Re: Decisions, decisions
From: Dennis Liu (BigHeadDennisearthlink.net)
Date: Thu, 24 Aug 2006 19:12:33 -0700 (PDT)
Rick, clearly, you're not standing on the 740's brake pedal hard enough!
:-)
 
Can't disagree with the rest of your analysis!
 
vty,
 
--Dennis

  _____  

From: Rick Lindsay [mailto:rolindsay [at] yahoo.com] 
Sent: Thursday, August 24, 2006 2:58 PM
To: BigHeadDennis [at] earthlink.net
Cc: 'The FerrariList'
Subject: Re: [Ferrari] Decisions, decisions


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
 
 

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