Everyone can argue all day long about their car & the whys & why nots they chose the options & spec they did, some of it is based around available budget to spend & for some options like recaros wasnt desired or required.
In a nutshell there is a market for every one of these cars, whether is be basic spec or high spec, However when it comes to the second hand market then it all boils down to budget.
Pretty much the majority ( say over 90%) want the cup pack & recaros, however what I find is that people in the age bracket 20 ish - 25 are often stretching their money to buy the car they want & then having a car with recaros isnt so much the fact they dont want, but more to the point cant afford.
The affordability of a 197 now is reaching the same levels as the 182's did 2 years ago- around the 5k bracket, that is generally what I see as the price range for a third or forth car for the 20 something. A cup chassis recaro 197 can probably be had now for 6.5k - possibly even less, & so once again people are stretching to get that spec.
Its the same for the 200 with people on a budget of around 8k- you can buy a MINT R27 for that, but for those with eyes on a 200, 9k will get you a cup or a FF with a few miles on it- the price bracket of 10k seems to be the lower end of where you want to be for a recaro model FF 200.
Once again it all boils down to budget & how people can stretch.
To date in the last 4 years I havent met one person that asked me for a non recaro car, however there have been plenty of people struggling to sell low spec non recaro models-
Theres an element of pricing pro rata for spec, so a basic 8k 200 V a 200 with recaros could be listed for nearer 9k, chances are the recaro model will always sell first because people want value for money & plus the age bracket of people buying these- appearence is often high on the reasons why they want the car, so if they are parting with 9k then you want the best spec money can buy.
to sum it up- in a declining struggling market low spec cars will struggle to sell despite the cheaper price tag simply because a) the differential in price to a higher specced vehicle is a small percentile of the overall cost of the car ( less than 10% ), b) MOST people buying this type of car fit into a bracket where spec is important to them....
S