 |
 | Home | Contact Us | FAQ | Search & Site Map | Link to Us |
 | Sign In | Join | Other 45 Sites in Network |
Car Forum / Mazda / Mazda Miata / May 2008Who wants to trade up?
For just a few dollars you can get a bit of a performance increase! http://phoenix.craigslist.org/car/685451024.html Gas mileage might drop a bit....  SignatureXS11E, Killing all posts from Google Groups The Usenet Improvement Project: http://improve-usenet.org > > For just a few dollars you can get a bit of a performance increase! > > http://phoenix.craigslist.org/car/685451024.html > > Gas mileage might drop a bit.... I always wonder why someone would buy a sweet ride and then drive it fewer than 1K per year. It isn't as if this model of Ferrari is some rarity fit only to sit in a museum like a Bugatti Type 41 (the famous Royale). Really sad when a perfectly drivable car isn't driven... SignatureJohn McGaw [Knoxville, TN, USA] http://johnmcgaw.com > I always wonder why someone would buy a sweet ride and then drive it fewer > than 1K per year. Perhaps he's too busy hooning about in his Enzo? SignatureLanny Chambers St. Louis, MO '94C > I always wonder why someone would buy a sweet ride and then drive it fewer > than 1K per year. The first time this struck me was when, after living in my then-place for about 8 months, I saw the guy across the road pull out of his garage in a Ferrari 360. It's *possible* he'd driven it before but I really think I would have noticed. I pondered why he didn't drive it regularly and reasons I came up with were: - You might be able to park it in your garage when you're at home, but what about where you're going to? Do you really want a Ferrari parked on the street all day, every day while you're at work? I know I wouldn't get any work done, wondering about whether some idiot had driven off my wing mirror, had fallen against it with their bicycle, etc etc etc. - If you've got enough money to buy a Ferrari, you've got enough money to buy at least one more car that is less nervewracking on a day-to-day basis (my neighbour's day-to-day car was a Jag. Can't remember which one, but not an upmarket one, if you know what I mean) - At least here in the UK, driving a Ferrari is apparently a nightmare - there are speedbumps all over the place, so when taking it out for a spin in any city you have to plan your route beforehand in order to avoid roads with speedbumps. Which largely means having to go on the motorway instead, which is pointless here, with speed limits of 70mph nationwide (which begs the question why you'd buy a Ferrari here in the first place, but that's another matter). I'm sure I've missed out some reasons. The conclusion I came to, though, was that a) it's pointless buying a Ferrari in the UK, and b) if I did have enough money I'd buy one anyway 'cause they're cool - and then carry on driving my MX-5 as my daily car, and take out my Ferrari once a month, just like all the others. :-) Eric >> I always wonder why someone would buy a sweet ride and then drive it fewer >> than 1K per year. [quoted text clipped - 34 lines] > > Eric But even if one did not have the nerve to use the Ferrari as everyday transportation, surely there would be some temptation to go out and hit the open road at least occasionally. I know only too well that the temptation overtakes me on some weekends and I find myself putting 500+ miles on my car in a day with no advance planning or thought. My neighbors and friends are car buffs of a sort. Daily for business (estate agents) she drives her Volvo sedan and he drives his Chrysler minivan. But in their 5 garage bays they have BMW and Jensen-Healy roadsters, a 1953 Cadillac, and a newly-acquired classic Mercedes (which I haven't seen yet as it has gone off to the restorer). I'd venture to say that even the old Cadillac sees 1000 miles per year and it is a pretty miserable thing to drive compared to a modern vehicle. I will say that the Jensen rarely rotates its tires but given the maker and the fact that it probably has Lucas electrics that is to be expected <g>. The first Ferrari I had a chance to examine in detail (in the mid 70s) was a pale yellow 365GTS which was owned by an early Silicon Valley entrepreneur. It was driven daily to his office/warehouse and parked outside, often with the top left down exposing the beautiful tan hide interior to the indignities of sun, dirt, and birds. Asked about it he said that it didn't bother him since he preferred not to drive his "good" cars to work. I discovered later that one of these good cars was a gullwing Merc. Ah well... SignatureJohn McGaw [Knoxville, TN, USA] http://johnmcgaw.com Well your posting just caused to highlight only a few of the differences between the UK and the US, most of all in scale: > But even if one did not have the nerve to use the Ferrari as everyday > transportation, surely there would be some temptation to go out and hit > the open road at least occasionally. I know only too well that the > temptation overtakes me on some weekends and I find myself putting 500+ > miles on my car in a day with no advance planning or thought. Driving 500 miles in one day in the UK would be, most likely, an exhausting experience. Having driven from New Orleans to Denver myself over, what, 2 or 3 days I remember what it's like driving long distances in the US and let me tell you, it's very different over here. Over at your end a drive of that length may be dull and tedious, but not really exhausting. 