Category Archives: Test Drives

How can I buy an exotic car?

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How do I buy a Ferrari? Can I afford a Lamborghini? How much will I have to pay for an Aston Martin? I talk to people every day who are interested in purchasing their first exotic car. That can be a very scary process and we are here to help. These resources will be a good place to start as you consider buying your first exotic.

What cars can I afford?
Can I finance an exotic car?
How does exotic car financing work?
What will my payment be?
How do I know if the car is good? Find a buyer’s guide like this one.

Sort of Ed’s Car: 2010 Lamborghini Superleggera

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It should probably be clarified that despite some rumors and very understandable perceptions, I never owned this car.

In 2010 Lamborghini made five Superleggera press cars for the North American market. Their first appearance was at the dealer launch for the car that I attended in Las Vegas in April. The production Superleggeras were 2011′s but they didn’t have 2011 VIN’s available when these were produced. There were 2 white ones, 2 yellow ones, and 1 black one.

In October of 2010 we received on the yellow ones for an event. It ended staying here for a while. It left for a few days once to go to Roebling for a magazine test but most of the time the key stayed in my right front pocket!

The new Superleggera is probably the most capable car that I have ever driven. It has plenty of power, great torque, unbelievable grip, great sound, menacing looks, and is all around an awesome car to be in. Even at 6’5″ I can make the interior work.

I drove the car nearly 2,500 miles during the time that we had it. I went to car shows, did 2 mountain drives, drove it for errands, took countless customers on test drives, and generally experienced the car in just about every setting imaginable.

Needless to say, I fell in love. I miss that car terribly. It has since been sold as a used car to a very lucky owner.

American Muscle Car Road Trip – October 2011

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Last Friday was a very good day. One of our customers had agreed to purchase a new 2012 Aston Martin DBS Carbon Black Edition. He wanted to trade in 4 modern American Muscle Cars that were at his house in Millen, Georgia. To get to Millen you drive south from Augusta, turn right, and go back 150 years.

In order to get the cars to the dealership, he offered to fly his private jet up to Peachtree Dekalb Airport and fly us down to pick them up. We thought that sounded like a fun way to spend a Friday so we met him, his pilots, and his plane at the airport and took a 27 minute flight on the Hawker 400 down to South Georgia.

He was trading a 2005 Ford GT, a 2006 Corvette Z06, a 2011 Shelby GT500, and a 2012 Ford Mustang Boss 302. We had about a 200 mile road trip back to the store.

Just as we left the customer’s farm a Bald Eagle few right over the cars. A very fitting tribute to the American Muscle Cars we were driving home.

I started out in the Ford GT and then spent some time in the Shelby GT500. The new GT500′s actually have the same engine as the Ford GT. I will be honest and say that I am not really much for American cars (in case you haven’t noticed that in the cars that I have owned and driven) but this was a pretty cool experience. The GT was a very cool car to be in. I hate the doors, the seats are not comfortable, and the build quality leaves you free of any doubts as to where the car hailed from but the car has a very cool charm. It is geared long with plenty of manageable power. Of course on a couple of occasions we had to see which car was faster – the Shelby or the GT. From a dig Brandon got to see the GT going sideways behind him from the seat in the Shelby. On the highway, none of the cars came close to the pulling power of the GT.

It was an awesome time in some great cars. We sold the GT about 8 hours after we put it on the internet but the other three are still available. Check out www.motorcarsofgeorgia.com for more pictures of them.

YouTube Test Drive: 2011 Lamborghini Gallardo LP570-4 Performante

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Lamborghini recently released a very cool version of the Gallardo called the LP570-4 Performante. Think of it as a Superleggera Spyder. All of the cool carbon fiber bits, the rear wing, side skirts, front bumper, etc. are there but the roof comes off. We got this car in gorgeous Grigio Telesto and I thought I would take it out and show you guys what it is all about:

Lamborghini at the Masters: An interesting story

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Of course this never happened but I thought you guys might like to hear about it anyway ;)

I mentioned yesterday that we worked with Lamborghini at the Masters in Augusta, Georgia earlier this year. If you have never heard of the Masters, it is one of the biggest events on the PGA Tour every year held at the Augusta National Golf Course.

Augusta has not commercialized this event. It is a small, residential town without many hotels or attractions. That means that when all of these corporate groups come into town for the Masters they have to rent private homes. We were giving press rides and car demonstrations out of someone’s driveway. Obviously this doesn’t lend itself to showing of the performance capabilities of a Lamborghini but let’s just say that we did our best.

Apparently some of the neighbors did not approve of these efforts and didn’t enjoy watching Lamborghinis speed around their tight little streets. They decided that we needed to involve the police in all of this. Within about 20 minutes of the commencement of our driving we were graced with the presence of pretty much the entire Richmond County Sheriff’s Department.

Of course the first thing you do when someone pulls you over in a Lamborghini is ask, “Would you like to drive it?” They didn’t seem too interested in that but I wouldn’t be a car salesman if I couldn’t talk my way out of an alleged speeding charge. We got them warmed up to the idea of us being there and assured them there would be no recklessness from then on out.

One of the Sheriff’s deputies had really wanted to take us up on the offer for a ride in a Gallardo. He came back as we were shutting down for the day and asked if I would take him for a ride. I agreed and he told me that he had some great roads very close by where we could test out the car. I obliged. We went out for a ride in a 2011 Lamborghini Gallardo LP550-2 Bicolore.

15 minutes later we were still not to this special road. He assured me that it was a great place to go really fast and that he had once taken a Corvette ZR1 on this road up to 180 miles per hour. That sounded interesting but I had no idea how much further we were going to have to go.

As we continued to drive I asked him about the quality of the road, any seams that might be an issue, or anything else that I should be concerned about. He said that, “Last time I was out here it was perfectly smooth.” Making conversation as we continued to drive I asked how long ago that had been. His response was, “10 years or so.” In disbelief I asked if the car he had been out in was a 1991 ZRI. He said no, that it was a 92. I had assumed that he had meant an 09-10 ZR1 that is quite capable of that kind of speed. Apparently the car he had been in was heavily modified.

When we finally got to the location it was a bridge. Bridges are not usually the best places to speed because they can have significant cross winds. Another thing about bridges is that they are over water and frequently water divides law enforcement jurisdictions. After all of the driving that we had done to get there I assumed that we were in Mexico by now. I asked the officer, “Does your jurisdiction end halfway over this bridge?”

He responded, “No, we left my county a while ago but if we need to run I know all of the best roads. Don’t worry about it.” That was not comforting but after all this way it seemed ridiculous not to see how fast we could go.

On the first trip across I was trying to feel out the road and see what we were working with. The Gallardo got comfortably up to 160-170 miles per hour and had no issues. There was a little bit of a dip over one of the bridge seams but it didn’t seem too bad. There was very little wind so we decided to go for it on the return trip. As we crossed that bridge on the return trip we didn’t quite get to 200 mph but we were on the funny of side of 190.

Let’s just say that the deputy was very pleased to have beaten the Corvette’s speed and satisfied with his experience in a Lamborghini. We didn’t have much trouble with the police for the rest of the week!

Of course, none of that ever happened.