Originally Posted By howard
Yes Coot - I ruled out the Vantage after a test drive because it felt heavy and almost saloon like, albeit with a beautiful classic British interior. Lovely car but it wasnt a sports car.

Your comparison of Aero and F type gels with my experience albeit my knowledge of the Aero was limited to two test drives both of which were manual cars that suffered from drive line shunt and on / off clutches. Definitely more "special" than the Jag and with a more distinctive appearance, but for a year or two I wanted a car I could tour with confidence.

I still miss the "go cart" feel of a mid engined car. None of these 3 comes close to the driving pleasure of the Lotus, but at least I can easily get in and out of them. Got a friend who is an 18st ex policeman and rugby player. With him in the Lotus we had to do in for alternating synchronised breathing laugh. Every time I changed gear my hand slid along his thigh - I got some strange looks!


Howard, have you considered a Merc SL!! I imagine your reaction might be the same as mine (at first) but...hear me out.

My wife had an SLK and we decided to upgrade it to the SL. I drove it a number of times and thought to myself "it's a lovely drive, wide and roomy, comfortable......but...it's no sports car. Then, last year, I took it on my own and drove from home to Barcelona and back. I then did a drive from home to Spain again and across to the Cote d'Azur......and now I get it.....it's a GT. You can drive that car all day and get out feeling as if you had just got into it. t's a hard roof that folds off and it's an eye catcher if spec'd right.

I wouldn't hesitate to replace it with another when it's time to change.

Rob
Good things come to those who wait but they've usually been left by those who got there first!