500 miles in the UK will take you through or around a number of major cities - completely unavoidable given the minute size of the UK compared to the US - which entails traffic jams, impatient and reckless drivers, etc etc. Driving 500 miles in one day in the UK would *not* be a fun day out, no matter what car you're driving. > My neighbors and friends are car buffs of a sort. Daily for business > (estate agents) she drives her Volvo sedan and he drives his Chrysler > minivan. As daily drivers??!! Goodness me, you guys over there desperately need a huge increase in fuel tax to stop you from driving minivans as your commuter vehicles!! <prepares to duck the flames, but means it> > But in their 5 garage bays I don't even have one garage, bay or not, and I'd hazard a guess that that's the norm here in the UK. Not that that's a good thing; I really want a garage for my car, but finding a house in a major city with a garage is either impossible or over-the-odds expensive. But 5 - now that's just plain greedy. > they have BMW and Jensen-Healy roadsters, a 1953 Cadillac, and a > newly-acquired classic Mercedes (which I haven't seen yet as it has gone > off to the restorer). I'd venture to say that even the old Cadillac sees > 1000 miles per year and it is a pretty miserable thing to drive compared > to a modern vehicle. Which reminds me of a feature not long ago on Top Gear (http://www.topgear.com/ ) where they drove some old (1950s & 60s) but at the time nice cars - only to find that they were soggy sponges compared to today's Honda Accords.... Now where were we?! Eric snip... > Driving 500 miles in one day in the UK would be, most likely, an exhausting > experience. Having driven from New Orleans to Denver myself over, what, 2 or [quoted text clipped - 6 lines] > miles in one day in the UK would *not* be a fun day out, no matter what car > you're driving. I normally try to avoid the major highways if I am off to do whatever takes my fancy on a given day. Sometimes it is unavoidable but I prefer the lesser-traveled roads myself unless the sole motivation is to make the best possible time. The area in which I live has numerous highways which are quite entertaining in the MX-5. >> My neighbors and friends are car buffs of a sort. Daily for business >> (estate agents) she drives her Volvo sedan and he drives his Chrysler [quoted text clipped - 5 lines] > > <prepares to duck the flames, but means it> Really not commuter vehicles. Their office location is all of four miles from their home. But their business calls for a sometimes-considerable amount of driving since the sole function of their agency is to handle foreclosed properties for banks and their territory covers many hundreds of square miles. The van is a necessity because it is used to haul signs and such for which anything smaller would be useless. At least it is a small-engine model which gets decent fuel-economy and isn't a huge V-8 pickup 4WD pickup which so many other US drivers seem to fancy. >> But in their 5 garage bays > [quoted text clipped - 3 lines] > either impossible or over-the-odds expensive. But 5 - now that's just plain > greedy. I guess it could be considered greedy from some viewpoints. For this couple it seems right. Our adjacent properties share the same drive (more accurately I use their long drive) and together cover something like 5 acres. Soon after they bought their house they had a contractor add a three-car garage along the drive just above my property line. I should probably not add that the garage has HVAC and a nice little loft space above the bays since I'm sure it will make it seem even worse to you. Personally I only have a two-car garage in one end of my house and one of those has been converted into my woodworking shop. The other bay is, of course, dedicated to my MX-5. But garages are not a rarity in the US as you well know. >> they have BMW and Jensen-Healy roadsters, a 1953 Cadillac, and a >> newly-acquired classic Mercedes (which I haven't seen yet as it has gone [quoted text clipped - 10 lines] > > Eric The Cadillac is an odd thing -- a long black saloon. Every time I ride in it I get the feeling that I'm in a scene from one of the Godfather movies: the big funeral cortege for some 1950s gangster. I guess we've beaten this dead horse enough, eh? SignatureJohn McGaw [Knoxville, TN, USA] http://johnmcgaw.com > > For just a few dollars you can get a bit of a performance increase! > > http://phoenix.craigslist.org/car/685451024.html > > Gas mileage might drop a bit.... Wrong colour, and whereas people wave at MX-5s/Miatas, Ferraris inspire a certain class hatred. |
Reply to this Message |
 Sign In
 Join
 My Latest Posts My Monitored Threads My Blog My Photo Gallery My Profile My Homepage Start New Thread Enable EMail Alerts Rate this Thread
|
©2008 Advenet LLC Privacy Policy - Terms of Use
This website includes both content owned or controlled by Advenet as well as content owned or controlled by third parties.