A&Q about Lotus
Q:
Originally Posted by SouL
The car has started to appreciate in value and I think is still steadily going up. A lot of the folks who dreamed of owning one 16 years ago when they were young boys are starting to become of age with the money to buy. I think someone in Fchat made a comment about how they would rather spend 330K on an F40 rather than on a F430 spyder. I would, too!
I wouldn't. I bought my young guy dream car, a 1988 Ferrari Testarossa that sold for over $300,000 new (yes, they had mark ups then, too). 17,000 miles.
Guess what you get? An 18 year old car that is slower than your Elise, and doesn't handle nearly as well.
However, the headlights are about equal. The stink on the Elise and they were just as bad on my Ferrari. Older Ferraris are golden dreams, and automotive art, with a magical history and marque. The modern ones are great driver's cars (the 360, 550, 575,430 in particular) But the older ones have been left behind by the technology and horsepower wars. Both my Viper and Vettes could run circles around my Testarossa, and probably the F40 also, although I've never driven one. Ferrari enthusiasts rarely purchase their cars to have the pinnacle of handling or speed. They know an Elise can beat them around a corner, and that a Viper can beat them in a straight line.
They just don't care. They believe there is a spirit to their cars. They are Tifosi.
Lotus followers have something of the same cult feeling to them. Colin Chapman lives on in "performance through lightweight"
A:
Originally Posted by BrianK
Big +1 on that point.
I never understand why people think that cars that only run a few thousand miles a year are being neglected. A ferrari that runs 1000 track/canyon/twistie miles is much better used than one that sits in traffic for 95% of it's 10,000mile/year commute, imho.
My 2nd cars rarely see over 2K miles per year, but, trust me, those are some good miles.
I enquired about an early 360 the other day and was told that there was a local car available with around 11k miles on it and that the car was "pretty much used up."
I suspect it's spent most of it's 11k miles on the track.
A:
Originally Posted by cbelon
I have no idea what the elise would cost to service up to 300K miles.
Allot
A:
If I had the choice to trade, no contest, I'll give up Exige for the F40. That's history right there and top of the food chain racing pedigree.
A:
Originally Posted by shokwaves
If I had the choice to trade, no contest, I'll give up Exige for the F40. That's history right there and top of the food chain racing pedigree.
+1
A:
Originally Posted by BrianK
My 2nd cars rarely see over 2K miles per year, but, trust me, those are some good miles.
I'll add another +1. I can't stand driving the Exige in traffic. I constantly think "huh, I'll drive it to work tomorrow" and shudder when I remember I'll be in four lanes of heavy traffic and then just take the GTi. Hell, the GTi is more fun for me on city streets and the freeway anyways because it's low key and quiet so I can push it a little harder without drawing attention. Even so, I've still put 4k miles on the Exige in 6+ months, mostly going to and from the track, a car show, a canyon run or an autox. My goal is to drive the Exige about once a week, but to make it count!
It's not a Ferrari, but I got eight laps of Infineon behind the wheel of a 2006 Gallardo and I'll take my Exige, thank you very much. The Gallardo was very fast, handled beautifully and braked like a dream but at the same time I felt so isolated from what was going on. I found my Lotus to be much more raw and communicative when I hopped back into it.
A:
2002 996 tt is all that a porsche supercar 959 was/is ( gates and allen own them)
a 2005 f430 is all that a f40/f50 is performance wise via technology and science moving fwd. Mr. E ferrari himself said his favorite ferrari is the next one, sales hype maybe but as car guys state of the art in technology is alway a draw for us. the f40 is a bench mark, as the elise is 45k/2000 lbs under 5 sec 0-60 , 1 g corning is a bench mark.
400 hp zo6 for 50k is also as far as hp goes. so is the 500 plus hp gt40, the point is at any given time in automotive history certain cars hit a mark which moves the bar higher, the f40 is one.
A:
Originally Posted by Notorious L.R.G.
