Cars aren’t rational. If they were, we’d all be driving around in Priuses, and while there’s absolutely nothing wrong with a Prius, it just doesn’t suit everyone, you know? The fact is, almost every driver cares about their vehicle in some way, from the parents who wouldn’t be caught dead in a minivan to the 20-something crustpunk who enjoys the space of a minivan for drums and stuff. We all have our reasons for spending our actual money on the vehicles we drive, so today on Autopian Asks, we want to ask why did you buy your car?
I’ll gladly go first, although I’m probably not the most rational buyer out there, for I tend to mostly buy cars on wants and have a habit of having cars find me. In the case of my Porsche, I wanted a particular Boxster with a particular set of options, and eventually, the right one chose me. Yep, it’s still brilliant, and was well worth the two-plus-year search. Now, with the 325i, things are a little more complicated.
I’ve always loved the E90, but I wouldn’t have ended up with this one if it weren’t for stupid rust belt problems. See, I used to own a relatively nice Infiniti G35, which was great until it wasn’t. Once the 120,000-mile mark was breached, the nickel-and-dime repairs just kept coming, from dampers to trim bits to fixing exhaust leaks. The natural sort of stuff you’d expect in the rust belt, and eventually, it all just grew tiresome enough that I sold the G35 and bought a BMW with far more previous owners and far more mileage under its belt that actually found its way to me through a Facebook group. So far, it’s been the more robust car, and it was a great one-car solution for when I could only have one car.
See, when you can only own one car, you need to balance your wants and needs. I wanted a manual gearbox, drive to the back, good steering, decent brakes, a banging stereo, and a zero-to-60 mph time in the rough area of six seconds. I needed space to move stuff, a rear seat for occasional carpooling and airport runs, decent fuel economy, plenty of parts support, and acceptable passive safety due to how undertrained many drivers are. The result? The sports sedan.
However, most people don’t fire the parts cannon at fully depreciated German cars, and most people don’t buy their cars outright or on their fancy either. So, why did you buy your car? Was it a great deal, did it just fit your life perfectly, was it a dream of yours? Regardless, I want to hear your rationale in the comments below.
(Photo credits: Thomas Hundal)
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My 2017 GT350 cause I was washing my F150 with my 7yr old son and decided we should go look at it at the dealer cause I needed the nitrous in my tires topped off anyway and I had never seen a new GT350 in person. My son fell in love with it so I traded the truck in on it. Its a fun car at times but I would rather have an AMG Mercedes again so Im looking for one of those since they are just as fast or faster and can actually haul people in sedan or wagon guise.
I got my 2003 Dodge Ram 1500 cause I traded my truck in on the GT350 and still wanted to do truck things. I don’t like Dodge but I found it for cheap and it was well taken care of all the maintenance records and only 73k miles on a 20 year old truck.
I’m going to try to not be insulting or make fun of anybody here, because that’s not what the Autopian is about.
But the kind of guy who 1. Takes his f150 to the dealer to get the “nitrous” in the tires topped off and 2. Doesn’t need a pickup so thoroughly that it is possible for him to swap it for a sports car on an impulse.
That’s a funny kind of guy right there. Let’s just say that you are bringing diversity to the Autopian comments section.
I know i could put regular air in the tires but the stupid dealer in town does nitrous in all their stuff so suckers like me go back and see whats on the lot. I don’t do truck things everyday but I do camp and hike regularly plus since the GT350 is worthless at nearly everything except going fast and loud, my truck gets alot of daily use like hauling chairs and baseball equipment to practice and driving out the crazy dirt roads here to my girls horse lessons. My truck gets far more off-road use then Id argue any average truck in a big city guys feel the need to buy. Im in rural Southern AZ we have legit places off road I can go and do so on a regular basis.
Also on the nitrous subject it does stay inflated far longer then regular air, my cars with perfectly good tires set off their check air alarms far more often for me, its annoying, the nitrous is far more stable.
