Bugatti driver learns a lesson...

[cartwheels]

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20091113/ap_ ... on_bugatti

Cell phones and driving are a bad combination... I'll remember this the next time my phone rings and I'm driving!

[evolutionmovement]

I love how the idiot left the engine running for 15 minutes before the engine died from hyper-hydration. I love that we live in a society with values so out of whack that they allow for the overcompensation of such obviously stupid people to the degree that they can afford an overweight 7-figure car.

[mike-tracy]

Now he gets a brand new engine, instead his rebuilt, I would imagine.

[PhyrraM]

I seem to recall reading that many of these overpriced supercars are purchased/financed by folks who can't even afford to fix them when they break or need work. Another manifestion of pre-economic-crash gluttony.

Either way...no sympathy.

[evolutionmovement]

That's why exotic values tend to plummet—they're only fashionable when they're the latest thing, so the rich don't want them and the middle class can't afford their maintenance costs even if they can afford the fairly cheap buy-in. Some opt to try anyway and the car ends up neglected with a big repair bill due or looming when they sell it off in desperation to the next sappy dreamer. This usually goes for 20 years or so until they're no longer old junk to the rich, but "classics" and they get saved. Some special cars avoid the death cycle (McLaren F1, Ferrari F40, etc.), some (usually not very good ones or prohibitively expensive maintenance ones) are never considered classic enough for their value to rise (Rolls-Royce Silver Shadow II, Ferrari 400/412, etc.), some find a nice equilibrium of affordability of purchase/maintenance and desirability that they tend to stay at (Maserati Khamsin, Lamborghini Espada, etc.), but many never make it out of the death spiral alive. At least it's better today as people save everything because they've "learned" from the mistakes of people past, be it antiques, pop art, or cars. Problem is, those things are also so valuable today precisely because few people saved them. What are the Death of Superman comic or Elvis stamps worth today?

[PhyrraM]

The only one I would cry over is the McLaren. It was the first truely polished supercar. All the Ferraris and Lambos before it were full of "accepted" comprimises. The F1 was supposedly comfortable and docile while doing it's daily chores. Even got decent mileage when tooling around town. And it's still one of the best lookers.

I'll be keeping my eye on the Ford GTs. But I'm sure they will always be valued because 1) the maintenance costs will always be low, 2) it's actually a pretty good car, and 3) there are so many Mustang fanboi dreamers that will keep trading them....Kinda like Shelby Mustangs.

I wonder what the Elise market will do? Toyota motor......



I don't know....what is a Death of Superman worth? ........nothing until it's sold....and those that think they are worth something won't sell it.

I always got a kick out of the shear irony of folks that brag how much thier "collection" or "set" is worth. I always retort "nothing, unless you sell it", knowing full well that they will never actually sell it.

[evolutionmovement]

Aw, dammit, you reminded me! I saw an Elise go for 21k on friggin' ebay last week. I hear good things about the reliability (and rust is almost a non-issue), but that's from the same sources that continually tout the "quality" of VWs, so who knows. I liked the F1 as well and I think the Elise is one of the only intelligent cars being made.

My point about the Superman thing is that all the tools bought it thinking it would be worth a fortune, like the early issues, when they fail to realize that comics were basically trash to people back then, some even used them as toilet paper, and the paper drives of WWII eliminated almost all of them, hence the value. The death of Superman will never be worth much since they sold a shit ton of them and most of them are being kept in their original plastic and all that. I'm not a comic book guy, but my friend is and I learned all that during a conversation where we both ranted about assbag speculators—him with them crashing the comic book market by driving up prices and driving down quality and me about the similar thing with the classic and exotics market in the early 90's. Yeah, we're fun at parties, too!

[PhyrraM]

NastiCock IS good for something every now and again.

http://jalopnik.com/5404403/exclusive-v ... texas-lake

[AWD_addict]

This is a lesson for everyone. We should all watch out for pelicans, salt water lagoons, and video-recording kids who can't identify supercars. Cell phones are OK, if not combined with the above.

[magicmike]

he just had the wrong angle. Fast forward this vid to 4:47
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HdcIhqO6G9Y

[Legacy777]

This has been all over the news down here.....

[93forestpearl]

I'd drive a Veyron. There's something to be said about a car that drives at 150 mph like it does at 30.

[Mattheww044]

very nice car, dumb driver haha. That video is awesome BTW haha

[epicfail]

I saw an Elise go for 21k on friggin' ebay last week. I hear good things about the reliability

Lotus actually made the engine more reliable than in a Toyota car with the addition of an oil cooler.