If you won the lottery

[Neo]

Wild Weasel,

I'm curious. Why are you on this board if you don't have a Mazda3?? Are you planning on trading in your Sunflower for a 3?

Did I say you shouldn't buy any of the cars on the list? I simply stated what I would do if I won the lottery.

At this level of the game, the people who can afford these cars are filthy rich. Which means they love to spend money on things they have no business on purchasing! lol
Which is why many of these models come with Traction control.
What I don't like is not having the option to delete that feature.
You're paying so much money for a car, it should be customizable to your liking.
Which is probably why I like the Zonda F so much. So much power in such a light package. No traction control! The way it should be!

Regardless, I would still take an F50. Or if you really want to be extravagant, a McLaren F1.

Lates,

[Wild Weasel]

Not planning on trading in the Sunflower, but I am planning on getting a 3.

And honestly, I'm looking forward to it having both traction control and stability control.

So long as you can turn it off when you want to, I think it's a great feature to have.

[CanadaGTO]

Not planning on trading in the Sunflower, but I am planning on getting a 3.

And honestly, I'm looking forward to it having both traction control and stability control.

So long as you can turn it off when you want to, I think it's a great feature to have.

Speed3 right there WW?? We always welcome new Speed owners Except those who may have Cavalier tatoos on their arms, LoL.

Back on topic, the Veyron is nice, but the Zonda just seems more "sporty" to me, the Veyron seems more of a ultra fast showpiece..... Did any of you see the Zonda bit on Top Gear??

[saintjames7]

Speed3 right there WW?? We always welcome new Speed owners Except those who may have Cavalier tatoos on their arms, LoL.

Back on topic, the Veyron is nice, but the Zonda just seems more "sporty" to me, the Veyron seems more of a ultra fast showpiece..... Did any of you see the Zonda bit on Top Gear??

Yeah, I watch every episode of Top Gear. The Zonda is a beautiful car, just dont park it in an underground parking lot in Paris. Cant get out without scraping the bottom of the car. LOL

[3GFX]

...the people who can afford these cars are filthy rich. Which means they love to spend money on things they have no business on purchasing! ...

If it wasn't for those people, we would not even have a supercar category. Despite some people buying for looks or status, many who do purchase these cars do have some appreciation for them. An individual who purchases a Zonda or Stryker obviously has more passion for their cars and wants to have something more unique than the prancing horse.

[Neo]

3Gfx,
True, there are very few people who have the means to afford such a vehicle and still use it the way it was intended too.

I've got to ask, what is a Stryker? Did you mean a Spyker?

The Zonda F is a very unique car. I have nothing but respect for such a vehicle.
But when you buy a Ferrari, you're getting all the history that comes with the Marquee.
It's not easy to stay in this business. Unique car manufacturers come and go. The truely great ones stick around for longer than a decade!

Do you see F50's on the street everyday?? Can't get more unique than that!

[BLKOUT]

Myself, if I won the lottery, I would pick up a 1982 Pontiac Acadian, 4-door hatch or a 1978 Ford Pinto!

It would be the baddest Acadian or Pinto on the road!

P.S. Maybe a 1986 Hyundai Pony....woot woot

[Wild Weasel]

heh. Canada's own Chevette...

[3GFX]

...when you buy a Ferrari, you're getting all the history that comes with the Marquee...

Yea, whoops I meant Spyker (I was to lazy to google it :p).

I agree, Ferrari is undeniably the best car out there in any segment its in. On the other hand I believe that the Ferrari culture is becoming to mainstream and that the marquee lacks the panache it used to have. I see people around school wearing Ferrari backpacks, carrying Ferrari laptops and wearing Ferrari shoes. None of them have any notion of the company's wonderful history, or their beautiful vehicles.

I believe that the smaller companies contain more passion for their cars. Zonda, Koneigzegggggggg, Fisker, Aston Martin etc. (and even Aston is becoming mainstream).

In the end those who have the money will buy the car, some will buy for the look or sake of it and others will buy because they are drivers. Either way I envy them.

.......

If I had the money, I'd have the Veryon before I'd have a mansion. I value my car over a huge house. If I won a smaller fortune, it'd be a Fisker M6.

[Wild Weasel]

heh. Aston Martin isn't a small company. It's Ford.

I actually expect that MOST people that buy these supercars are just buying them for the image and never really drive them like they're designed to be driven.

It's sad, really.

This is why people like us need to win lotteries.

[3GFX]

Exactly. I don't remember which Top Gear episode, but Jeremy made an excellent point. If we didn't have knobs who hust bought these cars for the sake of buying them, there wouldn't be a market for them. So thank the ***holes who really don't even drive these car or understand them. If it wasn't for them these cars wouldn't exist.

[Neo]

Gotta thank Ferrari for bringing in Supercars to the playing field.

3GFX,
I know exactly what you're saying. Alot of kids wearing the Ferrari badge but have no clue of the companies history. All they care about is the image and the prestige of owning such a vehicle.
Same goes for all the other brands. Not too sure about Aston Martin. Although around my area I've noticed a few V8 Vantages and DB9's coming around. It's been a great year for Aston Martin. Too bad Ford is selling it off.

Car manufactures have to make sacrifices nowadays to survive. Being a niche marquee isn't enough nowadays.
Just look at Porsche. Who would have thought Porsche would build an SUV!
And now they're bringing out a 4 door saloon! Dr. Porsche would be rolling in his grave. But the company has to do what it has to do to survive.

