Benjamin Choi

HTLA,

I can see that you and I see I-to-I on a lot of things in car land. I really believe that it’s well within the strike zone to say that car talk and the emotions it stirs within you is a pretty accurate take on your value system that extends beyond the plastic/metal bits and pieces that is an automobile.

I didn’t grow up loving cars. I mean I was your typical kid and liked the Porsche transformer that my dad brought back from his travel to Europe (Germany included). I thought my buddy’s ’96 Landcruiser was dope back when I was in high school. I liked my college friend’s Acura Integra with the VTEC engine in it. My cousin’s modified 300ZX was fast and made all the cool whirring noises. But I didn’t really grow to love cars until I actually bought one myself. I drove a Civic EX quite happily during my college years, automatic no less. I never read up on car mags. Until the S2000 came out. I fell in like with that thing from the moment I saw the initial press photos with a short description about the 9K redline and 240hp out of a 2.0 liter engine. I didn’t really appreciate the car or fall in love with it until I got a test drive at a local Seattle Honda dealership and y’all should know getting a test drive in one of these things back in 2002 was tough – especially as a college kid. They were marked-up and Microsoft people bought them up with notta question.

I could read and read all day online at the bookstore about this car, but the test drive absolutely made me realize damn this thing is a fuqin tiger. The suspension taut, the engine so raw humming at around 4K RPM in 3rd with 5K left. Funny thing is, I had barely learned to drive a manual car at that time. I had to start in 2nd from a stop! It was insane, but the sales guy was very understanding. Thanks, again, sir. So just to fast forward, I put on 60K miles over two S2000s (totaled the 1st one in the rain – hydroplaned it due to bald rear tires and 22 year old trying to show off). Over this 60K mile period began my love for cars. And not just lightweight, beloved Honda roadsters. I’m talking Escalades on 24s, BMW big body sedans, Porsche Boxsters, 911s, Ferraris, everything.

I started to enjoy modifications. I learned to realize the absolute waste of time it is to QB race 0-60 times. I learned not to worry so much about hp/tq gains on a normally aspirated engine. I realized that stock is not king and neither is the aftermarket, but that there’s a balance to everything. You can either commit to making your car fast (laptimes), or you can make it look very pretty for the street while still getting better grip and handling. You can do both, but you need to swap parts out. I’ve come to find bone stock cars absolutely boring and without character so the flip side being a car fresh off the factory floor is a blank canvas. It’s amazing what a properly lowered with perfectly fitting wheels (wider the better in the rears) can do for looks. It absolutely transforms the look of the car if done right. 9 out of 10 cars I see here and elsewhere just don’t get it. It’s done up my owners who just don’t get it. It’s like they’re new to the game and didn’t have the right people around them to teach them. I remember people b!tching at my friend Ray (older gentleman) who had 18” Fikse FM-10s with 10.5” rears on 285 tires on his S2000. People were like oh that’s heavy, way too much grip in the back… but once he took it out on the track and he was laying waste to everyone’s lightweight, skinnier tires (stock) laptimes… the very same group of fools were saying well he’s cheating cuz he’s got those meaty steamrollers. Too funny.

Fast forwarding to the cars I mentioned with the modifications, the Aston Martin Vanquish S I saw that one sunny day in Bellevue, black on black 20” wheels with polished lip just cruising along at the speed limit, I was floored. The presence this car had… might as well have been the Pope in a damn motorcade. It commanded the road. The car looked so wide and low with those wheels, I was in love. I’ve seen stock AM Vanqs before, but again, w/ bigger, wider, deep wheels this sucker was absolutely menancing. I’m very particular about wheels, though, but I’m not going to get into that right now.

And I agree and see your points about the reputation and exclusivity of the AM brand being very different here than in the UK. I can’t comment on what it’s like from a Brit’s perspective since I’ve had limited time there, but I think I would get along better with a UK car nut than a US car nut. Why? Well, I only read UK auto rags #1. I think they’ve got the best writing not because the language is different, but because they tend to take a more candid, critical approach at reviewing cars. Also, I find it interesting you bring to light the fervent niche group of auto lovers in the UK who do enjoy and are even aware of companies like Mansory. I’m not surprised and surprised at the same time you know about Mansory. It’d be over the heads of 99% of people even on this forum. I love not all of their ****, but do love their kit for the DB9. It’s bewildering how crazy good that kit looks on that car. Set it off on a set of 20” HRE 540Rs and man, that’s a better look than even the DBS.

