verytalldave
MB Enthusiast
Its not all bad news if you read the full article.
Its all slightly academic as far as I am concerned anyway. I could never ever imagine a scenario where I could ever afford a beast like that.
Other than beating the odds of 14,000,000 to 1 and getting the lottery biggy.
Its all slightly academic as far as I am concerned anyway. I could never ever imagine a scenario where I could ever afford a beast like that.
Other than beating the odds of 14,000,000 to 1 and getting the lottery biggy.
I can honestly say that if I had £313,000 it wouldn't go on an SLR or indeed any car! 0-60 in 3.6 seconds and a top speed of 208 mph is just pointless. I love my cars and love driving and have even driven the SLR. But the marginal utility of the extra £ gets silly at the SLR end of the market. How is a SLR worth a quarter of a million more than a C63 AMG. Answer it ain't. It's for showing off in and telling the world you can spend vast amounts of money on a two seat car.
verytalldave
MB Enthusiast
But what if you had £800 million....Like a certain pop star is alleged to have?
It would then be a mere bauble. A trinket...........An affordable whim.....
st4
Banned
I am sad, but something will replace it. Although other MB cars come relatively close to its performance, none go close to matching its sheer drama and excitement IMO.
I mean just LOOK at it, and I heard one once. I will never forget it!!!
I mean just LOOK at it, and I heard one once. I will never forget it!!!
recycled
MB Enthusiast
yep a 430 is no way 50k better than a 911turbo but there you go.
it goes on.
No way a C63Amg is 20k better than some V8 mercs.
more about choice and taste as well as showing off
verytalldave
MB Enthusiast
Cars that cost in excess of around £50K all relate to a greater or lesser degree to the law of diminished returns.
A £300K car is never going to be twice as good as a £150K car. And this cascades down until you hit about £50K. Under that figure there are quantifiable differences where you DO get substantially better.
A Veyron at £900K is perhaps the ultimate expression of this law. Personally, I would rather have the McSLR as I perceive this to actually be better in many areas than the Veyron. Top speed is totally academic as I would NEVER approach anything like 200mph. So its all down to other factors like ease of driving and real world ownership.
However, I am more than happy with my 2004 W203 C200K.
A £300K car is never going to be twice as good as a £150K car. And this cascades down until you hit about £50K. Under that figure there are quantifiable differences where you DO get substantially better.
A Veyron at £900K is perhaps the ultimate expression of this law. Personally, I would rather have the McSLR as I perceive this to actually be better in many areas than the Veyron. Top speed is totally academic as I would NEVER approach anything like 200mph. So its all down to other factors like ease of driving and real world ownership.
However, I am more than happy with my 2004 W203 C200K.
- Joined
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I agree VTD, although even below £50k I think the same is true VTD.
Thinking secondhand rather than new, the E39 BMW 530d is regarded by many as being one of the finest saloons ever. A Vauxhall Omega one of the same vintage would be a way down the list.
I would imagine that it would cost five times as much to get a into the driving seat of one compared to the other (with all other things being equal, ie age, mileage, SH, condition, etc), but I bet it's not five times as good.
Just a little bit better can cost a good chunk more.
Using a different example. I'm out of touch on what footballers earn, but how much better in real terms is the guy at the top of the pay league over a player mid-table? Not that much, but as it's harder to achieve the slightly greater level of skill, and so a greater value is placed upon the player that has it.
I once remember reading something - by Jack Welch maybe - that said all you need to be is a "nose ahead". The difference between the winner and everyone else can be down to the finest margins, and hence sprinters dive for the finish line, and Lightening McQueen sticks his tongue out as he crosses the cheqeured flag.
Thinking secondhand rather than new, the E39 BMW 530d is regarded by many as being one of the finest saloons ever. A Vauxhall Omega one of the same vintage would be a way down the list.
I would imagine that it would cost five times as much to get a into the driving seat of one compared to the other (with all other things being equal, ie age, mileage, SH, condition, etc), but I bet it's not five times as good.
Just a little bit better can cost a good chunk more.
Using a different example. I'm out of touch on what footballers earn, but how much better in real terms is the guy at the top of the pay league over a player mid-table? Not that much, but as it's harder to achieve the slightly greater level of skill, and so a greater value is placed upon the player that has it.
I once remember reading something - by Jack Welch maybe - that said all you need to be is a "nose ahead". The difference between the winner and everyone else can be down to the finest margins, and hence sprinters dive for the finish line, and Lightening McQueen sticks his tongue out as he crosses the cheqeured flag.
recycled
MB Enthusiast
you are right there.
