you are right.
Kyosho 1/8th buggies have hovered around a grand since the Vanning back in the 80's. Always great cars, but never worth that much money.
I do remember I managed to pick up a 7.5 and a 777 for great prices, but since the mp9 they are back up there with the turbo inferno prices.
I love Kyosho but when the mp9 came out I was like wow, eat it Kyosoho. I switched to the XRay and then the Mugen turns out to have the best price to performance ratio although not cheap you don't feel robbed every time you buy an axle or a wing. I try to save money any way i can and ebay is awesome for Mugen owners.
On the flip side I can't deny the Kyosho is a super ride, I have had their buggies since the original inferno, through the 777. Never had a big issue with any of them other than lousy setups out of the box, and some creative hacking, and the shocks still wear off the anodizing inside the shocks, there's a tough R & D problem
.
I do find it funny that MP-9 racers need to hack a hole in the bottom of a 900 dollar car to clear the flywheel, and cut out the engine mounting holes to get the bell to align with the spur., that's priceless. I see not much has changed since I left.
Hot bodies should send them the extra 300 dollars from stealing their designs.
Bottom line. if I was a pro driver that got free cars to race and all the support parts i would race the snot out of the kyosho, but If I'm paying for it like I do, no chance in hell. I'll stick with Mugen or Xray, simply less stuff to deal with and the clutchbell magically aligns with the spur and never hits the chassis. It's amazing. The shocks never wear out on the inside. It's magic.