> No one is as impressed with your possessions as you are
Reminds me of: if you own a Porsche, all I know is that you're $120K less rich
Reminds me of: if you own a Porsche, all I know is that you're $120K less rich
I had a colleague who bought a Porsche. He went through a million hoops to be able to afford it - buying used, restoring etc.
He loved taking photos with it and they looked great. He looked literally like a million $ - dressed up, nice sunglasses, nice watch, SoCal roads etc.
He loved talking about it and genuinely enjoyed living the Porsche life.
This man got his money’s worth and much more. He bought the car and let its presence and status and demands influence his life in a multitude of positive ways.
Speaking with him and seeing this influence gave me another viewpoint and I was inspired.
Not to buy an expensive car but toward excellence in something - anything.
And I don't even track it. It's just so precise, just a joy to drive all around.
Is it your "daily driver," or a 3rd car that you only use when you want to have fun?
Not sure, I hope a long time? It's a 2014 Boxster S (981S) bought used, with now a bit over 60k miles on it, and it's still going strong.
It had its last big service recently and there wasn't really anything wrong with it. They replaced the drive belt (I am honestly not sure if that was necessary) and that's pretty much it. Other than that it's regular oil and filter changes, and I got a new battery once. I might be lucky, but mine seems built to last.
> Is it easy to keep up with the maintenance?
Based on the above, I'd say so, yes. It's just not something I have to think about much.
Maintenance is more expensive, though. Definitely less frequent than my Ford was, but with the much more expensive tires and the drive belt (again, not entirely sure about that...), the Porsche may still well come out more expensive. That's okay, I knew full well going in.
> Is it your "daily driver," or a 3rd car that you only use when you want to have fun?
It is effectively my daily driver now. That needs a bit of qualification:
Before WFH when I still had a daily commute, I had a crappy Ford as my commuter car and only took the Porsche on that commute when I felt like it (e.g. when I knew traffic would be light, when it was a good day...). But since I mostly work from home now, keeping the Ford in shape was annoying so I got rid of it. We still have my wife's boring car as "family car".
But the Porsche is my daily driver by virtue of being the car I usually take and took before outside of the commute, even for grocery runs and other chores. For being a 2 seater sports car, it has a surprising amount of space in frunk and trunk (remember it's a mid-engine car, so it has both), and I really mean it that it feels good to drive even in every day situations.
It's precise, you feel "in full control" (I don't mean getting into more dangerous situations, just in regular safe situations it feels like that already), more connected the road... it probably does not add anything for people who generally think driving is boring or even annoying (of which I know plenty), but I like operating cars, and when I drive other cars I honestly wish they weren't so "mushy" in comparison.
You really should try though. "Feeling the road" comes with properties that are fun or at least worth the payoff for me, but not everyone wants to be jumbled around with lots of perceivable road noise in a car with low vantage point. It's not extreme, but my wife is not a fan; she likes that I have fun with it and tolerates the ride, but she prefers traveling in her "mushy" car where driving is more, shall we say, abstracted away.
Speaking of maintenance: My Tesla requires "less maintenance," but the tires are expensive. The factory tires lasted less than 30k miles and were over $1000 to replace. In contrast, my minivan with about the same miles has plenty of tread left. Shockingly, because of the tires the Tesla actually costs more to maintain than the other car.
Where I'm from — and I'm not from Italy — buying a Lamborghini makes you an instant a*hole. People think the only reason you bought that is to show off.
But that is not the case if you buy a Porsche, the NSX, or even the R8.
Have you ever driven a Porsche? They’re pretty cool. If you can afford it without sacrificing other important things, a Porsche (or anything cool, esp a car) can make life a lot more fun. Life is short and non-repeatable.
I am an engineer and I don’t have a Porsche.
It was sold under the special title "4DSC" Four Door Sports Car, basically a sedan version of the original 300ZX, same motor and internals.
It of course lacked some speed but this wasn't about racing but normal street driving, plenty fast for that, great suspension, built in hands free cellular, heads up display. Really was a marvel and it was compared against all cars up until the time of the article.
I think a Porsche or Acura TSX was #2.
The trick is recognizing if this will be fleeting or long lasting.
Things are meant to be used. If you aren’t using it, what’s the point?
But now that that's gone I'm even getting the groceries with the fun car. It seriously transforms a chore into something I volunteer for. And we got rid of my crappy commuter car, for family business we still have my wife's solid but boring car.
We only live one life, you can't try to optimize every dollar. There's a tremendous price on "investing" in your own happiness throughout every part of your life.