F40 a legend?? When it was produced, it was an automotive joke, styling-wise. I believe it was shortly after Enzo's death and they said he would roll over in his grave at the pretend boy-racer, over-the-top, naca-ducted ugly duckling.
The F50, is the real gem. Everything the F40 wanted to be.
Sorry, im going to have to disagree with you too. The f50 was the joke. The car was uninspiring, and barely had a performance edge over the f40 which was designed 15 years earlier! Everything on the f40 (ducts etc) is 100% functional. The f40 still destroys most everything, and it was designed over 20 years ago!
Im probably in the minority, but I dont like the new ferrari's very much, at all. The styling is sanitized, too many electronics.. etc etc.
Call me old fashioned...
A:
Originally Posted by joe13531
Well that is the sad thing about most Ferrari owners. Most are not real driving enthusiasts and have a garage queen to fuel an already sizable ego. I would drive that F40 into the ground. Maybe crash it a couple times doing fast laps around a track, then sell whatever was left when I grew tired of it and buy something else. The garage queen thing drives me nuts! If you can buy a 500k car cash, why are you worried about resale? Why, why why!
Alot of these people people buy these cars as are very very welthey and use them as tax write off's. Buy them under the company name wite them off as depreshating (I cant spell) assat's when these car's such as the F40 are actully becoming more valueble avery day. I know af a few people who have cars collections that would blow your mind, These are the same people who buy 170' yatches That registered as charter boats but the number is never listed and if some one happens to get ahold of them its not availble that date again a losing buissness anouther write off and a big one. People can be very creative when theres that much money at stake and its almost like owning these things for free.
The F40 is one of the purest cars Ferrari has ever built no TC no ABS just a balls to the wall car It takes a experianced driver to realy drive one the way it is ment to be driven. Probley the last real super car ferrari made in my mind, The enzo is very cool and I would love to drive one but as an enthousiest you have to appresiate cars like The F40 and the 280 GTO's, these are real super cars.
A:
Originally Posted by Ginetta
Im probably in the minority, but I dont like the new ferrari's very much, at all. The styling is sanitized, too many electronics.. etc etc.
Call me old fashioned...
+1
A:
Originally Posted by delise
I see more Lambos and Ferraris than Elises by far in my neighborhood, it is getting to the point that I see 3 and 4 Lambos a day on my way to work.
And on weekends downtown is litterally an exotic parade, but still I think we have 3 or 4 Elise's in our city? Me, Larry, Alan and some kid I see in a yellow sport with a spoiler on the back.
Funny you mention it, my good friend visited from Chicago and thought my Elise was the most exotic thing she's ever seen, precisely because she's never seen one before. To quote her: "Ferraris and Lamborghinis are nice, but they're everywhere. This car is so much more exotic... " ... I like her definition of "exotic"!
A:
Originally Posted by Ginetta
Sorry, im going to have to disagree with you too. The f50 was the joke. The car was uninspiring, and barely had a performance edge over the f40 which was designed 15 years earlier! Everything on the f40 (ducts etc) is 100% functional. The f40 still destroys most everything, and it was designed over 20 years ago!
Im probably in the minority, but I dont like the new ferrari's very much, at all. The styling is sanitized, too many electronics.. etc etc.
Call me old fashioned...
Interesting.... That looks like my buddy's car... It used to have those black rims on it with the yellow outline. Do you know if this car was sold to a California buyer about 2 years ago?
A:
Originally Posted by Ginetta
Sorry, im going to have to disagree with you too. The f50 was the joke. The car was uninspiring, and barely had a performance edge over the f40 which was designed 15 years earlier! Everything on the f40 (ducts etc) is 100% functional. The f40 still destroys most everything, and it was designed over 20 years ago!
Im probably in the minority, but I dont like the new ferrari's very much, at all. The styling is sanitized, too many electronics.. etc etc.
Call me old fashioned...
+2
A:
Originally Posted by delise
I see more Lambos and Ferraris than Elises by far in my neighborhood, it is getting to the point that I see 3 and 4 Lambos a day on my way to work.
