Name a car you want to drive but never own

Stanley Steamer. 

I actually DID own one.  In hindsight, I'd rather have just driven one. Owning this entry-level exotic cured me of wanting to own any more exotic or really oddball cars. Not a bad car, but ownership is not to be taken lightly or without deep pockets.

Porsche Taycan.  

codrus (Forum Supporter) said:

MrFancypants said:

In reply to Pete. (l33t FS) :

With the sequential turbos on the RX-7 it isn't so much that I want to avoid any of the traditional issues with a big single turbo that may no longer be all that much of a problem as technology has advanced... it's more that I just want the original experience as Mazda engineered it.

I'm sure there are now setups that are much better at what it was that Mazda set out to do, I'd just like to see what the original wacky setup drove like.

I own one, it doesn't drive all that wacky, really.  When in good working order the way it's supposed to be (which mine is) it's really smooth.  Drove mine to dinner tonight, it likes the slightly cooler temperatures we're having right now. :)

I lust after an F355.

 

Yah, it was an outgrowth of the Cosmo luxury car engine, which was twin turbo with a slightly smaller primary turbo to lug around a big car.  Wacky would have been unacceptable.

K-car

Tesla model s

I might be the odd one out here but almost all of the "cool" cars fall into this category for me. I'll never turn down driving a cool car but most of them I wouldn't want to own for some reason or another. ie exotic=expensive, rare classic=parts availability/price, fd rotary=rotary (need I say more?), etc

Any of the vintage Bentleys like the Speed 6 fall into that category for me.

In reply to JAdams :

I think I'm right there with you on this. Seeing the many buyers' guides we make for both publications, ownership for a lot of "cool" cars can go from fun to very expensive pretty quickly–even if you buy a well-sorted example.

Lotus Elise. Rather not own a car where any dings on the front end could total it.

This

If you look closely at my icon, there's the F430 I got to drive, now bring on the F40 please.

codrus (Forum Supporter) said:

MrFancypants said:

In reply to Pete. (l33t FS) :

With the sequential turbos on the RX-7 it isn't so much that I want to avoid any of the traditional issues with a big single turbo that may no longer be all that much of a problem as technology has advanced... it's more that I just want the original experience as Mazda engineered it.

I'm sure there are now setups that are much better at what it was that Mazda set out to do, I'd just like to see what the original wacky setup drove like.

I own one, it doesn't drive all that wacky, really.  When in good working order the way it's supposed to be (which mine is) it's really smooth.  Drove mine to dinner tonight, it likes the slightly cooler temperatures we're having right now. :)

I lust after an F355.

 

Oh sorry, I don't mean to say that there's anything "wacky" about how it drives.  More that the system of solenoids and vacuum circuits that makes the engine work is pretty bonkers.  I have no doubt that it's a very nice car to drive, only that I'd like to experience the character of it in as close to stock condition as possible.

The reason I wouldn't want to own one is that I'm fairly certain that the car would defeat me the first time it made me troubleshoot a vacuum leak.  I've enjoyed my rotary engines though, and I'm sad that Mazda didn't sell a lower trim level FD with an updated 6-port 13B from the FC.

McLaren F1

Jaguar XJ220

Bugatti EB110

FD RX-7 with original sequential turbo setup

Nissan 300ZX TT

Mitsubishi 3000GT VR4

Cream puff MK4 Supra

All of them. 

MrFancypants said:

The reason I wouldn't want to own one is that I'm fairly certain that the car would defeat me the first time it made me troubleshoot a vacuum leak.  I've enjoyed my rotary engines though, and I'm sad that Mazda didn't sell a lower trim level FD with an updated 6-port 13B from the FC.

The vacuum stuff isn't really all that hard.  It's well documented and the parts are still available (albeit moderately expensive when you starting paying $15 each for 30 or so pre-formed OEM vaccum lines).  It's just time consuming and labor intensive (or more expensive if you pay someone else to do it).

I think a lot of the evil reputation came from when it was new and techs didn't know that this was an issue and thus didn't know how to troubleshoot a car that wasn't accelerating properly.  It was made worse by people turning up the boost and blowing the lines off.

In reply to MrFancypants :

I brought up the idea that Mazda might have done well to make a low spec FD with a naturally aspirated engine, to bring production numbers up, instead of losing money making a small handful of very expensive cars.

I got the Internet forum equivalent of weird looks.  I guess people would rather have rare expensive cars with cheap shoddy interiors and paint than something that the manufacturer could produce in enough quantity to both turn a profit AND make a decent product.  (You know how contemporary MX-6s/Probes had plastic that failed almost audibly?  That's an FD interior too, except you paid a lot more for the privilege)

Mazda later came out with the RX-8, which is kiiiind of like a more modern FD chassis-wise.

Of note is that as the FC and FD got more bloated and expensive, Mazda came out with a little car called the MX-5, that drove remarkably like a '79 RX-7.  It was just a little bit more popular of a car

A modern Caddy V-series.  Interested to let one rip, but not enough to cough up the asking price for one.

dannyp84 said:

Citroen SM

I drove a somewhat broken one around a gravel lot for a bit years ago, they are cool cars but having to work on one sounds unpleasant. I could have had the car plus an extra engine for $6500, probably good I didn't though.

Mercedes C63 AMG W204. Absolutely love the interior, exterior, and engine sound, but the running costs would be astronomical.