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    Made my decision. I am selling my car.

    Two reasons.

    First and foremost I have had it for almost three years and recently find myself making up reasons to drive it(yes often it is to Starbucks ). There just isn't any real occasion for me to use it. Also, this is as long as I kept any car.

    Second, I have come to believe high performance cars on roads and highways are not practical or frankly worth while. I have a ball driving my Mini and no real threat to other dirvers.

    Today, I saw a 997 TT weaving around cars on a two lane road with a speed limit of 40mph. He was trying to exercise his car albeit stupidly and a woman in a SUV applied her brakes too hard and almost lost control of it. There were two kids in the SUV.

    More than likely, I will wait for new models in the future depending on my mood regarding performance cars. Unless you track these cars, there really is no reason to buy them.

    Re: Made my decision. I am selling my car.

    Keep your chin up Nick. Sooner or later the bug will bite you again and you'll be pulling out the check book when you least expect it. Maybe the 430 replacement will be irresistible.

    Re: Made my decision. I am selling my car.

    Oh Nick good to hear you are using your head to really think about what it is the causes your recent feelings to urges to drive your car.

    Sounds like you are just tired of not being able to use or go to the fun part of your car (for which you paid top dollar) such that now you are frustrated. I think there are many like you, who whenever trying to have some fun, aka accelerate are frustrated by other drivers in their way making for scary or dangerous situations! (like that SUV)

    I'm sure the love will return in a new form. Say a less performance orientated Ferrari that is more safe and still fun to drive. One that doesn't trigger the constant need to go to its limits..

    hopefully this is accurate, but in case it isn't good luck with the sale!!

    Re: Made my decision. I am selling my car.

    You don't have to drive like an ass (the 997 guy) to enjoy a nice gt car.

    If you live in an overpopulated area, that's a lifestyle choice.

    To continue driving for free, as you have mentioned numerous times wouldn't you have to take delivery of a california?

    Get yourself a nice well built cruiser with power for when you need it. A merc amg coupe.

    Let's face it 8 cylinder f-cars are designed for boy racers.

    Re: Made my decision. I am selling my car.

    "To continue driving for free, as you have mentioned numerous times wouldn't you have to take delivery of a california?"

    No they have more buyers than cars. I will wait for the 430 replacement.

    FWIW, The CAlifornia GT, at least to me doesn't look as good as a 430, does not match the 430 performance and will cost as much. Considering the 430 is almost five years old, that is not saying much about the California GT.

    Re: Made my decision. I am selling my car.

    I also have the 430 spider (2005). My feelings are exactly the same as those of nberry's. It was exhilarating and a unique experience for the first 6 months but now after almost having killed myself 3 - 4 times by pushing it beyond my driving skill limit, I realize I really have no use for it. If I drive it like a race car, I endanger those around me as well as myself. If I drive more than 5 miles I get tired. My son, who used to love to ride in the car, doesn't want to ride in it anymore either. Takes all the air and fun out of it. My wife just got the BMW 335 hardtop convertible and it is very fun and a lot safer. I hate to admit it but this is really my personal experience. Even the poseur value has gone down quite a bit. That is being better served by the Phantom.

    Re: Made my decision. I am selling my car.

    Nick - you could park it in the garage for a month or two and see if you miss it?

    Joo22us - the Phantom is pure class... poseurs tend to go for BMWs and Mercs with 28" spinners! :_)

    Re: Made my decision. I am selling my car.

    Quote:
    boytronic said:
    Nick - you could park it in the garage for a month or two and see if you miss it?

    Joo22us - the Phantom is pure class... poseurs tend to go for BMWs and Mercs with 28" spinners! :_)



    Indeed, always liked the Phantom over a Maybachs/etc.
    A bit OT, but today I saw a Maybach with a chauffeur, of course this is common here in NYC... what surprised me was that the only passenger was a dog. I guess the recession isn't hitting everyone

    Re: Made my decision. I am selling my car.

    It's not the car's fault. You just find yourself in a very unfriendly driving environment. The difference between my place here and your area of residence is that you don't dare use your car the way it should be, whereas if I see a double solid line here but no car in sight except the one directly in front of me, I pass it.

    Our advantage here is that we are not yet at the stage of a police state. Speed cameras just started to appear a few years back.

