<p>I agree with SJMom. Same with motorcycles.</p>
<p>Some people won’t even get sports cars if not for the attention they think they’ll get for having one.</p>
<p>
I’m sure it’s true for some but for others it’s the feeling they get from driving a convertible, from feel of excellent handling, the appretiation of a finely engineered machine, the nostalgia of driving a classic, etc. </p>
<p>There are ‘car people’ who’ll understand what I’m saying. Those who view a car as just transportation might not.</p>
<p>“I guess at the end of the day, it is about not having enough money. Being poor sucks.”</p>
<p>laserbrother- I don’t think you understand what the word poor means.</p>
<p>ucsd<em>ucla</em>dad, I did not mean to criticize that population. Sorry if I came across as insensitive.</p>
<p>So what if your sports car depreciates in value. Isn’t the whole point to have fun driving it?</p>
<p>
A warning: don’t assume that your pension is assured. Mine was for 23 years and then POOF! it wasn’t anymore. Defined pension plans are going the way of the dinosaur as companies offering them are switching them over to employee savings plans (or nothing!), often at significant loss of benefits to the employees who were counting on them for retirement. Please re-figure your retirement income without the inclusion of the pension plan and be sure you can survive without that extra income just as a worst-case scenario. (To be super-cautious, we also re-figured ours without Social Security income, since we aren’t confident SS will persist in its present form when we’re older.) Just a suggestion before you assume you’re set for retirement.</p>
<p>And note that working for another 19 years implies no significant health challenges during that time.</p>
<p>'tisthetruth: You didn’t come across critical of everyone. I know some people are into the image thing and will by clothing, houses, cars, etc. primarily to try to impress people and don’t even care that much themselves about the car, etc… I was just adding that there are also a lot of people (I would hope the majority) who do these things for themselves regardless of what anyone else thinks.</p>
<p>“Being poor sucks”-</p>
<p>I think this is one of the few utterances from Laserbrother that I know to be a fact.</p>
<p>Of course my definition of “poor” and his are 2 very different things.</p>
<p>Kat</p>
<p>'Tisthetruth, I bought my sports car because I had “suffered” far too long driving cheap but reliable cars that I didn’t even like, just bought them because we needed cheap, reliable, safe transportation. I wanted a fast, hot car very badly, and, I love how it looks and drives (when I saw it on the lot I knew it was supposed to be “mine”), but mostly, I absolutely get off on how it sounds - sort of like this rumbly, growly, thundery sound. (Comparatively, I drove a Prius once - rental car while on business - that car was so terribly quiet, especially at red lights - it was so quiet I constantly wondered if the engine had stalled out, and, it drove me INSANE, I cannot stand silent engines). It does absolutely attract a lot of attention, which I did not consider and was caught off guard by the attention - but it’s hardly an anomoly, as in south Florida there are lots of expensive, exotic cars - it’s nothing to see several lamborghinis, bentleys, maserattis, etc. driven by all age groups during just the average daily commute.</p>
<p>Last time I had a midlife crisis I wound up getting married, then having a kid. Between all that, plus educational costs and increased pressures at work I haven’t had time for one since (I am over 60 and one of the OPBs - Oldest People on These Boards).</p>
<p>A couple of months ago I had the occcasion to look for a new car. Up to now I have owned only sensible sedans. I briefly thought of a sports car or convertible - but only briefly because we would have a problem with our knees getting in and out of a sports car and because my DW doesn’t even like to drive with the windows open, let alone a top down (and besides, I have always liked the safety feature of having a real roof).</p>
<p>Anyway, I ended up buying another of the sensible sedans. Purely by chance, this one hapened to be metallic red, because that was the last one on the lot. So that will have to be my brief flash or whatever.</p>