Who wants to trade up?

I always wonder why someone would buy a sweet ride and then drive it fewer than 1K per year. It isn't as if this model of Ferrari is some rarity fit only to sit in a museum like a Bugatti Type 41 (the famous Royale).

Really sad when a perfectly drivable car isn't driven...

Perhaps he's too busy hooning about in his Enzo?

The first time this struck me was when, after living in my then-place for about 8 months, I saw the guy across the road pull out of his garage in a Ferrari 360. It's *possible* he'd driven it before but I really think I would have noticed.

I pondered why he didn't drive it regularly and reasons I came up with were:

- You might be able to park it in your garage when you're at home, but what about where you're going to? Do you really want a Ferrari parked on the street all day, every day while you're at work? I know I wouldn't get any work done, wondering about whether some idiot had driven off my wing mirror, had fallen against it with their bicycle, etc etc etc.

- If you've got enough money to buy a Ferrari, you've got enough money to buy at least one more car that is less nervewracking on a day-to-day basis (my neighbour's day-to-day car was a Jag. Can't remember which one, but not an upmarket one, if you know what I mean)

- At least here in the UK, driving a Ferrari is apparently a nightmare - there are speedbumps all over the place, so when taking it out for a spin in any city you have to plan your route beforehand in order to avoid roads with speedbumps. Which largely means having to go on the motorway instead, which is pointless here, with speed limits of 70mph nationwide (which begs the question why you'd buy a Ferrari here in the first place, but that's another matter).

I'm sure I've missed out some reasons. The conclusion I came to, though, was that a) it's pointless buying a Ferrari in the UK, and b) if I did have enough money I'd buy one anyway 'cause they're cool - and then carry on driving my MX-5 as my daily car, and take out my Ferrari once a month, just like all the others.

:-)

Eric

Wrong colour, and whereas people wave at MX-5s/Miatas, Ferraris inspire a certain class hatred.

Well your posting just caused to highlight only a few of the differences between the UK and the US, most of all in scale:

Driving 500 miles in one day in the UK would be, most likely, an exhausting experience. Having driven from New Orleans to Denver myself over, what, 2 or

3 days I remember what it's like driving long distances in the US and let me tell you, it's very different over here. Over at your end a drive of that length may be dull and tedious, but not really exhausting. 500 miles in the UK will take you through or around a number of major cities - completely unavoidable given the minute size of the UK compared to the US - which entails traffic jams, impatient and reckless drivers, etc etc. Driving 500 miles in one day in the UK would *not* be a fun day out, no matter what car you're driving.

As daily drivers??!! Goodness me, you guys over there desperately need a huge increase in fuel tax to stop you from driving minivans as your commuter vehicles!!

I don't even have one garage, bay or not, and I'd hazard a guess that that's the norm here in the UK. Not that that's a good thing; I really want a garage for my car, but finding a house in a major city with a garage is either impossible or over-the-odds expensive. But 5 - now that's just plain greedy.

Which reminds me of a feature not long ago on Top Gear

) where they drove some old (1950s & 60s) but at the time nice cars - only to find that they were soggy sponges compared to today's Honda Accords.... Now where were we?!

Eric