 19k too lol. Doesnt matter to me though im keeping this thing until it blows up as it will be my daily. Ill have my s2k to toy around with on the weekends.