bonzelite

you had an R32 GTR? wow. why'd you sell her?!

i agree w/you that the "R35" GTR will be different. that goes without saying. i'm talking about the featured traits to be in common, ie, extensive use of carbon fibre, aluminum, super duper balanced crank. the engines and platforms and chassis can be entirely different but both can share common traits. like the Porsche 997tt and R32 GTR are not similar cars but share the trait of AWD. do you see what i am saying?

look at the Z-Tune and that reveals a level of performance and craftsmanship and refinement that will make it to the "R35."

bonzelite

that makes sense. american auto manufacturers, particularly GM, have climbed in quality and value and customer satisfaction, whilst biggies like Merceds and BMW, particularly Mercedes, have slumped. Mercedes sucks actually.

bonzelite

LOL OMG you are making some very brutally true statements.

about Ferrari, this is how it goes --elaborating on your genius ideas:

to even be in the club, you need to be making serious bank. like well into six or seven figures annually. so, with this income, you can buy anything you see, essentially. no you can't buy the empire state building, but maybe you could buy a floor or two. anyway, you have this income that is nearly bottomless, for all purposes.

so you get the latest Ferrari design, drive the car for about 2 years, get bored, and upgrade to the next one. you may put about 1000 miles on each Ferrari over 2 or 3 years time. if you're rich enough, you then collect them like hot wheels cars, never putting more than about 100 miles per year on each Ferrari you own (say you may own 4 or 5 of them or more).

but what really killed me was when you suggested that the Ferrari of today is nearly instantly yesterday's Ferrari --passe' and "so 2 years ago." look at the F360. who cares anymore about that car? you see one and it looks very cool, but in a generic kind of way that could be any Ferrari from the past ten years. i know i'm blaspheming the Ferrari nameplate and hertiage by even saying this, and i like Ferrari. but c'mon.

Ferrari of recent times is this way, with a very few superlatives standing out, ie, the F40 (which actually towers above the more "refined" and "better" F50), the 288 GTO, and then the Enzo. the rest, although shiek and cool, fade into the "now-what-model-is-that-one-again?" territory. [although i love the new 599GTB, it, too, is too generic against the F40 and GTO]

HellBent

I bought it only a few months before I left Japan, thinking I could bring it back. I put a few grand into making it perfect too! New brakes, timing belt, water pump, and a few other bits. Unfortunately MOTOREX had just gone belly up, and I soon realized from research that it would be impossible to legally import... so some guy got a great deal.

Anyway, at least I got to enjoy it for a few months and get a number of laps in at Fuji Speedway. A wonderful sports car that I'm sure would have been even more awsome when new.

I hope the new GTR feels as good. Too bad NISMO will not build it by hand like the Z-Tune. Although I must say I have a new found appeciation for Japanese craftsmanship. At 14 years old my GTR was still nearly perfect inside and out.



-AL

bonzelite

wow. that's a beauty of a car. the white ones are the most sought after in Japan from what i understand. and you had the LMGT-4s as well. nice, nice GTR. you could have had it dismantled and sent over in separate containers. dismantle it to a rolling shell, ship that over. then wait about six months. send the rest of the parts over in another container unrelated and from an entirely different shipping company.

this way, you avert the complete car outlaw. but the only caveat would be that you could not really drive it in the united states unless you took it to a track on a trailer (and of course you'd have to rebuild the entire car).

sure, the R35 GTR may not be hand-made as the Z-Tune, but will engender very excellent build ethos. it will be at least as well-built as an Audi.

bonzelite

by the way, are those 18 X 10 LMGT-4s? i want to know because i need a set for my R32. and those pictured look perfect on the body style.

HellBent

I am still in awe everytime I see a 360 Modena up close. It is truely a work of art! Every detail, including the engine bay is a masterstroke of excellence in design. I've poked and proded my way around a Gallardo and was not as impressed...

I could almost afford a used 360, (livin' off cup-o-noodles maybe), but what keeps the dream from become reality is the maintenance. As you noted it is beyond stratospheric, it is simply ridiculous! At 12,000 miles $5k - $8k for maintenance, then at 30,000 miles $10k - $12k for an engine teardown... WTF!

Compare that to the vette where you change the oil, the filters, flush some fluids once or twice, and change the plugs at 100,000 miles. No tire rotation and no timing chain b.s. to deal with!

Although my R32 GTR felt like a Ferrari when it came to service. Seemed like every maintenance bill was measured in increments of a thousand bucks! The technology going into the new GTR won't be cheap either. Scheduled maintenance will be costly I'm sure. Definitely not a car to own off warranty...

-AL

HellBent

They are 17" Nismo wheels. Not sure of the model number though. They are also wearing Bridgestone Potenza RE-O1Rs in stock size (225/40 or 45/ ZR 17 I think). Awsome grip on the track!

As for importing I didn't want to tie up all that cash, or risk losing it. One insurance company did me wrong in the past, and I've been a liitle more wary of them ever since...

-AL

bonzelite

then they're 17" LMGT-4s, probably 17X9 or 17X10, maybe staggered. were they staggered?

bonzelite

i actually love Ferrari. the past year i was hit with the Ferrari syndrome. i went to look for 308s. very "cheap" Ferraris on the market today, being "only" about $40,000 for a decent one. i saw a couple i liked, too. but once i began doing some snooping and reading, bought a few books on them, i was like ---f*ck that!. the rule of thumb is 10 thousand miles = 10 thousand dollars. at first i thought this was a sarcastic kind of thing, but differing sources began to actually confirm this to be the truth! wow.

you've got to have a bottomless pit of money to actually enjoy and drive a Ferrari of any model. there is not really a "cheap" Ferrari.