Aston Martin is straight up more money, more class, more exclusivity than Porsche or BMW or Mercedes AMG, etc here in the States. It would also pour water on any sort of passionate fire for the sound and looks of the car if it wasn’t reliable so I too am weary of the brand’s reputation for building reliable cars or lackthereof. But it looks so good, I’ve got to one day give it a go as a grocery getter type car, the kind of car you just drive to bring some levity to the vicissitudes of daily life as a spoiled resident of one of the richest lands in the entire Earth.

I’m happy with my 911. I never want to be content with it and I won’t because it was retired 4 years ago. Well, maybe with a Pagani Zonda F in the garage I’d let myself get as dangerously close to content as possible in life. The 911 is certainly growing on me and I feel you on the quirkiness of it all with that big weight hanging out waaaaay back. The biggest thing that blows me away about this car in the 15K miles I've put on in the 1st year of my 911 ownership... is the sound of the engine. Aircooled? Pls. Sounds like a VW wagon. Watercooled M96 is the best sounding out of the lot IMO. It's like a jet engine and like Clarkson, I too think it sounds best at low speeds. And then you open it up and it's got this acoustic thrum to it that no BMW inline6 can begin to match and I've had the best in the S54. I actually think it sounds best when you have the windows up, sunroof open and then punch it at around 4K rpm.

You’re the kind of dude I can talk cars all day with and I hope we can run into a few more and start our own blog someplace or better yet, meet up at a choice establishment in West Hollywood, pour a lil’ liquor and get at some of them early 20s beauties out there looking for LA love.

ZX9RCAM

Great videos....what a job to have!

Ray S

I'd take the 997 or the Vantage way before the M6.

Most current BMW design does nothing for me. Sure it draws and emotional response, unfortunately it's a negative response for me.

htny

Kourosh Mansory's too flamboyant to miss, Gumball and all! But I think he's a real car nut.

I agree, me I wouldn't do a Mansory Phantom, and I'll admit to not being crazy about the signature sideskirts (it's actually that horizontal slat he has on everything that I think is weakest), but this guy is obviously in love with English cars and I think the company being in Germany works well for them since beyond the kits the location helps legitimize them as a real tuner. He came pretty strong at last years Dubai car show as well.

I like all these guys: big, small, old, new, even Bob Norwood, because when all is said and done I'd like few things more in life than a serious tuning business to retire into!

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I love cars, cars, cars cars, cars all over the world. And they're all pretty much fast enough these days, so I tend not to get caught up in the pedigree arguments or the mag racing. I love how little subtle modifications can enhance looks, but I will acknowledge that as you go up the ladder it's increasingly difficult to modify for performance, and often you get diminishing returns. Still, it's thrilling that we live in an era where dropping 5K into tuning an EVO will get thing around a racecourse faster than cars costing 10X as much. Regardless of where we stand on these But of course there are cars I personally wouldn't modify, sacrosanct homologates like the M1s, 959s and F40s etc., and many of the old iconic race-style Porsches and Ferraris of the 50s and 60s like the 250GTs and GTOs and 550 spyders and RSKs etc

Benjamin Choi

My favorite Ferrari has to be the F50. I understand and appreciate the rawness of the F40, but that's the double-edged sword for me. It's too... dare I say... kit car. The F50's shape and sound is just insane. I even like the factory wheels! I certainly agree that the higher-up you go, the less you can or should do to the car, but that's not something I'm too concerned about fussing over anytime soon.

I'd love to drive/own the Zonda F. So it's blatantly clear the car is cool as anything with four wheels (dare I say sounds better than the CGT), but the amount of attn, the personality behind the mastermind Pagani is highly entertaining for me.

In terms of tuners, I'm a fan of all of them, those houses with history. I like some AC Schnitzer mods. I like some Hamann mods. I like most of Techart's mods. There's not much to behold on a stock M6. But add up the aeroparts and wheels, and you've got one stunning machine. Same deal for the 997, though because it retains its classic 911 shape, it's a much safer bet than the flaming 7/6/5/3 from Munich.

The most boring brand is Mercedes. Fantastic engines. Mediocre music. So-so designs. And, of course, never the manual and just starting to come around like everyone else the double clutch supercomputer trannys. Do quite enjoy their G-wagon, though. Now that's a classic truck shape that will look great for a good long time.

