Ferrari Mailing List: Re: Decisions, decisions

[Rick Lindsay (rolindsay]

Hello Dennis, et al.,
     I'll share some thoughts here too.
   
  + My daily driver is a '98 M-B SL500.  it is an incredible car, if heavy.  
Still, it is a 2-seater.  I am on an SL e-mail list and I can share some 
thoughts from them.  The general opinion is that Mercedes took a big 
reliability hit when they 'merged' with Chrysler.  Some of that may be sour 
grapes because a new SL is noticeably over US$100k and its easy to say my 
US$50k SL is better.  BUT, the data confirms the claims.  The newer cars are 
less reliable.  Would I buy a new(ish) Mercedes?  Probably not.
   
  + I also own a '96 BMW 740iL and I agree with everything Dennis says.  That 
is a world-class car.  It handles a lot like a 325iS and that is a double edged 
sword.  I tend to be a later braker and the mass of the 740iL sometimes leaves 
me wondering if I am really going to stop by the line.  FWIW, the SL500 is 
heavy too but as I drive it daily, I know the braking better.
   
  + We just bought an '03 Land Rover Discovery II.  Make no mistake, it is a 
TRUCK.  Yes, it has nice leather and is fitted-out nicely but it is a TRUCK.  
For Nancy, that is good because she drives any vehicle like a truck.  We are 
pleased with our purchase.  We would suffer a little from the 13mpg-highway / 
13mpg-city if we drove it further.
   
  + Where we live now, a punk kid without a job drives a tuner Honda, usually 
in >30% primer with three 19" chromed alloy wheels and one 13" steel wheel.  A 
punk kid WITH a job drives a newish Dodge or Chrysler.  Around here, those cars 
are the badges of punk-made-good.
   
  + If I were going to buy a new short-haul utility vehicle, I would buy a 
Scion xB.  They're butt-ugly, get pretty good mileage and its hard to spend 
over US$16k for a NEW one.
   
  + For a highway car, I would stick with the 7-Series.  Remember, it is almost 
impossible for a car to nickle and dime you to death.  Put a new car payment 
into maintenance and repairs for a few months and pretty soon, you have nothing 
left to spend money on!  For example, a "B" service on my SL500 is about 
US$1200.  My friends tell me that's insane and if I bought a new ($35,000) 
Honda I could avoid all that maintenance expense.  Ridiculous argument.
   
  + Now, if you are buying a car NOT for practical reasons but for personal and 
emotional reasons, I agree with an earlier poster: Buy any damn thing you 
please and don't bother justifying it to anybody.  At that stage, you are 
paying into your hobby, not providing utility.  If you get utility in the deal, 
so much the better. :-)  Of course, I don't have to sell 'practicality' versus 
'desirability' very hard to the Ferrari owner community. :-P
   
  Okay, back to work.
   
  rick
  '03 Land Rover - Wife's daily driver
  '98 Mercedes SL500 - my daily driver
  '98 BMW 318ti - daughter's daily driver
  '96 BMW 740iL - son's daily driver
  '79 Ferrari 308GTB - toy