why are 240sx's so cheap?

They are one of the most desired sports compact cars. I see base preludes and integra ls's of the same years with higher miles going for more money. Yet, people seem to want 240sx's more, not to mention much less availability. So tell me, why is 240sx's the cheapest out of the sports compact car market, the rarest, yet also the most in demand? boggles the mind, this goes against everything I've learned in economics

supply and demand i guess

back then it was all about civics and tegs but slowly the prices of the 240 is going up. alot off ppl want them but not as much as the amount of ppl that is still buying civics and tegs. the prices of sr have gone up in the past year alone. slowly slowly slowly ...ah fuck u know wut i reallize. by the time ill have enough money for the sr.. the prices would have gone up again. hahah just my thought . i bet there a much better explaination out there

well, where i live ppl are are asking rediculously high prices for their rusted out 240s juct cuz it's the flavor of the month. i've seen a 89 go for 6000 cdn.

i agree... supply and demand plays a big role. I think it has to depend on location as well. Some places like pennsylvania where the import scene isn't much of a fad like.. let's say... cali is... then the going rate for a 240sx isn't that high. By far i think the WORST place to even TRY and find a 240 is hawaii. I've looked for 240's there during my high school years... the cheapest you'll find is above 5gs (not good condition)... many of the 240's that you find will be 10g+ (s14's mostly). Another reason is because every single 240sx, hachi roku, mr2, supra, etc... are all riced out / trashed / crashed / and torn apart... so all you got left are pre-raced cars with high mileage. Unless, your grandma happened to have one in her garage or something it's very unlikely you'll find a nice/clean 240 to work with. A 1986 toyota corolla would definitely sell for 5g's+ in hawaii... and it's not like they are deprived of cars or anything... they hit an all time high last year w/ car sales and there's traffic EVERYwhere you go... seriously.

As for Honda's... I think it's somewhat of a brand-name thing (oh i watched fast and furious, the civic was REALLY fast... etc..). There are many peope out there that still think everything honda makes is an amazing race car. They'll rice out every civic dx out there. of course, they make nice cars as well like the rsx-s, si, s2k, and nsx... so it's not like i'm saying honda is crap. honda is somewhat known for their long lasting and fuel efficient cars. Furthermore, many female drivers like them because of the ease of driveability (car is small, easy to see outside, lightweight, etc...) BUT a reason why you rarely see any Hondas as Rental Cars is because of the cost of parts to fix the car. As you can guess.. they are extremely expensive compared to other makes and models. There are more "dress-up" parts available as well... so majority of the kids that's finishing up high school will think "i'm gonna buy a civic and put this and that..." blah blah... i'm just rambling... i have nothing against Honda... but i see this trend where people start off with honda and occasionaly you see them turn over to nissan when they realize what they really want =] haha.

The problem is that all 240s are rusted to shit!! I mean I haven't seen one S13 in good condition that had original paint and alot of S14s are in crappy shape I know that it's cause to many morons don't put them away in the winter, but it's also cause they are made with cheap metal...

I know a lot of s13s and s14s in good condition and they are still selling for real cheap. Also they don't get sold right away either, takes awhile. I monitor when s13s and s14 market all the time

240s arent cheap..in the bay area alot of people who kno whats up with them sell them for 1 or 2 grand more than blue book, around 3-4 grand.....once and a while you will be lucky and come acrosss some peckerwood white guy who will sell his for the blue book value

i bought my s13 for 3000 and the body was in pretty much perfect condition so i wouldnt say all s13's are rusted and have a shitty exterior

Just to kinda clear things up. Integras and civics have a much larger market. adults buy these cars, teens, and anyone who wants a reliable car with great gas milage. Honda and Acura have better reputations than Nissan, as far as that goes. Also there are less 240s out there so not as many people know about them. There is also no 240 with 4 doors, and to a lot of people this is an important convenience. I got my 91 240 se for $1700 with 140,000 miles on it. Runs perfectly, has a couple little door dings (owner before me had been parking in the high school parking lot), and has a little rust bubbling up behind the sun roof. By the way if anyone knows a trick to stop it or get rid of it, that would be awsome.

All S13s where I live look like shit, I live in Canada and we have winter and people drive their 240s in the winter....morons....I hate those people. I wish I could see a good condition S13 on autotrader or something up here, but they just aint there!

logik is right, i'll bet you anything but my car (i'd never risk it, gotta love 'em) that you won't find an s13 here with the same amount of rust as one from florida for less than 6gs canadian.. i paid 5 for mine and i have rust on the bottom of the driver's door, driver's rocker panel and some on the hatch.. too many people drive these cars in the winter and in canada, this ages them significantly.. one winter could rust out a s13 thats never seen one.. publicenemy, to answer your question about canadian 240s, in canada, its mostly the rust that lowers the price, but its also the fact that stock 240s are way too underrated..

my 89 240 has 118,000mi and is in great, unmolested glory, no rust (even with it being driven in the winter months every day), same paint from factory, perfect interior and it was only $1,500,, it is an automatic however and after a week of drifting the trannie blew out :( ,oh well, junk yards have them for 500 or so.

how long have you had it? and i'm assuming you don't live anywhere near where snow comes more than once a year

i have no rust and we get an ok amount of snow in St.louis nothing compared to canada though....id have to move! hate the snow.

most of the 240's ive seen here in miami have no rust. ive seen like two that were alittle. but thank god there isnt any snow down here. last time it did it was 1988(i think). and it melted before it hit the ground.

