The gas tank is actually sealed AND the car keeps track of average fuel age. It forces an engine start every 6 weeks for general health and burns down the tank when fuel age reaches a year. So Azzy's friend should expect the car to start running whether he wants it to or not very soon.

Craigslist served me up a '97 XK8 w/135k miles, a coolant leak, and an ask of $5800. Cosmetics look good. New tires. As long as coolant leak != "blown head gasket", one would be far, far ahead with it.

It's the more "sensible" choice for sure but the difference is 222hp which is, well, quite a lot.

I much bigger version of that cut away can be found here: http://www.everythingpanam.com/B314.html

That's location dependent. My 360 is 90% ignored in central NJ. A 550 - beautiful though it is - would be invisible. People just don't know what they are.

The one time I had a real problem with the NJ DMV, I found that contacting the office of my local state representative by phone with a FAX follow-up (you *do* know who he or she is, right?) parted the waters post haste. When I returned to the office the following day, the clerk - who had been as helpful as he could,…

Nicholas did not expect an (EDIT: near-)adult to be answering his email. :)

Thanks for that! Not normally a fan of Baruth's writing but that was completely on point.

I'm no AWD expert but my P2 V70R with full snows is nothing short of amazing. I drove up my *very* steep, tight turn driveway after some freezing rain earlier this week like it was dry. Not a single wheel slipped. I've seen AWD Subarus spin their fronts before the rear decides to join in but my Volvo doesn't do…

I'm slightly disturbed by the quality and quantity of facts in this article. It just doesn't feel "DeMuro Enough" to me. :)

Excellent point. An ATS Sedan leases almost exactly like a 320i/320iXdrive. $900 more down on the BMW but (I think) slightly more options. Apples-to-apples is difficult.

Ask my wife how the other women in her mom's group reacted the first time she drove up in the X3. That's what the average 3-series/A4/C Class buyer is looking for.

Sure, but there's always something in these low volume cars that shouldn't break but does anyway. :) I gather the Gallardos are pretty good in that respect compared to contemporary Ferraris.

I spent close to $10k on my 360 in 2 years (probably would have been $12 if I didn't do some work myself) but the long term average hovers around $3k.

I don't know where that number came from but the "conventional wisdom" on Gallardos is to plan for $2k/yr.

Well, you won't hear it from me because I decided new BMWs weren't for me after the E46 M3-blown-engine-blame-the-owners fiasco. Chats with my BMW Service Manager friend do nothing to change my mind. I loved my E36 M3 though and our E30 318is continues to be great.

I saw a GT-R with a license plate "MY PRIUS".

I know an E60 M5->CTS-V convert. Maybe he's a unicorn, I dunno. The M5 was a great honeymoon but the realities of living with horrible range and constant problems took the sheen right off it. He dumped it within months of the warranty expiring.

The make-or-break for these buys is: what kind of on-line community exists for it? Independent service support? A Ferrari 360 is mildly scary but I knew that there's a pretty knowledgeable base of owners as well as enough cars to support a diverse group of independents competing for service. Also, the serious…

I couldn't agree more but you can't run a business selling momentary switches once every 2 years to 0.001% of the population. The Internet killed off any residual hobby activity as a business and Radio Shack became the exception rather than the go-to for any hobby needs. My dad recently reminded me of all the…