chenpin

Dam, that was really fast G-man! Personally, I was never really attracted to the EVO for almost the same reasons you've stated. And having lived with an EVO for awhile now, I can say that the performance and paper specs really does not make up (imo) for its other deficiencies in the long run. But hey, that's just me. I'm sure there are others who'll disagree.

Toadman

Oh, please allow me...

WE TOLD YOU SO! :D

moogle

LOL AHAHAHAHAH!!!!!!

You want perfomance,style,luxury, and can take the wife and kids. G35C than is your answer, but I can't say you might be satisfied because you have toyed around at cars "R" us, but hey its a suggestion. All I can say your weird but weirdness is good in your case because some people would love owning 8 cars in 2 yrs.

one more thing from 911 turbo to a mitsu evo... gah... you just downgrade yourself. If you had a evo than told us you sold that and getting a 911 turbo than we be wowed.

m477

So what is it exactly you do for a living?....

I wouldn't mind having my own 911 turbo someday :D

Lex

So you just sell last year's toy to buy this year's? That's cool. I guess when you buy the very first one you get hit hard, but then after that you're only paying for depreciation + taxes/fees + the price difference from last year's car to this year's.

How much do you wind up losing every time on depreciation, and also paying extra every time on fees?

G-man

Yeah, but still hard to get the wife and kids on the Ducatti.

G-man

I like to blame it on the movie hype for 2 Fast 2 Furious. I purchased the car within 72 hours fo seeing the movie. Looks like Mitsubishi got their monies worth out of the product placement.

Hercules

So are you coming back to the RX-8 camp, or what?

I think you owe it a test drive

G-man

Well, Roachman, I don't want to get kicked off this board so soon after I return, but I can offer you this advice...

At Manheim Auctions, the average well appointed 1999 Porsche 911 Carrera with only 36,000 miles is going for $36,000. I think that is so good a deal that I actually have one "on order" with a broker that I buy from as soon as they can find what I want. I think that year Porsche offers exceptional value and will retain 90% of that value for the next 3-5 years.

I personally love the 911 and the 996 variation from 1999-today is a great car. More of a luxury GT cruiser than a real "sports car", but very livable and great! It is actually much more practical than you would think. It holds 8-9 paper grocery bags too (5 behind the seats and 4 in the trunk).

Of course, I haven't even seen the RX-8 in person, but I hear that the value for them is going to drop like a rock in year 2 and 3, so I may even wait a year or two and get one cheap and let you guys take the first hit in depreciation.

Puppy1

Hell, he should just buy it since we all know he wants it. He'll have his fun, toss it aside and then buy some other toy.

G-man

Obviously, I agree with you. I wish you had just e-mailed me a week ago... that way I could have just sent you $1,000 and saved myself a couple extra thousand.

G-man

Touche', I guess I deserve that comment. And, yes, that is likely what I will do.

G-man

There isn't a Lexus dealer anywhere around, so I will have to find one. I have heard some good things about the G35. I will take a look for sure. There are one or two in town now, so I clearly like the way they look on the outside and hopefully the inside is better than the 350Z.

As far as "trading down" from the 911 Turbo to the EVO, it was a matter of 2 things.

1) The market is really soft on the 996 cars due to economy, the release of the X50 power optoin and the pending release of the 997 model. So the Turbos are dropping in value daily. I paid $121,500 plus tax, etc. to $128,500. I sold mine for $97,000 and today, you can buy one for $89,000 almost brand new. That is a price drop of $24,000 in 9 months I had it and another $8,000 since I sold it.

2) The other factor is the interest rate drop. I bought the 911 Turbo at the low rate of 6.5% for $120,000. That is $7,800 per year of interest. Porsche is offering new rates as low as 4.25%, so there is a savings of 2.25% per year just in interest. That is a savings of almost $2,700 per year. So if I had held on to the car even 3 months longer, I would have lost over $10,000 in additional value and interest alone. Even I know when to "pull the rip chord".

rxeightr

Try Infiniti -- their G35 is a little better than the Lexus one

desmo996

That's the reason I bought the RX8. I wan't some type of performance for my daily driver, with the option to take my wife and baby along, if I need to. For safety and long trips we use the X5, but for pure fun and extreme performance, my duc is right there.

RotorGeek

DOH!!!!

chikai

uh...I'm not sure you will find G35s at Lexus dealers. You might want to try Infiniti :D

Anyway, I hope you broke in the Evo VIII properly per the training video and the manufacture's suggestions. This is key to the resale of your Evo.

On a side note, I was just browsing your g3.com site and I see you were very timely in your involvement in the IT and Technology field. I took a few HCI courses back in college (and graduated with an IS degree), and I definitely find the area more than interesting. Now I'm a strategist for financial firm, but of course with the economy in ever flux, budget for this type of work is fairly tight. Let's just say I'm not purchasing cars for fun. Wish I was there back in mid-90's.