If you’re gonna argue for this, say nitrogen (the reason that Rust Buckets put quotes around “nitrous”). You’re not getting nitrous (oxide) in your tires, you’re getting N2.
Yeah I should have gone with N2 cause thats what the valve stem says anyway and nitrous does sound dumb
As a few others have already mentioned tires are inflated with nitrogen (N2), not nitrous (N2O) oxide. Which is a good thing since nitrous oxide is a powerful oxidizer hence its use in rockets and race cars. Not something you want in a hot, flammable tire.
I don’t begrudge anyone doing that…. it shows they have the financial means to do what they want. What’s wrong with that?
You get major Dad point for getting the GT350.
Thanks, my son loves it but he also likes my old truck, he crawled under it with me last weekend to help me fix an exhaust rattle. My girl wants my old WRX so I have 2 little car nuts.
Great memories there! My wife had a “Bugeye” WRX wagon so I completely understand. You’re raising them right.
One day I hope to be able to afford a GT350. Damn that engine/exhaust combo is awesome.
I was a lifelong Ford hot hatch fan and Ford finally gave the US the penultimate hot hatch in the form of the Fiesta ST. I was mostly motivated by my SVT Focus being a repossessed basket case with a cooling system that shit itself on a yearly basis.
I bought my Model 3, which was #8 on my list, because it was the only one I could actually buy in January 2023. I have zero regrets.
#1 was a hybrid Maverick. #2-5 were all Toyota hybrids. #6, Chevy Bolt. #7 VW ID.4
I bought a new 2020 Tacoma just before the pandemic, and 4 years later I sold it to buy a 38 year old 1st gen 4runner. My 20 mile a day commute meant that I was putting about 3000 miles on the Tacoma a year if you include my summer motorcycle habit. So it made sense that I could live with somewhat of a project daily driver. My wife is much more practical with a Mazda CX-30.
I bought my Mustang b/c I’d promised my childhood self when I could, I would.
Gen-X prime, I grew up seeing both the originals (usually in a state of disrepair, as nobody wanted those back then) AND the current state-of-the-art foxbodies on the road. Even the II’s weren’t uncommon.
Though I wouldn’t realize it until much later, Lee Iacocca’s master plan worked like a charm on me – to young Jack, Mustangs represented this amazing combination of style, performance, and everyday usability that someone like me/how I saw my life unfolding could conceivably one day afford. Great at any one thing, no; but good at almost everything, yes.
It would take time (school, work, being overseas, etc.) but I never lost sight of why I wanted one.
And in 2002, it finally happened. I’ve owned her for 22 years now, and she still brings the same smile to my face when I fire her up as she did when I first drove her home. She’s no longer an objective performer, sure, but in my heart, she’s forever crossing the finish line first.
DD is a Saabaru Aero. Bought it because I wanted to replace my existing Saabaru non-turbo with the fun one. Bought this specific one because it was dirt cheap (seriously, I paid less for the whole car than the guy could have sold just the powertrain to a wrx kid), the timing was right, and I still saw value in 4 doors, wagon, AWD, and of course manual trans. I put the factory subaru roof rack rails on it because I often find myself leaving a store with something large and thinking “dammit, I’m in the car!” so I put stuff on top. I always carry tie downs.
I bought my s13 many years ago because it was my first real “fun” car. Paid $1000, running, and including the manual transmission swap.
I have owned like 7 720 pickups, and still own a couple. Because I love them, I don’t love full size trucks, and having a truck is often useful to me. I have multiple because I cut two in half and I’m building a quadcab (with suicide doors!).
I wanted a Datsun roadster, because Datsun roadster. So I bought a pretty hashed one.
I bought my Travelall because I wanted a vintage tow hog. That morphed slightly and now its a Tahoe with Travelall skin, but its still going to be my tow hog.
