I have updated my cars since this thread began and now drive the following:
Wife's Car and Weekend Family Wagon
2007 Volvo V70 R Wagon
Titanium Gray with special "Atacama" leather
No roof rack!
HEICO racing pedals and shift knob
Pirellis
This car is amazing - turbocharged to 300 HP right out of the box and can be easily tuned to 400 +.
It has AWD with a fly by wire adjustable suspension and a sporty, but stunning leather interior that would be hard to match in a $150,000 + car. With the suspension on the extreme track setting, it really corners and feels more like a Porsche than a wagon. Interesting, but perhaps not a surprise, this limited production car was not successful commercially, as it seems the average Volvo driver is not so concerned about cruising at 150 MPH on the way to the grocery store. So the bean counters at Ford killed it earlier this year and I had to scramble around to find one of the few. If you can find one, these cars are amazing.
Daily Driver and Commuter Car
2007 Ducati 1098
Racing Yellow
Termignoni Exhaust
This is my first Ducati and unless there is snow or ice on the ground, I drive it 80 miles daily in and out of midtown Manhattan through the heat, humidity, rain, cold and/or darkness.
It is a gorgeous bike with a gorgeous exhaust note - I particularly love the racing yellow color after first thinking a Ducati should only come in red.
The bike is bigger and more comfortable than you might expect - I am not quite 6' 2" and an hour each way is no problem.
Time will tell if Ducatis have become more robust and reliable, but at 5500 miles so far, I have had no problems other than low speed stalling which the dealer fixed under warantee.
A couple of notes for bikers: the front brake calipers on this bike are ASTOUNDING. It took me several thousand miles to get comfortable feathering the brakes as they are really really strong and could easily flip the bike. Also, the torque curve is so smooth and progressive that speed really sneaks up on you - even more than usual on a bike. So easy to look down and notice that you are suddenly going 100 MPH, but without all the screaming revs and commotion of Japanese bikes or my previous Triumphs.
I dont worry as much as people might think about SUVs, but I do worry about deer at night. So an upgrade to Xenon lights might be an order with the next service and new tires.
In summary, a great commuter car and highly recommended for performance oriented audiophiles.
Cheers
cwlondon
