What do you think of when you hare the term exotic sports car? Ferrari, Lamborghini, Maserati, or maybe a McLaren. In the truest sense of the term it refers to limited production sports cars made outside of the United States, but built by some of the biggest names in the industry.

The McLaren F1 is one such car. Once the fastest car made at 0-60 in 3.1 seconds, it is also one of the most expensive selling for well over a million dollars. There were only 107 produced from 1994 -1998 and it is very rare that one ever finds its way to market.

The McLaren gave up its title as world's fastest car in 2005 losing it to the Koenigsegg CCR, a Swedish made car that has a top speed of 241 mph. The sweet taste of victory didn't last long for the Swedes however as the Germans quickly blew their record away with the introduction of the Bugatti Veyron built by Volkswagen AG, named for the race car driver Pierre Veyron who won the 24 hours of Lemans in 1939 while with the original Bugatti company. This car has a top speed of 250 mph and a blistering 0-60 in less than 2.5 seconds! It is also now the world's most expensive car at 1.3 million dollars.

The performance and the beauty of design of these exotics are both seductive and intoxicating and it is easy to see how one who has the money would own one. Even for those that might have to stretch a little to buy one the lure of having such a beauty is hard to resist.

Even if you are fortunate enough to be able to afford one of these beauties you also need to be prepared upfront for expensive ongoing maintenance and an outrageously high insurance premium, if you can find an insurer.

You also will need to have considerable patience for repairs because parts are not easily found and you will sometimes even have to have the parts created yourself. There are also very few mechanics in the world qualified to work on such cars and you definitely don't want some shade tree mechanic working on your million dollar car.

Don't let your ego overrule your senses. If you truly can afford a car such as these, congratulations and more power to you, but if it is a stretch at all you are better off to admire them from afar.