Why NOT to buy

This may wind up being long winded. hear me out.

In the next year/ or two i'm saving up about 1000 a month and plan on buying a nice sports car. Nice being in the 40-60 thousand range after about 20 grand down.

I've looked at lots and lots of cars out there. and i've narrowed it down to 4 cars. Truthfully the only way i'd be happy is to own all four, but alas! I recently learned money does NOT grow on trees.

The four cars in question are :
2006 Corvette Z06
2003 - Mercedes Benz SL500 or 600
Lamborghini Countach Newer the better (or a diablo if they've come down enough)
Ferrari 355 Newer the better

Now i can look at a stats list and find a dozen reasons to buy any of these cars. Now i want to know why i shouldn't buy them. Heres what i think so far.

Vette. Cept for a diablo, the new z is by far the fastest of the bunch. Has only a V-8 although 7.0 litres is huge! Cheap interior . can get some amenities like dvd nav and premium sound. Everyone has a vette! not very exclusive. no convertible! can afford one with a warranty.

mercedes. I am a proud owner of a c-class so i know mercedes is awesome for interiors. 600 has powerful V-12. (cant afford a sl65 :( 605 hp 720lbs torque....oooooohhhh) As luxurious a ride as you can get. heavy for a sports car. Mercedes safty record (trust me. i hit a concrete wall in mine at 60mph and me and the car live). power Hard top.

Lambo. Coutach is somewhat slow compared to some of the other cars. Diablo would be nice. Exclusivity. You see a lamborghini, you stop and stare. No convertible. Diablo did have a road\ster prob too new to be affordable in two years. V-12 sound. If you cant pick up chicks in a lamborghini you have problems :) Boyhood dream car.

Ferrari: testarossa would be nice too. no convt though. 355 has convertible. Slightly slower than other cars on list. Ferrari! ummm... help? Why didn't they make 360's 15 years ago?

Please add anything else! Maintenence costs, upgradeable?, MPG, Can i add navigation/system easily, interior nice/crap, resale value (NO!).

Anything will help. I dont want to buy something half as much as my house without a good idea of what i'm getting into.

And ahead of time, thanks for all the help :)

Right away I would knock the Countach off the list. The maintanence and repair costs make me knock first.

The 355 can be troublesome, however, if you find one that's had new valves, and all other problem areas corrected, and the most recent scheduled service down that's great. Remember also, look at cars that have the higher mileages. They have actually been driven and will be far more reliable. And get a full PPI done.

Z06, should be quite reliable. Hopefully they fixed the oil seal problems the first generation had. The best bang for the buck here obviously. But the interior is extremely lacking in quality.

SL's beautiful cars. Some people seem to have no trouble others have tons.

do you have to do more maintenence for a high end car than a regular car? I assume synthetic oil but what else?

Yeah, I assume chevy spent more money on the engine than interior.

What kind of issues have been had with the sl's? I'd want the new generation. cant remember if that started in 03 or not... Ether way it's the 493 hp one.

Are you planning on driving this daily? A Lamborghini is not a daily driver.... Diablo or C/T, so why would you knock any Lambo off the list? A Merc is just another car I see on the road ten thousand times a day. I don't even know why you have it in the same category? And a Corvette? There's 3 Z06's out in my work parking garage now. They are everywhere, almost as bad as Hondas.... What are your intentions? These 4 cars are not very compairable. I'm not sure if this thread is a joke or not?

I think their vaery comparable. I live in a middle calss naighborhood so any of these cars will stand out.

I'm looking for a payment of 800-1000 dollars a month. daily driver no. I just want to know all the pluses and minuses of owning a car first.

Lambo and Ferrari are high maintainence.
Merc is just a merc...
Z06 is pretty robust.
I am personally buying a Viper. Vipers are quite a bit more exotic than a Vette and not commonly seen on the streets and have the power of a Z06 and are VERY robust. Basically, Viper is a bullet proof affordable fast ass exotic.

There's 3 Z06's out in my work parking garage now. They are everywhere, almost as bad as Hondas.

Three 1963 Corvette Z06s? C5 Z06s? C6 Z06s?

Around 7,000 to 8,000 aluminum C6 Z06s will be made for the 2006 model year.

Moved to the right forum :)

As was said before, the Lamboghini is not a daily driver car, and is extremely rxpensive to fix...

the 355 is more of a daily driver, but I would also take it off due to maintenance costs, which outweighs its benefit

Now in my opinion there is 1 question that will have you decide what car you want

whats your #1 priority, performance or comfort?

If its performance then take the Z06 hands down...in Mercs (less so with AMG) comfort, and status come first...thats why they rarely come in manual, are extremely heavy, and do not handle as well as their competition...

If its comfort then the Merc hands down...its always a supple ride, lavishly appointed (as you obviously know) and just classic beautiful inside and out

so if you can answer that 1 question, I think you know the car you should get

Keep us posted!

I think the Ferrari and the Lambo aren't comparable.

An old Lambo would take coins & dedication in rebuilding it, I heard a lot of necessary rebuilts.