G-man

I am not sure. I have never added it all up, but I think that I will now go back and take a look at just how much it has cost me. I don't think it is as much as I thought it was. In the overall, it really isn't as much as it would seem on the surface. If I figure it all out, I will post a detailed analysis. My guess is that most of the money lost is in interest, taxes, fees and charges and not on depreciation. Sure, the $100K+ cars will drop $20,000 in value some times, but then there are the $20,000 cars that only dropped $7,000 too. The killer was having 6 cars at a time and paying property taxes, insurance, etc. on them all but only being able to drive one at a time. So, the depreciation is really just a small part of the overall cost of ownership.

Then there is the 1975 Porsche 911 that I paid $12,500 for and sold for $10,000 and only lost $2,500 but cost me $700 per month in repairs just to keep running.

I figure that I must lose about 20%-33% of value on each car I buy. I figured out just now that I spent $630,000 over 10 years on my top 15 cars. If you assume the loss of 25% of the total, then, I lost $157,500 over 10 years, or a loss of $15,750 per year or about $1,300 per month total depreciation loss. Actual losses are less, since I didn't lose money on every car, or lost a lot less on some. Still, that is not too bad for being able to drive just about anything I want to.

cueball

As I have said before, you should buy a car on how happy it makes you. You bought the Evo becuase it was so damn fun to drive. After living with it for a little while you realized it didn't make you happy anymore. I can't say I am glad you got rid of your evo, but I am glad you realized you didn't like it and got rid of it instead of tyring to force something that wasn't there.

On a side note, I am very glad you are back on the forum you always brought excellent insight to most topics and gave things a realistic spin.
WECLOME BACK!

jtimbck2

The G35C is *WAY* nicer (materials & finish) inside than the 350Z. I've been inside a 350Z and driven/ridden in the G35 extensively (my partner drives one ) It's a fun car! Not much headroom in the rear (probably plenty for kids though).

AbusiveWombat

The style you can't cure but for around $200 you can add a cruise control. I'm figuring that the style was the biggest issue. It's definitely no 911 TT, NSX, M3...etc. but it's surprising that the style wasn't more of an issue before you bought one.

Anyways...G-Man you need to stop f**king around :D. Sell all your cars and pick up the following. I think this list should satisfy your indulgence.

MEGAPERFORMANCE: Ferrari Enzo
Grocery Getter: MB E55 AMG or Audi RS6 (since you like AWD)
SUV: Porsche Cayenne
Truck: wait for the new F-150 Lightning with 500 hp.

I think all of them are faster in a straight line than the EVO. Maybe not the Porsche and who knows about the F-150.

Anyways good luck with the next purchase. Wish I had the dough for anything on your list of vehicles.

G-man

Well, of course, I can see... I am not blind, so I was not entirely convinced of the EVOs "presence" when I bought it... but all I can say is that you have to drive this car. Even if you never are stupid enough to buy one, it is an awesome car to drive. It really is oustanding. Wrap this car in better skins and slap a Porsche crest on a more sexy wrapper and you would find this car would be a category killer. From inside the car, it isn't so ugly and at certain extreme angles the car looks really nice. The car has nice details too, but it is the overly boxy side view with the high roofline that really kills this car for me. Also the rear wing is insane. Who in the world really needs this thing!?

As far as the revised list of cars, it is an interesting list, but well over $1,000,000 for the Enzo alone. I can get all 6 on my list from eBay for just $250,000. If you have never driven an all-wheel-drive turbo charged car, I highly recommend it. There really is nothing like launching the car by lighting up all 4 wheels! My goal was to reduce my debt load and not increase it. While it is huge step down from the my $130,000 911 Turbo to my $30,000 Evo, you have to realize the debt reduction is about $100,000 and that the EVO from a performance standpoint is 90% of the performance of the 911 Turbo.

The EVO on paper and from behind the wheel looks awesome, but it still doesn't "stir your blood" as you walk up to it like many of the other cars that I have owned do. The EVO beckons you to drive it because it is fun to drive. The others have screamed at me from across the parking lot out my corner office window "COME DRIVE ME" because they look like they are going 100 miles per hour just standing still... the EVO looks like the parking break is on.

rxeightr

I admit, I am very much a visual person. They gotta look good for me to even get interested. It does matter what is on the inside, but I want the entire package.

Sorry, I digressed. Now back to cars.......

moogle

Interesting... is that everywhere or just your area. Do you live in california because rates are going down here but I am not sure on porsches...

G-man

I live in VA, and the rates are from the PA Manheim Auctions. There are auctions all over the country. California and Florida may be doing better, but not much. Just not as many people out there with the cushy job and the mid six-figure salary to support their status of success that they no longer have. For me, I bought the 911 Turbo because I loved to race it. But, after 2 days at Charlotte Motorspeedway at 160+mph I have to say that the 911 Turbo is really too fast. Too fast for the street.. you will get a ticked for 112mph in a 35 mph zone like I did. And too fast for the track without modificaitons like a full cage and all the go-fast goodies for track use. Just not safe enough in stock form in the event you toss it into the wall. Very nice, but wicked-dangerous fast!