    We will be getting electronic tags for using the freeways next year and I am sure that will lead to lots of Orwellian results.

    In the UK they will be installing intelligent networks of speed cameras which follow your car for many miles.

    What are we doing to stop this?

    Nothing much.

    Re: Made my decision. I am selling my car.

    Nick-
    If it ever actually comes to market, maybe you'd enjoy a different path, such as the tesla, new technology, should be very nimble if not fast outright, just something "new".

    Re: Made my decision. I am selling my car.

    Quote:
    nberry said:
    Second, I have come to believe high performance cars on roads and highways are not practical



    Who buys a high performance car believing it would be practical Except for the P-crowd of course...

    Just a thought: if you use the sportscar only on rare occasions and that's not primarily for the speedrush but for the emotions (I understand that you use the Mini for the daily routine drives) why not get an "Oldtimer" sportscar - big fun, less envy, rather exclusive without beeing seen as a poseur when driving at moderate speed and 60 mph can feel like 120 mph in a modern car

    Re: Made my decision. I am selling my car.

    Nick why not change. I understand your motivation. 3 years is enough...

    Will be interesting to see what price you will achieve on resale...

    Re: Made my decision. I am selling my car.

    You should have sold it a few months ago before prices started dropping!

    Re: Made my decision. I am selling my car.

    Quote:
    TEE1 said:
    Nick why not change. I understand your motivation. 3 years is enough...



    Eh? I've had my Golf GTI for over 6 years and am still not bored of it - I have so much fun when I drive it (at legal speeds) and it just keeps on going... 163k miles and counting!

    If you're car is fun, be it Golf or Ferrari, time should not be a limiting factor!

    Re: Made my decision. I am selling my car.

    At least you're honest but tired of an F430 Spider? My favorite time to drive my F430 is extremely early on a Sunday morning when there's hardly anyone else on the road. Even though I live in NY Metro there's plenty of roads within a short distance to really enjoy my F430. But it doesnt have to be an empty road where you're going 160mph to enjoy the car & you definitely dont need a track to enjoy them either. But if you find yourself tired of your Spider then there's really no good reason to keep it other than the fact it's probably the worst time in the world re-sale wise to sell it. You could probably hold on to the car for the next year or 2 and actually get more money for it then. And I dont know your circumstances w/ the dealer but once he has sold your car there's less incentive for the replacment sooner than later, this might not be a factor. Good luck w/ the sale though. Hopefully you wont have a feeling in a few months that you wished you had kept the car until you took delivery of the replacement. (it's happened to me) On the flip side if that does happen it will make you appreciate the new car even more.

    Re: Made my decision. I am selling my car.

    Quote:
    boytronic said:
    Quote:
    TEE1 said:
    Nick why not change. I understand your motivation. 3 years is enough...



    Eh? I've had my Golf GTI for over 6 years and am still not bored of it - I have so much fun when I drive it (at legal speeds) and it just keeps on going... 163k miles and counting!

    If you're car is fun, be it Golf or Ferrari, time should not be a limiting factor!



    In today's traffic conditions and heavily policed roads it is better to go relatively fast in a VW GTI or a Cooper S type of car than go relatively slow in a fast car. The frustration is enormous and normal driving in a supercar is an uncomfortable and unpleasant task really.

    Re: Made my decision. I am selling my car.

    Quote:
    reginos said:


    In today's traffic conditions and heavily policed roads it is better to go relatively fast in a VW GTI or a Cooper S type of car than go realtively slow in a fast car. The frustration is enormous and normal driving in a supercar is an uncomfortable and unpleasant task really.



    To paraphrase "I'd rather drive a slow car fast than a fast car slow". It would be a lot of fun to pick up a classic 911 and flog it on the back roads.

    Re: Made my decision. I am selling my car.

    Quote:
    reginos said:
    In today's traffic conditions and heavily policed roads it is better to go relatively fast in a VW GTI or a Cooper S type of car than go relatively slow in a fast car. The frustration is enormous and normal driving in a supercar is an uncomfortable and unpleasant task really.



