Ultra Luxury Car Prices Plunge

The prices of servicing the current new cars is absurd. The best deal for a fast and fun car is a 1999 Porsche 996. $25k all in including a new IMS bearing and your can beat it all day long and change the oil yourself and get more than one set of pads life out of your rotors. Or an old Mondial if it has to be Italian. So you won't go to 0-60 in 3 seconds...but that means you'll enjoy the sound of the engine a few seconds longer. The bragging rights of new car ownership just aren't worth it. All these super costs are nothing but the manufacturers and dealers committing highway robbery, pardon the pun.

 

When I was a kid, it was a rare event to see a Ferrari, Lamborghini or Maserati on the street. Maybe a couple of times/year.... if you were lucky. And it was an event to be cherished. THAT was exotic. Now, in any big city, you can see Ferraris clogging the valet stand, or cruising at 5 under the limit with driver more concerned about his hair and latte than trail breaking or late apexing a corner.

I have loved Ferrari since I was a kid and would devour every issue of Road & Track (as they did the best road tests and stats on exotics). I'm afraid that in the search for bigger production volumes, they have successfully made exotics...... not very exotic. At least when I bought a McLaren, I don't see myself coming and going and because of that (as well as performance, looks, etc), people see them as exotic.

 

I hear what you say. Unfortunately, in my neighborhood McLarens are as common as everyday Ferraris and Lambos. We are “blessed” with having a dealership for each manufacturer within a few blocks of each other and the numbers being driven around town reflect that. If I never see another red Cali it will be too soon! Here if you want something different you would have to go with something like a Pagani (we have a dealership for that as well)!

Since I cannot afford a Pagani (at least until the market crashes and a poser is desperate), I went the other way and went for “old” and relatively limited production. So I got myself a 612 (I have only seen one other in the neighborhood) and a black 65 Vette convertible (not limited production and there are a few others here but not in black—which is very distinctive). For both cars when I go out on the road I get a lot of looks and thumbs up. And, as you said, I like not seeing myself coming and going.