I would take the supercars like...
...the Nissan R390
...the Toyota GT-One
...the Honda NSX-R
...the TommyKaira ZZ
...Subaru 22B
But, don't they qualify as tuned imports too? Oh wait, the Italian exotics can fall under the same category...it's TUNED SPORT-COMPACT vs. EXOTICS/SUPERCARS that you're trying to define here.
The car's I listed above enjoy higher exclusivity than most of the exotics you mentioned...
As for the Italian exotics...I'll take the German/Italian Pagani Zonda over ANY Ferrari, including the Enzo...anyday.
As for compacts, I love the idea of driving a car that most people believe they can take...like a lowly, stock-looking Honda Civic 4-door with a B20 turbo implant that run's 12's...
If I had the money, I'd take both, with a Hummer thrown in...but if I had enough to buy "just" the exotic, I'd build a compact and use the rest to pay-off my house payment or invest, etc., etc.
Oh and Moppie, to tune that F355 to 900HP you'd probably spend almost as much as you did to buy the car...I'd use the extra cash to REALLY tweak that Skyline's suspension and body, and have a sweet-handling, 900HP, AWD car that'll out-handle and out-accelerate that Ferrari that cost twice as much.
Side note:
Did you guys know that the Elise is finally coming out in the States as a 2004 model? It won't be based off the current Elise, but will be a new body that will carry the same characteristics the current Elise have (i.e., light-weight, chassis rigidity...), except that it will readily pass U.S. crash requirements.
They are considering either an F20 (Honda S2000), or a 2ZZGE (Celica GT-S) powerplant to motivate it...and it looks like they're leaning towards the 2ZZ(
:finger4: ). Either way, it'll be mid-engined, RWD, fast as shit and projected to be around
30-thousand U.S. dollars...If they accomplish this pricing, guess what my car in 2005 will be
?