The
imaginary monetary
value added to any popular rear wheel drive Japanese sport compact at resale due to the fact that they have the ability to drift, and are followed by large groups of fans modifying them to perform at a higher spec.
Unfair to the average buyer, nothing new to the
followers of the trend.
Say the Blue Book value of a Nissan 240sx is $1000, now say that you look in your local classifieds in search of
one.
You search for a 240sx with the options you prefer, such as a manual transmission. Now comes the
disappointing part, the lowest asking price for the car specified is $3000, a large jump from the true value, and a
classic case of "drift tax".
In this case, the inflation is due to the fact that the Nissan 240sx is a very popular car in the drifting "scene", praised by fans for it's "capabilities". But most often you will find that these cars do not appear to be anything
particularly sporty in stock form, with some you even might consider them to be nothing but eco-boxes dressed up to appear as something they aren't.
"Drift tax" varies in different parts of the world, the West Coast of North America is notorious for high inflation. Keep in mind that this does not only reach out to the 240sx, but almost any popular RWD Japanese sport compact.
