Ferrari 458: The wagers of sin, or fun with schadenfreude

I think we all understand the psychology surrounding rich guys and their exotic cars. Simply put, we hate them. If not hate, then we – i.e., non-rich, non-exotic-car driving plebes (Ask me about my Subaru Forester!) – feel intense jealousy. But our emotions are conflicted, because we don’t want to live in a world without Ferraris and Aston Martins, and so somebody has to buy them. We only resent that “they” are not “we.”

Rarely has the envy, jealously and schadenfreude taken so ugly a turn as it has with www.wreckedexotics.com’s contest betting on the date of the first crash involving the new Ferrari 458. The 458 Italia – a stunning, heartrending beauty of a sports car, the successor of the F430 – will officially debut at the Frankfurt auto show this month and will go on sale in summer 2010. Wreckedexotics.com is offering $500 to the person who comes closest to guessing the date the first 458 will get augered into an innocent tree or parking meter. It’s kind of like an office pool for the delivery date of a colleague’s baby, but this is betting the baby will be ugly.

According to wreckedexotics.com – a deeply demented website that specializes in photos of pranged mega-buck cars – the F430 has been involved in 96 documented crashes since 2004. The 360 Modena has been involved in 403 crashes since 1999 – which tells me the F430 drivers aren't trying hard enough.

By the way, put me down for April 18, 2010. April is the cruelest month, after all.

-- Dan Neil

Photo credit: Ferrari 

 

Dan Neil's 'clunker as classic' (cont.)

The mail is coming in, fast and furious, from readers responding to my story today on clunkers that could be potential classics. Some disagree on the choices, others want to nominate some beloved hunk of junk. It's hard to boil down 25 years of automotive history to just five worthies. In the interests of completeness, I'm offering another five cars that I believe will emerge as collectibles. 

Early 1990s-era Jaguar XJS – The collectible mentality would prefer the first year-of-issue for a particular model, but the ravishing XJS Coupe, which debuted in 1975, got many improvements in subsequent years that made the cars more driveable. This car, broad and low and ineffably British, with its distinctive flying buttresses (thanks to Jag penman Geoff Lawson), packs a visual wallop on the road today that can’t be denied. As for the convertible, just say no. There were a few six-cylinder, five-speed cars imported in the early 1990s – cars I loved – but I expect that those have by now drawn the attention of serious Jag collectors.

1988 Buick Reatta – Another easy call. A tidy and elegant two-seat sport tourer (1988-1991), the Reatta was unloved in its day – GM’s management couldn’t figure out how to market the car to traditional Buick customers – but it was, on balance, about the best thing GM produced in those years: virtually hand-built, with cutting-edge electronics and instruments on board. The waffling over a decent engine meant the car never clicked with enthusiasts, however, and the techy displays alienated the core clientele. I saw one last month and was astonished again at how lost and disoriented the company was then.

1997 Volvo 850 R Wagon – Ridiculously fast, hugely versatile and as safe as a bomb shelter, the 850 R wagon is one of the unappreciated treasures of 1990s car-building. Based on the highly advanced 850 sedan, the car had side-impact airbags as standard equipment when those were practically unheard of. With all-wheel drive and a 240 horsepower light-turbo five-cylinder engine, low-profile tires and stiff, racy suspension (with passive rear-steer) the 850 R is in many ways the perfect and ultimate Volvo. Boxy, with attitude.

1992 Subaru SVX – Subaru was soul-searching with this car (1992-1997), and discovered in the fullness of time its soul resided elsewhere than the Italian-designed luxury GT market. Even so, the artifact of the SVX is a tremendous automobile. Designed by Giorgetto Giugiaro’s ItalDesign studio, the car featured the distinctive greenhouse with the power window fitted into the glass canopy. The glass-on-glass still turns heads today. Under the hood was a heavily breathed-on 3.3-liter flat six (230 hp) buttoned to Subaru’s proprietary all-wheel drive system. The car suffered a bit because of the high price and the lack of a manual transmission, but connoisseurs love this car.

Late 1980s Saab 900 SPG Convertible – These are among the most collectible of Saabs – a short list, admittedly – and so you might have to search a bit to find one under the $4,500 clunker threshold. But you can’t find a more charismatic, distinctive open-top car for twice the money. It would be nice to find an example with the less problematic Mitsubishi turbochargers (replacing the Garretts). A beautiful car that only gets lovelier with age.

