Ferrari Mailing List: Re: BMW Mods/Forced Induction/Modern V8s

[BRIGANDBAR (BRIGANDBAR]

With deference to my prejudice as displayed in terms of the fleet owned I  
have to say that neither the U.S. nor the Japanese have quite conquered the  
European automobile overall, but in individual areas of specificity individual  
offerings from one continent or another may prevail.
 
I have to say for all around reliability, albeit little excitement, it is  
pretty well impossible to beat my Lincoln Town Car. It is boring but reliable,  
day in and day out starts runs, delivers the goods in comfort and relative  
style. The leather and other interior accoutrements pale in comparison to the  
PMC Rolls Royce automobiles but parts availability and cost, and overall  
reliability, even when compared to what RR enthusiasts refer to as "Modern 
Cars"  
are vastly superior. And a lot of the simple, but convenient "little things"  
such as auxiliary system controls mounted on the steering wheel just make  
driving more simple when one is tired and ready to come home.
 
The MB's are notorious for their engineers "stretching" the envelope in  
technical advancements but they seem to put them into the cars so that new  
owners 
are in effect "beta test sites" for their works in progress. MB  reliability 
and durability have suffered greatly over the last several years, as  has 
their commitment to customer service. In 1998, as the second owner of my  1980 
450SL, MBUSA picked up the tab for the replacement of a cracked subframe  
assembly as part of a customer satisfaction campaign. That campaign, and most  
probably all others ended in 2000 as has apparently most of the concerns of the 
 
company that has merged with Chrysler and adopted their the "the customer 
bought  
it, the customer owns it" philosophy except when an enforceable "lemon law"  
issue arises and they are compelled to act. If one is into techno-design  
interiors the MB is okay, the Japanese are comparable to them, but it is the  
British that own the old-school leather and REAL wood cockpit environment that 
I  
enjoy in cars. There isn't much of that "sticky" feeling on interior parts 
that  seems to plague the Ferrari (or at least my Ferrari 348). Admittedly, it 
has  taken the intervention of the German automobile industry to improve 
performance  and powerplants, however I would have to say that the old 
fashioned "no  
replacement for displacement" theorem of large displacement engines producing 
 modest displacement to horsepower ratios still works for them for the most  
part.
 
My Ferrari is my visceral car. The quality of the leather and other  interior 
materials appears to me to be inferior to that of my British cars and  on a 
par with my Town Car. But, that is not why I bought the Ferrari. I just  cannot 
go out and drive for fun in any of my British, American or German cars in  
the same way that I do in the Ferrari. As far as parts cost and availability,  
maintenance and repair costs, etc., the Ferrari is on a par with the RR's and  
significantly higher than the American iron that I own and drive. I knew that  
when I bought the car, budgeted for it and am not particularly disturbed by 
it  though I would always prefer to minimize such expenditures without cutting  
corners.
 
My American fleet, other than the Lincoln Town Car is generally work or  farm 
related and I haven't seen anything from the either the other side of the  
Atlantic or the Pacific that keeps up with it. The Powerstroke diesel powered  
pickup and Excursion will work rings around anything I've seen from either  
continent. The Japanese have made some strides in full-size pickup trucks, and  
the new Toyota seems like it might be a good off-roading vehicle that might  
outperform my older Bronco, but the Germans have "pussified" their G-Class  
automobiles with the new "GL" class that purported replaces the "G-wagen" of  
old. 
If they had deigned to bring the old G-wagen to this continent in its  
semi-military work mode instead of a soccer-momobile with a pricetag that  
discourages almost all serious off-roaders I know from beating the hell out of  
it on 
the trails perhaps they would have won that battle. As for the Hummer, the  H-1 
is a capable, but not really practical (at least in my business) vehicle but  
also priced out of the work/hardcore off-road play vehicles. I can say from  
experience that the H-2 and H-3 don't hold a candle to my Excursion when it  
comes to working in difficult places where ruggedness and sustained durability  
are required. They perhaps are better suited to compete with the Escalade and 
to  stay out of the work environment.
 
My British cars are prima donnas, to be expected with the '64 Silver Cloud,  
but the Corniche and the Silver Spur can be a bit on the delicate side, and 
the  consequences of exceeding their plasticity of durability range is quite  
expensive and troublesome. In many areas "100 years of tradition unhampered by  
progress" and when it comes to sound systems, memory seats, etc., they would  
have been better off leaving things alone in the 1950's mode where their old  
gentlemen's club atmosphere prevails.
 
I'm not really sure where to go for a "do it all" car, such as the 750il  
BMW's, Audi's, etc., that have been discussed. It sometimes gets into that  
problem of trying to be all things to all people. When you look at the  
statistics, 
the majority of these classes of BMW's, MB'S etc. are leased, not  sold to 
their original operators, who limit themselves to performing only the  
maintenance required by the leasing company or the terms of the warranty  
authority 
exchanging regularly for the next iteration of similar vehicles and  really 
mostly want to be seen in these cars, not push them to the limit. Perhaps  
Porsche 
owners would be the exception to that rule as if evidenced by the dearth  of 
extended warranties and program car Porsches that are seen on the  market.
 
The horns of my dilemma for my next acquisition, a Bentley Turbo-R or a  
newer DCAG Dodge Hemi-Charger or Chrysler 300. A close friend of mine who is a  
local sheriff has a hook into someone who "remanufactures" police cruisers and  
sells the to departments and to folks such a deputy sheriffs who still supply  
their own patrol vehicles. The price differential between one of the  
hemi-cruisers and the Turbo-R is significant, but so is the entire ownership  
experience. I guess I will soon have to decide whether whipping the pants off 
of  
most of the hot Cadillac/American muscle car production and/or trans-oceanic  
imports in a dearth of creature comforts for lower cost outweighs the latest in 
 
performance from the Teutonically inspired Bentley running with the big boys 
"in  style".
 
No car can be all things though many try. The 750il might be great, as  might 
be modifying a car by changing it over to a 6-speed manual transmission  but 
what is the economic costs in the resale market, the questions raised by  your 
automobile insurance company (heck most of them can't even figure out how  to 
insure a Pinzgauer or UNIMOG), and the exponentially increased costs of  
maintenance and repair on such modified vehicles. Add in the question of 
exactly  
how often you really need to eliminate the 155 mph limiter on your car, and  
maybe money is best spent in dividing the tasks between two or more cars.
 
Dr Steve  

1964 Rolls  Royce Silver Cloud III    1975 Pontiac GV Conv.
1980 MB  450SL                 1982 RR  Corniche
1988 Rolls Royce Silver  Spur         1994 F-350 Powerstroke  4x4          
1996  Bronco                                  2000 Lincoln Town Car
1995 Ferrari 348  Spyder                 2004 Excursion
+ Audrey's 3x MB's

Dr. Stephen B. Spies, CES,  CFI
Director, Forensic Sciences Laboratory
Explosives Engineering  Technologies

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