LOL! Yep. My girlfriend's tuition at UCLA started at $40K/yr and creeped up to over $50K/yr by the time she was working on her master's. But on the other hand, she's at least got a job paying her what that kind of education was meant to fetch. I didn't do ANYTHING with my education. I went a completely different route.

Maybe one day she'll buy me one of those stupidly expensive Corvettes everyone's been bitching for.

 

That would be awesome, and I think your estimate is accurate. GM cannot price this thing out of reach of the "average guy" or they will lose their market entirely. They don't have near the image of Porsche or the other "snob" names, as I call them, and a lot of people who buy cars of that nature are not car guys, but guys who like a nice, fast car. There aren't any corvette's in the parkinglot behind the hospital, but there sure are a smattering of BMW/Audi/Porsche/Lambo's. It's about image if you take it to the 6-figure range. Hence the Corvette sales vs. the Porsche 911 sales...19,663 911's sold in '10 (end of fiscal year, July 31,'10), compared to...11,654 corvette's sold YTD by Nov. 2010.

How is it that the 911 destroys the 'vette in sales? Because of image, and because the interior doesn't suck. GM needs to fix the interior, and stay in "average-guy" price-land with the 'vette--something they strayed away from with the upper-end Z06 offerings and definitely the ZR1.

 

Insane. What does she do? I payed $1800 a semester and by the end of my BS degree at NSUS that had crept to around $2200 a semester. That was the last 2 years of college. The first 2, at LSUS, I didn't notice any price fluctuation.

 

She works statistics at a hospital to figure out how to crunch the budget enough to make the stay for the in-patients better. She also does a lot of financial juggling for the hospital on other needs. Generally she does the CFO's job. LOL

 

But that kind of tuition for non-med school/Master's!? INSANE!

I'm thinking it's because of where she went, not what the degree can be had for.

I know I could have paid $32K/year for my BS degree, had I chosen too. I didn't. I took the Z06 instead

 

We all have our priorities. I went to school for telecommunications and ended up working in the adult industry and bought a Corvette. Go figure.

My girlfriend is just a dissertation away from her doctorate and she'll be done with school. She was lucky that a couple years of her schooling was paid for with grants, but this last year is going to be covered by loans along with her undergrad stuff. She also does some work for UCLA because they pay for some of her schooling as part of the payment.

I'm proud of her. But just like we've mentioned, now she wants a "status" car. While she likes my Corvette and she actually gets mad at me when I say "I could sell it", she wants to drive an Audi or BMW. Those cars are built like crap, but she'll deal with it because she doesn't like parking her car in the hospital parking lot next to all the nice cars. She's driving a 2006 Toyota Carolla that she bought new and put 200+K miles on it. LOL Now that she's beat the crap out of that car and she's making good money, she wants to show it off. (Good for her!)

Too bad she doesn't want to show it off with a GT-R or something. LOL

 

Exactly what I was getting at. Most of the MD's where I work that know what I drive think it's cool, but none of them would buy anything like it. They would much rather have a car with better image in their circle. Regardless of raw acceleration #'s.

As to parking a "nice" car at a hospital, I never have taken my 'vette to the hospital. I drive my beater to work. Hospitals are GREAT! places for smash-grabs. We have had a lot of them at my hospital and we are next to a VERY expensive sub-division in a very nice part of town, the lot is patrolled 24/7, blah blah blah. I just don't want my stuff keyed or dented. I suggest unless she has exclusive parking arrangements she consider.

 

That's not going to happen. She wants my opinion, but that doesn't mean she's going to listen to it. LOL

 

It's her $$, who cares?

That's how I feel about it. When it's YOUR money, YOU call the shots. I think it works both ways. Never can get used to the idea of putting my nuts in a jar and letting someone boss me around about how I spend my money like some of the saps on this board.

Props to her for making a career for herself and financing her own dreams

 

The other issue I hate is how people talk about the aging demographic of vette buyers...as in, they are middle age and older. Um. As compared to...what? Porsche? Say, how many young kids do you see driving Porsches....cuz most of what I see are middle age and older...same with Ferrari. Only trust fund kids and internet tycoons can afford Ferrari's at the age of 25. So...why are we on about the age thing again?

 

HAHA!!! I don't tell her what to do with her money. Trust me. But when she asks for my opinion, I give it to her. If she uses that opinion is up to her. She's the most independent girl I've ever met and I love that about her. I've had girlfriends that relied on me to make every decision which is annoying. I'm indecisive myself.

I totally agree. My friends started calling me "old man" and cracking geezer jokes at me the moment I bought my first Corvette when I was 26.

 

 

See, I never got that. I got my first vette at 26 as well, though not a new one, a 76'. No one has yet to crack old man jokes, likely because they know I can smoke every one of them in either drag or autocross...

 

I agree 100%! People confuse midlife crisis with the first opportunity to afford a car you really want. For me personally I could have bought the car long ago but I prioritized my education & later buying a home first. Sure I wanted the car sooner but it came down to priorities & budget.

 

Had a friend who bought the latest "in" car almost every year. I said once that I wished I could do that. His response was that I could if I was willing to live in a trailer in a trailer park and not have a family. He was right. What I really meant was, I wish I had enough disposable income after I had satisfied my other priorities that I could buy the car I wanted.

The problem is that I never have enough income to both satisfy my priorities and buy the car I want. The car always get the short shift. It is always the compromise purchase.

The key is to examine the priorities and live in peace with your decisions. The live in peace part is the tough part.

Not GM's fault. I set my priorities, not GM. The Vett is an incredible value. Just slightly beyond my reach. I am a fan and hope GM continues to produce Vetts that I can admire.

One last story about cars. Long ago, MB was selling a lot of Turbo diesel sedans. The group of women that were my mother's co volunteers all had MB "turbos" and continually talked about their turbo. Mom had a Chrysler. Not a turbo. But Chrysler did build a turbo version that year. So mom had dad go buy Chrysler turbo badges and put them on her car so she too could talk about her turbo! Like it or not lots of cars are sold on perceived prestige. Keeps manufacturers up late at night trying to understand what the prestige the consumer perceives in their product and how to change that perception for the better.

 

I'm hoping the C7 ZR1 can outperform European Supercars like the Ferrari 458 and Mercedes Benz SLS AMG.

 

I always buy my cars cash. If I can't, it means I can't afford it. Plain and simple.

What was it about? Oh yeah, C7 performance...

 

I'm 99% sure the C6ZR1 already smokes the SLS AMG as is. But I really don't think a C7ZR1 is in the cards right now.

To be honest, I really don't want to see a C7ZR1. I'd like it to stay simple with just 3 trims of Corvettes: Coupe, Vert, and Z06. No GS. No ZR1. Granted, the GS is an awesome car, but it causes a lot of internal sales competition.

 

How long does it take you to save those rapidly depreciating dollars? I'd rather let the bank worry about the economy than me.

 

Yeah the current C6 ZR1 can already smoke the SLS AMG. I heard that the Grand Sport was going to be the base model and that there would be a Z06 and ZR1 for the C7.