nberry:
Iain, I will always back you in a fight. It would be my pleasure to hold your jacket.
Iain is right regarding not valuing a car by adding up the sum of its parts. I have known since the first day I owned a Ferrari that Porsche built a better car and more reasonably priced car. Yet I continued to buy Ferrari. Because of their exclusivity Ferrari's have more value then the adding up of their parts. In addition, nothing can rival the rush one gets from a driving a Ferrari.it does not matter at what speed. The excitement and thrill consumes you.
My wife wanted the Turbo and had she not been so insistent I am not sure we would have one in our household. That said, it is a fantastic car. Much more than I thought it would be. But does it give me the rush a Ferrari gives me? Only at certain times and it has to be done near full throttle.
You really cannot judge cars like Ferrari or Maserati unless you have owned one. Then you will understand.
Hmm... Nick, in that case I did not fully understand either Ferrari or Lamborghini since I had F430F1 Spider and Gallardo.
Yes, both offered huge thrill when driving them fast. BUT, they also both become tiresome after some time of ownership. Both were not designed for daily usage and I did not like that.
My Ferrari dealer offered Maser GT to me(to try to speed up 458 delivery...). I said immediately:"Test drive!" ...and he gave the car to me for a spin...
My verdict? I would never buy Maser GT, in any version. Way too flawed in many areas that are important to me. For ME Jaguar XKR in latest version is light years ahead from Maser GT in every area.
Otherwise I agree with you and Iain. Ferrari is emotional and flamboyant purchase. No more, no less.
The best car that I owned? R8 V8. No doubt about that. My Italian friend recently ordered R8 V10 MY11 with manual gearbox because he wants to have that Italian(and German if you look at some Autounion models from 1930s) heritage in one of its cars. He also own 458 Italia and is not as impressed with it as some members here.
Point of my post is different people-different taste and different opinions...