Larry, About 10 years ago or so I had the pleasure of driving one of the very first Mercedes-Benz SL 500's... At that time I marveled at every aspect of the automobile - the fit, the finish, the sound, and the feel... Let me tell you, thie Z8 took me (experientially/phenomenologically) quite a bit further into automotive nirvanha... To answer your question, yes, there really are differences directly comenserate with the vastly higher price tag of such machine...