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IntelliChoice Value Rating
The chart above shows the purchase price versus ownership cost for each car from a specific vehicle class. The cars with better than average ownership cost/purchase price correlations are the best values, and these best value cars are represented by the dots below the curve. (i.e. the cars that have a lower ownership cost compared to its purchase price.) Those cars, which are worse than average or poor values, appear above the curve.
One way to view the graph is to draw a vertical line through any purchase price. You may see several dots that fall on this line - each of which is a car with a similar purchase price. However, notice the difference in ownership costs of each car represented by the vertical position of the dot. Two cars with the same purchase price can have thousands of dollars difference in ownership costs. This is what separates "good value" cars from "poor value" cars.
What is a good car value?
A "good car value" is one whose cost to own and operate is less than expected. The lower the cost to own and operate a car compared to what is expected, the better the value of that car.
But how do we know a car's "expected cost"?
For each car in the class, IntelliChoice plots the car's purchase price against the total five-year cost to own and operate it as determined by IntelliChoice research. Each dot on the above chart represents a specific car. Generally, we find that as the purchase price of the car increases, the cost to own and operate that car increases. This is why the dots on the graph tend to rise upward and to the right. This phenomenon also makes intuitive sense - as the purchase price rises, financing costs tend to rise, as do insurance, depreciation, taxes, and most other car ownership costs.
This is an important concept. It's normal for car ownership costs to rise as purchase price rises. Therefore, we can't just establish one "average" ownership cost number for each class, since cars in the class have different purchase prices. (This is why the "Relative" shown on each chart is different for cars in the same car class.)
Using statistical techniques, IntelliChoice "connects the dots" to form a curve that defines, for this car class, the relationship between the car's purchase price and car's ownership costs. This curve is our "expected cost" curve. The curve defines, for any car in the class, the five-year ownership cost that we would expect to see at each possible purchase price. If every car in the class were an average value, then all the dots would fall exactly on the curve. However, it's rare that any dot is exactly on the curve. Some dots are a little higher or lower, and some are a lot higher or lower. The dots that are a little lower are better than average car values, while the dots that are a lot lower are excellent car values (A dot that is a lot lower than the curve has ownership costs much lower than expected for a car of its purchase price). Conversely, a dot a little higher than the curve is a poorer than average car value, while a dot that is much higher than the curve is a poor car value.
Value is a relative term, not an absolute term. It is performing better than the logical expectation.
So is a Mercedes-Benz E320 expensive to own and operate? Certainly in an absolute sense. Most other cars cost less. But, when its cost to own and operate is plotted against cars with comparable invoice prices, the E320 costs less. So the E320 is not expensive to own and operate - it is a good car value. The Mercedes does not have low ownership costs, but it has low ownership costs for its invoice price.
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Review From Motor Trend Magazine
One-Year Test Verdict: 2003 Infiniti G35 Sport Coupe 6MT
Too good to be forgotten
By Editors of Motor Trend
Photography by John Kiewicz, John McGann, David Newhardt, Scott Mead, Brian Vance
It's easy to overlook the significance, superiority, and value of an outstanding car after spending a year behind the wheel. All the good things tend to be taken for granted, and the little annoyances are magnified--especially in a car with many talents and few warts. So it was with our 2003 Infiniti G35 Coupe, the co-winner of Motor Trend's 2003 Car of the Year, along with its four-door sibling, of course.
Let's retrace our steps. In mid-2002, we had our first look at the darling of the New York auto show, and one editor said, "The G35--Coupe and Sedan--appears to be poised for stardom." A few months later, we had the opportunity to track test the G35 Coupe, and another editor opined, "Squint, and you'd swear this V-6 was a V-12." He concluded, "If you can find a more stylish, better-performing, four-place coupe at this price, buy it."  The numbers? A base-model six-speed manual came in at $32,595. The first test of this car produced a 5.8-second 0-to-60-mph time and a 66.1-mph slalom speed. Suddenly, Infiniti was threatening high-rent European territory. Next time around, we tested a pair of G35s (Coupe and Sedan) for the Car of the Year contest and improved the slalom speed to 67.1 mph. After winning the Golden Calipers, Infiniti loaned us a 6MT Coupe fitted with the $2250 Premium package (Bose audio, moonroof, auto headlamps, dual-zone climate, auto-dimming mirrors) and the $550 Aero package for a total of $35,395. Taking meticulous care to break the car in properly rewarded us with the fastest G35 Coupe we've tested: 5.7 seconds to 60, eclipsing the century mark for the first time with its 14.2-second, 100.5-mph quarter mile. Icing on the cake was its class-topping 67.6-mph slalom. We got a good one, a really good one.  Thus began our year-long term with the Coupe (and a Sedan that we covered in our July 2004 issue). Logbook entries began predictably, if self-congratulatory: "I still love it--maybe even more than before. She's a looker, for sure. I appreciate that Infiniti went a long way to distinguish this car from the sedan, though they're clearly related. Clean flanks, nice face, and a good job with the tricky headlight treatment and fast rear deckline. Nice wheels, love the Brembo calipers (60-to-0 mph in just 109 feet), and the exhaust pipes look properly purposeful. However, the (optional) rear wing looks like somebody left an ironing board on the trunk."
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