Not really the Porsche due to the logo, but you could rock an Escalade/X5/GLE absolutely no problem. Although I know people who drive Porsches to school and they don’t get any flack for it.
People don’t really care what you drive at this age. It’s your parents’ car, not yours. If you founded and sold a startup to buy the car yourself, I’d be impressed; but the way it is now, no one cares if you roll up in a Beamer or a Civic. Same goes for OP.
The main reason I said you’d blend in is to say that I wouldn’t think twice about parking my Mustang next to an X5, but I’d try to avoid parking next to an S-class just in case the wind blows a bit too hard when I open my door.
Edit: I’d be impressed, but that’s cause I like cars. Not sure if other people feel the same way about cars as a status symbol.
^ I can’t see many of the reactions to it being overtly negative or having an effect on one’s reputation as a student whatsoever. If it’s a big school, there’s a good chance it will just get lost among the hundreds of other cars in the parking lot. I would be surprised if OP’s car was the only expensive one on campus.
A parent here: In my opinion you should not take that car to school. You sound like you have plenty of money, so go buy a Tahoe or something. If you are smart you’ll buy a two-year-old one, but your ego might not allow that.
Truly rich people try not to allow strangers to recognize them as rich at first glance. And people who don’t have much money hate rich people. You just will not bring yourself any happiness by showing up at show in an ultra-expensive car.
Think what awesome dates you can get though. As long as you aren’t a horrid person to be around, if the girl’s awed by wheels, you might just beat out the guy with the 10-year-old Toyota.
If I knew it was an expensive car (which is extremely unlikely as I neither know nor care about cars) my thought would be “wow, it takes a special person to bring an expensive car to school where it’s pretty likely to get dinged up.” and I wouldn’t give it a thought ever again.
Thanks for your responses everyone. I’ve decided not to take it when the semester starts and instead scout out the parking lots. Judging from the responses here, I suspect it won’t get much of a negative backlash which is what I wanted.
To those with a more condescending tone - the car is not a status symbol. My parents’ cars aren’t status symbols either. Couldn’t care less about it being a “babe magnet,” because those aren’t the “babes” I’m after. I just don’t want NEGATIVE reactions from girls (when I originally posted, I was thinking guys, usually being more into cars, would be less assuming).
It may not be to you but to other people. I went on a date in a red Corvette and all I did was look over to the cop and he pulled the car over. My date was driving the car and was not too pleased. He rent the car. My comment about babe magnet was tongue in cheek and not meant to be condescending.
I think you blend in a porsche SUV with no problem. there’s this costco I go to that’s near a university and a wealthy city so lots of porsche SUV’s or BMWs and super fancy cars. they’re neat to look at, sure, but that’s it. ive never witnessed people do malicious things to them. i think they blend in well, honestly. BMWs have always looked like toyota corolla’s to me, so unless im looking at the logos i don’t really notice it. and even if i do, i might just look at it for a couple extra seconds.
it really depends on your school and the town it’s in. i think you should be fine.
i remember this kid in high school who had an older BMW, and everyone would sort of make jokes about it. he was pretty popular though so i guess it was cool, but based on his other behavior (always has the newest iphone, game consoles, newest video games, expensive stuff, expensive clothes), i admit a few of us envious people would always talk defeatedly about him lol. of course girls thought he was well-off. but he wasn’t necessarily snobby or anything so i think it’s alright. im sure it turned off a few girls, though.
i think it’s almost like with race… everyone notices it, but it’s not always something that’s going to brought up or matter (depending on the people). you can tell who is from a wealthy family or from a poor pay check to pay check family, but in the end you’re all trying to get an education and you have that respect for each other because of it.
You’ll certainly meet a lot of fake people and gold digger if you have that car from the first day. I’m a rising freshman and if I saw you, I probably would think you’re pretentious and and a show off. But who cares? We all have opinions.
Yeah, that sort of reaction was what I worry about, thought as I said earlier, this thread has helped quell my fears a bit. One thing that my affect reactions is simply the sound of it…I had the exhaust modified so it’s really darn loud and probably obnoxious to some people, but I do have a button that adjusts this (it’s just not my favorite mode to drive in, lol)…
Fwiw, if you’re at a residential college then people likely aren’t even going to know what car you drive unless you tell them or you’re already friends.
Who is really going to know what kind of car you drive, unless you’ve invited them to go someplace with you - and at that point they will have already formed whatever opinion.
To be honest if I saw someone roll up in a car like that in college I would most likely snort and roll my eyes. To me, that screams “attention seeker” because it’s obvious at that age that mom and dad bought it for you and people will automatically assume you are wealthy and in turn snobby. And I am upper middle class so I’m not being jealous/ catty. That’s just my opinion