High Performance Cars With No Negative Stigma?

How about this?

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I was just about to bring this up. Someone who doesn't know cars probably won't know what it is... or they'll think it's "cute" but I have never met a "car guy" who doesn't like a Super 7
 
As much as I'd like to agree...
"Not a high performance car."

:p
...in the public eye this is completely true. Maybe not when it's boosting its heart out in the left lane, but say "Saab" and "performance" really isn't the first thing on people's minds. "Academic" maybe.
 
I can't think of much negative stigma against a Ford Falcon G6E Turbo. Unlike the XR models it doesn't have the 'uneducated bogan' stigma of the flashy body kits. Taxi/repmobile image, maybe, but the turbo seems to avoid most of that.
 
I can't think of much negative stigma against a Ford Falcon G6E Turbo. Unlike the XR models it doesn't have the 'uneducated bogan' stigma of the flashy body kits. Taxi/repmobile image, maybe, but the turbo seems to avoid most of that.

Is it instantly discernable from a Falcon XR by non-car people? If it isn't, then there's still the bogan image. If it is, is the turbo instantly discernable, other than by some big "turbo" sticker that somehow escaped from the Eighties, from the non-turbo? If that isn't, then you still have the repmobile problem. This is a situation similar to the one that engendered this whole thread. Car people know and appreciate the difference between a Camaro 1LE and a standard Camaro, but a non-car person doesn't, and would mentally downgrade the driver.
 
There are no high-performance cars that have no stigmas. Irritating, jealous, ignorant, overly cynical "car enthusiasts" will always come up with some sort of judgement for anything.
 
This is all I can think of, it's technically a car.

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:p
 
Cadillac CTS
With apologies to Lincoln

Cadillac CTS? Old man's car, even the CTS-V. Old Lincoln? Pimpmobile. New Lincoln? Sad social climber who thought a Ford was bad for his image.

BlaRo's pretty much right, within the limits of how ridiculous you have to get in order to make those judgments. The negatives for the DB9, for instance: there will be a few people here and there doing the "wannabe James Bond" routine, but most people will just go, "Fuck, that's an Aston. Cool!"
 
I tried to avoid some of the negative stigma by buying an older 911 but obviously living in Finland I've still had some.
Heard from some random idiots when leaving a very tight parking spot and having a friend of mine standing outside and helping me to backup (the turning radius of the 993TT is terrible):
"the diff is clattering!" "it doesn't even have parking sensors!" the friend just responded "but it has a good engine" :D

The Viper is a whole different story. I've even read some negative comments on a random internet forum about it. My brother was driving it and it started to rain when he was maybe a couple of kilometers from home. Some dumbass was commenting on the forum something like "how "cool" to drive a Viper without a top in a rain but it won't matter when your daddy is paying the car". Funny how people decide to comment something like that knowing nothing about the car or the guy who drives it. The top was optional for a Gen 1 Viper from the factory and it takes more time to install it than it probably takes for the rain to stop. So if it starts to rain and you're not far from home your best bet is to get back as fast as possible. :p
Even a granny was showing me a middle finger while I was driving the Viper in a town :D
 
I tried to avoid some of the negative stigma by buying an older 911 but obviously living in Finland I've still had some.
Heard from some random idiots when leaving a very tight parking spot and having a friend of mine standing outside and helping me to backup (the turning radius of the 993TT is terrible):
"the diff is clattering!" "it doesn't even have parking sensors!" the friend just responded "but it has a good engine" :D

That's not a stigma. That's a fault of the car. An appropriate stigma for your vehicle is, "A 911? Penis not been working lately?"
 
Even a granny was showing me a middle finger while I was driving the Viper in a town :D
That's just awesomeness! I'd love to get the blood pressure up of grannies just by driving past. Need a cock's car, though. One day...
 
It's interesting to hear about Pry's experiences with the Porsche and the Viper.

The only thing I've heard driving my car is "that's a pretty car" and "Man, I've got to get myself one of those!" And I've had a few people ask me questions about it in the parking lot. I even had one woman in her seventies tell me she liked my car - in comparison to the granny giving Pry the finger.

Not to say there is no negative stigma attached to it - I know there is. But around here anyway, people tend to keep their snide remarks to themselves.
 
Is it instantly discernable from a Falcon XR by non-car people? If it isn't, then there's still the bogan image. If it is, is the turbo instantly discernable, other than by some big "turbo" sticker that somehow escaped from the Eighties, from the non-turbo? If that isn't, then you still have the repmobile problem. This is a situation similar to the one that engendered this whole thread. Car people know and appreciate the difference between a Camaro 1LE and a standard Camaro, but a non-car person doesn't, and would mentally downgrade the driver.

XR6 turbo

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G6E

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G6E turbo

g6et_002.jpg
 
There are no high-performance cars that have no stigmas. Irritating, jealous, ignorant, overly cynical "car enthusiasts" will always come up with some sort of judgement for anything.

This.
 
Then again, I'm only saying that because I drive a Miata. :p
 
How high performance are we talking about here? How about Hot hatches? A classic Golf GTI? Perhaps something more modern....

renault-megane-r-s-red-bull-racing-mj2013-img-1.jpg


Looks like a bit of a toy car but...
 
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