[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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