One Man's Search is Over!

Well, it’s been an intense couple of weeks, but the hunt is finally over. I’m delighted to be the proud owner of a Pearl Yellow ’05 Gallardo. I had been vacillating for some time as to the right time to jump back into exotic car ownership, but finally decided this was the opportune moment.

For those of you who have been following my saga on FChat / LamboChat, you know I’ve bounced around different alternatives on what to get. MY04 360? MY04 G? MY05 G? I’m a big Ferrari fan, and so I flirted with the idea of a MY04 360 briefly but decided to pass because, while I respect the car, I’ve grown tired of the design, not having seen it change in the last six years. The aesthetics don’t visually excite me anymore the way a G does. And while I recognize the 360 to be lithe and “tossable” (even though I won’t be performing power slides on Park Avenue), the performance specs of the G are – as Clarkson likes to say - truly biblical. The F430 isn’t an option at this point, although the decision would certainly have been harder if it were (although by no means a slam-dunk towards an F430). Funnily, it was the lack of availability of an F430 that caused me to focus on the G, making me realize what a truly awesome car this is. I'm really glad I did - wouldn't have it any other way now.

With the 360 out of the picture, I was torn between whether to get a MY04 or a MY05. MY04’s are priced very attractively, and there are some FChatters that are offering their G’s up for very fair prices. I found it interesting that the Yellow and Orange ones always trade to a premium to the Black, Silver and Blues. I think G’s look hot-t-t in any color, but my own biases led me towards either Yellow or Orange (go figure why they’re able to charge a premium for these colors). I should also mention I can’t stand paddle-shifting on either the F or the G (and yes, I’ve tried it on both) so the search was always for a 6-speed. Fortunately, unlike Ferrari’s, where you see a 90% / 10% ratio for F1 / 6-speed the split on the G is a little more balanced and there is a decent selection of 6-speeds available.

The MY05’s are trading at a significant premiums to the MY04’s. At the end of it all, although it meant more $’s, I decided to go with a MY05 because of the remaining warranty. To understand that, you have to understand a little about me: although I enjoy my cars and put miles on them, I’m fanatical about making sure everything is working properly. At the slightest hint of trouble, my cars are usually taken to the shop – be it to fix something that might be going awry, or something that has the potential to do so. Having spent a lot of time and $’s on my out-of-warranty Ferrari 355 to keep it immaculate and fully-serviced, I wanted to get a little peace of mind with the protection of a warranty on this trade. In fact, I’ve made up my mind that I’m going to try to never buy an out-of-warranty car again. As much as I’ve heard time and time again that the G’s are bullet proof, I needed this peace of mind. Plus, the MY05’s have a lift system and all the first year “quirks” taken care of. MY05 it was then.

As I started to zone in on MY05’s, I found the supply / demand curves to be extremely unfavorable, which surprised me a great deal. When I was toying with the idea of picking up a MY04 last year, I found availability of NEW MY04 G’s till March / April of 2005 and at large discounts to sticker. With MY05’s, the availability and the discounts were a LOT less. Even with the cutback in production, the lack of supply was perplexing. I soon found out why. Apparently, a particular high-end car dealer (but NOT a Lambo authorized dealer) based out of Florida has been aggressively buying these vehicles. Visit their website and you’ll see they have 14 – 16 G’s in stock! Most of the cars have been bought new from Lambo dealers who sold these cars at attractive discounts. With no more MY05 production and a limited amount of MY05’s on the ground, it’s not hard to see what the Florida dealer’s strategy is. And although I hate price gougers, I think they’ll make a windfall as all those jazzy Wall-Streeters look around in Jan / Feb after getting their big fat bonuses and look for a place to buy their new Gallardo’s.

Me? Never satisfied to play the price gouging game (ergo, no F430), I doubled-down on my hunt and found a terrific "like new" low, low mileage, Pearl Yellow 6-speed one-owner car that was perfectly optioned. It’s got the clear engine cover, power seats with Alcantara suede inserts, and some other doo-hickeys that put the MSRP a shade south of $190K. Most importantly, it’s going to be a whole lot more car than I’ve driven before, and I can’t wait to hear that V10 singing behind me. The car is scheduled to arrive this weekend, and it sure seems like a fine way to start the New Year -

Although I generally move quickly once I say "go," I do pride myself in doing extensive research and a lot of analyses prior to making a decision like this, and a large part of making this post is to thank this community for helping me out in that regard. FChat members have been overwhelming in their responses to my myriad questions, both online and off, and I was continually astonished at how frank and giving people were in providing answers, references, advice, etc. Thank you to everybody that has weighed in!!!

A couple of people have truly gone beyond the call of duty, (re)proving themselves as incredible people and amazing friends in the process. These include: roytoy2003 (Roy), noahlh (Noah), CornellCars (Jason), John Hrad (at LoDallas) and 993 guy (Eric). Each one of them has been incredible in their own way, and the search would not have ended successfully without them. Thank you! Thank you!! Thank you!!!

Pictures and first impressions to come shortly.

Best Wishes for a Healthy and Happy New Year to all!

 

Thanks to all the well-wishers. I am very excited.

I'm a "stock" kinda guy, but I do hear over and over again that the exhaust note on the G leaves much to be desired. Give me a little time to get to know the car, but I am sure the "research" on the exhausts will start at some point down the road. -

 

Thank you all.

Here's what Premier fabricates Antony. Plates look a little thick, so still thinking about.

http://www.thebestemployee.com/forum/showthread.php?t=87451&page=2

 

LOL - I thought I had read all the reviews. Turns out I missed a recent one - thanks for sending. From the online edition of The Independent. November 2005. Gotta love British humor.