Ferrari Mailing List: Re: Replacing the BMW - result... (1 of 2)

[Rick Lindsay (rolindsay]

Excellent B.H. Dennis!  Congratulations on a well-considered decision.  Now you 
must go buy a 635CSI or an early M6 to get you back on track! :-)

rick - owner of many silly cars


--- On Mon, 4/13/09, Dennis Liu <bigheaddennis [at] gmail.com> wrote:

> From: Dennis Liu <bigheaddennis [at] gmail.com>
> Subject: [Ferrari] Replacing the BMW - result... (1 of 2)
> To: "rolindsay" <rolindsay [at] yahoo.com>
> Cc: "The FerrariList" <ferrari [at] ferrarilist.com>
> Date: Monday, April 13, 2009, 5:36 PM
> [Howdy, all!  Please include me directly on any replies, as
> I'm not
> receiving any list-only postings... Thanks!]
> 
> 
> 
> As some of you may recall, back in January, I sought
> opinions and feedback
> from all y'all on what should I replace my much beloved
> 1995 BMW 740iL with
> 198.6k miles on it.
> 
> The uber-sedan appeared to be headed for the scrap heap
> (due to a projected
> $2k estimate to fix a leaking hydraulic line in the
> self-leveling rear end
> system, which is much more than what I expected to get for
> the car).  I
> loved that car, and even at its advanced age, it carried
> 4-5 folks with
> plenty of luggage at 80mph+ and 21 mpg.  
> 
> Thus, it came to be time.  My specs:  RWD, seats 4-5 adults
> comfortably,
> with a V8.  Not at all interested in a Lexus, nor
> Mercedes-Benz.  One
> exception might be a CLS500/CLS550 (still the most
> beautiful sedan even
> made), but the four-seats only ruled it out, and I have
> little faith in MB
> quality/reliability.
> 
> So I considered the following candidates:
> 
> 1.  Start driving my wife's 996 on a daily basis. 
> Ended up deciding against
> it, as just couldn't bear to see the abuse my daughters
> would have
> eventually heaped on it, and it's just not that
> comfortable for all four of
> us long trips (and trunk space, while acceptable for two,
> is insufficient
> for four.
> 
> 2.  Buy a replacement E38 740.  Oooh, the emotional choice.
>  Found a guy in
> CA who bought a new 740i Sport in 2001, then stored it all
> this time.
> Effectively a NEW car.  But he was asking all the money for
> it, and, sadly,
> it's now 8+ years old, even if it only has a couple of
> hundred miles on it.
> And it's still susceptible to the usual E38 maladies
> (e.g., suspension
> pieces, cooling system, etc.)
> 
> 3.  Buy an E65/E66 7-series.  Ugh.  I've hated the
> looks of this thing since
> day 1, and have not wanted iDrive either.  The look
> improved tremendously
> with the 2006 update to the 4.8 liter V8 (750), but still
> not what I'd call
> attractive.  Actually went to the dealership to check out a
> very nice black
> one they had in stock, but when I got close to it in
> person, the looks just
> left me cold.  I've driven them a bit before, but when
> contemplating the
> possible purchase of this one, I just couldn't bring
> myself to do it.  Ugh.
> Didn't even bother taking it for a test-drive; yes, it
> is that ugly to me.
> Also considered the E60/E61 5-series, but it's too
> cramped by comparison,
> and if the E65 hit every branch falling out of the ugly
> tree, the E60
> managed to dodge only 3-4 limbs.  
> 
> 4.  2005+ Audi A8 or A8L 4.2.  Now this has a lot of what
> BMW should have
> done with the E65 - light aluminum body, easy-to-use driver
> interface, and
> no Bangle butt!  Not a big fan of AWD, but it couldn't
> hurt up here in the
> snow belt.  This was probably going to be it... But then a
> friend of mine
> who used to be an Audi parts manager warned me off -
> "it's a **GREAT** car,
> and reliable, but once you hit 100k miles on it,
> everything, and I mean
> everything, will cost you $2k to fix."  Confirmed by
> several of you who had
> owned Audis.  Doh.
> 
> 5.  2007+  Pontiac G8 GT.  361hp, RWD.  Admittedly, it
> didn't even make my
> initial list, but I received a bunch of enthusiastic votes
> of support, so I
> went to check it out.  And it was... nice!  The interior is
> Spartan,
> compared to the competition, but it wasn't
> typical-GM-ugly.  Lots of room.
> Could I get over that ugly Pontiac nose, and see the beauty
> of the Holden
> inside?  I had managed to convince myself that I could, and
> the $7500+ total
> in rebates and discounts from GM certainly helped, BUT my
> wife spotted the
> G8 brochure on my pile, raised her eyebrow, and asked me if
> this was what I
> really wanted.  She doesn't care about the badge, but
> she knows me well
> enough that I have a hard time turning down good deals,
> only to have regrets
> later.  And as good a deal as this is, I... couldn't
> bring myself to pull
> the trigger.
> 
> So what did I buy?
> 
> Well, before I get to that, I must admit, I ended up buying
> it (used) from a
> dealer.  I stopped for a test drive, and was astounded that
> they made an
> offer on the old Bimmer.  And, no, I know how much they
> paid for what I
> bought and they didn't make much margin on it, so
> it's not like they bumped
> up the trade-in value just to make it up on the other end. 
> The sales
> manager said that he had a wholesaler that loves these
> beasts, and ships
> them to Mexico where he could double the money.  Hmmm...
> Even with the
> (fully-disclosed) power-steering-fluid-leak?  Yup.  That
> pushed me over the
> edge, and I closed the deal.
> 
> And I ended up with an Infiniti M45.
> 
> More in the next post!
> 
> vty,
> 
> --Dennis
> Without a BMW for the first time in nearly 2 decades
> Metro Boston
> 
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