Clarkson Reviews the Mercedes CL600

[the Teuton]

They have a 1-series.

BMW has always made small cars, though.  MB hasn't.  Why screw with tradition?

[Tave]

BMW has always made small cars, though.? MB hasn't.? Why screw with tradition?

Uhhhhhhhhhhhhhh, because a successful buisness isn't always dependent on what you did 50 years ago.

[the Teuton]

Uhhhhhhhhhhhhhh, because a successful buisness isn't always dependent on what you did 50 years ago.

I'm just speaking from the perspective of a purist. 

[TheIntrepid]

Lawyers make good money, but they don't make good enough money directly out of law school to plunk down 100k+ on a car.

[Tave]

Well evidently Farris was unawares, or else he has some other arrangement planned out.

(or perhaps he wasn't being completely serious)


His post just struck me as a little too optimistic

[TheIntrepid]

Well evidently Farris was unawares, or else he has some other arrangement planned out.

(or perhaps he wasn't being completely serious)


His post just struck me as a little too optimistic

I agree with you that his post seemed optimistic. One year after he graduates law school, I will too (if things go as planned), and all I intend to do is finance a brand new 3-series or something, and be satisfied with that. I doubt I can afford a freaking S65AMG right off the bat, if at all.

[850CSi]

Lawyers make good money, but they don't make good enough money directly out of law school to plunk down 100k+ on a car.

Notice the model year in my post.

[Tave]

Notice the model year in my post.

Ahhhhhh, G'd luck with your plans. Nice to see you back on Spin.

[redbloodedamerican]

If all goes as planned, I will graduate law school in 6 years and promptly buy a 2006 S65 AMG along with an E30 M3 (but that is a story for another thread).

Quiet, horrendously powerful, supercharged Mercedes V12s are what dreams are made of.

do you know that the average lawyer only makes 60k a year?

i hope you can land an oil industry corporate law position like this guy i go to church with. he's the only one i know who could afford an s-65, and he drives a buick.

[850CSi]

do you know that the average lawyer only makes 60k a year?

Not from the schools I plan on going to. 

Besides, I wouldn't need much more than a $60K salary to afford a 10-year-old S-Class.

[Tave]

do you know that the average lawyer only makes 60k a year?

After you factor in DA's, public defenders, and people doing pro-bono. Private law pays much better.

Edit: I meant in general, not necessarily better than 60K (though it might).

[565]

Not from the schools I plan on going to.?

Eh, you'd be surprised how little an Ivy League tag gets you these days (warning 565's bitter life rant).  My good friend and college roomie found himself completely jobless coming out of Wharton with a 3.8 GPA and good experience, had to look for a long ass time before he settled for something less than what he wanted.  My other friend from Brown went and applyed to graduate education, got shot down multiple times before getting into Rutgers.  He did grad school for a few years, got disgruntled and said **** it and then found himself sitting at home for a long time before he got a lucky break at a teaching job.  Another friend just came out of a Wharton MBA and looked long and hard before he found some venture capitalist firm that shipped him off the China.  That sounds great, be he's only making 12k a year in China and it's only a 1 year thing.  12K in China is great, but he eventually wants to come back and have some money to show for it.  He was complaining to me that he had a better job before the MBA, and he's close to 30 now and he's feeling the clock ticking. I came out of Upenn with a biochemistry and biology double major with high hopes and dreams and wanted to earn money before gradschool/medschool.  I foolishly thought to myself "hey I graduated from a decent school, with two majors, and decent grades someone must want to hire me!"  Yeah I was a dumbass then.  It doesn't matter if you came from Ivy League or not.  To an employer you will be just an unproven fresh out of school kid with little real world experience.  They are gonna start you off low and make you prove yourself.  A good undergrad and graduate school isn't going to put some magical stamp next to your name that will make people want to hire you.  What a good school will do is give you the education to slowly prove yourself through years of employment to rise through the ranks.  And unless your parents have decided to pay for both your undergraduate and graduate education, you won't be spending your first few years working earning up for a fancy new car,  instead you'll be paying back those school loans because the day you get out of school, they start gaining interest.  An MD in the same lab as me came in one morning with a smile on her face and told me that she just finished paying back all her loans.  She was 40.  I know it sounds like I'm being a major downer but I know alot of people (myself included) that were disappointed that their undegrad or grad school's names didn't hold more weight with employers.  Everyone likes to talk about how this or that person landed a 100k a year starting job at a major firm, but to be honest they are the rare exceptions.  Many of the people I knew with stories like that had some major connections in some high up places.  I also know that most of my experiences have been with medical science and business since all my closest friends are science and business, so I'm not quite as clear on how much emphasis law firms put on big names.  Though I will say this, I've been in CT for some time now and pretty connected to the Asian network around here (which talks about nothing other than who got into what schools, and landed what jobs) and even the kids coming out of Yale law don't usually have peachy jobs lined up.  There's alot of frustration and panic as well.

