In my opinion, the Italian or the British exotics have something that no Japanese or American car can match. The sound, the look, they are just pure sex on wheels. And this may sound shallow but the NSX still is a Honda and the Corvette is still a GM and built about 30 minutes away from where I live. So if I ever have the money, I will spend it on the exotic from Italy or England even if they are slower, less reliable and hard to find parts for.
nsx has the sound and the look imo.
really the ONLY difference to me is that it actually works.
In reply to belteshazzar:
I don't know to me it doesn't sound that great. I mean good but not great. And it still doesn't change the fact it is a Honda. Don't get me wrong, I love Hondas but a Honda supercar is right up there with the idea of Lexus supercar on my list of do not wants.
If you're looking for a daily driver, the Vette is a no-brainer. If you're looking for the occasional weekend, special occasion, car show car, you simply cannot beat the prestige of owing a classic Ferrari... and the appreciation will even help justify the stupefying maintenance costs.
96DXCivic wrote: In reply to belteshazzar: I don't know to me it doesn't sound that great. I mean good but not great. And it still doesn't change the fact it is a Honda. Don't get me wrong, I love Hondas but a Honda supercar is right up there with the idea of Lexus supercar on my list of do not wants.
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I always had a huge soft spot for NSX's. I don't know if I'd go so far as to ever buy one but a friend of mine has one that sits in his garage most of it's life. I have to talk him into letting me get a test ride sometime.
Why not an alfa gtv6? Its probably just as fun as a montreal, and you can get parts far more easily. I would avoid a merak for sure, thats the one with the engine that is also in the citroen sm right? For a while i wanted a citroen sm, and i read about them until i was sufficiently scared away, and among the scary things were all the design problems in the engine that need fixing when you rebuild it.
930?
Jimmysidecarr wrote: Ahh the allure of the exotic. Intoxicating for sure, but sooner or later you are going to have to put pads and rotors on it and even if they are readily available, what will they cost? The price to acquire one is one thing, then we have the cost of tracking one, when it is all combined is what I am concerned about, I am currently looking at alternative track choices as well. It appears to me that there is a serious premium to pay for uniqueness.
Quoted for brilliance. The only 'exotic' I'd consider anymore as a guy who prefers to drive his cars vs look at them as they glisten in the driveway is a Porsche. At least with Porsches parts are never hard to get, just moderately expensive. I have so much more fun with my affordable, looks-good-from-5-feet moderately common cars than I ever had/would have had with my "exotic" that I have no desire to go there again. I am happy to just enjoy them from afar. I'd rather work at scamming the occasional ride or drive in one than have to own the eventual headache.
Yeah, I'll leave the "exotics" to those people who can afford to wipe their butts with 100-dollar bills. I'd rather be able to jump in it and crank it over and have a reasonable expectation that I'll be driving it and not laying under it cussing with a wrench in my hand.
I vote 'Vette.
Ferrari 208 on eBay for $20k:
http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/1978-DINO-208-GT4-/250717057307?pt=US_Cars_Trucks&hash=item3a5fe6b11b
ddavidv wrote:Jimmysidecarr wrote: Ahh the allure of the exotic. Intoxicating for sure, but sooner or later you are going to have to put pads and rotors on it and even if they are readily available, what will they cost? The price to acquire one is one thing, then we have the cost of tracking one, when it is all combined is what I am concerned about, I am currently looking at alternative track choices as well. It appears to me that there is a serious premium to pay for uniqueness.Quoted for brilliance. The only 'exotic' I'd consider anymore as a guy who prefers to drive his cars vs look at them as they glisten in the driveway is a Porsche. At least with Porsches parts are never hard to get, just moderately expensive. I have so much more fun with my affordable, looks-good-from-5-feet moderately common cars than I ever had/would have had with my "exotic" that I have no desire to go there again. I am happy to just enjoy them from afar. I'd rather work at scamming the occasional ride or drive in one than have to own the eventual headache.
On that note- I know of a couple of Ferrari's I would consider- a guy loved to bring them out on the track, and work them really hard. Can't remember the models, but he used them enough that they were well sorted, and the stuff that broke were well known (ok, not cheap).
It's a tough thing, exotics. Rare enough to be unique, but also rare enough to be so unique that they are not used, and therefore hard to really determine how solid they are.
But then again, a lot of having an exotic car is being able to show off that you can burn $20 bills and not fret over it.
I forget what magazing it was (this was 15 years ago or so) but I remember reading about a guy who had both a 930 and a 246. He said the Porsche was a car you wanted to Salute and the Ferrari was the car you wanted to caress..
I think that sums it up right there
I know the 308 is a great looker and the GT4 is a car that looks 100 times better today than it did new. But have you actually sat in one!!! I have no idea how Tom Selleck drove on even with the top off! I'd heard about the short legged long armed Italian ape posture plus offset pedals, but nothing prepared me for reality. Once I'd shuffled in, not easy even though this was a GTS with the roof off, I found my legs were all tangled up, but at least the pedals only felt a little offset. The owner then pointed out that I actually had my feet on the brake and clutch, not the gas and clutch as I thought!!!. By the time I wiggled my foot far enough to the right to actually find the gas pedal it was hidden from site almost on the center line of the car. My legs were still bent in half and I the wheel was at a really weird angle. This instantly cured my 308 desires. How any one drives one without a) first having major surgery to change the shape of your limbs and b) having daily appointments with your chiropractor is beyond me. Anyone who races or rally's one is a) a God and b) must be a deformed midget. I have literally never sat in a worse laid out car. Pity, because boy they do look and sound good.
