And yet for some reason I bought something much smaller and with less power for similar money. I like thinking of it as paying for weight reduction though.

 

[QUOTE=xmatt,Mar 17 2010, 04:48 PM] And yet for some reason I bought something much smaller and with less power for similar money.

 

I understand what the OP is saying, but I think he posted the wrong types of cars. C63s, M5s, and CTS-Vs are meant to be fast; they're bought by car enthusiasts and petrol heads. They're actually meant to be driven fast. The guys driving them know that they're in a car with 400+RWHP.

The "problem cars" I see today are the Maximas, Altimas, Accords, Camrys etc. with heavy V6s over the front ends pumping out 230HP+ on the front wheels. I say these are the problem cars because they're being driven by the unassuming soccer mom or 70 year old man...and they have a serious amount of power which is able to kill Miatas and S2Ks.

 

While I think the "horsepower war" is absolutely silly you can't put the genie back in the bottle.

The car the op mention are insanely fast but also insanely expensive for the average joe. But it completely ignore cars like the Camaro, Mustang, 370z and Genesis. These are cars that can be pretty quick from the factory and modified for a little more to keep up with the large dollar ones. I would not own the Stang or the Camaro and wish there were more good ones in the $30k range, but we only have what they build or we can modify.

The worst part for me is that they have made luxury cars bloated and heavy and full of features. Now the sports car buyer wants all kinds of heavy fat ass crap so they numb down the cars that should be made for the purist. The S2000 has basically keys and a heater for features, and if they had bumped the power a little over the years to stay competitive, most everyone would still love the car. Over the last few years I LIKED the car, but got tired of wringing it out under 40 miles an hour to stay out of the way of some people. I put the SOT SC in the car and now it bursts out all over the place with no effort. I love driving it again and could care less that it does not have heated seats, sat nav or any other crap. I hardly ever even use the stereo.

And lastly not but least, everyone points to all of the cars passing everything up in terms of power like they are coming out of the woodwork. Yes it is different in some areas with crazy money everywhere, but how often do you see a 500hp AMG next to you at a light bruising your ego? If you read this board and the car mags you think there are lightening rockets everywhere. Fact of the matter is 95% of the cars out there are slower than what you've got. Minivans, econocars, plain jane sedans, and heavy pickem-up trucks. I still have yet to see the new CTS-V on the street. I remeber all the people that thought the Challenger SRT8's would be everywhere. They did not sell. So before everyone assumes the car on the cover of C&D with the wild test numbers is going to be throwing dirt in your face at evey stop light, they actually have to sell in decent numbers before you see them.

 

 

Quality post.

 

I think many people just want to be "king of the road" without shelling out for it.

My car's performance does not define my driving skills, and definitely not who I am as a person. I bought the S2000 because I wanted to improve my driving skills and still have something fun on the weekends. I did not buy it to show off my wealth, or lack thereof, or that I own a "sports/fast" car.

 

The days of budget racing are here. ChumpCar and Lemons crap can races. You get to run on famous tracks in your $500 cars wheel to wheel. My wife and I are both signed up.

The days of budget street racing are over. And for that I'm glad.

Like Chris S said, we don't go racing around the street in our 400 hp sedans flashing our e-peens. And we enjoy organized motorsports enough to have cheaper and lighter dedicated "track rats" for that purpose.

But for the street, I'm happy with luxury, heated seats, and navigation.
Does it make me any less "hardcore?" I drove 30 hours with friends to pick up a ITC spec 1986 Civic that cost less than a set of wheels for the S2000.

Just because someone likes luxury on the street, don't confuse that with their preferences on the track.

 

^^^ A friend of mine who races Spec Boxster and used to me on my motorcycle endurance roadracing team just did his first LeMons race. He said it was the most fun he'd ever had racing, and his car (a former Baja buggy) truly looked like a rolling turd!

 

I'd go with the Panamera first because the unique/beautiful looks and performance combo. CTS-V second because it is virtually perfect, I don't rank it first because it's TOO perfect, I'd rather have the quirky Porsche