[the Teuton]

565, since you own a Vette, I have to ask then:  what did you do right and how long did it take you to get there?

[Tave]

I'll give you an easy answer to that: come out to Wyoming and score a job on a drill rig in the Methane fields. They're starved for help. You'll be making over $20 an hour and working 70 hour weeks. Get that vette in no time.

[565]

565, since you own a Vette, I have to ask then:? what did you do right and how long did it take you to get there?

Ha this is gonna be like my life story.

I bought my C5 Z06 in March of 2005 used.? It ran me about 32K at the time with 12,800 miles on the clock, so it wasn't nearly as steep as you might think.? I was actually in the market for something like a 350Z, EVO, STI or S2000, and I came close to actually getting a RX8, before I drove a used Z06 at a Subaru dealer while looking at STI's.? After the test drive I was hooked, and found another Z06 of the right color.? I'm working in a research lab investigating a connection between HIV and the nervous system.? Actually it involves blocking a particular receptor on immune cells that interestly decreases HIV replication rates. HIV research is well funded and I have put in long hours at the lab bench on my project, so I got some decent pay raises after the first few years.? But it still wasn't like I busted out of college and walked into a Chevy Dealer demanding a Vette. Throughout college and the early years I drove my 1987 Supra Turbo, which I was extremely, extemely lucky to have been handed to me by my father.? Then I got a used 1998 Pathfinder because depreciation seemed to hit Pathfinders rather hard and I was able to get it pretty cheap.?I was lucky in that I got a fair amount of financial aid and good loans for college.  My mother worked at a major university that covered up to 50% of tuition for children that go to any college.  So I came out of college with small debt.  Living without a family allows for alot more disposable income (especially if you live as frugaly as me,? during college I managed to live a week off canned tuna and vitamin pills because I ran out of money), so after a few years when my Supra developed rodknock I decided to get something nicer, like a 350Z, STI, EVO, etc.? In the end I decided that a C5 Z06 of similar cost was a better deal and bought that instead (the insurance quote was surprisingly much less than those Japanese cars too).? To be honest 32K was stretching my budget a little, but I wanted to own a sports car before I got married and settled down and suddenly found myself 50, all of which threatened to loom on the horizon.? Because of my inherent asian saving syndrome I managed to actually plop down 32K without having to make payments (which all my fiance buddies told me was a idiotic move).? Yet in my heart doing research has always been a temporary calling because I feel I have more potential.? The original idea was to work for 4 years in research and go for medical school when I got my life more in order.? Well now it's been a quite bit longer than 4 years, and I was close to giving up my medical school dreams for good until finally I got myself more conviction.? So thus I applied to medical school this year (wish me luck).? The sad thing is, I might have to sell the Z06  , which was part of the plans all along if I decided to go back to school.? I'm hoping it might fetch around 28K, which means a 4k drop in about 2.5 years isn't bad at all.? A desperate part of me wants to keep the Z06 and see how it goes... so we'll see if I can get by.? If/when I get into medical school, I'll entertain you guys with all kinds of horror stories of how torturous it is.

