You paid $50,000 for a new family vehicle to get your kids around and get groceries and shit.
I paid $1.50 for a tiny Porche that I'm gonna make crash and do loop-de-loops on plastic strips with.
We are not the same.
this post was submitted on 17 Aug 2026
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I have to disagree. Cars are not all the same. Some have bigger a boot than others, or more seats, for example. Imagine how many friends they can take with them with their 1 M$ car.
... 1?
That's car as transport versus car as status symbol. Did you know rich people had large lawns as status symbol back in the day just because they were expensive to maintain? An expensive car in the driveway next to a small patch of grass in a desert climate does the same.
I am a petrolhead, I love cars, but even if I won the lottery (and I mean a BIG win) I could never justify spending more than $250,000 on a single car. I believe thats the price point where you are buying a flex not a car. $250k buys you (or gets you built) an absolutely top shelf truck, sports car, 4x4 or family vehicle, any number of incredibly cool vintage cars or one absolutely mental amateur race car.
Even then, theres maybe 5 cars Id consider dropping that kind of cash for, EVEN THEN I dont think I could justify having more than 1 of the 5.
I raced in many forms of motorsports since I was 12, even worked a year in F1. I like reading about technological advancements. I could afford any car. I worked years in luxury cars before attending university. On public roads, cars are appliances to get from A to B. I want efficient and reliable. Speed is for tracks.
But since the 1920s, cars have been marketed as status symbols to society, to the point people regard them as an extension of who they are and how they want to be perceived. As such, there is an entire psychology thesis on what personality disorders drive certain vehicles. Stereotypes happen for good reasons. People see pickups, sports cars, SUVs, but you're really seeing insecurity, narcissism, tribalism, even racism, and posturing. I saw the spreadsheets on financing and default rates enough to know most people are driving cars they cannot afford because it's so damned important they make you think they can.
i eventually started seeing luxury cars as rolling debt rather than rolling wealth
The expensive care are investments. You buy them because you can resell them in the future. It's like buying art. A way to keep your money in physical assets. Renaldo just talked about how he didn't know how many cars he owns because they are just an investment in his portfolio.
Still driving my year 2000 car, will drive it into the ground.