I'm real curious as to what Porsche does with the 998. I'm willing to skip the 997 generation and call it a sophomore slump on the design front (your 50% prestige, 30% looks formula, though I'd actually shift that to 80/20). I actually like the 996 interior better than the 997's 993 copy. Marry the 997 fit/finish to the 996 and you've got the best of both worlds. Exterior wise, they did improve the rear end especially for the narrowbodies. Headlights... not a fan. The headlights need to get incrementally bigger, not smaller in this day and age. They went backwards... too far back.

htny

I'm flip floppy on the 997. The thing I like is the 3.8L X51, and while the narrowbodies do look curvier in the back, the car's also taller looking, not sure if that's actual or just the styling coming out.

But I actually think the lamps on 997 are too big (a lot of people seem to put on lamp rings to make them smaller like 993/959). As long as the 998 has solid power to weight and a twin clutch box I think it's worth waiting for, but I'm all about buying the last update to the previous generation car, all the kinks are surely worked out and you can't be as easily accused of being too flash! This also has kept me out of the shop on all of my cars, knock on wood for 996.

F50 was definitely amazing, used to stare and drool at the one in the window of their NA headquarters off the Palisades when I was younger, and they look and sound awesome in person. I think that car did more to advance supercar chassis design than any other, taking the best of F1's engine/trans as stressed members and inboard shocks and carbon fiber and truly integrated underbody aero tuning.

But the F40 was the last of the raw nasty homologate-style cars, and was the end of the . I mean it's a race car in there, no interior to speak of, perspex everything, alcantara and big metal toggles. And it was built in 86/87, so not to be a mag racer but it was untouchably fast for the era and for 10 years after, mid 3 seconds to 100kph on the old street p-zeros of the era. There's something romantic about it, represents the period of F1 I grew up watching, turbos and Senna and fire and brimstone.

Benz is a very different company than it used to be, and like Porsche has taken a lot of knocks for styling and quality going in to the modern era. It used to be form follows function styling and relentless overenineering, now it's jam all the features we can into a car. I really only like the previous generation CL, it's a great fat guy car for long distances. We've owned a lot of MBs over the years, and I still hold onto one hopped up example. I have to say they've always been bulletproof for us, supercharged or not (have had 2 SC'd), but many people have had problems. One nice thing is that like Porsche they make a LOT more MBs than they used to, especially now that AMG has been a factory option for so many years, so prices can be astonishingly low for way too much car. You can pick up a CPO CL65 for like $60K, this is a $200K car which can handle 1200+bhp (it's the maybach motor with the bigger turbos) and has over 700 lbs-ft of torque from the factory. That's a continent crosser GT to me, could probably tow a boat, and that just unfathomably terrible depreciation is the reason I never will buy an M6 when I can get a 65 for pennies on the dollar haha.

Benjamin Choi

Techart makes those rings and it's pretty rare to see just the rings themselves on the car without the other accoutrements. I think the headlights look just right size-wise. In fact, I can't stand those eyelid rings or whatever you want to call them.

I especially like the hood of the 996 better v. the rounded out hood of the 997. More drama fo' yo' momma.

I would absolutely love to have a Mercedes S65 AMG (i.e. silver one on Entourage Season 2)and that's the problem with these cars that change designs and offer so many variations sharing the same basic chassis and body shell. You have to have the latest/greatest thing else you look dated (e.g. CL). Same deal with Audis. How many times has the A4 been face lifted as compared to your Lexus sedan? It's ridiculous. You just can't keep up.

This is where the 911 kills. The 996 MK2 still looks new enough for people not to notice you are driving the last gen car as you had mentioned about the chicks in the line in front of the club. The 993TT was featured in G-Unit's Stunt 101. That's absolutely insane the diverse cross-section of relevance the 911 can clearly engage with authority. Zoom over to the other side of town with the lot of middle-aged men trying to live out their race car driver fantasies - you see 911s being loved everywhere.

