The key to car enthusiasm is not the car, it’s the enthusiasm. At AutoZone yesterday I saw two dudes very excitedly using a heat gun to apply crappy tint to the back window of a worn E100 generation Toyota Corolla. The car had been extensively modified in a way that wasn’t to my taste and, yet, I was having fun just watching them have fun with their car. Today’s review of the Maybach EQS680 SUV from contributor Daniel Golson surfaced a lot of feelings about fancy cars and enthusiasm.
I was excited to have Daniel to review this car because it’s not to my taste. I prefer the understated luxury of a Bentley. Daniel enjoys these cars, though, and it’s important for us to sometimes feature voices that are not exactly ours (though we do love having our own distinct voice as a site made up of automotive misfits). My sense is that there is no car too fancy for Daniel.
That isn’t to say we’re all dirtbags like David around here. Adrian drives an old Ferrari, Beau has plenty of nice cars, and Mercedes’s Phaeton love shows her to be a true appreciator of the finer things in life. While my BMW has more than 230,000 miles on the clock, it was still originally marketed as a luxury car. This whole experience had me wondering what the upper limit of “nice” is for most people.
Personally, I’d be fine with a brand new Porsche 911 T but I’d have a hard time justifying owning a brand new Zenvo (though I’d be fine borrowing one, ahem). My exact upper limit is probably an Alpina XB7, which costs about $150,000 and is all the fancy I can handle. There’s just something about owning a car that’s more expensive than my house that I’d have trouble with, although maybe if I had a nicer house it wouldn’t bother me as much!
What about you? What’s the nicest car you’d feel comfortable owning?
Porsche Cayman or a Porsche 964 as an enthousiast’s car. All my current cars, even my fun cars, are base trims so I normally shy away from luxury. But with the years passing by I find myself suddenly longing for a Renault R25 V6 or Ford Scorpio MK1 in Ghia trim. “Folksy” luxury.
New car I think I cannot see myself (no matter how rich) getting anything fancier than Land Cruiser or 5-series wagon. As something for weekends, I could see owning some 1970’s Aston V8 Vantage or V12 Ferrari prior -1980, if money no object. Perhaps a 997 Carrera S manual if totally loosing it.
We are making relatively OK money with wife (me engineer, wife dentist), but I cannot really see us spending that much on new cars. I’ve got old RRC as “hobby project”, thinking about getting another (old) motorcycle, cottage project coming up and otherivse I like spending my money on free time(including tons of sports) aka working for money as little as possible.
911 with the full red leather interior. I despise alcantara, especially on touch points. Once something starts to shift from well-made to extravagant, I’m not interested anymore
I think I’m currently at about the right level with my daily driver 2003 Ford BA Fairlane Ghia. Would have been $56,000 new 20 years ago, which was the equivalent of $80,000+ with inflation at the time I bought it. But I only paid $4,995 since they seem to be basically forgotten and unwanted, so I can drive around fairly anonymously on the cheap – it doesn’t look ostentatious and fancy, nor does it look old, dilapidated or basic.
Not sure if I could really enjoy owning something much fancier, although if money was no object it might be fun to own something stupidy rare and expensive like a Mercedes Gullwing or a Ferrari 250GTO in perfect running condition but dented and rusty, and treat it like a beater.
If someone wants to gift me a Citroen SM, I’d feel plenty comfortable driving around in it. I’d settle for a DS if my benefactor felt uncomfortable giving a SM to a stranger.
Nicest car I’d feel comfortable owning?
Meaning nicest car I could put up with? Or nicest attainable car I’d love to have?
Well I can’t stand modern cars, with the non tactile screens and gadgets, the insulated feeling from the road, the lack of visibility, and the lack of serviceability. And to me they’re prohibitively expensive tools with no character.
Holy grail for me is a GM from the late 80s or early 90s. I’m especially partial to the flat top 2.8 or 3.1 MPFI and 440T4 or Getrag trans. 300k is very attainable, and they’re so damn reliable and simple to work on. And maybe it’s because I’m an 80s kid, but I’m a big fan of most of the Irv Rybicki 80s GM styling.