It takes approximately 300hp to reach 160mph but about another 200-300hp to increase by 40mph to crack 200mph and a whole heap of aero packages
It takes approximately 300hp to reach 160mph but about another 200-300hp to increase by 40mph to crack 200mph and a whole heap of aero packages
st4
Banned
The law of deminishing returns demonstrated aptly by a fair few members
imadoofus
MB Enthusiast
- Joined
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- 2,859
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- This and that.
I know we've talked about this before, but exteral validation is all that matters to some. A car is a status symbol, and many expensive ones (the more expensive they are, the more this seems to apply) are used very sparingly.
How many second-hand (sorry, 'pre-owned) SLRs have you seen with 60,000 miles on? Not many, I reckon. The fact is that as a car becomes more expensive, it becomes less usable every day. Two seats, no boot space, you can't see out, too noisy, you can't leave it anywhere and so on and so on. And as has already been said, you can't use the performance anyway. So the £300k or whatever price tag looks more and more excessive.
Some of these cars, I am sure, are bought by enthusiasts, who may or may not drive them; but I also think that most are bought by footballer types, who have too much money and not enough to do all day, or those who worry too much about what total strangers think of them.
And I am genuinely puzzled by the Veyron. I understand that each one costs VW £5m or so to build, and that's because of the ground-breaking technology. But why? By the time we all need to go everywhere at 250mph, we won't be using internal combustion engines, or rubber tyres, so why not spend that kind of money on developing something truly progressive?
Having said all of which, I'm not sure it's easy or even possible to quantify the 'goodness' of a car. If an owner thinks his car is twice as good as another he could have bought then for him, it is.
He's probably wrong, mind...
How many second-hand (sorry, 'pre-owned) SLRs have you seen with 60,000 miles on? Not many, I reckon. The fact is that as a car becomes more expensive, it becomes less usable every day. Two seats, no boot space, you can't see out, too noisy, you can't leave it anywhere and so on and so on. And as has already been said, you can't use the performance anyway. So the £300k or whatever price tag looks more and more excessive.
Some of these cars, I am sure, are bought by enthusiasts, who may or may not drive them; but I also think that most are bought by footballer types, who have too much money and not enough to do all day, or those who worry too much about what total strangers think of them.
And I am genuinely puzzled by the Veyron. I understand that each one costs VW £5m or so to build, and that's because of the ground-breaking technology. But why? By the time we all need to go everywhere at 250mph, we won't be using internal combustion engines, or rubber tyres, so why not spend that kind of money on developing something truly progressive?
Having said all of which, I'm not sure it's easy or even possible to quantify the 'goodness' of a car. If an owner thinks his car is twice as good as another he could have bought then for him, it is.
He's probably wrong, mind...
st4
Banned
Cars like that need to exist anyway for a number reasons
1) to be the things of school boys dreams, such cars inspire them to work hard so they may heighten their odds at getting a supercar.
2) for the very rich to have a car that differentiates them from the affluent. There has to be something for all these millionaires to spend their hard earned bucks on.
3) from super cars that are imposively expensive comes expertise that can be used in more normal cars. I.e they push the realms of engineering to the maximum and from that car designers learn new things that can be applied to more normal cars. If we never did this things would never progress.
4) they provide a "halo" for lesser cars in the range. i.e. how many people who oogle over the Audi R8 V12 TDi will buy an Audi A5 3.0Tdi as they think they're buying into a peice of the magic of the super car.
1) to be the things of school boys dreams, such cars inspire them to work hard so they may heighten their odds at getting a supercar.
2) for the very rich to have a car that differentiates them from the affluent. There has to be something for all these millionaires to spend their hard earned bucks on.
3) from super cars that are imposively expensive comes expertise that can be used in more normal cars. I.e they push the realms of engineering to the maximum and from that car designers learn new things that can be applied to more normal cars. If we never did this things would never progress.
4) they provide a "halo" for lesser cars in the range. i.e. how many people who oogle over the Audi R8 V12 TDi will buy an Audi A5 3.0Tdi as they think they're buying into a peice of the magic of the super car.
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Low mileage is surely more likely to be due to the fact that the owners have 20 other cars, rather than an SLR being unusable. We only have 3 cars and I've done as little as 1500 miles in my SL some years.
bolide
MB Enthusiast
television
Hardcore MB Enthusiast
recycled
MB Enthusiast
and they are all LHd's too.