-- Dan Neil

Photo of Jaguar XJS from Jaguar; photo of Volvo 850 R Wagon from Volvo; photo of Subaru SVX from Subaru

Related stories: Which of today's clunkers will become tomorrow's classic cars?
GALLERY: Clunker today, classic tomorrow

Dan Neil reflects: Bob Lutz and me

The news that Vice Chairman Bob Lutz is retiring from General Motors reminds me of that wonderful quote of Voltaire’s: “He was a great patriot, a humanitarian, a loyal friend -- provided, of course, that he really is dead.”

I’ve had the pleasure of spending some hours wreathed in the smoke from Lutz’s robusto cigars and, of course, I’ve followed his career closely. We’ve had some vigorous exchanges, dating back to when I was freelancing for the New York Times. In a review in that paper in 2003, I did my level best to drub the awful 2004 Pontiac Grand Prix, a car I called “clumsy and contrived” –- I also said it looked like it was wearing a Hitler mustache. Lutz, who had been trumpeting the Grand Prix as the precious spark of a new creative fire at Pontiac, demanded my head on a platter, Salome-like. And then we got into this weird colloquy about what did and did not constitute a front strut brace. It was wonderful.

My most infamous run-in with Lutz was occasioned by a review –- well, on reflection, a rant -– in this paper in 2006 about the Pontiac G6, which seemed then and now a small disaster of a car. At the time, the message out of GM was that the G6 was “Lutz’s car,” the first the company’s product czar really had a hand in. On the basis of that claim, I called for the cashiering of Lutz and/or GM Chairman Rick Wagoner. You can read the story here.

Thus quoteth I: “This is an uncompetitive product, an assertion borne out not by my say-so but by sales numbers. When ball clubs have losing records, players and coaches and managers get their walking papers. At GM, it’s time to sweep the dugout.”

That didn’t go over well, apparently. That week, GM pulled its national advertising out of the L.A. Times. To the credit of the editors then, the paper stood by the review and eventually GM’s advertising came back.

And yet, Lutz and I have always seemed to get along personally. We spent a fine evening together at Goodwood in 2005, arguing about global warming and the company’s disastrous pursuit of the LeMans championship. I met his utterly charming wife, and he mine. He has sent e-mails to compliment me on one turn of phrase or another. And no, I am not immune to the man’s charisma.

Tuners agree: Nissan 370Z is Z winner and still champion

It's nice when the hometown auto show occasions the global debut of a new car, nicer still when that car is the stuff of fanboy legend. A few days before last week's L.A. Auto Show -- when the redesigned 2009 Nissan 370Z was still  squirreled away under the silk sheets somewhere -- we got a hold of the car for a few days of testing and flogging.

The review will appear Dec. 5 in the dead tree edition, but here's the early juice: The car gains some much needed horsepower (now to 332 hp out of Nissan's evergreen V6 engine). The new Z is lighter and stiffer. The clunky crossbar brace in back is gone. The styling is more aggressive and flamboyant. And the car's six-speed manual offers a fantastic new feature that blips the throttle heel-and-toe style when you downshift. There are a lot of sequential gearboxes and automatics that do this, but this is the first gated shifter so equipped. Now I can wear my Allen Edmonds.

In the video we take the car to visit members of its core audience, the techs at FastAuto Works tuner shop in Arcadia. Check it out.

-- Dan Neil

Top 10 turkeys of the L.A. Auto Show

The L.A. Auto Show runs through Thanksgiving weekend, which seems appropriate, because there is a lot of turkey on the show’s menu. From Honda’s hydrogen-powered hypercar -- a guess that’s tofurkey, of a sort -- to a huge, steroid infused, poultry-yellow Rolls-Royce that is lacking only a wattle, the show’s collection of large, flightless birds is certainly worth a, um, gander.

I know, I know. You’re stuffed. You’ve loosened your belt, maybe even undone your trousers … ahhh. But perhaps there’s room for one … more … tiny …morsel?

>>Click here for the complete list: Top 10 turkeys of the L.A. Auto Show. After-dinner chit-chat can commence in the comments section.

-- Dan Neil

Photo: Honda's tofurkey, er, FC Sport concept. Credit: Gabriel Bouys / AFP / Getty Images

L.A. Auto Show: Saab 9X Air BioHybrid Concept

Saab is one of the world’s most charismatic brands and has the potential to be a huge hit for GM in the U.S. It's the four-wheeled delivery system for Euro chic, minimalistic style, green consciousness, all that good stuff.

It’s just too bad that the Trollhattan, Sweden-based firm is being starved of development dollars -– or krona –- and is actually on the block due to GM’s current cash worries. It doesn't help that Saab sales are down 31% for the first 10 months of 2008.

