Import tuner or high end?

my friend nearly took my head off when we were dicuissing cars and i told him i preferred import tuner cars to Ferrais(sorry if i spell these names wrong) and the like, high end cars that cost more then a house, he told me i was whacked in the head and everyone would prefer a ferrai to for expamle my celica, so i’m asking which would you prefer?

Actually, I’d rather have a Porsche 911 Turbo Cabriolet with AWD over any Ferrari or Celica.

I’d take a Rolls Royce or Mercedes over a celica. Lambos are hideous looking. Ferrari, lotus, Bently, Porsche, all look good.
that’s the beauty of alot of those cars, they cost so much that they’re dream/loto winning cars. We’ll never get to drive them so we don’t really know how well/crappy they might actually be.

It’s not so much a question of preference but of reality.

In the real world, you can afford a Celica and afford to mod it to make it the best it can be (in your mind at least).

In the real world, you can’t afford a Ferrari, and if you had one you probably couldn’t afford to risk driving it the way it is meant to be driven.

Neither one unless the Ferrari was won free of charge in a contest.
In that case it would be up for sale the next day as insurance and maintenance costs would be obscene.
(Price a clutch job or trans repair on one of those!)

I would then buy a real car (probably a new Hemi Challenger when they come out or maybe an '07 Shelby GT) and invest the majority of the remaining money.

Actually, you can find reasonably affordable ferraris if you really want one. There are quite a few old 308s around my area, a friend of mine had one for a while. You can find a decent used ferrari for less than the cost of a new porsche (and you can’t swing a dead cat around here without hitting a couple of new porsches). Many of the hard core ferrari owners are always chasing the latest model, so the resale prices aren’t really that high (unless you are looking for a rare vintage car).

Personally, I would prefer several 60/70 vintage porsche models to anything ferrari has sold recently (lots of power and technology, not so much character). I have no interest in ricers, or any post-60s domestics (they’re just appliances IMHO).

For everyday driving, I like my VW diesel. I really don’t want a car that stands out. I want to be just one of the crowd.

For fun stuff, I think I would like a Boxter. On the other hand if Mazda would put a small rotary engine in a Miata … Zoom Zoom Zoom.

i apoligize for the confusion, i’m not asking celica or ferrai i’m asking which type you’d prefer money aside, i have my dream car and its not a ferrai thats what we argued about, to clarify, do you want a high end/exterme luxery car or a import with some sweet mods?

Nailed down, it’s a no brainer. I’d take the high end performance or luxury car any day of the week.

I’ll take a 612 Scaglietti, thank you very much.

If you are not satified with what the manufacturer produces, you can take your Mercedes to AMG, your Porsche to Ruf, or your BMW to Alpina and have them modify the car. As far as I know, Ferraris are good enough to begin with that there are no aftermarket tuners.

Any of these cars is far more desirable, stock or modified, than any Celica. (Of course, they have price tags to match.)

There are in fact Ferrari tuners. HAMANN is one, works on the 612 Scaglietti, F430 et al. Novitec Rosso also mods ferrari’s, and ferrari modifies their own cars as well to produce faster versions of existing cars.

And for the record, given an unrestricted budget, I wouldn’t buy anything that didn’t come out of germany, sweden(koenigsegg), England, or italy, and that had any less than 300hp and swaths of factory carbon fiber.

High end cars are a pain to maintain, and attract too much unwanted attention. I’ll stick to my under-the-radar sports cars.

There is a middle ground - MINI Cooper - Miata - those things are about as much fun to drive on normal roads as a high end car like a Ferrari - but the they cost a fraction of the price and not all that much more than a Celica - but they are a million times more fun to drive. You can spend relatively modest amounts of money to get more performance from them.

I would take a 1979 Camero with a 454 big block and every mod possible… Mmmmm…

Price no object? I’d say a Bugatti Veyron would be a nice ride. I’m not much into modifying stuff. I’ll upgrade a sound system because I know how and what, but all these ground effects, neon lights, silly exhaust cans, air intakes, etc. Nope. Not interested, and not convinced they do much good anyway.

You’ll notice that in the collector car world the closer to unmodified stock a car is, the higher the price. Factory options are one thing, aftermarket stuff almost always lowers value in the long run.

My take is that in recent years with the advent of computer technology, the performance of most high end products when compared to those mass produced, is less. Whether it be stereo equipment or cars, the performance difference is not as great as it used to be. The choice is more a matter personal choice and prestige than actual difference. The differences that do exist are more imaginary or unusable than practical. That a 12 cyl in a $100k car accelerates faster than say a Dodge Hemi or even a Camery Hybrid is not a practical difference, when in a collision, you may be just as safe in a Dodge or Camry. It’s an illusion for the rich and famous…

I would prefer a Studebaker (either a Lark Daytona or a GT Hawk, circa 1963) with the R-3 engine, thank you.

Oh, and by the way, that Italian car is spelled FERRARI.

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i FULLY AGREE!

i used to own a ford focus. arguably the BEST HANDLING CAR in its category and for the price, when introduced. in the 5 years i owned it, i never flogged all 130 of the horses more than a dozen times.

BUT, i exploited and fully enjoyed its CORNERING ABILITIES nearly all the time. when you can carry more speed thru turns, you do not NEED gobs of power to re-accelerate. (unless you’re into drifting.)

the focus was replaced with a more reliable corolla, which still boasts just a mere 128 hp. it did not handle as well as the focus. on a corolla owners’ site, i found that the most effective performance upgrade was simply a set of upgrade tires and rims.

having done that, i find the corolla now handles even better than the focus did. i can zoom thru a traffic circle posted at 15 mph at 30 - 35 mph. thru another arm, at 40! and this isn’t even a real sports car.

i suppose have it “riced,” with the wheels, but just minimally. i can fully believe the fast and furious types CAN rice out honda civics to actually embarrass corvettes.

I WOULD be perfectly satisfied with a Celica GT.

now, if price were no object, i’d still just settle for a honda s2000… paired with a lexus ls460hL.

a major factor in any choice of course, is related to where one lives.
if one is in an area where there are wide open spaces and sparse traffic, one can easily justify a Ferrari or Lambo or even a Bugatti. (downside for those who make these choices largely to show off: not as many folk around to be admiring you!)

if you live in an urban area where you will NEVER see your engine hit redline in top gear, such vehicles are a TOTAL WASTE as performance cars. they’re great on the other hand, for posing and parading around. but all the PERFORMANCE POTENTIAL is totally wasted, yet you still PAY for it.

while where i live is actually closer to the 1st than 2nd situation, i still prefer low to modest performance cars. simply because it is FAR MORE FUN driving a “slow” car fast, than trying to have fun with a fast car and staying out of jail!

every fast machine i’ve had, i could only see redline thru the first 3 or so gears, then be forced to short shift to top. i still do that on occasion, but attracting far less unwanted attention. (except when on my bike)