Biggest problem of living in the rust belt is the rust. Very slim pickings up here. I told my coworkers that if I won the lottery, I’d go south and find me a rust free garaged 80s FWD GM. Well I happened to find a semi local 89 Ciera wagon that was elderly owned and never driven in winter. 2.8/440T4. This was before Covid so used car prices were still low. I keep it stored for the most part, aside from car shows, date nights, etc. Gets compliments all the time.
Now I just need to accomplish the accompanying part of my promise, win the lottery. 😀
I don’t feel comfortable driving my brother’s 2020 Tacoma, but Im not sure if that’s a nice car thing or a someone else’s car thing. so I’m not really sure I love old Porsches and rolls Royces, and i almost bought a 60s jag, but I dont know if I’d feel comfortabe owning any of those because i like and want cars I can beat the crud out of without feeling bad about it. so i’m genuinely not sure. probably something like a new corolla hatch, they’re reasonably cheap and fun could be had with them.
A Rolls Royce, but only an old one from like the 70s that I got cheap and repaired to a running state. I have a newish Volvo, that’s about as swanky as we get in reality.
Depends on how far I have to drive and how long I spend in it.
my current 15 minute twice a day drive, a nice Golf Mk7.5 GTI is all I would need although those are getting old now.
I nearly bought a Lexus GS F-Sport a good few years back now, but it was way to much car for my driving distances at the time.
For me, it’s a used Tesla Model S.
And it’s not so much about image, but about what I get for my money combined with operating costs. And tied in with operating costs, I like cars that are efficient because I feel we should all live our lives in a way that we don’t use more energy than necessary.
I don’t insufferably preach this to people… I merely lead by example.
Up to now, I’ve always had small-to-compact FWD/4cyl cars that were cheap to buy, not too expensive to maintain and got decent fuel economy.
The kind of car that would fit my needs perfectly would be a Ford Focus wagon with a Tesla Model 3 powertrain/chassis.
But since that doesn’t exist, the Tesla Model S has become the next best thing as the prices for good used ones have dropped to the high $20,000 to mid $30,000 range in Canadian funds.
Also, the Tesla Model Y, Kia EV6 and Hyundai Ioniq 5 also deserve honorable mentions The only issue with the Hyundai/Kia products is they will get more interesting when they switch to the NACS connector. And you can’t get a good used Tesla Model Y in the CAD$30,000 range yet.
CCS is a technological dead end that will get annoying to use as they age.
And in terms of pure style, I like the Model S best even though I think the EV6 and Ioniq 5 both look really sweet.
When a Tesla Model S replaces my Honda Fit (which is getting rusty and will likely need replacing in the next year or so), I have a feeling that it will be like when I had a Saab 9-3 in the past.. where some people thought I was rich because I drove a Saab (which I only paid CAD$2500 for).
Are we talking how much we’re willing to spend or how fancy car regardless of price?
I would be reluctant to spend more than $30,000 on anything new unless I suddenly become rich. For fancy, if I had the money an old 911 a Citroën CX or a Toyota Century V12 for sure.
Cars are depreciating assets so I’ve never spent on them comfortably, despite being a car enthusiast, and the spending generally been driven by where the diminishing marginal utility starts. Additionally, while I am technically new money I want to look old money, so I prefer not to buy flashy brands. For the last 10 years it has been pretty hard to beat the domestic automakers. Find a better performance car than a Mustang or Camaro? Probably not. Find a better family daily than a full size crew cab or SUV? Probably not. The most I ever spent on a car was for a full size 2023 crew cab pickup, and that was still a number starting with 3. But electrification and the UAW shakedown are changing things. It will be interesting to see where the value ends up. Maybe the Toyota Sequoia? $60,875 Gives me heartburn, and Toyota does not put as much cash on the hood as the domestics, but at least they’ve kept the solid rear axle so it will be durable.
Every year it depreciates and gets more rough around the edges my 2007 Odyssey gets more true to what a van should be (a vehicle to haul kids, camping gear, and building supplies) and I get more comfortable owning it. New chips, dings, and scratches and getting backed into for the fifth time can’t change its value at this point.
I’m going to make an assumption that using said car is part of the equation. If I had an unlimited budget, there are many very fancy cars I’d love to own, but probably would be a lot closer to Jay Leno’s collection. Kept functional, driven, but not used like a daily driver.
