| Author | Message | ||
     sportsnut Citizen Username: Sportsnut Post Number: 486 Registered: 10-2001 |
I went to play golf last Tuesday at a semi-private course in Somerset county. It is not very expensive to join and most "members" are associate - meaning they pay somewhere around $800 for the right to make tee times. I've been a member there off and on for the past five years now and I have always been amazed at the cars parked in the parking lot there. It is not a Hummer/Escalade crowd. However, this past week when I pulled up I saw two cars that made me shake my head. One was a Ferrari Testarossa, probably about ten years old or so in mint condition. Two spots away I saw a car that I had never seen before a Ferrari 456M http://www.edmunds.com/new/2003/ferrari/456m/index.html?tid=edmunds.n.mmindex.co ntent.num2.0.ferrari* What a beautiful car. In the parking lot there were the usual assortment of high end cars but nothing in that league. Then the week before I was in Paul Miller in Parsippany again on a Tuesday evening. This time it was pouring rain outside and to my amazement the showroom was SRO. You couldn't get to a sales person. On a Tuesday night in the rain people were lined up to test drive boxters, GT-3s, 911 Turbos - you name it. Then I see in my neighborhood people still swooping in to purchase houses and pay taxes that are extraordinary and I wonder where all this money comes from. I know we are supposed to be in a recessionary economy but it seems to me that there is still lots of money going around. | ||
| jet Citizen Username: Jet Post Number: 240 Registered: 7-2001 |
If you really want to scatch your head about the recession, cruise by Basilico on a Friday nite just before dark, a guy brings a Enzo by. | ||
| tjohn Citizen Username: Tjohn Post Number: 1686 Registered: 12-2001  |
This is irresistable. Pretty clearly, we are seeing the effects of the Bush tax cuts for the wealthy.  | ||
| sportsnut Citizen Username: Sportsnut Post Number: 487 Registered: 10-2001 |
Jet - I had seen that car around and I was wondering what it was. Is it a dark colored car? Ferraris are truly beautiful pieces of machinery. Which leads me to this - What are the ugliest cars on the road today? IMO the Pontiac Aztec and the Honda Element are the two worst offenders in my book, followed closely by the Prius. Strictly aesthetically speaking, of course. | ||
| bobk Supporter Username: Bobk Post Number: 3327 Registered: 5-2001 |
Sportsnut, Notehead is going to be all over you like a cheap suit for the Prius remark.  The thing that has me scratching my head isn't that there are some who can afford these cars, but what the heck two of them were doing at such a relatively modest club. The cars belong at Baltustrol (sp?) or, more likely because it isn't old money, Fiddler's Elbow. LOL | ||
| Nohero Citizen Username: Nohero Post Number: 2008 Registered: 5-2001  |
There does seem to be some kind of contest among the automakers, to see who can design the ugliest car that removes the most money from the purchaser. I mean, face it, the Hummer isn't getting by on its looks, right? I agree about the Aztec (which doesn't seem to know what it wants to be) and the Honda Element. I'd add that Infiniti FX45 (sort of a streamlined SUV, that winds up looking like a station wagon on steroids), and the Cadillac version of the SUV/pickup combo (Escalade?). The new Prius looks like a neat little streamlined number, though, and seems really practical for us car commuters. | ||
| jet Citizen Username: Jet Post Number: 241 Registered: 7-2001 |
Sportsnut, Thats it, its dark blue. In my opinion it's one of the ugliest Ferraris ever built . The man that it is named for would probably agree, Enzo also hated the latest version of the Testarosa. I do find it appalling that someone drives around Millburn in a car that is worth close to a million dollars, especially if it's a "BLUE" Ferrari. | ||
| Hank Zona Citizen Username: Hankzona Post Number: 711 Registered: 3-2002 |
The way people drive in Millburn, I dont think Id drive a million dollar car around there. | ||
| notehead Citizen Username: Notehead Post Number: 676 Registered: 5-2001  |
Hey, sportsnut's opinions about car aesthetics are fine with me. I think the Prius is cute, in a 4-door kind of way, but it doesn't compete at all with quite a lot of other cars aesthetically. I agree that the Aztec is definitely a contender for ugliest car on the road. I think one of the nicest-looking models in production right now is the Audi TT . So sleek and refined. BMW's interiors are gorgeous, while VW's are funky. Cars have become viewed as such an expression of one's identity, though, it's ridiculous. Obviously it's very subjective. In my opinion: if you want to say "I'm an environmentalist and I hate petroleum and I'm a bit of a tightwad" then you buy a Prius. If you want to say "I make enough money to indulge a cultivated aesthetic," you buy a TT or nice Beemer or perhaps a Porsche. If you want to say "I lay awake nights terrified that somebody, somewhere might not know that the universe exists solely for my gratification" then you buy a Hummer. | ||
