Quote:
Originally Posted by JST
So, here's a question--what about a 987 non-S?
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Mental.
It's about not being happy with X because X+Y or Z is available...even if X would be suficcient to meet the objective criteria.
Three items of note directly related:
1. A couple years ago when John and I were running his 986S, we talked a good bit about the 987 non-S. What we kept coming back to was that the non-S just wouldn't do it because the S was available and it was "better" even though what made it better also made it useless for a very narrow application. Move on to the next idea.
2. When I was looking hard at the G8, the GXP was the only choice. With the exception of transmission avialability, the GT should have been perfectly suitable. The GXP doesn't make *that* much more power than the GT, but you can't get the GT with a stick. The price difference between those trims made for a very difficult mental block to get over (IIRC, the premium was often in the 40% neighborhood).
The other part on that car became clear to me in a conversation with Bren. For both of us, our fathers had never bought the top of the line bad ass motherfucker car. In the late 70s, my dad bought a 356B Coupe, not a speedster. In the early 80s, when looking for a GTO in the early 80s, bought a 1970 Olds Cutlass S, not a 442 (or GTO as originally intended). When he and I bought the '69 Vette, it was a 350, not a 427. The '89 Vette we bought was a non Z51 slushie. Etc.
If buying a G8, anything other than the GXP would have failed to satsify a basic mental need that was purely subjective and without redeeming objective value that would have made mental satisfaction with the car impossible even if the GT could be had with a stick...although it would have been perfectly fine if the GXP did not exist.
3. My experiences with my dad's newly acquired 2005 C6 Corvette last week was eye opening in some ways and perhaps a confirmation of a shift I suspected was going on in my outlook on cars. I still have to write up what it was like with the car for a week, but the short version is this: It's not a Z06 (it's not even the improved 2008+ LS3), it's kind of numb, it's far from perfect...but so what? It's fucking good enough as it is. Surprisingly so, in fact (even before considering autocross). It also went a long way towards confirming for me that I'd likely be quite happy with a Camaro 2SS despite the improvents coming on the '11 Mustang GT.