    That is just so untrue of modern exotics. The 430 spider has got to be one of the easiest cars to potter around in at low speed and even the 430 Scuderia is completely painless at low speed town driving. I was racking up over 300 miles a day in my spider on my euro trip and it's one of the most comfortable long distance cars I've had. The suspension on booth these cars is fantastic at soaking up badly surfaced roads. The Z4 I had 5 years ago had a much more uncomfortable ride in comparison. You really don't need to race around in these cars to enjoy their exquisite steering feel and impressive acceleration. Top down driving in a spider on some nice winding country roads enjoying the sunshine and listening to the sublime noise of that V8 is glorious. Even dawdling along on a congested motorway is hardly a chore in one of these cars

    Re: Made my decision. I am selling my car.

    i sold my f430 2 weeks ago, i will receive my scuderia in two weeks, and i am already getting sick without an exotic in the garage.
    nick, i had times where i wasn't in the mood for cars, and i wanted to sell all, i always resisted the temptation, and i was always happy after a while

    Re: Made my decision. I am selling my car.

    Nick, sounds like a perfect time to get into something different but equally " sporty " like this for you and your wife , since you live in San Diego and can boat year round ( vs three months here at Lake Tahoe ) . To be puttering around the bays in SD is pure bliss, esp near sunset . Costs about the same as a new 911 C4 cab ( which this boat model is the equivalent to ) . Nice thing about boating : everybody is friendly and helpful in the water ( vs all the dingbats /Joe Racers on the road whether they drive beaters or exotica) as the consequences of breakdown /fire/collision /getting lost in the fog/getting caught out in big water are UNFORGIVING .

    Chris Craft Corsair 22 :




    Re: Made my decision. I am selling my car.

    Quote:
    ISUK said:
    Quote:
    reginos said:
    In today's traffic conditions and heavily policed roads it is better to go relatively fast in a VW GTI or a Cooper S type of car than go relatively slow in a fast car. The frustration is enormous and normal driving in a supercar is an uncomfortable and unpleasant task really.



    That is just so untrue of modern exotics. The 430 spider has got to be one of the easiest cars to potter around in at low speed and even the 430 Scuderia is completely painless at low speed town driving. I was racking up over 300 miles a day in my spider on my euro trip and it's one of the most comfortable long distance cars I've had. The suspension on booth these cars is fantastic at soaking up badly surfaced roads. The Z4 I had 5 years ago had a much more uncomfortable ride in comparison. You really don't need to race around in these cars to enjoy their exquisite steering feel and impressive acceleration. Top down driving in a spider on some nice winding country roads enjoying the sunshine and listening to the sublime noise of that V8 is glorious. Even dawdling along on a congested motorway is hardly a chore in one of these cars



    But they are cramped inside and in the case of stradale/scud at least, too much road noise. To me with the high revs and single purpose design, it is not a leisure car. They are great for their purpose, but that purpose is not dawdling in traffic.

    And to my earlier point, I believe you picked up yours on an order cancellation. Combine the lousy economy and what 5000+ extra fcars around every year and i think driving for "free" will come to an end soon.

    Re: Made my decision. I am selling my car.

    Nick, its not the car its were you drive it, you have two options then; give up and buy a sporty sedan or move somewere else.

    I have plenty of oportunities of safely enjoying a sportcar, even in daily commutes, and my metal health would suffer irrecoverably if I couldn't

    Re: Made my decision. I am selling my car.

    Quote:
    racerx said:
    But they are cramped inside and in the case of stradale/scud at least, too much road noise. To me with the high revs and single purpose design, it is not a leisure car. They are great for their purpose, but that purpose is not dawdling in traffic.

    And to my earlier point, I believe you picked up yours on an order cancellation. Combine the lousy economy and what 5000+ extra fcars around every year and i think driving for "free" will come to an end soon.



    I've never had the US luxury of free motoring which is/was part of the bizarre Ferrari culture there so am fully prepared for dropping cash on my toys - I've had plenty of practice after having a couple of Lamborghini's and a few Porsches after all

    The 430 is certainly not cramped though. I'm 6'2" and have plenty of room. I wish I'd taken a pic of all the luggage we managed to fit in it for a two week road trip holiday. One of the bags even fitted in behind the passenger seat. There's more space in it than the comparable front seats area of a 911. And the CS or Scuderia are different propositions to the regular 360/430 in terms of noise levels with stock exhaust systems. The regular cars are pretty quiet until the bypass valves open at 3k RPM or so and settle back down at a steady cruising speed. There isn't even a great deal of wind noise roof up in the spider until you are nearing three figure speeds.