In terms of the nicest car I’d own and use, something in the Cadillac/Lexus space in the market. Someplace I can get a sedan with good, comfortable interior space, adequate performance numbers and good creature comforts but not something that draws excessive attention to itself.
Me again with my 2019 Cadillac CT6. When my wife and I went shopping for this car, it was an aspirational purchase. At that time we had owned a very nice Cadillac STS for about 6 years and were totally sold on the Cadillac brand. The CT6 was the top model and we had done our research. We paid a fair but high price and left full of “new” car purchase misgivings. Thankfully, those misgivings have given way to compleate satisfaction. Should I live long enough to be in the market again, it will no doubt be whatever the best Cadillac might be.
There is to much badge engineering now, look around at other GM products, or even something from another brand. you might be pleasantly surprised, if not there’s always that caddy to go back to.
Noted! Been thinking about a “last of line” Buick Roadmaster wagon. They really appeal to my esthetic choices. I did own a big white Caprice sedan of the same time frame and really loved that boat. The 350 was totally effortless when getting on down the road.
Owning and driving on deserted back roads? Sky’s the limit.
Showing up places where people are actually going to see me get out of it? Honestly, even my Corvette that I bought for economy car money feels a bit ostentatious to me. Then again, I keep taking it places anyway so maybe I’m just shameless?
I accidentally bought a “nice” car that had depreciated to ~33% of its initial sale price. Now that I know… yeah it turns out $70K is way too rich for my blood. I feel ostentatious in the thing. ~30K is the sweet spot I think. That’s loaded BMW r9t territory.
I’d be comfortable owning any car because when I owned the car it would mean I am at a stage in my life where I can own it without worrying that I am in over my head.
As one discovering the aches of a fifty year old, with parents who started buying Lexus, my basic hopes for a car are shifting from sporty to more luxurious. Our previous new car was $22,000, and I can see us doubling that for our next one. The family thought the Integra we just test drove was too noisy. That was an eye opener!
Then again, my town has s lot of nice cars, so safety and attention aren’t a daily issue. I guess it comes down to what I’d feel safe parking at a random hotel for a night. My wish list has a Panamera in an interesting color.
Honestly, my dad’s old Chrysler 300 is kinda too nice for me. Much fancier than anything I’d buy for myself. I’m actually looking forward to piling on lots of miles and wearing it in some; it’ll be more “me” then.
Nicest: nothing new. I don’t want any further environmental damage done for my sake if I can avoid it. I haven’t bought a new car since the 80s and intend to maintain that streak (though the RAV4 Prime and Prius Prime are heavy contenders to change my mind).
So. I’d be pretty happy to find myself the proud custodian of a 1999 Lexus LS. This generation lost a bit of weight compared to its predecessor and doesn’t suffer from the unpleasant styling of its successor, became just a bit more economical on the highway, but is just as bank vault-solid and silent on the road.
I would be dead chuffed to hold the keys to a last-year Jeep Grand Wagoneer. Not the godawful travesty on showrooms now, but the mighty BOF beast that bowed in 1991. It was eminently luxurious for its time, while also being pretty capable at handling whatever conditions in which it found itself.
That’s about it for “nice.”
I have a 1973 Mustang convertible, driver quality, yellow with a white top. As they say, a 10 footer.
Everyone likes it, and no one really resents you for driving it. And if anyone asks, you can tell the truth about price without seeming like you’re bragging.
i will eventually come across enough money to snatch up one of those late aught-early teens continental gt’s. i think id be content there.
If the car is a “gift”, I dunno…probably just some late-model Lexus sedan.
Quiet ride, good sound system, fuel efficient. That’s all that really matters to me at this point.
Me personally? There’s probably no limit to how nice a car I would own, so long as I was able to purchase it for a decent price. Buying a high-end car brand-new would probably make me feel pretty ostentatious, though.
Having said that, there are definite limits to the types of cars I would own. I live in the city in a neighborhood full of transit-taking and/or Prius-driving ex-hippies and lefty punks (which I adore; these are my people), so as much as it’d be a hoot and a half to own a Ram SRT-10 as a “fun” car, it would make me feel genuinely embarrassed to be out and about. Similarly, big SUVs, muscle cars, anything with a loud aftermarket exhaust, etc would be tough, no matter how cheap or expensive.