[850CSi]

Eh, you'd be surprised how little an Ivy League tag gets you these days (warning 565's bitter life rant).? My good friend and college roomie found himself completely jobless coming out of Wharton with a 3.8 GPA and good experience, had to look for a long ass time before he settled for something less than what he wanted.? My other friend from Brown went and applyed to graduate education, got shot down multiple times before getting into Rutgers.? He did grad school for a few years, got disgruntled and said **** it and then found himself sitting at home for a long time before he got a lucky break at a teaching job.? Another friend just came out of a Wharton MBA and looked long and hard before he found some venture capitalist firm that shipped him off the China.? That sounds great, be he's only making 12k a year in China and it's only a 1 year thing.? 12K in China is great, but he eventually wants to come back and have some money to show for it.? He was complaining to me that he had a better job before the MBA, and he's close to 30 now and he's feeling the clock ticking. I came out of Upenn with a biochemistry and biology double major with high hopes and dreams and wanted to earn money before gradschool/medschool.? I foolishly thought to myself "hey I graduated from a decent school, with two majors, and decent grades someone must want to hire me!"? Yeah I was a dumbass then.? It doesn't matter if you came from Ivy League or not.? To an employer you will be just an unproven fresh out of school kid with little real world experience.? They are gonna start you off low and make you prove yourself.? A good undergrad and graduate school isn't going to put some magical stamp next to your name that will make people want to hire you.? What a good school will do is give you the education to slowly prove yourself through years of employment to rise through the ranks.? And unless your parents have decided to pay for both your undergraduate and graduate education, you won't be spending your first few years working earning up for a fancy new car,? instead you'll be paying back those school loans because the day you get out of school, they start gaining interest.? An MD in the same lab as me came in one morning with a smile on her face and told me that she just finished paying back all her loans.? She was 40.? I know it sounds like I'm being a major downer but I know alot of people (myself included) that were disappointed that their undegrad or grad school's names didn't hold more weight with employers.? Everyone likes to talk about how this or that person landed a 100k a year starting job at a major firm, but to be honest they are the rare exceptions.? Many of the people I knew with stories like that had some major connections in some high up places.? I also know that most of my experiences have been with medical science and business since all my closest friends are science and business, so I'm not quite as clear on how much emphasis law firms put on big names.? Though I will say this, I've been in CT for some time now and pretty connected to the Asian network around here (which talks about nothing other than who got into what schools, and landed what jobs) and even the kids coming out of Yale law don't usually have peachy jobs lined up.? There's alot of frustration and panic as well.

Interesting take, thanks for the tips. I guess it's a little humbling.

But few law schools are more selective than my university is, so that kind of gives me some encouragement, especially because I've done so much better so far in college than I did in HS. L-school admission is also heavily LSAT based, and, not to brag or anything, but I've scored in the 99th percentile on every standardized test I ever took seriously. I started stacking my resum? this summer (I'm only a freshman), so I'm trying to do whatever I can to get myself into a top law school. Although, as your example illustrates, there are plenty of examples on both sides, the average starting salary for someone coming out of my university's law school is $135,000 (my parents are generous enough to be paying my grad tuition). If I can get half of that right off the bat, I'll be satisfied.

Of course, if it doesn't work out, I have a multitude contingency plans. I'll just have to get a 2000 S500 instead of the '06 S600.?
I'm just trying to keep my eye on the prize. The thought of perhaps making enough money in 6 years to drive a $30K car is a motivator.? :P



Oh, and I wish you the best of luck with med school! My father's a doctor.

[Raza]

In the UK alot of people see the Boxster as the Porsche for people who can't really afford a proper Porsche 

You could say that about everything.  It's an idiotic way of looking at things.

