The following is a collection of quotes from random Santa Monica residents upon seeing our R8 parked on a local residential street:
"Dude, it's an R8, that thing is $250,000" (actual price -- $132,000)
"Its layout was designed by a woman that's why it looks so good" (actual design director - Walter de'Silva)
"Look at the engine. I think it has like 600 horsepower." (actual horsepower - 420)
"Check out the headlights, I think they're LEDs." (actually, full LED headlights are only available on the R8 in Europe. The Cadillac Escalade Platinum is currently the only vehicle in the U.S. that offers full high- and lowbeam LED headlights)
Strangely enough, a Cadillac Executive told me last month that Ferdinand Piech, Chairman of the Volkswagen Group, special ordered an Escalade EXT outfitted with the LED headlights. First person to capture a picture of Piech behind the wheel gets a $100.
Ed Hellwig, Senior Editor @ 19,810 miles
kurtamaxxxguy says:
01:04 PM, 09/22/08
Piech -- WTF? Why didn't he simply order the __headlights__ (as replacement items) to study the part? Or figure/determine out who was supplying them and get them (or the next generation version) from the vendor?
m_thrizzle says:
01:20 PM, 09/22/08
He probably ordered that Caddy to study how to make his cars more reliable too. I love Audi's designs but I wouldn't touch a used one w/ a 10 ft pole (says the owner of a used BMW w/out a warranty!)
dougtheeng says:
01:53 PM, 09/22/08
The R8 looks great in that picture. These comments are interesting observations. I'm sure it happens all the time to a variety of sports/super cars. It'd make for a funny website - "overheard at a car show.."
chavis10 says:
01:56 PM, 09/22/08
I can only assume people who made such comments aren't car guys/gals. It's 2008- such information is two mouse clicks away.
edubya says:
02:00 PM, 09/22/08
Chavis10, very true. Still, the old "My friend said..." is alive and well as a substitute for fact.
sabastian says:
02:40 PM, 09/22/08
I am always amazed by how much people think they know about these (exotic and semi-exotic) cars.
tmanz says:
03:12 PM, 09/22/08
"that thing is $250,000"
Didn't the Ferrari get the same comment?
srlracing says:
03:45 PM, 09/22/08
I would love to see a picture of Piech behind the wheel of the Caddy.
It is amazing how little many people know about anything, those comments are great examples.
carfreak8394 says:
04:03 PM, 09/22/08
I love those type of comments. They're hilarious. The best ones are when completely clueless car people say stuff like "Isn't that Mercedes like $100,000?" and it's like a $20,000 Accord. Ha ha.
dragonflight says:
04:16 PM, 09/22/08
I second doug, wonderful picture for this post.
And indeed, comments can bring out many people's first impressions of a car. I get a lot of interesting comments about a 13 year old S320 (still looks grand enough to get people peering in to see the driver too!) that's only worth 6k at this point. People usually estimate it at around 20k if tell 'em to take a guess. I should try and sell it when kbb.com goes down for maintenance!
zjev says:
06:19 PM, 09/22/08
Good post. I did not know that the Escalade Platinum was the only vehicle with high and low beam LED headlights. I thought the LS600H had both, but it appears the LEDs are only for the low beams. Hopefully, soon as LED technology gets brighter and cheaper, we will see them on more manufacturers
slickersdrip says:
07:39 PM, 09/22/08
One of my friends gets really indignant when I refer to my SRT-4 as a Neon. I've had several of my friends think of it as a car well out of their price range as they drive RAV4's and Camry's, both of which cost much more than my $22K Neon. Usually I'll be talking about cars with people and realize that they have no clue what I'm talking about, so I suppose it's not surprising the staggering naivete of so much of the buying public. Heck, most people I know still identify Lincoln as a serious luxury brand.
skierx420 says:
10:23 AM, 09/23/08
Speeking of the mercedes and accord, I recently mistook a C class for an accord. To my defence it was at a casino on one of those rotating platforms and i was looking at the bottom of the rear bumper but, I still made that mistake. Anyone see the resemblence? I hold myself in very high regard to pointing out the differences in makes and models very quickly. But being in a rural area I mostly see domestics and usually can only identify those cars quickly.