I Did a Thing - But I have a question.

So I did a thing.  I have been looking for a new to me  fun car for a while.  Today I sealed the deal. I will pick it up Monday or Tuesday depending on if I have time.   
 

The question I have for you all is do you just want to know what I got or are you interested in the process and the narrowing field of cars I was looking at and testing and then what my ultimate choice was and why. It was a process that started 6 months ago with a single car that expanded to at least seven possible cars that over time became three and then today I sealed the deal.  
 

Some notes. My budget was around 50k. I could go higher if I want. I was not capping my self there it just seemed like a nice round number. Manual trans was high on my list but there was at least one automatic trans car I was looking at.  No computer controlled manual car was considered.  (I am looking at you BMW). Number of seats was not important. Age not important. Performance numbers were not important.
 

What this was all about,  and it was solely based on, was smiles per mile. How much fun can I have with it. The car also has to have that special intangible "thing" that every car guy/gal can not explain to non car people. 
 

So what would you like to read. Just spill the beans now and take an abbreviated retrospective look at the process?  Do you want a more in depth look at the wide range of things I was looking at?  Do you want to know and why cars were cut from the list until it came down to the final three and my eventual pick?  
 

Ideally: Start with the reveal of the final car, and sale/pickup adventure. Then go back to the initial car, what drove you to expand the field. Wrap up by going through each of the others you x'ed off the list, with how the final choice did whatever better for your SPG .

I'd read the whole story.

Oh. I like SPG.  Much better than SPM. ;-). 

Oh an the number of cylinders ranged from 4 to 12. 

Where is your lotus elan?

In reply to dean1484 :

Always up for a fun car thread.  I mean "cylinders ranged from 4 to 12" really narrows down the field.  

So, what porsche is it? 

Mndsm said:

So, what porsche is it? 

I am taking the 5th at the moment.  But there were more than a couple P cars that are part of the story. In fact the story starts with a P car. 

I'm in for the whole story. 

Yeah I like to hear perspectives on why this why not that. Not revealing until the end that it's a VW Thing is a fun way to keep the guessing going

Pontiac G8 V8 manual as the first P car?

Datsun240ZGuy said:

Pontiac G8 V8 manual as the first P car?

The mullet was the ultimate chick magnet back when I was in my all things Pontiac phase. 

Anticipating the whole process story!

Viper?

I'd subscribe to that newsletter. 

I'm gonna guess that you started out for a near new Cayman or better yet a Cayman S and then much to your own surprise ended up with a C8 Corvette.  

If I were ordering new, I would go with a Cayman and to keep the price down I would stick with no additional charge white color.  Some Porsche colors can be $5k-$12k more!!!  I probably stick to a zero option car and add some subtle aftermaket Martini rocker stripes but with no words/brand logo.  

I think that is a Cayman GT4 with aggressive front and rear spoilers.  I would not have those but you get the idea for rocker stripes.  

I wrote up the long version but the short version of this is I narrowed it down to:

2004 DB7 (v12 Manual convertible)

2005 997.1 Carrara 

There was a gathering of car guys at my local car shop Friday and there were a half dozen cars free to test drive. It was an invite only thing. No walk in by the public.  Drove both of the cars their. The extremely short version is I did not fit in the DB7 and the Carrara was boring. Both were really nice cars but just not for me. 
 

Then on a lark I took the 2008 M5 for an extended test drive.  This is a factory manual car not a dsg car. It was the car. Yes it is a mid size sedan but when you drive it it feels like a much smaller sports car and a high reving V10 is surprisingly similar to a high reving 4. All the power is it the top of the reverse range. 
 

The rod bearings have been done as has the pump. It just had a complete service so it should be good to go for another 60k or so. 
 

I have written up a summary of my car hunt and I will post it up in a second thread in a day or three.  I have a fair amount to say about modern Porsche cars and the DB7 and why I landed where I did. 
 

This car is not the best at anything but it is so very good at so much it is a fantastic street car. So much fun to drive. Extremely comfortable you feel like you are driving a much smaller sports car but it can carry 4 adults and there luggage.  A quick photo of the car. 
 

I will pick it up later in the week. Should have it registered before next weekend. 

Oooo, the noise those make....

The German version of a CTS-V......oh wait there it is,good on you.

Mmmm, looking forward to the sound clips as you find the perfect exhaust for that v10 to sing you the song of it's Bavarian people.

It is really an amazing car.  It has no business to driving like such a small sports car as it does.  The V10 really adds to the sports car feel as well.  I knew it as soon as I drove it that I was going to get it.  I have now driven it for 2-3 hours and it is such an amazing car.

For me it has that "thing" you can not really describe.

I will say if I fit in the DB7 I would have got that.  The noises that V12 makes are something extraordinary.  The DB7 is a much more old-school car.  It gets all kinds of attention.

The DB7 was the car my wife wanted to get.   I am going to look at a tin-top version in a week or so so who knows?    

So here is a question.  There doesnt seem to be a huge price jump from the 08s to the 16s which was the last year of the M/T.  My buddy has a '16 M5 and its a real sweetheart.  What spoke to you about the '08 that the '16 didn't?

How many miles does this specimen have?  That steering wheel wear would drive me bonkers.  

The older cars feel more analog. The newer cars have a more sanitized feel. More like the newer 911.
 

Then there is a normally aspirated V10. NA V10 and V12 motors that are built to rev have a feeling all there own.  Turbo V8 cars are fun. I have one but they feel very different than a NA V8 and nothing like a V10 or V12. With modern turbos you loose that feeling completely as there goal is to broaden the torque curve as much as possible. Where as the NA V10 feels like a V8 up until 4500 RPM and then it comes alive all the way up to 8k. is it faster?  No but if you are measuring it by smiles per mile the NA V10 is by far the better choice. 
 

All of what I have just said is very subjective. The later cars are still fantastic cars.
 

Not sure if you know this but I dd a 2012 cls550 that has a little bit of a tune. To me the later M5 starts to feel a lot more like my cls. The E60 has a light feeling that gives you the illusion that it is a much smaller car.  
 

The e60 still feels like a sports car where as the later cars feel more like a GT car to me. 
 

Lastly the E60 manual cars seem to have bottomed out price wise. They may even be starting to go up. I don't think that is the case yet for the newer M5. I figured I should buy while they are still affordable.  I was told yesterday that a identical car to mine sold on BAT for around 60k two days after I purchased mine. That is quite a bit more than what I paid for mine. 

Tell us about "the sound".  Does it make it?

(This car, at least as depicted in Gran Tourismo, had a crazy exhaust sound at full throttle)