Basically, If I have a need, I find a vehicle in that category that makes me smile. Then if there is a car that just makes me smile (and fits my budget) I buy those often as well.
My stepdad bought a 96 Miata about 25 years ago as a weekend car. He only ever drove it when it was nice enough to put the top down (in NJ so that was about a 6 month period of the year). As his company continued to get him nicer and nicer company cars, the Miata got driven less and less. He retired about 5 years ago and decided he wanted to change up small convertible roadster life for 2 door manual Wrangler life. I bought the Miata from him because I knew the opportunity to buy an immaculate NA Miata that hadn’t seen any moisture outside of a car wash in 20+ years was way too good to pass up.
You lucky bas… I mean, congratulations! I am definitely not concocting a Cactus Jack-esque plot involving boulders, painted-on tunnels and powder barrels to make you sell it to me. You can rest easy.
Ok, good.
I was beginning to think all those attempts on my life in the past 24 hours weren’t a coincidence.
Of course it’s just a coincidence! by the way, I noticed you didn’t pick up the call from the estate planning agency. It never hurts to have a plan, just in case.
My 96 Subaru Legacy was starting to deteriorate in 2016. The rust was getting bad behind the rear tires. It seeped a lot of oil from almost every place possible. Went to the Toyota dealership just for some test drives, but they had a 2014 Corolla that was a good deal and my parents surprised me with a chunk of the down payment.
As to why I bought my 95 Dodge Ram, my wife and I had dropped to just my car during COVID as we both worked from home. Late last year she got a new job that required some in office days, so we had less than two weeks and a 5k budget to find something. Since we knew it wouldn’t be driven that much I started looking for trucks knowing it’d be useful for projects around the house. A friend of a friend put it on FB at a good price and I bought it 12 hours later.
I have my 2016 Jag XFS because –
I had a Focus ZX3 that I tuned the shit out of and like you I snapped and told myself I would just get a car that requires no modifications, and I’ve still got a completely stock Fiesta ST 10 years later.
Great story. I’m increasingly nostalgic for those cars – the final versions of “true” Jaguars, at least from pov. The future of Jag will sadly not look like this again.
(I grew up in the ’80s, so XJ6’s still cast a long shadow)
I had a 4runner. Wife had a camry. I had no need for a large, 4×4 inefficient funky looking brick. I loved it though. I only drove about 7 to 8 k miles a year so fuel cost wasn’t really a problem. Wife loved her v6 sleeper camry. Looked basic but was definitely not your grans camry. Then, youngest got his dl. He used whichever car was available. My lease ran out on the 4runner. We had to decide what made sense for when he left for college. Would we really need two cars in the garage with him gone. Nope. Gave him the choice and he took the camry. We traded the 4runner for a rav hybrid limited. Fits both of us. She doesn’t need a step stool, I don’t feel like I’m on the ground. The hybrid is lively and surprisingly nice to drive. Easy to park. Great city car and also good on the road trip. We have 40k on it now at 5 years. Have no intention to sell for a good while. We both love it. Not the most exciting but it works great for us.
I bought my BRZ because a hurricane ripped my WRX out of my life and Subaru no longer makes the hatch and I just couldn’t bring myself to like the sedan. If Subaru brings back the WRX hatch tomorrow I’d stop by same day and trade in the BRZ.
I bought my Ioniq because I have to have a 4 door car that’s less than 4 years old for mileage reimbursement, and, at the time I bought it, there was a minimum MSRP requirement of $27500, it replaced a six year old Camaro that was paid off and that I had hoped to keep another 3 or 4 years.