| sportsnut Citizen Username: Sportsnut Post Number: 489 Registered: 10-2001 |
Yes, no one would ever confuse a prius with a porsche, but they were not designed to be comparable. A prius is great for what it is, environmentally friendly transportation. Me, I go for the cultivated aesthetic. I forgot to add the Hummer as one of the ugliest cars out there. I never was a big fan of the TT until I saw a greyish-black one yesterday on Prospect. It was a coupe and it was a very nice car. I don't like the Enzo either, but the 456M was sweet, although I'd be hard pressed to get about 10 miles to the gallon. | ||
| jet Citizen Username: Jet Post Number: 242 Registered: 7-2001 |
I guess more than a few people think the Hummer is ugly, so much so that somebody torched about 10 of them at a California dealership. | ||
| mem Citizen Username: Mem Post Number: 1910 Registered: 5-2001  |
Can someone explain why anyone would even want a Hummer (car)? | ||
| jet Citizen Username: Jet Post Number: 243 Registered: 7-2001 |
It's a good place to put a home theater in. | ||
| nova87 Citizen Username: Nova87 Post Number: 267 Registered: 6-2001 |
Have you seen the commercial where that guy drives that fictitious Hummer type SUV around rattling off all of the options it has? That is why people buy them. Have you seen the fake mountain that the dealers have set up so that you can drive the car at some steep angles? That would come in handy in suburbia, no? | ||
| mem Citizen Username: Mem Post Number: 1911 Registered: 5-2001 |
Yes, especially when trying to park in front of Kings. | ||
| thegoodsgt Citizen Username: Thegoodsgt Post Number: 273 Registered: 2-2002 |
To quickly get back to the issue of money.... My wife and I have wondered how couples our age (in their 30s) can afford homes in M/SO. It's not so much the monthly mortgage and tax payments as it is the downpayment. Figure the average home is at least $300K, so 20 percent down requires $60K. Have people in this age bracket really saved that much money, or does it come as an inheritance or a gift from family? Maybe I'm just underestimating the wealth that people are able to accumulate. And back to the the ugly car question.... I think most cars on the road these days look remarkably similar and generally uninteresting (the Ferrari and Hummer excepted, of course). | ||
| paddy Citizen Username: Paddy Post Number: 125 Registered: 5-2001 |
Don't need 20% down payment. Some mortgages require as little as 3% but many buying houses put down 10% and finance the other 10% or pay the mortgage insurance. | ||
| sportsnut Citizen Username: Sportsnut Post Number: 490 Registered: 10-2001 |
In our case (first time homebuyers at 34) we qualified for 100% financing but opted to put 5% down on our home. Four years later we have approximately 40% equity in our home. I think if you have large enough annual income/cash flow you can take the plunge with minimal amounts down. We also borrowed money from our 401k to fund part of the down payment. It was risky but worth it. We lucked out in that we purchased in 1999 right before the stock market crashed. We took money out of the 401K that would have eroded due to the market and repaid ourselves at an 8% rate. We were fortunate enough to continue to contribute to our 401k as well as pay back the loans. That leads me back to a similar question about wealth. What is considered wealthy? Family of four with 150K in annual income? 200K? 300K? I know people who earn less than 100K combined and have kids - I don't know how they do it. I guess they are not the ones buying these kinds of cars. Back to cars - I love nice cars. I really like in no particular order: BMW 8 series, Jaguar XK convertibles, Porsche 911s, BMW 3 and 5 series, A4s (prior to new body style), Corvettes etc. | ||
| bobk Supporter Username: Bobk Post Number: 3329 Registered: 5-2001 |
I love my Hummer and it is very practical for towing my 105mm Howitzer. Also it is great in ice and snow. Why just last winter during the big snow I flatened a Prius on the way to the train station and didn't even notice. You guys are just jealous.  | ||
| Nohero Citizen Username: Nohero Post Number: 2010 Registered: 5-2001 |
As I drive along, I don't know whether to look up, so I see the Hummer in time, or look down, so I don't run into one of those Mini Coopers. I suggest that the official car of Maplewood Village should be a Hummer, with a Mini tied on the back in case the Hummer breaks down. |