Don't buy the F355 if you aren't used to 15 to 25 mpg, outperforming 99% of the other cars on the street and spending a lot of money for service.
And don't buy it if you hate broken manifolds and valves.

Don't buy the Mercedes if you want a really fast sportscar.
Don't buy the Z06 if you want class, comfort and luxury.

I think the Ferrari and the Lambo aren't comparable.

An old Lambo would take coins & dedication in rebuilding it, I heard a lot of necessary rebuilts.

Don't buy the F355 if you aren't used to 15 to 25 mpg, outperforming 99% of the other cars on the street and spending a lot of money for service.
And don't buy it if you hate broken manifolds and valves.

Don't buy the Mercedes if you want a really fast sportscar.
Don't buy the Z06 if you want class, comfort and luxury.

Wait, dont buy the SL600 if you want a really fast sportscar? Even though it does weigh over 2 tons, the Benz does still have about 500hp and about 600lb-ft. It should be faster then either the F355 or a C/T. Benz claims 0-60 in 4.3 seconds, which is quicker. Speed is not the SL600's problem, its flaws lie in other places.

1) Handling will suck compared to the Z06 and the F355 because of all of that weight.
2) What CAR, EVO, and Top Gear love to comment about this car is its "footballers wife's car." It just isn't a cool car. It doesn't have half the soul of a Ferrari or a Lambo. I personally see them as an old man's sportscar.

Now my idea behind Ferraris is that if you are willing and able, you must. The F355 looks so good and has so much character and pizazz that its hard to pass over. People that know cars will be infinitely impressed and be jealous of you. The problem is the price. You can't just have the money to buy one, you need the money to maintain one as well. Exotics, especially Italian Exotics are just about as unreliable as you can get. If you could get one and were willing to put up with it, I would get one.

The Countach was a cool car with its spaceship styling that just begs for attention. Personally, I like the sexier look of a Ferrari over the flamboyancy of a Lamborghini. Both are impressive cars, but the Ferrari is alot newer, and probably more fun to drive. The Countach, especially the 1970s ones are nowhere near as quick as some of the other cars you mentioned. I wouldn't be suprised to see one lose to a EVO, 350z, or STI in a race, which would be embarassing.

The C6 Corvette Z06 is incredibly quick, and if thats all you want, its tough to beat for less then $150,000 for a Ford GT or F430. You would be completely unstopable. Great car in terms of speed. The problem with them is that they look like every other Corvette out there. You won't get that with an Italian car. The Corvette's interior is terrible. I'd rather a $20,000 Miata interior to that in the Corvette.

Now my last comment won't come to a suprise to regulars in this forum. What about a BMW Z8? You might be able to get one in your price range now. They are quick, have 400hp, convertable, and look incredibly handsome. They are alot lighter then the boat of an SL-class, but still have a great interior. They are much more rare then an SL or a Corvette too. Plus they have a significantly more reliable M5 engine that would be alot cheaper to work on then a Ferrari engine.

1) Handling will suck compared to the Z06 and the F355 because of all of that weight.

yes, that defines a slow car in my european point of view. any of those cars can do 160+mph, thats fast. all those cars are quick on the straightline, also. that isn't difficult.

but the benz is not a fast sportscar like the Ferrari, Z06 or the Lambo is. It's a luxury coupé with loads of torque. take it to the track and see the other three doing circles around it. (call me cpt. obvious ;))

and for the SL 0-60: I read everything between 4.5 sec to 4.7 to 4.3 and so on. I think it's a draw between MB and Ferrari.

well I guess I could write up more empty content like that ;)

But those >2 tons just say NO if you want a track performer.

you're right about that old-man-sportscar.
But also consider the I'm-still-a-young-rebel image of the Z06 (might be different in the states)
And the I'm-a-substitute-for-*** image of the Ferrari ;) despite of it's performance.
The Lambo? Uhm... I-want-to-be-harder-than-that-Ferrari-guy? ;)

just some random input to give you more points of view.

The Z8 is extremely rare, extremely fast and extremely desirable (and still above all image questions).
I only saw them twice, one of them in Monaco :)

edit: checked up prices here in germany, they start at 75000€ (90,000$), one had 40,000mls on it and still cost over 100,000$.

Get the Ferrari if you can afford it. Thats a once in a lifetime opportunity, unless you are extremely rich and i hate you, but i would still accept a donation

Actually the prices for the Z8 are much higher then I would have thought. Dang do those things keep their value well. Nevermind on the Z8, the cheapest I saw was ~$80,000.

the new ZO6 should own all those other cars almost hands down. I think it is extremely nice looking too.....

If you can afford those cars, I'm sure you can afford the repairs.

You would be suprised how often that isn't true. Alot of people don't think very far ahead when they buy cars. Not everyone lives below their means.

Well I would go for the Z06. Its the best value IMO. Pretty reliable, daily driver, looks good, comfortable enough, not to expensive, good performer. With the Lambo or Ferrari its going to be expensive to maintain because of the limited amounts or parts and service places to get it worked on. On the downside, yeah the Z06 is everywhere, but so what? It very cheap for the performance it has. A good choice I think, plus, it would be alot newer than the other cars listed, and has a great aftermarket/ parts supply.