Since I couldn’t buy the sort of car I really wanted, and since the per mile reimbursement was well under IRS rates, I decided to get the cheapest thing to operate I could
My Crown Vic was purchased to tow a camper and use for personal road trips, I’ve bought and sold several Panthers over the years and always ended up regretting that, so this time I’m just going to keep it, it’s cheap to keep on the road and works well for the purpose
I bought a Corvair because Volkswagens have gotten insanely expensive. Seriously, even Super Beetles, which air cooled VW enthusiasts thumbed their noses at for decades, are bringing serious cash in good shape now, I like VWs, but I don’t like them enough to pay all that paper money
When it was decided to hand the Volvo’s key fob to my newly licensed daughter, my mission in life was to get back into a manual-equipped car. First choice was an eco-boost ‘Stang, but for interest rates, the car had to be less than 7 years old, and I was only willing to part with $20k max (2022, height of the idiot car prices). Finding a genuine 3-peddled Stang, or even Camaro that fit the criteria and also had a clean carfax was nigh impossible.
Opened my search to hot hatches and found a Mini and a GTI that each checked the boxes. The GTI had a minor ding on the carfax, although there was no obvious damage, and the dealer wouldn’t work directly with my bank, which had a branch office just a mile down the road. So I went with the Mini and have not regretted it. Bonus is the Mini was very nicely optioned (an S with the JCW interior package).
My 2007 VW Rabbit was pushing 200k and was going to start needing things. The clutch was original, the A/C was toast and I couldn’t fix it, and I had smacked a deer which resulted in State Farm giving me 4 grand and letting me keep the car. It drove just fine after the deer hit, the only real damage was a broken headlight ear which required core support replacement.
I drive over 70 per day just to get to work and back, so I needed something robust. I didn’t want anything with a fragile timing system or DOHC, so I settled on wanting a 3800. After test-driving several Grands Prix, Regals, and LeSabres, I bought my 2004 LeSabre because it came with all service records and was very well-maintained.
Over seven years later, it’s pushing 300k and still has never failed- not even once.
I bought my 2020 Sienna because it was the last year of the V6 and we had a 2011 with 275,000 miles still running well. Wanted to lock in the reliable powertrain over the first year of a new design and new engine, even at a small extra expense in gas.
I bought my 2019 F350 because it is made out of aluminum and my previous 3 trucks each had rust issues. I bought the gas engine to save $10,000 and because I hate diesel.
I bought my 2016 SS because large sedan + V8 + 6 speed is a combo I will always believe in. I can haul all 3 of my kids around in speed, if not really style. Plus GM was offering 20% off.
I bought the Viper because it was offered to me for $57,000 off sticker price and because its engine doesn’t overheat. Despite how passionate for the V10 lifestyle I am now, at the time I was dead set on buying a C7 Z06. Bad reviews of that car plus the chance to buy a Viper at the same price made the decision easy.
I bought my Blazer projects because my kids like monster trucks and because I like full convertible SUVs.
I love the Viper, Especially the sound, We hardly ever see any here in the UK.
My wife’s 2004 Sienna is still going strong. Good choice!
I know some people are going to look at me cross-eyed, but I’ve always wanted a high performance Explorer. So practical and fast…but it wasn’t practical for me until my family grew. Now I got one…used of course, but fast and comfy!
I I bought my van because it was going to become scrap if I didn’t get it, You don’t come across a 1951 ford bread van very often. Also I was only a kid when we got it for $150 in towing fees.
That was 7 years ago, and it still doesn’t run or move under it’s own power.
I’m in the position of having to give up my car to a family member and acquire a different one, so I’ve been asking myself this question a lot lately to try to narrow the field of potential replacements. Why did I just have to have this 2013 Smart Fortwo when it popped up on FB?
Coming up with an answer to this is freaking hard, way harder than I imagined.
It finally hit me as I was composing this post: It was the car that sparked joy when I looked through the classifieds.
I just needed a commuter for work, <10mi one way, and an emergency alternative when the family main is down or in use. It is all the car I need and not a bit more. When I drive around the family ’19 Camry it feels so wasteful, all that energy being expended to move around a lot of mass I don’t need. The Smart is a four wheeled bubble with a seat and a radio. Something to keep me out of the weather, get me from A to B, provide some decent tunes while it’s at it, and doesn’t bore me to tears when I look at it. Indeed, it makes me smile more often than not. I have a hard time articulating why, but it makes me happy. That’s why I bought it.