    Re: Made my decision. I am selling my car.

    ISUK. i was doing a mxed reference there and should have pointed it out explicitly. The picking up a canceled car was referring to you and the driving for free was Nick's good fortune for many years as he told us many times.

    As to cramped, imo I felt cramped when I drove the stradale and when I have sat in other f-cars. The firewall seems to be right at your back, no back seat of course with the engine there.

    I am use to having a lot of room and that makes me feel comfortable, it is a luxurious feeling to me.

    I have sat in both lambo's and found them more confining, except for a viper which was tiny. Boxster was also tight.

    I am not claustrophobic, but I am not a fan of mid-engine layout.

    There is a great scene regarding luggage with the top gear guys in the underground garage in Paris.

    So for fans of the mid-engiine lay-out you can't go wrong with either the 430 or lambo.

    Re: Made my decision. I am selling my car.

    I do not want to mislead anyone. The 430 Spider has been given me a great deal of enjoyment. But I have been driving Ferrari Spider's for eight years. Recently, I concluded the car was not giving the me pleasure I once had with it. Thus I concluded it is time to move on.

    Today, my wife told me let's go to our Porsche dealer ( she loves Porsche) and pick out a car. I told her I just am not ready to buy anything at this time. Dimitri, Gregg and the others that counseled that over time I might find myself missing a high performance car may be right. But as of today, I honestly do not have ANY interest in driving /owing one.

    FWIW, the new MB gullwing may get a lot of attention. Look for it next fall.

    Re: Made my decision. I am selling my car.

    3 years? Wow, and the warranty runs out in three years too. What a coincidence?

    When you see what a bath you're going to take right now I bet you'll change your mind.

    Re: Made my decision. I am selling my car.

    Nick, sad to hear you letting the F430 go. I'm sure the bug will bite again. I don't know how you guys get bored of it - I must say I have also calmed down quite a bit and it is not such a "WOW" factor as it was before. I have however no intention with parting with any of them though. I still enjoy driving them on weekends

    Re: Made my decision. I am selling my car.

    Quote:
    MKW said:
    Nick, sounds like a perfect time to get into something different but equally " sporty " like this for you and your wife , since you live in San Diego and can boat year round ( vs three months here at Lake Tahoe ) . To be puttering around the bays in SD is pure bliss, esp near sunset . Costs about the same as a new 911 C4 cab ( which this boat model is the equivalent to ) . Nice thing about boating : everybody is friendly and helpful in the water ( vs all the dingbats /Joe Racers on the road whether they drive beaters or exotica) as the consequences of breakdown /fire/collision /getting lost in the fog/getting caught out in big water are UNFORGIVING .

    Chris Craft Corsair 22 :







    You cant go wrong with a boat. Best investment my family ever made. We use it all the time, and its a completely different kind of fun than cars offer.

    Re: Made my decision. I am selling my car.

    "Funny" how things can be.

    I sold my 360 spider in january (after 14 years of Ferrari) for two reasons :

    - after a full day in Italy "playing" in the tunnels (what a sound !) with the 360 top down, I had more pleasure driving my mum's Cooper D (yes D !) the next day.

    And that was in Italy not in France where you have an automatic radar almost every 50 metres...

    - I now have three wonderfull childs (two boys and a daughter) and, well, free saturday or sunday mornings for a run are more than rare.

    In fact selling the car was a relief.

    Two or three years ago I couldn't have imagined that.

    The car was worth 115.000 Euro at the time and I got 100.000 Euro (5.000 Euro for the garage and 10.000 Euro mechanical cost - tires, clutch, service) that still are on my bank account.

    After 10 months, I don't regret a thing, and seing the California...

    Good luck.

    Gregory

    Re: Made my decision. I am selling my car.

    Quote:
    SrfCity said:
    3 years? Wow, and the warranty runs out in three years too. What a coincidence?

    When you see what a bath you're going to take right now I bet you'll change your mind.



    I have a four warranty. Initial estimates on the value of the car are just above what I paid for it.

    Greg in France, I am already feeling as you described.

     
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