Ferrari/lambo need to get to get their act together...

Buying a car for the majority of people is an objective exercise. Fr those of us lucky enough to drive fcars its subjective, thats the difference plain and simple, we are lucky enough to be able to buy what we want, not what offers the best bang for your buck.
Besides, no matter what you have, there will always be something else faster.
Steve

 

Back then, 0-60 in 7 seconds was fast. Now we're in the 3 second range, that's 20mph/second acceleration. We're getting to the limits of physics here. Sure, a funnycar can do 0-330mph in 3.5 seconds, but have you seen the tires on those things? Can you picture something like that being street legal? Not likely.

I'm surprised the Lingenfelter 427TT is street legal at 0-60 in 1.97 seconds. 1.97 seconds!!!!! You can't get much faster than that. Much faster and you'll have enough G-Forces to render you unconcious.

All there really is to improve on is reliability with this kind of performance, and the ability to get it around a corner so fast, you will be required to take driving courses before your body is physically capable of interpreting the scenery at such speeds. A suspension that can get around a corner this fast can't honestly be comfortable on city streets, right? There are always compromises to be made, and as long as forward progress cannot be made, the guy's in the back are catching up.

We might not be hitting the absolute performance peak, but the peak of human ability is on the horizon.

 

Man...I've been saying this for years..60k can beat 300k..it always has been that way ( well pretty much since the mid 90's). But somtimes your just not buying speed, you buying an experience that cannot be equald. You get into a whole new group of people with the same interests etc..you would be very surprized at what owning and exotic car can do. Mostly its for the better..other times its a bit hard to swallow but I will garentee..nothing in the automotive market, no matter how fast it is will compair to the passion that is Ferrari or Lambo (as of late..Lambo is stealing the show)

 

A regular C5 or C6 might blend in, but I can spot a Z06 like I can spot a Ferrari. The C6 Z06 is no exception to this.

Porsches blend in. Too many people have Carreras with Turbo wheels and spoilers, it can be difficult to spot something genuine.

The vette is made easily available, but that doesn't mean it isn't special. I saw a video of a C6 Z06 racing a regular C5 and it looks like the C5 takes off in reverse! This thing is FAST. Obviously a professional driver and the quarter was in the mid 11's, I think an 11.5 @ 123 mph

I can't WAIT to see the BlueDevil!

 

There are Honda Civic forums too!

 

How about this line of thought:
You buy what you like and you are comfortable enough with yourself and your decision that you don't feel the need to have to defend it or justify it to anyone else!

It's not about who has the fastest car or most expensive car on the road...
Self-confidence is understatedly SEXY!

 

Bingo.

Why do people buy original GT40s or 250GTOs when they could buy a Viper? Because performance isn't always the #1 priority.

Take any car with a large enough engine bay and you can create a monster. Throw a turbo on a cheap 5.0 mustang and you'll outrun almost anything in a straight line, doesn't mean that its a super enjoyable driving experience.

I could buy an EVO send it to vishnu spend $4k and have an absolute animal, but do i do it? Nope. It would be faster than a 360 modena or a 911 Turbo until they reach the point where their gearing will start to earn them back ground. Actually thinking about that, its tempting, but I would easily take a F355 over it in a second if i could swing the money.

 

Well, if that doesn't sound like hubris I don't know what is.

You're buying a driving experience that can be equalled.

You're buying into a whole new group of people which invariably share the same interests? Thats not something I would be particularly proud of. I prefer people to like me for me, not what I drive.

Nothing in the exotic car market, no matter how beautiful, unique, or expensive it is will compare to the passion within the human spirit. Who are you to judge the level of passion that was invested in the building of something or that another car enthusiast expresses in owning something else? Perfect example, Jay Leno, no Ferrari. Has more passion and enthusiasm in his pinky than you and I combined. Or.. does he?

To many, this strive to produce more models/greater numbers is a devaluation of the Ferrari image. To me, it only reflects the strength/staying power/image of the other manufacturers.

Sunny

 

OMG..Calm down..in the context of this board and the people on it..refelcting the cars they like!! Geez sus krist almighty!!! Of course people like different things..but us as here on this board love Ferrari's and Lamborghini's. If I wanted to talk about hyundai's I'd be on Tiburon chat..

 

If i remember correctly it was said the evo is 1/3 the price (this means closer to $100k instead of $40k). The evo kept up the whole way and performed as well, but it didnt "spank" the murci at all. The murci was in front the whole time until the driver made an error.

You think the evo is a $40k car and you probably were shocked to find out it was much more. It simply does not look like an expensive car at all. If I saw it on the street and someone said it was $40k, i'd be surprised by its looks. If they said $85k, I'd say the buyer was crazy. But this is based my opinion of looks, not performance. The corvette also at 60-70k is a lot of value for your money. It is probably 85% of what a Ferrari is, for a fraction of the price.

