Rob,
I agree with every point you've made reference the Porsche and the other topics! :cheers
1. Price - US based cars are available at MSRP or even below it. In terms of value for money: even when you factor in PP, Duty, VAT, Shipping and SVA, the car is still coming in about £120k... which is not too bad at all (for what it represents). BTW - what was the price of the official 101-cars?
2. Roush Conversion - I will drop you a PM with my e-mail as it would be helpful to have an actual contact, rather than go in blind :thumbsup
3. Porsche - basically I can sum up my thoughts toward the current crop of Porsches (and my past ownership experiences with the 996 model) in the following way: - great cars but lacking the soul that turns a great car into one you love and covet! I find it sad that I lust after a 1973 2.7 RS but not the modern 997TT - I love the 356 Speedster but wouldn't even take a double look at a 997 Cab, if notice it at all.
People - me included - buy Porsches because they are fast, mechanically sound, technically brilliant and well priced for what they deliver. You buy them with your head, not your heart.
For me, if I have another car sitting in the garage I want to love it so much that even if I'm not driving it, I'm happy to go out with a glass of wine on a nice evening - or a cup of coffee on a Sat/Sun morning - and just look at it. Maybe start it up, listen to the engine or even better, look forward to taking it down to the shops on a weekend morning to buy the paper... Porsches don't have this lure for me.
So, if I'm spending my 'hard earned', it needs to be more than a vehicle - it needs to be a thing of beauty and passion.
4. Attention - positive attention fine, it's negative attention I dislike :thumbsdow
Again, Porsches, Ferraris and to a large degree modern Lamborghinis attract negative attention and people look at you like you've just driven through - and mowed down - a bunch of school children in their school yard doing 150mph. I love it when people appreciate the car BUT hate it when they judge you because of it.
As I age - and I'm not old :wink - I like being more and more discrete. While the GT is far from a shrinking violet and a wallflower, my feeling is people won't look at it and think 'flash git' or look how much money that poser blew on that car, or something equally judgmental based on what they think the car cost and what kind of person they believe drives them.