As a Saab fan, I feel the loss most keenly when I look at the Saab 9X Air BioHybrid Concept, the glitzy show-car version of a B-platform Saab 9-1 (Around the size of a BMW 1-series). The BioHybrid powertrain -– that is, a dual-mode gas-electric with flex-fuel capacity –- is already in GM’s pipeline. But the likelihood that the 9-1 will get built is small, and the possibility that it might include this gorgeous, hard-to-build canopy top is slim-to-none. But ooftah, is that cool.

-- Dan Neil

L.A. Auto Show: 2009 Lambo Gallardo LP 560-4 Spyder

Derivatives have gotten a bad name lately but the Lamborghini Gallardo LP 560-4 Spyder should help change that. A drop-top version of the Lambo Gallardo coupe — powered by the same direct-injection, 5.2-liter, 560-hp V-10 bucket of sin — the Spyder is called, with Lambo's light touch of understatement, a "dynamic experience of unparalleled intensity."

In addition to the convertible top, the rear end of the car has been redesigned to accentuate its "horizontality," according to design director Manfred Fitzgerald. Translation: new taillights.

Meanwhile, Lambo remains the company that care forgot. The company chalked up 2,406 sales worldwide in 2007, and the company is on pace for another record-breaking year in sales, turnover and profit margin. Lambo will sell 80 to 90 cars in China this year. Now that's a planned economy I can get behind.

—Dan Neil

Photos: Lamborghini

For photos of production cars from the L.A. Auto Show, click here.

L.A. Auto Show: For VW, never mind the icebergs, full speed ahead

Declaring that VW "will control what it can control," VW of America President and Chief Executive Stefan Jacoby promised that the company would not back down "one inch" -- or 26 mm -- from the North American market. VW's U.S. sales have declined 6% for the year, but Jacoby noted that VW's market share is up 14% on the strength of new products, including Routan minivan, Tiguan CUV, Jetta TDI sedan and Jetta TDI SportWagon and CC coupe/sedan.

Mitsubishi iMiEV: Name that EV for fun and prizes

I-MEEV? IMEE-E.V.? I-ME-EVE? It's Mitsubishi's coming-soon electric car, due to drop in Japan and Europe in 2010 and then -- if the planets align just so -- in the U.S. soon after. But there's a problem, namely the car's Scrabble box moniker. The company is desperate to think of some name -- any name -- that will play better in the English-speaking world.

You can see this car -- and the sleek fastback Sport concept -- at the L.A. Auto Show beginning Friday.

During testing of the vehicle at El Toro Marine Base on Monday, I promised David Patterson, one of Mitsubishi's senior managers, that I would try to think of a name. And so I propose a contest: Please submit your best idea for a name for this car here in the comments section. I will collect them and submit them to Mitsubishi. If your name is chosen, you will receive a morning of hot laps in the soul-scalding Mitsubishi Evo X with me, Dan Neil, on the Streets of Willow Springs racetrack. Dramamine is complimentary.

Actually, "Willow" is an awesome name for the car! Dibs!

Here's the latest on the project:

EBay cars under $10,000 that beat the pants off a Nissan Versa

Nissan’s announcement last week that it would offer a stripped-down version of its Versa model for under $10,000 -– a Sub-Versa, if you will -– occasioned a lot of media attention and interest, as if there was something to celebrate. To me it sounds like 1.6 liters of boredom, a mouthful of sand to thirsty car-buyers. Please. Ten grand? I can put you in automotive paradise for $10,000. Walk this way.

Go to www.motors.ebay.com and follow the link to “Cars & Trucks.” Don’t specify a make or model but simply order the 50,000 or so listings by price, and use the advanced search function to specify items with a “Buy It Now” price. What you’ll discover is an Elysian field of depreciation as the awesome rides of yesteryear -– in some cases cars that dominated automotive buff book covers just a couple of years ago –- are dispensed with for a fraction of their original sticker. With the recent spike in gas prices and the downturn in the economy, people are eating their cars -– “literally!” as Joe Biden would say.

Yes, these cars are a little older, but if you were to compare, wheel-to-wheel, the new Versa with, say, a 1991 BMW 850i –- a 12-cylinder supercoupe on 18-inch Hamann wheels and with only 47,120 miles on the clock –- well, your head would explode. The Bimmer has more technology in its ashtray.

So before you submit to lowered automotive expectations, consider these choices, all on EBay for $10,000 or less (after the jump):