[s-cars] S-CAR-List Digest, Vol 61, Issue 43

[Taka Mizutani]

Mike-
I know all about uncomfortable levels of attention- I have a Millenium
Yellow Corvette. :-)

BTW, regardless of how they drive, in terms of looks, in that price range,
I'd pick these over the R8:

Maserati Gran Turismo
Aston Martin DB9 (used)
Aston Martin V8 Vantage
Lamborghini Gallardo (used)
Ferrari 575M (used)

Taka


On Fri, Nov 21, 2008 at 1:17 PM, M Pederson <mlped at qwest.net> wrote:

>  Well, ….. it's at least two steps ahead of the Nissan GTR, and way ahead
> of the AMC Matador and Pacers  J
>
>
>
> Hey car taste/appearances can be very individual things.  I can remember a
> time, back in the early 60's, I thought Alfa Romeo's were incredibly ugly.
> How things have changed.  FWIW, as ugly as you may find the car I have to
> say that personal experimentation, at least in the Denver area, puts you in
> a distinct minority.  The car garners an unseemly amount of attention.  In
> fact one of the "funner" things to do since we don't have a Krasusky
> available, we have to make do with an Italian imitation, and Amoroso, is to
> take the car out to dinner and have it valeted.  It always seems to ends up
> right next to the entrance.  Frank, the Don, Amoroso among many of his other
> talents is one of the local television stations Car review guy.  As such
> Frank is always scoring new manufactures press cars.  We valeted the R8 off
> against a new Aston Martin Vanquish at the St Julian's in Boulder, at the
> Capitol Grill in LoDo, and at North's in Cherry Creek ~ the R8 not only held
> its own in every venue, it was in fact the cognoscenti's pick by a pretty
> clear margin at all three.  On another occasion at Elway's in Cherry Creek,
> the R8 was parked next to a sparkling new black Ferrari 430 Spyder where
> both cars could be observed from the outside veranda.  Watching folks arrive
> for afternoon cocktails &/or dinner, they would look at the Spyder, they
> would gaze, walk around and take pictures of the R8.  So, ….. I can take the
> lack of loving for the R8's appearances  J   What's less comfortable is,
> well frankly all the attention is more than I'm personally comfortable
> with.
>
>
>
> First reasonable offer, and the R8 would probably be gone ….  I mean they
> what happened to the good old Yugo & VW bugs days when men were men, and
> persons were, well you know persons, and one could be in touch with the
> world through the holes in their floor pans etc….
>
>
>
> Cheers, Mike
>
>
>
> *From:* Taka Mizutani [mailto:t44tqtro at gmail.com]
> *Sent:* Friday, November 21, 2008 9:52 AM
> *To:* M Pederson
> *Cc:* s-car-list at audifans.com; pkrasusky at ups.com; tedebearp at yahoo.com;
> mikellardizabal at yahoo.com
> *Subject:* Re: S-CAR-List Digest, Vol 61, Issue 43
>
>
>
> Sorry Mike, no offense intended, but to my eyes, the R8 is ugly. No matter
> how well it may drive, I think it's ugly and won't get one for that reason
> alone.
>
> I like the Gallardo's styling.
>
> I don't really like Vipers- they're cartoonishly styled and are too hard to
> live with- they get way too hot at the track and are awfully cramped for a
> big car.
>
> Taka
>
> On Fri, Nov 21, 2008 at 11:27 AM, M Pederson <mlped at qwest.net> wrote:
>
> Well, FWLIW I seem to have acquired an R8 (the manual tranny version) back
> in May.  Without trying to take sides one way or another, except for the
> troglodyte who's made at R&T for their articles not being up to Krasusky
> standards :-), and if I'm recalling the publication correctly, a month or
> two back they re-did their "Best Track Cars" issue, this time with Randy
> Pobst at the wheel ~> ahhhh never mind the troglodyte competition, it was
> in
> the August issue of MotorTrend, http://tinyurl.com/67853u
>
> In any event, the article covered ten (10) cars, including both the Viper
> ACR (if raw is what you really want, at least one or two steps up on the
> GTS
> I believe) and the Audi R8.  If it's any conciliation to either of you, I
> think you're both right, ..... except you know in Randy's opinion, with a
> time of "only" 1:40.92 the R8 (page 3) won notwithstanding the Viper's
> putting in a lap 5.5 seconds faster at 1:35.117
>
> As Randy's (& I'm sure Paul's) first High School GF told him, "Hey Boys,
> speed ain't everything."   :-)
>
> That said, I have to agree there can be a certain "numbness" involved ....
> probably those Altoids Paul's always going on about  :-)  That said, one
> thing one can seem to do with almost impunity in the R8 is pile back on
> power almost anywhere, anytime  It kind of makes you feel you should have
> never slowed down for the corner that much in the first place ... Weird
>
> Cheers, Mikee
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: s-car-list-bounces
>
> Today's Topics:
>
>   1. Re:  LAC: Bond, James Bond - JNR (Taka Mizutani)
>
> Message: 1
> Date: Fri, 21 Nov 2008 08:39:47 -0500 From: "Taka Mizutani"
>
> I'm not Teddy- but unless R8s have dropped significantly in price, I'd
> rather have a used Gallardo .{snips}... Except for maybe the GT3, none of
> the new sports cars really has that rawness that some of the older cars
> have. Okay, maybe the F430 Scuderia as
> well..... Your 930 is the perfect example of what I'm talking about.
>
> Taka
>
> On Fri, Nov 21, 2008 at 8:34 AM, <pkrasusky at ups.com> wrote:
> >
> > Wait a sec - you're saying you'd rather have a GTS than an R8???  While
> > I've not yet had the priv. of piloting either yet (gRrrrrrrrrrr!), I'm
> > having trouble subscribing .....
>
> >  ------------------------------
> > *From:* Theodore Chen [mailto:tedebearp at yahoo.com]
> > *Sent:* Thursday, November 20, 2008 2:53 PM
> >
> >  what, the audi R8 isn't on that list?
> >
> > i drove my friend's new R8 with R-tronic a few weeks ago.  i drove it
> hard,
> > at my friend's urging, but he was the one JNR-ing it, not me.  can you
> say
> > 140 mph on the 405 in LA?  to be honest, i loved the R8, but i enjoyed my
> > other friend's viper GTS more.  i feel that modern cars are somewhat
> > sterile.  they are fast and handle very well, but they are more isolated.
> > ABS, traction control, stability control, active steering, dynamic roll
> > control, torque vectoring, etc. - modern motoring is becoming more like
> > driving a video game.
> >
> > you guys may think me nuts, but i just passed on a friend's immaculate
> '03
> > jaguar s-type r with 64k miles for $14k.  i just couldn't see myself
> > enjoying driving it as much as the UrS4.
> >
> > -t.
> >
>
>
>