[Raghavan]

so what happened to the water? blown head gasket?
:P

Oops.

[TheIntrepid]

You could say that about everything.  It's an idiotic way of looking at things.

Your hypocritical ass is only saying that because you OWN this specific car.

[NomisR]

Interesting take, thanks for the tips. I guess it's a little humbling.

But few law schools are more selective than my university is, so that kind of gives me some encouragement, especially because I've done so much better so far in college than I did in HS. L-school admission is also heavily LSAT based, and, not to brag or anything, but I've scored in the 99th percentile on every standardized test I ever took seriously. I started stacking my resum?this summer (I'm only a freshman), so I'm trying to do whatever I can to get myself into a top law school. Although, as your example illustrates, there are plenty of examples on both sides, the average starting salary for someone coming out of my university's law school is $135,000 (my parents are generous enough to be paying my grad tuition). If I can get half of that right off the bat, I'll be satisfied.

Of course, if it doesn't work out, I have a multitude contingency plans. I'll just have to get a 2000 S500 instead of the '06 S600.?
I'm just trying to keep my eye on the prize. The thought of perhaps making enough money in 6 years to drive a $30K car is a motivator.?:P



Oh, and I wish you the best of luck with med school! My father's a doctor.

Depening on what kind of law you get into, you could be making quite a bit.

My friend's sister got out of law school last year, and even before she got out, she got an offer for about the # you mentioned and then she got a raise to high 100ks even before she even started the job. 

But then again, not everyone has those lucks.  She also has a degree in business i believe .. i think she was in coroporate law.

[Soup DeVille]

You could say that about everything.? It's an idiotic way of looking at things.

In the UK alot of people see the ______ as the Porsche for people who can't really afford a proper Porsche 

In the UK alot of people see the RMS Queen Mary as the Porsche for people who can't really afford a proper Porsche 

In the UK alot of people see the Scotch Egg as the Porsche for people who can't really afford a proper Porsche 

In the UK alot of people see the AK-47 as the Porsche for people who can't really afford a proper Porsche 


Well, I suppose you could, but it doesn't make a whole lot of sense.

[redbloodedamerican]

I'll give you an easy answer to that: come out to Wyoming and score a job on a drill rig in the Methane fields. They're starved for help. You'll be making over $20 an hour and working 70 hour weeks. Get that vette in no time.

I'm there. I was pissed with Trex anyway for getting 60 hours one week then 24 the next.

[Tave]

Right now were at low 2% unemployement. There's lots of jobs out here right now: it's a worker's market.

[Eye of the Tiger]

Right now were at low 2% unemployement. There's lots of jobs out here right now: it's a worker's market.

Where are these jobs? Not in Maine. I've been looking for a job since April.

[Tave]

Where are these jobs? Not in Maine. I've been looking for a job since April.

Doesn't surprise me. Western economies are really taking off. There's tons of untapped natural resources and not many people to exploit them. Lots of labor jobs that pay well.

[JYODER240]

Your hypocritical ass is only saying that because you OWN this specific car.

There's actually a fair amount of people who prefer the Boxster/Cayman to the lesser 911s.

[TheIntrepid]

There's actually a fair amount of people who prefer the Boxster/Cayman to the lesser 911s.

I'm not doubting that at all. I'm commenting on Raza's idiotic belief that his "opinion" is correct, whereas everyone else's opinions are bullshit.

[Soup DeVille]

I'm not doubting that at all. I'm commenting on Raza's idiotic belief that his "opinion" is correct, whereas everyone else's opinions are bullshit.

How many people hold opinions that they believe to be incorrect?

[the Teuton]

There's actually a fair amount of people who prefer the Boxster/Cayman to the lesser 911s.

A lot of those people probably can't afford a new 911, either.

[JYODER240]

A lot of those people probably can't afford a new 911, either.

On the rennlist forums there's some who have sold their 911s for Boxsters and Caymans.