D Walker wrote:Personally, I would say its time to get an adult car.
Ouch, I felt the burn on that one!
To be honest, I really happen to like my VW Golf R and feel as though it's an adult-ish car. Sure, on paper it appears as though it competes with the EVO/STI (turbo-4, AWD, 4-doors, ect), but in real life application, it has very little in common with them. The materials, fit, finish & build quality easily rival my old BMW 335xi & Infiniti G37x. It's a nice cabin to be inside for sure. It also has my own ideal blend of ride quality and entertaining handling; firm without being jarring or wearing. I'm also a big fan of the VW's subtle styling; I've had it for several months now and am yet to have any sideways-hat wearing kid try to race me at a light. Hell, no one even knows what it is! A very far cry from my STI of old...
Before I bought my Golf R, I was actually looking at the Audi A4 Quattro and BMW 328xi. I just couldn't get past how much more practical and sporty the Golf R was; for less money without sacrificing build quality or using cheap materials and all while having more standard features and checking all of my "need/want" boxes. Tremendous value for someone looking into that market (i.e. wants a certifiably "nice car", that's peppy, handles well, is AWD, comes in a manual and seats my family of 4). The extra power / performance and more usable backseat & trunk were just icing on the cake... That and VW didn't charge for each additional feature that should have come standard on the Audi & BMW but didn't. The fact that it's a low volume / limited production vehicle is also a nice little bonus (it certainly doesn't hurt long term residuals!).
So, to me, I feel as though I do have an "adult car". I suppose some people might disagree. To each their own.
Enough about that though.... as far as the list you've built is concerned, I would love to own pretty much any of those cars to be sure! Although, for me it just doesn't make sense. Allow me to explain:
-First and foremost, I don't have an extra $20k laying around; especially not after closing on my house. Even if I did, I could not justify spending it on a depreciating object like a project car. Car's aren't investments to me- my house will be an investment, my pension is an investment, my financial portfolio is an investment. Cars? Not so much. They're both a need and a want. A project car is 100% in the "want" category, and for that, I cannot bring myself to throw such a large amount of money at it, as there are other areas I would rather invest / spend cash on that scale. I'm also not willing to pull out a loan on something as frivolous as a project car. I have self-imposed limitations that are based on my own comfort levels and how much of a risk I'm willing to take for something that is essentially only a hobby.
-You mentioned buying a car that would "retain it's value"... interesting concept. Please see the cars listed in the poll at that top of the thread. They all have 1 thing in common: they've all pretty much bottomed out in the depreciation department. This is by design. Take the NA Miata for instance; generally, you can pick one up in good shape with 120k miles on it for around $3000. That same Miata, you can drive for 30k miles and when you sell it with 150k miles on it, assuming it's been maintained, you can expect to sell it for around the same price you bought it for. Talk about retaining value- cars that have stopped depreciating are hard to beat.
-I understand you're a hardcore track guy and I respect that. However, someone like myself would never fathom spending $30k in mods on a $3500 car. Although I would like to note a formula I've followed on previous cars with great success: I purchase only bolt-on parts & attempt to purchase them used if possible. I perform my own installations (and tuning if I'm familiar with the EM software). When it comes time to sell the vehicle, put stock parts back on and sell the aftermarket parts online to help recoup losses. This has worked numerous times for me in the past. On average I've been able to recoup ~75%-85% of what I have spent on parts, not counting consumables of course. There's still a loss there, but nowhere near the loss that would have been taken if I just sold the vehicle as is (modified) and nowhere near that levels inferred above. I'm just not that hardcore anymore I suppose.
-Most of the cars you listed would also be considerably more costly to maintain than the budget cars I listed. For a vehicle that I still plan on driving to work 1-2 times a week, that's something significant of note. Also, the price of consumables and modifications for said vehicles would be outrageous. Far beyond what I would be comfortable spending with my lowly civil servant budget. I'm not quite "baller status".
-Another area of concern of mine would be putting the car into a wall while pushing it too hard. While unlikely, it's still a legitimate concern. Easy (ish) to walk away from a $3500 investment... not so easy to walk away from a $20,000 investment... especially since most insurance companies would tell me to go pound sand if the accident happened on a track.
Overall, I hear what you're saying, which is basically to purchase a car that was designed to be a proper sports car to begin with (vs a souped up econobox). I agree with the logic, which is why cheaper sports cars like the Miata, MR2, Porsche 944 ect make sense. However, the cars you've listed are considerably larger investments than I'm willing to make. Project cars are purely emotional in nature, and while my emotions might tug on my wallet from time to time, well, let's just say I'm not quite emotional enough to invest nearly that much cash.
I'm not a guy whose looking to professionally race. I'm just a guy who likes to tinker with machines and enjoys some good automotive recreation occasionally on the weekend. My son is also getting older, so having an inexpensive machine I can work on with him in our free time is also appealing.
While I appreciate your insight, I'm afraid I'm going to have to stick to cars that are within my budget for the time being. Thanks anyway!
I won't hold my breath!!