It's not the snow that makes your car rust, you can drive in the snow all you want, it's the salt that they put to melt the ice, that's what makes the car rust.

that comes with the snow here though.. i was implying if you drive your car in the snow, it'll rust easily cause of all the salt they put on the road to melt the snow..

i have yet to buy an S13 for more then a grand, and they all run. Bought an 89 fastback for 800$ in mint condition, new clutch, new exhaust, 113k miles. And i just bought another 89 coupe, auto, 150k for 300$. Around here on Long island, S14 are rare and i've only seen 1 in the last year for under 5grand.

I think they are very under rated sports cars! Very reliable, no freakin Timing belts to change...Great true RWD handling...Pretty decent HP from the 91+ up DOHC engines...
Easy to mod...
Here in Indy, I don't see much of a rust problem...
They didn't sell as many of them when new as Honda's, but its well worth finding one now!

most incurance companys dont consider it a sports car either

on my 95 240 I thought that the insurance was pretty high it was the highest I've had to pay ($190 a month) on any car. I had a 94 mustang convertable and the insurance was cheeper.

i pay 200$ a month on my parents plan for a 94 geo prizm so what do you expect. My friend pays less on an 86 300ZX turbo on his own plan. Incurance sucks but its a must.

i pay almost $4000 a year.. so shitty cause it takes so much away from what i could be doing to my car, ie turbo

ok... u what to pay 3000 + for a 13+ year old car. OK ?!! or u want to jinx the 240 market?
i think it is all because the Drift thing and the fact that many morons out there are willing to pay $3000
for a s13. can't blame the seller or the market for the consumer ignorance. i bout a 86 corola with 4AG in it for $400, my s13 for $600. dude there old!
use the age factor to bring the price of te car down!! those cars are not special, there not fast or super pretty. (i love my car sooooooo much !!!!) but for the general public, they have no clue and they can't jack up the prise or it will not sell!

the downsides to owning an older car is wear and tear. the older it is, the more chance that it will have corrosion under the car, and in hidden areas. another one would be technology, modern cars will last longer, and will resist corrosion better. on high mileage cars, most people of course will mainly worry about the engine, but some will miss things such as wheel bearings, and bushings, which effects how a car feels when driven. everythings pretty much worn on higher mileage cars, and a lot of times people wont replace certain things on their car, cause they dont wanna waste any money, wait for the parts to be replaced or dont have much time, and the car still goes. but there are things that really should be replaced with new parts, cause it might end up costing more later on to fix, and the car wont drive properly, which can cause accidents.

everyone should undercoat there frame, i hate frame rot

Ok i would like to start with this... i have a pos 90 dsm gs... and I hate all of you who have found 240's for less then 2k... and that goes for just about any condition.

I used to drive an 87 Supra turbo 5 speed. It was fucking great. I have heard that if you want a cheeper version which you "CAN" find a good supply of parts for, then go for a 240sx.

I live in Central Illinois and do you know what that mean??? Every 16 year old is running around in Civics, Cavaliers, and 2g Eclipses.... and I laugh at all of them.

There is one girl running around here with a 240 fastback that she is letting it fall apart because her 2g Eclipse is more important. Only ONE guy has taken the time to do a slow conversion to the Silva image.

If you take a look on ebay some might notice that prices are going up....Blame "Fast and Infuriating" :banghead:

the S13's can be still found for a bargain....there were more 1993's built than all of the S14 I believe. The 95 is the black sheep and a steal many times...96's sometimes can be had cheap...the 97-98's are very hard to find even $1k over book only 5000 of them made combining base, se and le.

I had $15k to spend...took me 6 months almost. Found one/settled a bit at $8800 (98 White SE 5 SPD no abs/vlsd though) less than 70k miles. It cleaned up good though :). At the time $10,500 - 11,500 was the selling price for many of the 97/98's I was too late to buy.

i've been looking for a good s13 for aobut a month up here in northern ontario, i went to see a few, all high milage with LOTS of rust

in the end it comes down to this up here:
-ur gonna have rust if u waant an s13 whether u like it or not
-ur only way out is to find an s13 with a GOOD SOLID NOT RUSTED FRAME and fix the rust on the exterior
-the motor doesnt really matter cause u'll have to change it anyways

so i've got a 1990 240sx fastback 5spd with 220kkm on it, for 2 grand, it has perfect bottom never winter driven, came with anti roll bars and tokico blues

and to everyone who thinks winters ruin cars, its not the winters, its the owners, THE MOFOing OWNERS, anyone who has a decent car up here knows that every fall you have to RUSTPROOF the bottom, and INSIDE the BODY panels (inside doors, inside frame) PLUS most of the smart owners would get a plastic undercarriage for the engine compartment so all the salt and wet snow shit doesnt fly up into ur engine compartment and rust the suspension cups.

so people that let their cars rust just dont know that you have to take care of them and are lazy idiots, i drive my 240sx in the winter, i dont get any rust, thats because i prepare for it..

thanks for everyone posting in this thread, it was a good read.

Every couple of days you should also hose down the underside of the car and in the wheel wells, get all the salt off.

the frame on my 89 hatch had a chunk missing because of rust, that shit makes me worry.

lol yeah with a chunk of the frame missing can make ur car fold in the middle of a turn XD

yeh thats why i sold it, i was to nevous to whip it around. im not sure how to fix it or get it fixed.