Damn. I happen to be one of said engineers and my wife and I are strongly considering the addition of a special color Golf-R. That being said I really am not a fan of the refresh and would prefer to pick up a gently used one :|

That would require an actual M car (i.e. M2/M3 parts) - not just some tack on bits.

Bingo - isn’t the water brought to near boiling temp anyway! Not paying extra for a cup of Starbucks crap when I get similar Starbucks branded sludge onboard.

Bingo. Not saying someone needs to own one, but there is no denying it is a fun car to spend a day in.

I have driven the M5 with the SMG software tune, basically driven like a manual sans clutch. Still not an experience I would pay for personally. 

SMG is a no-go, as is NEVER DRIVING THE CAR. I recognize that parking spot hah

100% of my car purchases have occurred well before I realistically should have considered them - I blame the SF housing struggle. To that end I should be considering a 996 GT3 soon (huge stretch), instead the house down payment fund continues to grow

This. Put them on something deserving of such wheels

Not lately - no way that would survive East Bay roads haha. Hoping to see it in action in Monterey later this year.

I used to regularly see a guy piloting his Pagani space shuttle on 280S. The rarest lately has been a BMW 2002 hatchback widebody - absolute beauty.

Far from nightmarish, but I have general angst when it comes to test drives where the ‘gas empty’ light is permanently on - which seems to be 90% of them.

I may be bias, but yes. 

Let me know if the slow car fast mantra loses its luster. I moved up to a ~350HP car after owning an FR-S for 50K miles and often use my wife’s ND Miata. Frankly neither offers enough oomph to satisfy that occasional mashing of the pedal - the Lotus Elise did deliver that...

Cherry picked a few of the lower end examples - note that BaT charges an additional fee above the “auction price” that should be tacked on for a true out-the-door price.

Z4M Coupe market is on the rise - NP if you have the time to part this out and return it to a closer to stock form! A very desirable exterior/interior combination and judging off this guys modification taste he is not much of a driver.

Awesome, a Lotus and driving fanatic is not a person to ask purchasing advice indeed - but I’m already dipping my feet into the pool.

How has long term reliability and ownership of the Lotus(s?) been? I am considering swapping out the BMW Z4MC for one as the fun car. The driving experience is sublime, the consumables cheaper except for the nagging fiberglass issue...

I am still not sure if this is my forever car, it is a serious LOVE / HATE relationship where I question selling it every few months. That generally ends in a spirited drive or track day where I proclaim never to sell it.

What other cars were you cross shopping? The seats, shifter, etc. felt sublime - wondering how it compares to the Golf R and Focus RS. No desire for the corolla looking WRX.

No surprise the majority of those egregious markup examples are in California. The car culture tax is certainly real