I think the best decade for cars were the early-mid 90's. Everything started to look and feel the same in the late 90's and now 2000's.
Hard to find a unique car you like nowadays... Affordably speaking of course...

[3GFX]

Totally!

[CanadaGTO]

I think the best decade for cars were the early-mid 90's. Everything started to look and feel the same in the late 90's and now 2000's.
Hard to find a unique car you like nowadays... Affordably speaking of course...

I couldn't disagree with you more, I think we're living in the best time to be an auto enthusiast, and not just for exotic cars.

Check out these performance figures:

0-60 in 7.8 seconds
1/4 mile in 16.0 seconds

Those are the numbers from a Ferrari 308 GTS, made famous in Magnum PI (boy I'm showing my age there)

You can now get a $30k CAD 4 door hatch Mazdaspeed3 that beats it by almost 2 seconds in the 0-60 and 2 in the 1/4 mile. Just think about that for a second.

Now admittedly it's not all about straight line speed, but damn, that's some improvement in performance for the buck.

Even in the supercar field, the Zonda, Konigsegg (sp) and Veyron all look very distinct and are absolutely beautiful.

[3GFX]

For an automobile enthusiest, every time is a good time.

[Neo]

cta_patrique,
The same can be said about supercars from that era. Look at the McLaren F1 or the F40, F50. These are supercars that are still the benchmark. Even by today's standards, a Zonda F will have a hard time keeping up to an F40.

Mazdaspeed3 is really nice. But not unique, right? I mean, it's almost impossible to know if it's a speed3 just by looking at it. Most people would dismiss it for a normal 3 hatch.

I believe we're seeing cars that are more and more alike. Uniqueness is not emphasized as much.
Couldn't say the same in the early-mid 90's.

I agree with 3GFX. It's all good in the end...

[CanadaGTO]

I agree with 3GFX. It's all good in the end...

I think the cars are there, just people are not buying them. Lotus has some different cars, smarts are quite unique.

We've maybe given up a bit of uniqueness, but have gained a lot on the performance and reliability sides. I think the uniqueness now comes from personalizing cars more than in the 80's or 90's. Back then few people bought wheels or body kits. It allows you to in essence build your own uniqueness on a more reliable platform.

As far as the MS3 looking like other 3's..... I kinda like that myself, but I've always been a lot more into the performance side than the bling side (not that there's anything wrong with that)

[Neo]

Lotus is definately a unique car maker. The Elise helped Lotus immensely. I can't wait to see their Lotus Espirit.

Performance and reliability don't go together very well. That being said, the Speed3 is a nice car. Affordable and has lots of performance for an economy car. You won't mistaken it for an Elise. Then again, once the road straightens out the Speed3 would catch up to the Elise. lol

I miss the 90's affordable supercars. The last one to disappear was the Honda NSX. The end of an era. The successor is a complete 180 turn. Now it'll be a front engine car.

I guess that's why I still have my FD. Very few on the street and still strikes a cord with people whenever I do take it out for a drive.

I can't wait for spring!!

[3GFX]

...I miss the 90's affordable supercars. The last one to disappear was the Honda NSX...

I give american car makers credit for keeping this market alive (vette, viper, GTO, soon to arrive camero) they may not be supercars but they are affordable sports cars.

As for Lotus, god, what a company. Performance comes first, low weight before power, these guys are gods! Brilliant. But of course even lotus has to survive. Lotus is trying to become a designer/builder for other companies, demonstrating they can build saloons and compact cars.

[CanadaGTO]

Lotus is trying to become a designer/builder for other companies

They've been doing outsourcing work for other companies for a while though, remember the '90-'93 Isuzu IMark and Gemini Stylus? Maybe I'm just showing my age again

[3GFX]

True Lotus has done this before but once again they released prototypes to demonstrate their abilities as engineers and car manufactures.

If you visit their corprate site, they have an automobile division and an engineering division:

http://www.grouplotus.com/eng/solution.php?id=7

This is the result of Lotus fielding out their efforts:



The Proton Gen-2

[Wild Weasel]

They've been doing outsourcing work for other companies for a while though, remember the '90-'93 Isuzu IMark and Gemini Stylus? Maybe I'm just showing my age again

I've never even heard of the Gemini Stylus. I know that car as the Asuna Sunfire.

[Theodore02]

It depends on the lottery I won. For example, if I hit a $300 million Powerball, I'd go for a Veyron. But if I won a $2.5 million 6/49, I wouldn't even have enough to get my name on a list for one.

Plus, some of those cars are already out of production. If I won the lottery, I'd want to buy something new and enjoy the full experience. So, if I won less than $5 million, I'd probably go for a Z06. If I won more, I'd likely choose an F430 Spider.

[Flunk]

Plus, some of those cars are already out of production. If I won the lottery, I'd want to buy something new and enjoy the full experience. So, if I won less than $5 million, I'd probably go for a Z06. If I won more, I'd likely choose an F430 Spider.

Including the Veyron, I think the Chiron is ending production soon or already has as well. Because this thread is from 17 years ago, which is before I even bought my first car. Wow!

As for me, I'd get a Lamborghini Huracan even if I had to settle for a used one because I know production is ending soon.