Len's News, Notes, and Stuff

F1 or Ferrari Enzo? Maybe Neither.">McLaren F1 or Ferrari Enzo? Maybe Neither.

As I’ve got­ten older, I’ve found that dream cars, or dream any­thing for that mat­ter, aren’t really all they’re cracked up to be. I’ve writ­ten before about how brands don’t have the same appeal or pull on me any­more. I think for the same rea­sons that previously-favorite brands lose their emo­tional power, dream cars lose their pull and mag­net­ism. I sus­pect that even things like dream houses must also lose their luster.

Like so many mil­lions of men around the world, I am a fan of Fer­raris. I’ve also been a long­time fan of the penul­ti­mate road-legal race­car, the McLaren F1. Per­haps nei­ther of these cars are the best-performing vehi­cles on the planet. You’ll find other super­cars with more horse­power, faster lap times, and more impres­sive stats. How­ever, you will not find any­thing with greater emo­tional appeal than the top-of-the-line Fer­rari and the one-and-only McLaren F1, designed as a For­mula 1 car made street-legal.

You can read in mag­a­zines or on car enthu­si­ast web­sites all about what each car can do on the race­track. But, the real ques­tion is what it’s like to really own and drive one, every day.

Per­haps it’s a sign that I really am get­ting older, because the fuel effi­ciency on these beau­ties is atro­cious. And the main­te­nance cost? My good­ness, the McLaren F1 will cost $120,000 per year just for reg­u­lar maintenance!

Could I jus­tify spend­ing that much on fun? I doubt it. I’d prob­a­bly go for a much more eco­nom­i­cal sports car. Yep, some­thing “cheap” but fun like a Lotus. After all, I have some emo­tional attach­ment to the Lotus cars, too: my dad used to own and drive one.

Dream cars are usu­ally dream cars because of their per­for­mance. Boys, young and old, want to have the most pow­er­ful and have the best, so that they feel the most pow­er­ful and feel the best. It’s really all about the emotion.

Between these two cars, I think I get more of an emo­tional kick out of the state-of-the-1980s-art McLaren F1 than the state-of-the-2000s-art Enzo. Even so, I don’t think I’d get enough kick from the F1 to spend $120,000 per year on it.

Take a look at the fol­low­ing video and see how you feel.