i was subscribed for a long time. I was forcibly unsubscribed by the owner of the site. ask him. probably for starting threads like this.
you know what a car guy is. My definition is the same. I think it's easier to say what one isn't and i did. you know, the guy that pulls up in a G and asks you if your diablo is a ferrari. Anyway, i wasn't trolling. it is a serious question. I had talked about this with a couple other friends and they concurred. When i saw the responses about mileage being important in the electric G thread i thought i would put it to you guys. Carnut is obviously a car guy and i admire what he has done with his G. Hopefully, we'll catch up one day. Maybe at mason-dixon. And that makes my point that i'm sure some car guys own them, but my personal experience is that more don't. That's why i started the thread to see if anybody else had the same experience. Please don't come on here and trot out your bona-fides, i believe you. I have personally met about 5 g owners (never met carnut) and they all were , let's say not well versed in the area. i have seen numerous other examples on this site. If i'm wrong, I'm wrong. Just wondering.
maybe I just need to meet more exotic owners to get a broader opinion. If I end up with a gallardo, I'll be going against your flow I guess, lol. I consider myself a car guy, I know my way around car, love to look at, drive, and work on cars. I've spent many thousands of dollars on my current car boosting it and improving it any way possible.
@Wetpet Don't know if you were talking about me but... please define car guy? I own a G. I drive it a lot. I've been on the track but haven't yet tracked the G. Off the top of my head the other G owners are probably 50% what you would call a car guy and 50% don't even know how to use the e-gear - but I wouldn't call them posers since they fell in love with the car and did not buy it to show off. What would you say car guys buy? Can't be ferrari's b/c I think they are probably 10% car guys (guessing at your definition) yet the cars themselves offer a ton to car guys. I think that economics play into this as well. The G was probably the cheapest bang for your buck (ignoring Corvettes and the newer cars like the GTR, R8 - even though I would never get one of those). Over time, it is way cheaper than other options. I absolutely did not want to spend too much time working on or having my car serviced and that seems to be a common thread among all of the owners that I know. So maybe the G is for the relatively frugal car guy. PS The most recent exotic (mostly) track event that I attended had a majority of G's. There were probably the same number of Ferrari's but of different models. On average, I'd say the G's were going at about 85% to the limit while the others were down near 50% (well except for a 360 Challenge car).
Excuse me but that's BS. I "think" I am a car guy: both FIA (Gr.C) and SCCA licenses; 9 years of racing, 8 F cars, including a 288, 2 Gallardo's in succession, an 04 6 speed and an 06 Egear. And oh, I wear a Seiko on my wrist and I don't smoke cigars.
I think I more than qualify as a car guy even though I don't own an exotic, I have attended and even judged many car shows, have traveled 900 miles round trip 2 years in a row to go to one of the largest Corvette events in the US with my Vette. If I could and could afford to I would have a bigger collection of cars than Jay Leno, I have been and am still a member of many online car clubs, oh and I also am a manager at Autozone where I am holding a car show at the end of this month which a few of the members of this site are going to intend, one of them which owns a "G" as it's put. He is a huge car guy to btw.........
About a year after the Gallardo came out the Wall Street Journal ran an article covering Lamborghini and other high line vehicles. In the article they stated that approximately 75% of all Gallardo's were leased. At that time they were obviously the favorite of the flavor of the month club. It would be very interesting to know what the percentage is today.
How many cars and how much money do you need to become a car guy? Lamborghini needs to start interviewing potential owners on their automotive knowledge and background before giving them a car. Or perhaps make them join a club so they can first discover all the nuances of the marque or perhaps some weird hazing ritual. Because then and only then will owners enjoy their car. Something tells me that most people that want to own or already own a G do so because it is a nice car!
you did not understand my point..my bad english sorry what i mean is owners of modern sport cars-exotics can be: 1-car guys 2-posers does not matter if it is a G, a 430, a 997 turbo, a murcielago, a diablo, a 360.... there are some of both kind of owners....it is a fact now and was since sport cars are being made they do appeal to car guys but also to people to like them JUST to be seen in now back to the other kind of cars: as lightweight racy-no comfort version (360 CS, GT3, G SL and scud....etc) these are unlikely bought by posers...because the posers do not like to spend 40k euro more for a car that has not heated seats or DVD player and has an alcantara interior....am i clear? so i am confident at least over 90% of owners of these are NOT posers same goes for classic ferrari and lamborghinis...these cars need a lot of love, have little comfort, are often not so fast and sometimes leave you on the road....posers cannot get them the extreme road legal racer so hardly happeal the posers: the lack of a famous brand and comfort, the lack of an electric open top and the hard ride are not suited for p.s. given your choice of cars i am 99.99% sure you are NOT a poser! i do own 2 lambos to...i am pretty much confident not to be a poser to
Well this carguy is getting older now, and as I look back (abit over 35 years) now to to when I started doing mods to my cars, and being involved to the car scene, I have to laugh at myself, I went from making my own pipes for an exhaust to, buying a 100k+ Porsche, ans then having it taken apart, and spending close to 120K more putting it back together 10 months later, minus most stock parts and any warranty. Just like almost every other modern car Ferrari and Lamborghini are built to fit the masses (though in their case masses with more money), and over the years they have had luxuries that no real sports car really needs, and the reason is that, that is what buyers want. A 911 with vented seats, makes me ill to think about it, my wifes 7 has vented seats, but hey back to my point. I have moded just about every car (except my 575, other 3 Ferrari's included) every car I have owned in the last 35 years, and that is over 200 cars. Does it make me a carguy? Does it make me crazy? One thing it does is make me a guy that has spent 100's of thousands of dollars on cars that in somes cases (like my M3 conv) did not come out the way I wanted and were sold after I was done with the mods. When it really comes down to it everyone who answered this thread is a car guy, you all showed passion, and that is what being a carguy really is, having a passion for cars. Keep it up.