I don't know if you've read my F360 thread, but Ferrari... wow, they really understand how to fashion character into their car DNA. I really did enjoy my friend's modified 360. Beautiful. Insane sound. And then the go-kart feel. Killer combo especially considering my HTLA based 80/20 rule. I can't begin to imagine the experience multiplier heading into to the supercar status F-car world.

htny

I think Porsche is very similar to Rolex in this regard. While some say both companies are mired in history to the detriment of innovation (in styling) and have declined in quality, their consistency is what makes their respective vehicles and watches indelible in the public mind (and at least for limited production models has always kept value up). If I ever sell the 996 it will be to a neophyte or to someone overseas, not a US Porschefile, as it's under-appreciated due almost solely to the headlamps.

I personally don't sweat having the newest car on the block, as I mentioned it gives me some peace of mind. I don't think we can go through life worrying too much about what people think of our cars or homes or clothes. If it's classic, it's classic. The only car I'd be willing to buy new was one I was assured not to lose too much money on i I got sick of it or i it started burping up con rods, so a 430 or a Turbo would fit the bill. I just don't know where I'd drive either of them! Let's see how bad this real estate crunch gets, maybe I can grab a good 360 or 430 at recession prices in LA since the Porsche is now back in NY!

the new S class I like a lot more than the 2000-2006 one, especially inside. Fully equipped I don't think there's an interior that can touch it for less than a Phantom, that's me. But I like the previous gen 99-06 CL much, much more than the current car. I preferred the 850Csi to the W140 CL that preceded it though, reminds me of the M1.

It took me a long time to warm up to the 360, but the spider's hard to deny. The stock base model wheels don't look great on that car, but lots of options from Speedline etc. Then again it took me a long time to warm up to the idea of a 996 an it took me a long time to warm up to the wheels on 997 turbos, but now I have a 996 and 997 turbo wheels, and I'm all warmed up!

Benjamin Choi

You and I most definitely don't see eye to eye on style. I can't stand the 997TT wheels, but hey, that's all you, man. I liked the CL, but line it up next to the new one, it looks dated.

And the 360 on stock wheels looks pedestrian. Here's my buddy's 360 that I had the pleasure of flossin' around town for a few:





And I'm digging the Rolex/Porsche analogy. Funny thing is, I had the Rolex GMT II Ceramic for one week, got bored of it, and got me a big **** Breitling. I don't know, I just like the flash... discplined flash, that is.

And, bro, if you can swing a Ferrari now, get the fuq outta the 996. Stat. Do this for Rennlist. Do it for mankind.

htny

Swing financially yes, swing have someplace to drive it more than twice month, no. also would send a tricky message to the people who rely on me, particularly doing what I do in today's financial climate. If I ever take a year off, STAT, otherwise I'll have to wait til i'm grown and in the burbs or the country more

Sure we differ on style, I do skew to the more conservative side but I lik a little hint of aggression. Of course your buddy's 360 is sharp, but I'm not all that crazy about the black wheel/polished rivet thing, personal preference. I'd go with the speedlines if it was mine (I know, "yawn"), and I'd have to go with a drop (but replace the body color with a challenge grill)

htny

I'm so burnt out on watches, but I still buy them as gifts. I still love the Patek Aquanaut and Roadster, all these years later (99 & 02 for me). Everyone once in a while I pine for watches I've owned, Daytona comes to mind, but I just can't get excited anymore. I'm obsessed with vintage now. I think my next will be another black dial, thinking an old rolex speed king or old old heuer carrera

Benjamin Choi

I'm going to show you the light, HTLA. Wheels that push out to the edges without rubbing and that sit wider than your usually narrowish stock sizing with a nice lowering job does wonders for what I call the car's street presence - especially when in motion. It's art.

Two more examples of cars with presence:

It's all love for me and this Stradale



And this Ruf aerokitted Mike LOOOOWWERRY bad boy with them OZ3s:

RaceCarDriver

I've driven the M6 and M5 many times. Fierce acceration but the let down is the handling (heavy cars). Too much understeer, doesn't like to change direction, etc. I do like the looks of both cars.

That's why I bought the new M3 instead. Same acceleration as the M5 and M6 and much better handling. The M3 has 50/50 weight distribution and handles razor sharp. I wouldn't choose the M6 or M5 over my current C4S.

I haven't driven the Am V8 (I would love to) but I've driven the DB9 and the Vanguish. They are beautiful cars, maybe the most beautiful cars out there, but the driving experience is awful.

It was such a disapointment, especially the Vanguish. The car does not like to be pushed hard and comes apart above 5/10th. Its more of a car you take for a cruise down at the beach. It's a car for a 70 year old not a 30 year old (no offense to anyone)

To me, the Am V8 seems a lot sportier and I love the looks.

