In My Opinion 3.5 D&D is the only choice.
AD&D was supposed to provide a more immersive and interesting gaming experience but it fails miserably. Advanced doesn't mean better it means more complicated, more haphazard and infact based on a much older and frustrating system. It detracts from the whole experience, everything takes ages to do and in my opinion the time spent rolling is better spent actually role-playing.
Futhermore that the D20 system that was designed for it is widely used by all other major rpg producers. I feel this clearly shows the brilliance of the D&D system
However I am want open to floor to what others think? Are there any among you who will stick up for this flawed system?
I first started in AD&D and have not looked back. The group I was in did a lot of interesting stuff. We basically lived AD&D and got totally into it. I think we got into it too much and a few of us pulled away to make our own little group. We still emersed ourselves into our characters but we did not eat and sleep on the will of a 12 sided die. I enjoy the first edition of AD&D and it will always be part of me. I am getting to Know the 3.5 rules as so far have no problem with it.
I've never played AD&D and was started on 3.5, but I have read some of the rulebooks from AD&D and it just seems they made everything very complicated. When comparing spells between systems it's just so much easier to read and understand a 3.5 spell rather than an AD&D spell. And the art in the 3.5 rulebooks for outshines the AD&D stuff which for me is a huge factor when purchasing a rulebook.
Do you ask, is a car that has a radio better than one that doesn't, better? You know it is, depth, and complexity is important in life, and in our games. The differences between D&D and AD&D are like night and day. Now I am speaking about 2.0 not 3.5, because TSR {side note* Never sell a good company, only sell the bad ones} thought seriously and hard about the rules,and they were dummied down for version 3.5, when Wizards of the Coast bought TSR. For the "thinking"person, there is only one choice AD&D!
For me its not about the version of the game but how it is played. Using your same analogy, you can have a Ferrari and go no where with it or an old car with a bad paint job but still get around. What's the point of having a nice book or info for a weapon but you can't even role-play your character half descent.