Since Jim Napolis is a UCP member I feel less arrogant talking about a very wealthy dilema.
My wife's driving a clapped-out 1989 BMW 525i (which she loves) with 180,000 miles on the clock and due for a very $thorough$ freshening.
We're comfortably below the poverty line, but my family has money
(and that's the only one of those I'll ever use)
Pop's got a 1999 Merc. SL500 literally just sitting around. It's got a 302-horse V-8, the desirable sport pack and is finished in one of the two proper colors for a sporty Merc., silver.
Without question a very, very fine car, but not for me.
Folks who say these SLs are an akward compromise of sports and luxury clearly haven't the proper breeding to understand what a GT is, according to me.
I totally "get" the 127-chassis SLs (but prefer the simpler, previous generation 107s) and have had some great drives in the SL500, but my tastes run too far into the red-lined world of outright, uncompromised driver's cars to really fall in love with it like I have my STi.
Well, Pops told my wife she could just take the SL500, and what a stylish couple we would be then. However, never one to make anything simple, he's got a deal in the works to trade the SL500 almost even to a very wealthy lawyer, who left my cousin at the alter, turning out at the last second to be homosexual.
The rest of the family still holds a grudge, but me and my folks never turned out backs on the guy. We're cool like that, plus, you shouldn't ever exile a lawyer completely. That's a mistake that's liable to bite you on the ass in countless unforseeable ways.
Anyway, the lawyer's got a 2001 CL600 with the 360 some-odd horse V-12. I do hear say that's a fine, fine piece of motoring iron under that bonnet. But, that bonnet, along with the rest of the CL's bodywork, doesn't have the presence, "wow-factor" and grace of the SL.
Pop'll call the deal off if we decide to stick with the SL, and says he's got high hopes for a fair trade if he pursues it.
I'd love to drive that SL fast down some open, flowing roads, but to serenely motor along behind that V-12 has an appeal I don't think any of us can deny.
It's the best problem I've ever had, and I'd invite everybody's input to help give us perspective to make a choice between two great options.
Squawk.