But like anything in life, if you want the highest quality, the price is expontentially higher. The new 80" plasma TVs are starting near $100k. You could buy 10 or 20 42" plasmas for that money. But if you want "the best" and "the latest" it will cost you a pretty penny. That is part of the appeal with the exotics. The other manufacturers can make something close to it (put 4 42" TVs together for 1/5th the price), but you will never get the same product for much less. Based upon Audi's small profit margin, we can confirm that a murci costs a lot to build. A murci can not be duplicated for under $200k.

 

Do Rolex and Breitling need to get their act together because Timex makes a watch that tells the same time for a fraction of the price?

 

Bad comparison because Ferrari, Lambo, and Porsche are widening their markets. Brietling is not. They are either greedy, suffering, or clairvoyant.

Sunny

 

I was trying to get a rise out of you. You illustrate my point - who's to say you like your F-car more than someone who likes their Tiburon? Thats all I'm saying. I don't need the reminder where I'm at, I think with 3,000 posts I have that figured out.

Sunny

 

Guys, guys, guys, please allow me to shed some light on this.

We often compare our cars to women. So let's think of it in those terms.

Now this EVO that has your feathers all ruffled, don't get so excited.

See you have women that are blessed with natural beauty. They have a beautiful face, great legs, beautiful hair, pretty eyes, large breasts , a nice bubble butt, still look beautiful even with no make-up, and age gracefully, etcetera. This would be the case with Ferrari/Lamborghini.

Then you have the not so good looking women that visit Dr. 90210, and spend thousands. They get the nose job, the boob job, the lyposuction, the tummy tuck, the face lift, the boob lift, the hair colored and permed, if they are out of the house with out make-up you would think they are ill, etcetera. This would be the EVO/Sti.

Now then we have the other women that are just normal looking, but with a great body. Get them in the gym a few times a week, put a pretty dress on them, do their hair nice, get a nice make-up job, and they can look pretty hot. This would be the new Z06/Viper/Porsche.

Twenty years from now the Ferrari's and Lamborgini's will have aged like Sophia Loren, Raquel Welch, and Bo Derick, while the EVO and Sti will look like Joan Rivers. Raquel Welch is no comparison for an 19 year old girl college girl, but she will still turn heads, and will always be looked at as a beautiful woman.

 

I own an 83 Mondial QV, I dreamed of having a Ferrari in the 80's. Remember seeing Mondial's on the road let alone 308's and just never thought I would own one. The equivalent of my day in the UK to EVO's was probably the Escort XR3. Did not like them then and think they are a piece of tat now.

I watch top gear too. What does Jeremy Clarkson drive? He had a F355 then some Merc and for two minutes a Ford GT. He likes these EVO's etc but does not choose to buy them.

I love being in my Ferrari, it is not how fast it actually is or not but how fast it feels, how good it feels. I would no doubt like the EVO for a day, but then it would become just another (fast) car. I mean just look at it really, it has no real character.

Each to his own. Give me the choice between a Mistubishiwishi and a Testarossa. No contest Testarossa everytime followed by my Mondial. The EVO is not in the same league and never will be - period.

Or for that matter a £117K 360.

 

YOU can - you have some expertise in Corvettes. I can tell the hatchback from the convertible, and the door handles (now like the Ford Probe or Honda CRX) and headlights (now like the Mitsu 3000GT) look different on the new one compared to the '04s.

They're probably the best American cars being made now, but as you say they're easily available -- at the Chevy dealer, alongside Blazers and Cavaliers. Plentiful and built locally, in Kentucky, using many components from the GM parts bin. Which makes them the opposite of an exotic, which is rare and built by a low-volume manufacturer in a foreign country.

Horsepower doesn't give a car the mystique of a Ferrari, Lambo, Aston, etc.

Agree with you on the Porsches - Porsche has a real issue with all the 911's looking very similar. A GT2 looks too much like the thousands of 996 coupes for sale everywhere.

I remember a great letter to the editor in Road & Track a long time ago. The guy wrote that "someone will always say that their Firestang-Turbo Z can pull away from (insert exotic here). And they're right, but the driver of the (insert exotic here) couldn't care less."

 

This is an intresting thread, as I have thought about this often. With the horspower wars in full effect, the powerfull car trend doesn't seem to have an end in sight. The fact that a run of the mill sedan like an Acura RL has more hp than its flagship sister the $90k NSX is baffling. It is apparent that people that buy regular cars expect more power now, and the market has to keep up. If Mitsu, Suby, Acura, etc want to release a car that is more exiteing than your average model, its going to have to have signifigant power. The big question is do exotics really need to be faster to be worth it? I say no. Would you rather buy a nice tract home with a decent yard and nice amenities but looks like every other house on the street, or spend more and have a custom home in a gated community even if its the same square footage. I go for the latter. I have a timex that I wear in the shop that works as good if not better than my Rolex, I would still rather have my Rolex. Just my opinion.

 

People don't compare watches by their performance or accuracy anymore. I hope cars will never get to that state. However, I could see that happening to cars someday as well when every car is running on alternative energy source that performance is not the primary concern/attraction anymore.