High Performance Cars With No Negative Stigma?

About the NSX:
"Too slow"
"Costs too much for the slowness"
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.

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.

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.
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.

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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Are you arguing that a Porsche 911 doesn't have a negative stigma? (speaking generaly) :p Next to a Corvette, it's the epitome of a midlife crisis car. :p

Whioe the gumpert, yes, looks like a kit car and people will think you are mental...the Noble might just be the ticket. It looks like a real, reasonably well-built sports car, not so much a kit car, and the make/model name doesn't sound stupid.

What about the McLaren MP4? Evora?
 
Any performance car will have a certain stigma, mainly because there is no practical/real reason for owning one other than desire. So no matter what there will be a good amount of the gen pop thinking you are a dick for owning something like that.
 
Are you arguing that a Porsche 911 doesn't have a negative stigma? (speaking generaly) :p Next to a Corvette, it's the epitome of a midlife crisis car. :p
No, I'm not. I'm arguing the negative stereotype has a minimal (even no) impact on the actual ownership experience. Why worry about the negative stereotype if it doesn't actually impact the experience?
 
While that make sense logically, car ownership isn't all about a fully-practical decision. :) It can be as much a fashion choice as a tool.
 
While that make sense logically, car ownership isn't all about a fully-practical decision. :) It can be as much a fashion choice as a tool.
Sure. And we expected the GT3 RS to be a "bad" choice from a fashion/appearance perspective. We expected people to treat it like a ridiculous affectation. What I had tried to convey (and I guess I failed to?) is that from that perspective, it's been very, very positive. Instead of being treated like a ridiculous affectation, it's treated like something fun and interesting.
 
Oh, i get what you're trying to say, absolutely. At the same time, I've had strangers tell me they liked every single one of my cars...from a brown mid-80's Oldsmobile sedan, and current FWD auto coupe to the Jeep, SUV and pick-up trucks. But I've never had someone come up to me and tell me that they don't like it. I don't think that many owners of standard C2 have people walking up to them and saying, "Boy...you must be compensating for something"...even if there are people that think that. ;) I mean, I LOVED my Explorer Sport, and I had people tell me the liked it all the time. But, it was still an SUV, so there was always that "eco" stigma. I loved my Jeep Wrangler, but...when you drive a Jeap Wrangler with the top down, you instantly get lumped in with "that" guy people think of when they first think of a Jeep Wrangler with the top down...the guy with the backwards baseball cap, Oakleys, the tank top/t-shirt with the sleeves cut off, cranking terrible music at the lights, in his jeep with the rediculous lift kit and giant wheels/tires that will never be used for anything more hardcore than parking lot concrete parking spot dividers.

I will also readily admit that the GT3 RS should be immune, though, as it's just simply that respectable. It's the Porsche that even people who aren't Porsche fans respect.
 
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And.... that's the point. If it doesn't impact your life, why does it matter? Why avoid buying a car that you'd enjoy, that'd make you happy, because someone you'll never interact with will think snarky things in their mind after you drive by? These negative stereotypes are so weak, they fall apart when you actually start talking with a person, so it's not like they impact job opportunities for the vast majority of us.

There are some cases where it can matter, like for a real estate agent driving clients around. But that's going to impact SUVs and big sedans that have space for the passengers, not high performance cars like Corvettes, Camaros, 911s, etc.
 
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Re: High Performance Cars With No Negative Stigma?

And.... that's the point. If it doesn't impact your life, why does it matter? Why avoid buying a car that you'd enjoy, that'd make you happy, because someone you'll never interact with will think snarky things in their mind after you drive by? These negative stereotypes are so weak, they fall apart when you actually start talking with a person, so it's not like they impact job opportunities for the vast majority of us.

There are some cases where it can matter, like for a real estate agent driving clients around. But that's going to impact SUVs and big sedans that have space for the passengers, not high performance cars like Corvettes, Camaros, 911s, etc.

I agree on all points. :)
 
Very true all on counts...but that's not the point of this thread, is it? :) [/playing devil's advocate]
 
Very true all on counts...but that's not the point of this thread, is it? :) [/playing devil's advocate]
But... it kinda is. It was started due to a thought that one wouldn't want to buy a car because of the negative stereotype around it. If there's no real impact on the ownership experience... why should the stereotype impact buying decisions? :)
 
I'll just leave this here.

maserati-grancabrio.jpg


And this.....

2009_alfa_romeo_8c_competizione-pic-873336443069520504.jpeg


And finally this....

car_photo_390694_7.jpg


You can nitpick and argue that none of them is perfect for whatever reason but perfection is impossible as there always has to be a compromise somewhere but none of the above make me think anything bad about either car or driver. Actually bella machina is about the only thought that comes to mind when I see any of them.
 
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The thing about Maseratis is that the number of them that are driven in Southern Florida by geriatric retired investment bankers from the gated community to the country club is too high. In theory, the image is great, but there are too many beige ones driven by beige people who you just have to hate.

How about this?

r500a.jpg
 
But... it kinda is. It was started due to a thought that one wouldn't want to buy a car because of the negative stereotype around it. If there's no real impact on the ownership experience... why should the stereotype impact buying decisions? :)

It shouldn't... but it does.
 
I think the Aston is about as close to stigma-less as you can get. Maybe the NSX, too, for rarity's sake. Those have a certain stigma to them, but nowhere near the stigma of some of the other options.

Personally? Zero furks given as to what anyone else thinks. I need a 911. If that makes me a gold-diggin'/midlife (quarterlife?) crisis having/cack to the drivers of less awesome vehicles, so be it.
 
The thing I have against most Porsche drivers is not that they have a cool/er car. It is the massive amount of them are posers without a clue.

You buy one for a track day car? Good for you, has fun. Most that I have ever met were like pilots, they had to tell you that they have a Porsche. And then they start telling you all the numbers that show it is uber awesome. Ask what track they race at and they give you a slightly surprised look and ask "There are tracks that will let me race it"?

No shit poser boy, why else does a 3.6 second 0 - 60 time mean on the roads?
 
When it comes down to it, every car has some negative stigma attached to it, high performance or not. No matter how innocuous or well-loved you think any particular car/brand is, there will always be some group of people who, completely arbitrarily, will hate it and all its drivers (maybe they got cut off by one once, and ever since then, have noted down every subsequent instance of poor driving by that brand's drivers, while ignoring poor driving from all other marques). And inside that group, everyone will reinforce each other's opinions so much that they'll start to think that their opinion is some global phenomenon that's lasted through the ages.

And if you ask me, passing up on a car because of some perceived stigma about the car means you've failed as a car enthusiast: rather than buying a car for the driving experience, you're buying one for appearances.
 
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Which actually illustrates a point rather nicely.

For years BMW banged on about RWD handling and near perfect weight distribution and were bought by cocks. Now the cocks are driving FWD Audis instead it just shows how much more important image is to a significant percentage rather than the driving experience.

And also how ignorant a large portion of the populace really is. As soon as they find out I drive an MX5 they start making hairdresser or gay references without knowing a thing. Most of the other MX5s I see on the roads are driven by women in their 50s and older.

Which either means I am bucking a trend of about to start the menopause. :blink:
 
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