My Mistake

With hindsight, perhaps buying the Lexus IS250 was a mistake. Up until now I've never thought of myself as a sports car driving person but now I don't think I can get enough. I watched a documentary tonight about the making of a Ferrari 599 Fiorano and I can't see myself driving any other car which does not have multiple exhausts and pedal shifts.

My ideal car as always been an Aston Martin and that's nothing to do with the association with Commander Bond. I had always thought of an Aston Martin as the car I would ultimately aspire to because of the craftsmanship that goes into the making of each car. Here's a selection of 4 different Aston Martins - I'm no car expert and they all seem to look very much alike to me.

One of my colleagues at Shell comes from a family who owns an Aston Martin dealership and I said, rather jokingly, that any idiot with money can go out and buy a Ferrari but it takes a person with taste to buy an Aston Martin. I was of course, referring to myself.

However, after watching the documentary this evening on the making of the 599 Fiorano, I was impressed by how Ferrari regards the making of each car as very much a work of art, as it is a piece of very advanced technology. I had no idea that Shell had such a close relationship with Ferrari either - there were Pectens all over the uniforms. I was previously under the impression that Shell's association was solely restricted to Ferrari's F1 division but it's obvious that our corporate links go much further than that.

While I would have previously never even considered the possibility of buying a Ferrari (not that I could now - I simply don't have that much cash - perhaps when I become one of the General Counsel in Shell I might). It's still not my top choice.

Following closely behind the Aston Martin is the Jaguar XK - this is another beauty.

Apart from its exterior aesthetics, it's got an innovative interior as well:

Perhaps this is the shape of gear knobs of the future. I know that Volvo is also planning something similar for its XC60 concept car.

As it is, Volvo as already introduced a "slim-line" central instrument panel which is already in use on the C70 and S40:

Hopefully by the time the new S60 is launched in 2009, it will incorporate this same central instrument panel with something similar to the XC60/Jaguar knob technology.

Now that's a car I will definitely want.