Thanks for the advice, I really appreciate it. I will certainly push the car as much as the salesman will let me. I would never have thought about testing the different modes in the egear. I'm pretty anal so will check everything out exactly as you said. I'm hoping the experience will be a good one - the salesman invited me to come and test drive a month ago and yesterday when I called to take him up on the offer, he really tried the hard sell...."order a new one or I might not let you drive them" kind of approach. Not exactly what he said, but was certainly the vibe. We'll see, I know he has to make a living, and I'm OK with that, but this is a process for me and I won't be pushed into a decision.

I won't be a "racer" on a daily basis, but if you don't drive it like it was meant to be driven once in a while, whats the point? OK, yes, it does look way cool, and in the winter when its sitting in the garage and I come home and see it just sitting there it will certainly make me smile (every time!) but the real fun is driving. My last Porsche was a 1996 twin turbo, one of the last of the air cooled, and it was awesome. But I rarely drove it - I kind of felt that every mile I put on it was somehow disrespectful to the car...afterall, they will never make them again. Well, I figured if that was the way I felt, then let someone else have it who would not feel that way, and drive it. So, bought the AM. Which, honestly, is a fine car (you will love it Ayanami) but way different than the 911, particularly the turbo.

Ayanami - some answers to your questions. The AM is a 2007 V8 Vantage so I guess its the "new" one. Manual transmission. I was a little concerned when I bought it, since its English (hope I dont offend, but some of the older English cars had some problems) I kind of expected some issues, and really I have had no problems whatsoever. Its the first one for me after the 911, and I actually DROVE it, put about 4,500 miles on it in six months. I live in Pennsylvania so have to put it away for about six months, so pretty much drove it every day in the summer (when it didn't rain). Handles well, corners well, accelerates OK, but I could never find a comfortable driving position. I'm only 5'4" tall (yes I'm an adult....) and had the seat pretty much up to the max, and just never felt comfortable. That is my only knock on the car...and its not the cars fault. So if I were you, I'd certainly put it on your list. And you should be able to get one pretty cheap - its the first real production car for AM, and boy did they produce. There are still new 2007's sitting at my dealership, right next to the 2008's. So they are not holding price - simply because they made too many (that and the approacing recession in the US. Sounds a little like the Gallardo.

Well, I'm off for the drives. It's an overnight/long weekend trip with the wife so I'll give you my thoughts about both transmissions tomorrow night - or if she'll let me take my laptop, tonight!

Thanks again for your feedback.