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My experience is competition invokes two races happening at the same time, one for lowest price and one for highest quality. You can get a cheap car or really h

My experience is competition invokes two races happening at the same time, one for lowest price and one for highest quality. You can get a cheap car or really high quality car. Same goes for clothes, restaurants, basically anything where there is lots of market choices and competition.

steinvakt2 2mo ago
An Audi typically requires more maintenance and repair than a Toyota though. You’re not paying for quality (as in durability/longevity)
nradov 2mo ago
That doesn't make any sense. The most expensive cars are also the least reliable. Rich people have multiple cars so when the Bentley has an electrical glitch they just drive the Porsche.
- Eddy_Viscosity2 2mo ago
  Quality means different things to different people. But the fact that Bentleys and Porsche exist support that case that not everything in a competitive markets drives things to the lowest cost product.
  - nradov 2mo ago
    Exactly. The whole notion of "quality" is so subjective that it never was and never can be a norm.
  - asdff 2mo ago
    At the end of the day, people still end up sucking it up and buying it, so the market can only be so efficient. Every hobby I've had, all sorts of different stuff only anchored in the fact you have to buy gear, the common theme is everyone is constantly pissed off at the companies making the gear. It is very much an abusive relationship.
AlexandrB 2mo ago
The upper end of a lot of these product categories is often populated with overpriced junk that's popular for conspicuous consumption reasons. Clothing is the prime example, but a lot of modern fine dining is also trash (who actually enjoys eating flavoured foam?). So there's actually three races: lowest price, highest quality, and highest brand value.
gamessucknow 2mo ago
> You can get a cheap car or really high quality car. That’s the problem, I want something in-between.
jjk7 2mo ago
Luxury is another dimension than price <-> quality.

steinvakt2 2mo ago

An Audi typically requires more maintenance and repair than a Toyota though. You’re not paying for quality (as in durability/longevity)

nradov 2mo ago

That doesn't make any sense. The most expensive cars are also the least reliable. Rich people have multiple cars so when the Bentley has an electrical glitch they just drive the Porsche.

Eddy_Viscosity2 2mo ago
Quality means different things to different people. But the fact that Bentleys and Porsche exist support that case that not everything in a competitive markets drives things to the lowest cost product.
- nradov 2mo ago
  Exactly. The whole notion of "quality" is so subjective that it never was and never can be a norm.
- asdff 2mo ago
  At the end of the day, people still end up sucking it up and buying it, so the market can only be so efficient. Every hobby I've had, all sorts of different stuff only anchored in the fact you have to buy gear, the common theme is everyone is constantly pissed off at the companies making the gear. It is very much an abusive relationship.

AlexandrB 2mo ago

The upper end of a lot of these product categories is often populated with overpriced junk that's popular for conspicuous consumption reasons. Clothing is the prime example, but a lot of modern fine dining is also trash (who actually enjoys eating flavoured foam?). So there's actually three races: lowest price, highest quality, and highest brand value.

gamessucknow 2mo ago

> You can get a cheap car or really high quality car. That’s the problem, I want something in-between.

jjk7 2mo ago

Luxury is another dimension than price <-> quality.