Benjamin Choi

*Ultra hair splitting is a given*

Based on my 80/20 rule which is based on HTLA's original prestige/branderformance/looks ratio, the M3 absolutely fails relative to the M6/M5. I don't try to shoehorn a car into the perfect thing. Just like tires, stocks, and anything else that is good in life, there's a give/get balance to everything. If I get an M6, I'm not pretending that it's a better handler or better sounding car than my 996. What may get me to pick it over the Porsche is the fact that it's got a crazy special V10 in there and I've got all the luxury/comfort gizmos one dude could ever want in an automobile. I personally think the M6 looks egregiously stunning with the AC Schnitzer kit on it.

I'm sure the E90 M3 goes like stink and is a fine car, but it's too boy racer for me to want, again.

It'd be a tough call for me to pick between my C4S and an M6 and that's saying a lot for the Porsche since the BMW is newer and costs a bit more to get into even used. And unlike HTNY, I'm not a guy who is stopping myself from getting an F430. I'd make the appropriate "sacrifices" to roll one today if I had the financial means, but alas, that is to be continued.

this is my fav looking ferrari by hamann:

htny

I appreciate em don't get me wrong, they look good, but I'd rather admire a buddy's than have one done up like that for my own. I've spent a lot of time around exotics, and I just tend to skew to the ones which look most authentic. There are plenty of tuner cars which I think look great, and plenty of normal cars which I think beg for widebodies (like the old 850 BMW, mundane until you see the crazy widebody versions people did). I personally don't go crazy for the slammed look in real life, because I just see the sparks in my urban jungle environments, but it's definitely the way I draw a car!

A lot of my intro to cars was through the classic car culture, a lot of auction time, a lot of thumbing through hemmings. Of course I also had testarossas and countaches and 959s on the wall growing up, and love them all for what they are and when they were. At the same time I love how the modern tuner scene has evolved and gotten so many people back into cars, and I definitely appreciate the opinions of people from both the old line and the new line. I think that's one of the best things about the modern era is that it's brought together gearheads from all walks of life and different backgrounds, resulting in cars like the Enzo and firms like Vishnu etc., who can produce products for Evos and Porsche and BMWs leveraging the same core competencies.

But deep down inside I'm really much more obsessed with classic cars (which is why I always kick myself on the miura). In fact it would be way more like me to blow money on an old ferrari than a new one. I'm not an NOS nerd on that end either, I just don't feel there's many modern cars that give me the simpler sheet metal beauty and character of those old oil burners. I'm an anachronist at heart, not consciously, just wired that way!

In fact that was one of the leading reasons for the 996, to give me something reasonably classic, quick, relatively reliable and fun to really beat the hell out of and not worry about so if I go out and do some damage at auction or deep in the heart of Hemmings I won't sweat it.

Part of this may be that I get an overdose of current-gen exotics everywhere I go, be it NY/LA/DXB wherever, so tricked out modern day Lambos and Porsches and Ferraris and Bentleys aren't as precious to me personally. I see them, I like them, but I don't crane my neck, they are pulled up next to you in traffic all day long all up and down Laurel Caynon or Robertson. But I pulled up next to a real, original triple mint 100 point 250 GTO in LA a couple of weeks and it made my DAY. Nice owner, a little crazy for putting THAT one on the street but I would be the same way. I'll find a pic for you.

But in the dream garage definitely a 300SL coupe, a 550 Spyder, a 250GT SWB Cal Spider, Miura SV, 935, 3500GT, 450SEL 6.9, Suicide Continental convertible, Corniche and at least one Can Am car way before most modern iron. And I want to be able to drive them, which is why there aren't any Atlantics or Cords on the list (although I'm sure the 250GT and the Miura will be hard to keep on the road). I like spinning wrenches, and that's another problem with the modern car, it's a computer! I know it's a necessary evil, especially in daily driver like the 996, but I just don't go crazy for it.

It's also easier for me to get away with aspiring to classics, beyond me loving them, they don't scream "spending money" the way a new one does, and I am very sensitive to this both in fact (I'm cheap) and in perception. But the new 430s are just so good, if a great deal came up I might just have to do it, but I wouldn't ditch the 996 (another problem, I never sell anything, it just gets passed around)