And on weekends downtown is litterally an exotic parade, but still I think we have 3 or 4 Elise's in our city? Me, Larry, Alan and some kid I see in a yellow sport with a spoiler on the back.
Q
A:
Originally Posted by Ginetta
Sorry, im going to have to disagree with you too. The f50 was the joke. The car was uninspiring, and barely had a performance edge over the f40 which was designed 15 years earlier! Everything on the f40 (ducts etc) is 100% functional. The f40 still destroys most everything, and it was designed over 20 years ago!
Im probably in the minority, but I dont like the new ferrari's very much, at all. The styling is sanitized, too many electronics.. etc etc.
Call me old fashioned...
Ginetta, I know that's your driveway.. is it your F40? Don't you also have a Ford GT...? isn't that a conflict of interest?
A:
How about some of the similarities?
Such as the cost of the clam compared to the cost of the car. (the F40's one piece front "clam" is ~$25,000.
Or the diminuitive weight of each car relative to peers. (2,425lbs for the F40 versus ~3,000 for Porsche, Enzo, etc.)
Or the bare chassis interior. (carbon get the nod here, but bare aluminum kicks azz too.)
etc. etc.
A:
Originally Posted by Ginetta
Im probably in the minority, but I dont like the new ferrari's very much, at all. The styling is sanitized, too many electronics.. etc etc.
++
A:
Originally Posted by Notorious L.R.G.
F40 a legend?? When it was produced, it was an automotive joke, styling-wise. I believe it was shortly after Enzo's death and they said he would roll over in his grave at the pretend boy-racer, over-the-top, naca-ducted ugly duckling.
The F50, is the real gem. Everything the F40 wanted to be.
Sorry but you would be wrong.
TWO! F40's in service at SVAG yesterday, don't see that everyday....although I am sure they spend a fair bit of time in the service dept., lots o'stuff packed into the back of those. Was really tempting to ask to sit in on a test ride but had to go...
I've said it before, I'll take a 288GTO any day of the week for me, and a 250Lusso for me and the wife on the weekends.
Jim
A:
Originally Posted by cbelon
I was a passenger in my friends boss's Ferrari F40 a few weeks ago. What a beautiful car However, I noticed a few interesting things from our 1.5 hour ride:
Interior:
The interior of the F40 is not as comfortable as the elise
The interior was less plush than the elise. There was carpet on the dashboard that was starting to come up. The carbon fiber driver seat was broken and the car wasn't any more comfortable than the elise.
Exterior:
The exterior of this car in my opinion is perfect. It is the nicest Ferrari ever made. It looks mean and beautiful at the same time, just like my girlfriend
The car gets even more attention on the street than the elise. People were following us with camcorders.
Performance:
The F40 reminds me of the elise because you really have to push the twin turbo V-8 to make it scream. If you don't really get on the pedal the car doesn't move too fast. But once the twin turbos kick in it takes off like a rocket.
The gate shifter seemed very hard to work smoothly. My friend couldn't get the car into 2nd gear half the time. I am sure that was from lack of experience driving the car and the fact that the car had only 5,000 miles and is 16 years old.
Overall opinion:
The F40 is an awesome car that you can't enjoy very much in the USA because there aren't many roads that you are going to get up to 200 mph.
The car isn't any more fun to drive and is less comfortable than my elise. At least from a passenger's point of view.
After driving in this $500,000 Ferrari I can't understand why some people feel that the have been cheated by Lotus to spend $50,000. The Lotus will out handle the F40, has similar build quality, is more reliable (doesn't require $5,000 service every 5,000 miles), gets 3X the fuel economy and gets almost the same amount of attention on the street.
My drive in the F40 made me realize just how great the elise is for $50,000.
I can now quite my night job that I had to save money for a F40
Thanks. Great review. Yes, the Elise and Exige ROCK!!!!
A:
f40 all the way one of the legends of the marque, 250 gtos, the original tesstas, the p cars lost for years, the real daytonas ( not replicars), the F40 I think will prove to be a real good investment and piece of F car history.