Another car mentioned here is the old 4 speed 930. Wow, what a car. It may not have the stop you in your tracks look and presence, but it's a hell of a car. People complain about the ergonomics of air cooled P cars, but I've never found them an issue. Plus they feel like their hewn from solid granite in their construction. The doors close with a vault like thunk. Everything works with a joyful positive mechanical feel, no slop or play, they just work. A 4 speed 930 is a giggle to drive, with only 4 speeds the gearing is loooonnngggggg, but it's fine. Try driving down the road at 40mph in 2nd, no problem. Then floor it and it literally goes like this 40 mph, 40.1 mph, 40.2 mph, 40.4 mph, 40.7 mph, 41 mph, 50 mph, 60 mph, then your in geostationary orbit. The lag then the acceleration just beggars belief. The car I drove had been tweaked to a little over 300hp, that doesn't sound like much, but it comes with mountain moving levels of torque in what is still a light car and it's just a riot, you can't help but giggle like a 9 year old school girl every time you floor it. Fun, pure simple fun.
alfadriver wrote: But then again, a lot of having a new exotic car is being able to show off that you can burn $1000 bills and not fret over it.
I fixed that for you.
What having a 40yr old exotic car says about you is that you are a masochist. 
Remember that engineless 308 that went for like $5K on ebay? I wanted it SOOOO bad. Unfortunately, buying a Ferrari project car while collecting unemployment seemed unwise.
Something about the Merak just does it for me. Even more than a Bora.
Giant Purple Snorklewacker wrote:alfadriver wrote: But then again, a lot of having a new exotic car is being able to show off that you can burn $1000 bills and not fret over it.I fixed that for you. What having a 40yr old exotic car says about you is that you are a masochist.
Although, having been part of a Italian car show for quite a few years, I still think that old Ferrari's and especially Lambos are used more as an image car than anything else. That gold chain set isn't a stereotype since it's real.
I think there are a lot of people who aren't paying attention to the "exotic" part. There's a difference between an exotic and a supercar. The Z06 might be a supercar, but it's not exotic. Exotics have to be rare, gorgeous, possibily dangerous and as much art as science. But they especially have to rare and unusual. It's right there in the name!
I wouldn't put the 930 in the exotic category, although it could be argued - its reputation has been sullied somewhat by the fact that Porsche turbos are just too easy to live with these days and no longer try to kill you on a regular basis. The NSX is another that could be argued either way - they may not require enough sacrifice or may not have enough soul. Whatever that is. Are you going to tell your grand kids about the NSX you once owned, the same way you'd tell them about your Maserati Merak?
Ford GT40 vs Ford GT would be an interesting discussion. I'd put the GT40 as an exotic, but not the GT. Too new, maybe. Too much of a real car. Z06, definitely not exotic. Supercar, like I said, but not exotic.
So yes, by definition exotics are going to have the potential for a crippling repair bill once in a while. They'll have parts availability problems. And there's no legitimate reason for wanting one, especially an entry level one. But that's not going to stop someone who's decided they want an exotic car.
Does the Elise count as exotic? You can get them used in the low 20's, they have the toyota engine.... so after you're back from your drive, you can sit on your porch with your cold drink and watch the sun's dying rays play on your beast.
96DXCivic wrote: Maybe not an exotic but I want a Bentley Turbo R. Big fast and classy.
Me too, I consider it an exotic. Its been one of my dream cars since before I could drive. My dad got to drive one just this last week, and loved it. As I understand, they aren't that hard to live with, either.
David S. Wallens wrote:skruffy wrote: For a bit of perspective a base, auto, convertible C5 will be significantly faster than all of your other options. And you can buy one with no miles from someones grandma for nothing. And it'll get 30mpg on the highway and never break.That is true, but you're following what is called sensible thinking (nothing wrong with that). A classic exotic isn't about the 0-60 numbers and mpg. It's every bad romance you had in college rolled up in sexy sheet metal and a pair of leather buckets.
lol thanks, that explains a lot of my "bad" decisions. I would, in a heartbeat, make all the same decisions again.
Platinum90 wrote: Definitely the Alfa Montreal. Exotic Alfa is much more rewarding than just another douche with a 308... also...MMMMMMMMMMMMMMMM!!!!
AAAAaaaaannnnd I am spent.
reaches for a paper towel and a cigarette
(metaphorically that is, I don't smoke)
In reply to EricM:
http://www.alfabb.com/bb/forums/alfa-romeo-cars-sale-wanted/155806-1972-alfa-romeo-montreal.html
For me, it is a question between Magnum PI's car and James Bond's car (Spy Who Loved me). Both are buried deep in my psyche from childhood. Given the money, I would go C5.
A C5 ZO6 would be the logical choice. Even though I know this, I want an Elise/Exige more, even though they cost twice as much and get the same mileage with a small fraction of the power.
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