2005 Ford GT and 2001 Z8 for weekend drives in nice weather after long walks with our 3 dogs. Daily driver into NYC since 2013 is a 2013 Cadillac CTS-V Wagon with 6-speed manual transmission. 6.2 liter supercharged V-8 producing 556 HP and 551 pound-ft of torque. If you had to own one car only, the Caddy would be at the top of the list. Station wagon, 5 seater, reliable, manual transmission, and super car handling and performance. Magnetic shock technology developed by GM and licensed by Ferrari.
Was in NY last August. Hired a Jeep Grand Cherokee. I don't know the spec but it was loaded and the best sat nav I've ever had. Great car and the first American car I've driven so no idea on the Caddy. Looks nice and practical though and engine is big enough for fun! The Ford GT though! I can only imagine how much fun that must be with all that raw power. Are they, the Ford GT and Z8, investment cars? I know the Z8's are a fortune now. I've only ever seen two in my life, one in UK and another in Switzerland. I would imagine they'd be even more of a rarity in the USA?
Have you had the Z8 since new? Hopefully the shock towers are in good shape - no doming. Those early run flats were just brutal and I'm quite sure a contributor to the issues in this car. I had them on my 2003 Z4 and the tramlining was just brutal. Felt like I was wrestling the car a lot of the time, and there were times when taking a hand off the wheel to shift gears was simply dangerous it was so bad. That's one reason I only had it for a year and got a Z4M instead...regular tires and much better steering/suspension. Run flats have come a long way in 20 years...
I enjoy driving my 1965 Corvette convertible. It has an "old school" type of feel to it. I've owned it for 18 years so far and try to make a few improvements on it every year. It has the 350 hp version of the 327 V8 engine and 4-speed manual transmission. It is mostly original and is great fun to take out on a sunny day.
Bought Z8 brand new. No "doming" of shock towers. In my opinion, the doming issue was over hyped by a guy who ran an old Z8 forum that failed to mention that he tracked his car and had a mishap. Replaced the "run craps" shortly after purchase. If there is any doming of the shock tower issue, probably partially caused by the weight of the original run craps. One would still have had to really jolt the shock towers in a big pot hole to cause damage. Now running on Michelin Pilot Super Sports. Completely different car in regards to handling. Both cars have never seen the rain. Even though the value of both the Z8 and the Ford GT have increased quite a bit, especially for modern era cars, I do not believe in garage queens. I drive my cars. Each has between 15 and 20,000 miles. I applied directly to Ford twice, once in 2017 and agin upon their invitation again in 2018, to buy the recent third generation GT. Both times disappointed by Ford. They apologized that they could not fulfill my request. They allotted the cars instead to celebrities and bloggers many of whom are flipping the cars after the two year agreed no sale period. Its a shame that they did not allot cars to true enthusiasts, especially those of us who own the second generation GT from 2005 and 2006. The Cadillac is actually my second Cadillac. I had a 1959 Cadillac Biarritz convertible that I found in Caracas back in the late 80's and brought back to the US. Big V8, tri-carbs, electric windows, vent windows, door locks, antenna, automatic pull down trunk, autotronic eye headlight dimmer, as well as signal seeking AM radio. All that technology back in 1959. (Pictures below from my wedding album dating back to 1991. The CTS-V is one of the best cars I have ever owned. Also runs on Michelin Super Sport tires. Have second set of OEM wheels with Pirelli Sotto Zero for winter driving.
Any chance you could elaborate? On the FIRST part I mean. There is actually one for sale around where I live right now and while I've been into classic cars for a while, I have no experience at all with Austin. How is the general experience and how (bad) was maintenance? Thinking about the suspension mostly..