[thechat] Little white Corvette

Bob Davis bob at bobdavis.org
Tue May 4 18:09:19 CDT 2004


On May 4, 2004, at 3:32 PM, Madhu Menon wrote:

> At 00:56 05/05/2004, Bob Davis wrote:
>> How is getting a Corvette easier than a TVR?
>
> I said it was on my "wish list". Hey, a man's allowed to dream, ain't 
> he? :)
>

Hey - I'm the one wishing for a TVR.

> No, we can't get most of the cars you fellas in the Western countries 
> can get. Several reasons:
>
> 1) They're freakin' expensive. Over there, a mid-range car probably 
> costs you 2-3 months of salary. Here it's about 18 months. Forget 
> about "sports cars".
>

Mid range? Well, I believe the average price for a car here is about 
US$20k, in round numbers. That's a little more than 2-3 months salary 
for most. It is, however, also less than 18 months salary (again, for 
most, I would guess).

Now, an M5 costs around $75k (or did in 2003 - they're skipping them 
for 2004 at least), which is a lot.  It's not too too hard to find a 
house for that much in some parts of the country (just to give you an 
idea of the relative cost of the car).

> 2) You couldn't do much with 'em on our congested and crappy bumpy 
> roads. There aren't too many places inside the city that you could 
> consistently go at even 60 kmph. A low-slung car like a Ferrari would 
> get its bottom horribly scraped here.
>

That's a problem. I know what that's like.

> 3) It's next to impossible to get the high-octane fuel needed to run 
> some of these babies.
>

That would be a serious issue. You pretty much need an engine that'll 
run on anything. Believe it or not, it's not always easy to get high 
octane fuel here! In California, I believe it's impossible to get 
anything higher than 91 octane (our weird average between RON and MON 
-so, pump octane). Here (Texas) I can get 93 (between $1.77 and 
$1.88/gallon). Our diesel sucks. High sulfur, very dirty. VW won't sell 
their cool diesels here because of this.

Ah, well.

I suppose what I'd really like is a Mercedes SLR McLaren (626 hp, air 
conditioning, nice stereo, can drive it every day - Jay Leno has one)

http://www.mercedes-benz.com/com/e/home/products/passengercars/slrclass/

Or a Bugatti Veyron (0-300kph (that's 186 mph, folks) in 14 seconds. 
1001 hp. Ouch.)

http://bugatti-cars.de/bugatti/index.html


If we can dream - dream big!

bob



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