Jalopnik writer Doug DeMuro has a Ferrari 360 Modena, a curvaceous, V8-powered number with an F1-style transmission and 400 horsepower. As racy as it is, it’s not fast enough to allow him to outrun people constantly telling him what other car he could have bought. (Perhaps a whiff of the 360’s creamy leather interior makes his frustration subside.) Most often, his real prancing horse gets overshadowed by a hypothetical car with a crest: the Porsche 911.
DeMuro’s purchase came down to numbers. And not those found in performance specs. A base 2014 911 has roughly the same 0-60 time as his 360. Even the prices of the two cars are similar… in a best-case scenario. 911s are typically not bought in “stripper” spec and, by DeMuro’s estimation, end up costing well north of what he paid for his vehicle.
No, his decision was more complicated than that. And economical. It was about deprecation and maintenance costs.
Over the course of just a few years, he estimates a car like his loses only one-fifth of the value lost by a 911.
And – shocker – 360s aren’t as costly under the hood as most would assume. They can cost as little as $3,000 over three years, according to DeMuro.
He ultimately concludes that, within the same time frame of 36 months, Ferrari’s late-1990s V8 offering costs “roughly a third of what it would cost to drive the Porsche. Compared to the Porsche, that’s a lot of money left over for fire extinguishers.”
Derek Shiekhi's father raised him on cars. As a boy, Derek accompanied his dad as he bought classics such as post-WWII GM trucks and early Ford Mustang convertibles.
After loving cars for years and getting a bachelor's degree in Business Management, Derek decided to get an associate degree in journalism. His networking put him in contact with the editor of the Austin-American Statesman newspaper, who hired him to write freelance about automotive culture and events in Austin, Texas in 2013. One particular story led to him getting a certificate for learning the foundations of road racing.
While watching TV with his parents one fateful evening, he saw a commercial that changed his life. In it, Jeep touted the Wrangler as the Texas Auto Writers Association's "SUV of Texas." Derek knew he had to join the organization if he was going to advance as an automotive writer. He joined the Texas Auto Writers Association (TAWA) in 2014 and was fortunate to meet several nice people who connected him to the representatives of several automakers and the people who could give him access to press vehicles (the first one he ever got the keys to was a Lexus LX 570). He's now a regular at TAWA's two main events: the Texas Auto Roundup in the spring and the Texas Truck Rodeo in the fall.
Over the past several years, Derek has learned how to drive off-road in various four-wheel-drive SUVs (he even camped out for two nights in a Land Rover), and driven around various tracks in hot hatches, muscle cars, and exotics. Several of his pieces, including his article about the 2015 Ford F-150 being crowned TAWA's 2014 "Truck of Texas" and his review of the Alfa Romeo 4C Spider, have won awards in TAWA's annual Excellence in Craft Competition. Last year, his JK Forum profile of Wagonmaster, a business that restores Jeep Wagoneers, won prizes in TAWA’s signature writing contest and its pickup- and SUV-focused Texas Truck Invitational.
