Reply to "Pantera #7206 - GTS"

Larry's advice is right on, but I would take issue with one thing.

We all agree that you are better off financially buying a car that has all the features you want as opposed to doing it yourself. You rarely recover the money you've spent... I would only differ in that Larry says that you inevitably WANT to start modifying things. I'd argue that this is only true if a) you didn't buy the car that you really wanted because perhaps you didn't know what you wanted at the time or b) You just can't help tweaking things.

It is certainly permitted to change anything you wish, something that is frowned upon in other marques. And there are some neat things out there that can tempt you, but there are plenty of owners who leave their cars as-is and are prefectly happy.

As far as what your friends tell you about the reliability (or lack thereof) of the Pantera, how many have first-hand experience? On this forum you'll hear from hundreds of owners who have travelled thousands of trouble-free miles, and wouldn't think twice about hopping in their car and driving 1000 miles. True, few owners do that and most only take their cars out on sunny Sundays, but that is the owner's problem, not the car's problem!

The vast majority of Panteras provide years of reliable transportation, perhaps due to the lack of sophistication that your friends scorn. There isn't much to go wrong with the stock formula. If you start messing with the formula, adding electronic do-dads, EFI, computers, sensors, you introduce more failure modes.

Every year I take at least one long distance road trip, literally thousands of kilometers from my home typically to the other side of Europe and don't think twice about it.

Don't listen to the naysayers - drive a handful of cars, decide what you really want and be patient. It really is a quite special car with oodles of personality and entertainment for years.