to anwser the original question, Yes , car guys do buy Gallardos, check my thread about the twin turbo Gallardo that was on Pass Time last week ,All types of people buy all types of cars, some for different reasons, when your a kid your a car guy buying cheap fixer uppers,as the years go buy and you get more money saved or more credit those cars can become nicer , newer and more exotic, does that make you less of a car guy because your older? No ,Lets face it Ferraris and lamborghinis are rich man toys, can rich people be car guys, Yes they can, I bought a fixer upper Diablo, would I have bought a fixer upper Gallardo? , Yes I would have if it was a manual transmission and the price was affordable. Like everybody else here who posted, I am 110 % a car guy .
a little side tracked, but you went from a 6spd to an e-grear? which did you like better? and why the change, or was it just on the basis of availability?
I live in Wis. only one other guy I know with G, he also drives it almost every day--where I live we have a lot of back roads, very good driving roads. We also try to get to Road America or Autobahn couple times a year. Come visit and you will see some great roads, just have to watch for cow **** on the roads (very hard to get off once dried). Each car has it's own feel, G very tight feel, had 996 turbo for about 4 months until drove 04 G, much more involved traded that day. New turbo much improved but, still love the feel of the G, drive one. I also drove 560 in Vegas at intro. great car, power increase and greater handling over my 07 G. Driven the M but felt heavy, just not as fun to drive.
actually, that wasn't sent in may, it was sent when i was banned i think in jan or feb. and of course you take it out of context, it was a joke referring to the thread i was banned on. I wasn't de-subcribed till about 6 months later over something else. Against my will. But that doesn't help your little post now does it wax? Don't you have some 12yo to go "own"? Let's not get sidetracked distracting the attention from the real subject with your BS. I know you think you are in the know and are gonna "own" me, but you should check with your boss and get the facts straight. This is the first time i've brought it up cause i was asked about it. I don't give a crap. So what about the G owners you have met?
your name is corvetteman, you can't possibly be a car guy. point made! call me back when you get a G and we will re-evaluate.
this is the kind of info i was looking for in this thread. serious data and opinions. Not a number of people coming on here to say what big car guys they are. I get it, 5 owners of G's are car guys. I admit that. Still wondering what peoples experiences are. driving the car everyday does not make you a car guy. My wife drives her mercedes everyday and she doesn't know which end the engines in.
And they rise to the bait . . . To me a true car guy has to put the car on track and I do see G's on track, including my own. Which is why I'd never consider a Diablo - visceral, good looking and all, but the thing will overheat and break on track in a big, big hurry. I've seen it happen. And I'd run you on track for pinks with my G except I don't want your car. A performance car that can't perform on track is a poseur car. The most common disappointment I've heard from folks asking me about my G experience? "Oh, it doesn't have 'Lambo doors . . . . " I actually think the poseur factor is much higher on the Diablo/Murci end of the spectrum. Gotta have the big price, big power numbers, scissor doors and exclusivity. I've driven the G and M (up to LP640) on track and the G is every bit as good, and a bit more nimble to make up for less power. Now I love the M too, but it is clearly, in my mind, more of a Poseur car. No doubt about it. The earlier cars are all about posing, as they are just too fragile to track, and thatincludes the Miura. Don't get me wrong, posing has its place and the Miura is perhaps the most beautiful exotic ever made, but it is best suited for cruising and posing, not any kind of hard-core driving. I know several G owners and many track their cars, so that makes them Car Guys to me.
to me tracking your car doesn't make you a car guy....knowing your car, working on your car, etc makes you a car guy. A car guy can talk about cars/engines and know what he is talking about. He's able to fix issues, change oil, make modifications, etc on his own if he wants. a shop can build a car for guy who knows nothing about cars so he can drive it around a few corners at a track (or in a straight line)....that does not make him a car guy IMO
^ Nah, I can't fix sh** on a car but I'll try to do as much work and as much shopping at the autoparts stores as I can because it's a hobby (changing wipers and bulbs ). But trying to understand why the engine is running poor etc., I'm just not mechanical of nature. Everyone probably has a defintion of a car guy, so I won't say anyone in this thread in wrong. Here's my perspective on this: I'm a car guy because I am passionate about many sorts of cars and enjoy all aspects about them. History, racing, heritage, coolness (Aston Martin), wildness (Lamborghini), the everlasting competetion between manufacturers and models, the epic engineering achievements (Veyron), the engine noise, the drama, the speed thrills, the adrenali pumping when you know that you can kill yourself if you break the limit of your skills, the kick you get when the tail breaks lose and you actually have control of it, the fascination of small hp-weak cars that are huge fun, big torque monsters that rip up the tarmac, the joy of meeting others who feel the same way etc etc etc. That's the kind of answer a car guy will give you. IMHO a car guy knows no snobbery and treats other car guys as equals because of their passion not for what they drive. A car guy would mention driving, cars, motorsports or track driving etc. as one of his favorite sparetime activities/interests when asked. A non-car guy won't.
