equiraptor
Well-Known Member
- Joined
- Jun 22, 2009
- Messages
- 1,954
- Location
- Houston, Texas, USA
- Car(s)
- Many cars, mostly very vroomy
Those aren't negative stigmas about the driver, though, unless one takes them to mean, "Makes poor financial decisions," or something like that. Those impressions are also more strong among enthusiasts than the general populace. A friend of ours owns an NSX, and it belonged to another friend before him. There wasn't much of a negative response, anywhere it was taken in North America, and it moved around a lot (Canada and US). It also has somewhere over 150,000 miles on it, so it's certainly been driven.About the NSX:
"Too slow"
"Costs too much for the slowness"
There was one negative incident soon after the original owner moved to Austin, but that appeared to be a personal vendetta that was targeting someone else with a silver NSX, not something about the reputation of the car. There were details in the event that had nothing to do with either the car or the owner.
They'll decide you're either blind or have horrible taste. Or you're a nerd with no friends who built his own car. Or you're super-rich and can import some weird car no one's heard of.Lesser known cars generally won't carry a stigma. Drive a Gumpert around and people won't have time to figure out what it is then form an opinion before you've driven off. Anything like that, people will form only aesthetic opinions, but nothing deep.
That said, a bit +1 to everything else you said.
We had a 911, a red 997 C2S Cab. We had it in Austin, where it was a nicer car for the area, and we had it in Houston, where it was.. meh, midrange, at best (I see Bentleys regularly). There was only one incident in the time we owned it where someone treated us negatively, and that was part of a Critical Mass. I think the 911 had less to do with it than just being in a car - the person treated ALL cars poorly. Now we have a showy, decaled-up, get-it-your-face, giant-wing 911. The closest thing to a "negative" response we've had is people wanting to race on the street. But even that is rare, and it's... a friendly challenge, not an angry one. A wave and a shake of the head "no" and they go on about their business. There are lots of thumbs up, lots of kids plastering their face to their car's window for a better view. It's been a very positive ownership experience on very many levels.
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