I bought my Camaro after my 128i tried to self-immolate at an autocross due to the valve cover gasket blowing out. I loved the look of the pre-facelifted 6th gens and wanted an SS 1LE to replace my 1er with something better for autocross and more reliable. I didn’t want a turbo 4 or a V6 because, come on, it’s a Camaro.
After weeks of searching and test driving a lot of 1LFakes I found mine in Indianapolis CPO with under 10k miles on it. The dealership had it listed online for $35,000 no offers, I asked if they would take $30k and the quickly responded with “best we can do is $33k,” so I went up there and got it.
I wanted a generally reliable 80s/90s manual car that could fit 4+ for under $5k. So all German cars are out, along with F-bodies that don’t need MAJOR work, and so it came down to the Swedes. Volvo 240 wagons in decent shape were just north of my budget, but my well-loved, non-Turbo Saab 900 with seats in superb condition fit the bill. It was like it was meant to be.
My Nissan Skyline I bought for parts, I wanted the engine, gearbox and rear diff for my 300ZX, I got it at auction for the right price and during the drive home (4 miles of country lanes) I fell in love, That was 20 years ago and I still have it.
My VW T3, I just always liked them, I had a T2 when I was 19 and liked it, I drove the T3 some time later and thought it better in most ways, One year about 7 years ago I got a good bonus, found a rough T3 on ebay and bought it.
My VW T2 was my dads project but he got too ill to work on it so I bought it from him as a bare shell. I have since got it almost back on the road.
The Fiesta I bought for the Mrs after she had a terrible car crash, I hid it in the garage for when she got out of hospital 🙂
It’s not easy to walk everywhere in the-middle-of-no-where NY when everything, even the grocery stores, are a mile out. Doesn’t help my first vehicle, an ’06 Dakota, because a literal fire truck, so I needed something for under $300 a month, and I’d trust my Compass over a first-year KL Cherokee any day of the week, and especially on Tuesday. Less than $300 a month with virtually no credit history, no money down, for a 43,000 mile crossover is pretty good, I think.
I bought my Elise because my 996 was increasingly starting to stress me out even after I paid it off and I figured (in hindsight not entirely correctly but that’s fine) that being largely a combination of GM and Toyota parts meant I wouldn’t have to worry about much of anything so long as I didn’t ever hit anything with it; compared to little fiddly shit constantly breaking on the Porsche and (while almost all of it could still be bought new) the constant fear of one day where I go to start it and it just starts puking smoke out of the left exhaust.
I bought my Corvette because I always adored how the later C4 looked; especially on the inside where it looks like they basically lifted the interior out of an F15. Compared to the Corvettes that came before and after, it’s still an exotic looking car. Completely exposed front suspension, huge clamshell hood, big meaty tires all the way around (and the space to go even larger) and just the right amount of tumblehome to make them stand out even more. It honestly took until I bought the Elise that I actually started growing tired of its compromises.
Weekender is the NC MX-5 – purchased when got a new job and had some more disposable income…..found 2007 w/ 64k miles that was from the south so clean as a whistle underneath. Haven’t regretted it for a second in almost 3 years
DD is a 22 Bronco….that was on a whim due to a great deal for my trade in. Plus I was always a sport compact/turbo sedan person (I kinda do regret trading the ’16 Regal GS in…Trifecta tuned and I still think those 20s were the best looking wheels ever made) but once I realized I no longer have to care about the road condition, beefier everything suspension-related, dirt simple to work on/modify, and have a removable roof; deal was sealed. So just minor regret on that
Bought my Volt because I thought they were a fascinating concept/engineering marvel ever since they were first announced. Never could until now, supremely happy with my decision.