QUIKAG

How do you guys who have families (particularly younger children) get away with having a second toy car? I'm talking about having a more plebian daily driver and then stashing away a fun sports car on the side for the rare evening/weekend you get to take it out and enjoy it?

Do some of you regret having a boring daily driver and not getting to use your sports car much? Would you rather have spent the money you had on your sports car toy and purchased a more expensive, fun, multi-purpose daily driver?

For example:

Option 1:
An '08 C6 and a '01 IS300 daily driver (but the C6 may not be driven very much, potentially causing frustration when little kids are running around the house and you have little free time)

Option 2:
Unloading the IS300 and picking up a C63, IS-F, M3, CTS-V, or RS4 as an only car and tracking it a couple weekends a year.

MDXLuvr

If your finances can handle it then I would go with option 1. Otherwise a new M3 sounds sweet. You are an acct. so I don't need to tell you about the higher maintenance, insurance etc etc. of owning multiple cars. It is not a logical decision. Its a matter of pursuing your car dreams. I go with the Jay Leno philosophy when it comes to car/wives. To paraphrase Jay.... Most people in Hollywood have many ex wives and 1 car. I have one wife and many cars. Btw, I would recommend something that doesn't drop in value as much as a new C6. How about a C6z06 or something like that. My NSX will barely lose any value while it sits in my garage. The GT3 will lose more but I doubt it will lose as much as the 996 GT3.

To answer some of your other questions:
1. How do I get away with it: It is simple - I make 99% of our household income. My wife works when she wants to. So she really can't say much if I spend a bit of my retirement towards my only true passion in life.

2. Do you regret having a boring DD: Sometimes, but I would much rather drive a boring auto DD that get rained on, bird poop on and door dings on then get it on my wknd car. Besides the IS isn't THAT boring. I mean you are going just drive it on stop and go traffic in the AM.

Onehots2k

I would say unload the IS300 and get one of the cars listed above. The IS would have the same utility C63, IS-F, etc. anyways. My dad's got a 07 Escalade and an 04 E46. I wish he would have sold the BMW and got an E63/M5 of something over the Caddy. The driveway aesthetics are nice though.

The Gasman

My wife is cool. She let me buy the s before kids when we first made any money at all. Now it's paid off and I love it still. We have an SUV and Odyssey as our other 2 vehicles to cart around kids. I would die if I didn't have the s. My best friend and I traded cars last week. He gave me his 5 series beemer and took the S. I felt like I was in a boat. I missed the s.

Personally I'll always have a small car for myself. When I get the bug really bad or the s dies I'll buy a 911 (unless something catches my eye in that time).

You only live once and it depends on what you love. I LOVE cars and put a lot of time and energy into my hobby. So for me your choice 1 would be my only choice.

Though mdxluvr states correctly the m3 would not be a bad comprimise.

mav

It really comes down to two factors: your wife and finances.

Luckily my wife is super cool and is understanding about my passion for cars. A couple of weeks into our relationship when we first met, I had an auto-x. She freely offered to go with me and check it out. I knew then she would be the one. We have three fun, small cars. When we start having kids in the next couple of years, she suggested we get an C63 AMG.

Of course consider your finances. Owning multiple cars, paying insurance, maintenance, fuel, etc can get very expensive, very fast. But if you can afford to go after your dreams, then go for it! IMO you only live once, so live your life to the fullest.

Instead of the C6, maybe consider the Z06 for option 1.

And the new E92 M3 would be a very good choice for option 2.

CKit

[QUOTE=QUIKAG,Sep 18 2007, 06:47 PM]How do you guys who have families (particularly younger children) get away with having a second toy car?

CKit

Additional thoughts:

I agree with Raj that I would die without the S2000. A 911 might be the replacement (unless I go nuts and actually buy a RUF Boxster) someday.

I am so thankful I didn't trade in the Honda.

I personally would rather have a nice daily driver that I'd keep clean and shiny when possible... and a track whore that I wouldn't mind cone-marks, debris scuffs and the occasional tangle with the dirt of an infield.

When there was that Youtube video about that young guy destroying his GT3 on the track... I thought, "I would NOT want that to be me." I'm not a good enough driver that I need to be going 170mph to push my limits.

I personally think it'd be fun to have a garage full of AP1s for track duty. Spare parts are relatively cheap and plentiful. And I wouldn't cry if I wrecked one.

MaxGeek

I'd go with option 1. 2 cars is best if you can afford it. If you have a DD you don't have to worry about keeping it clean because it will be, since your not driving it in the rain or driving it as much. You don't have to worry about sporty suspension or driving a manual in bad traffic because you have a DD to fall back on.

dombey

well I don't have a 2nd car right now - just my wife's and my s2000...but we've had the conversation...I think the key here is to outearn your wife by a large margin and constantly remind her what the retirement balance is and that we're still very very young...

that said I'd still be very tempted to hook up the c63 as an only car....

sam_spider

We've got 4 cars currently, the variety of the cars avoids the boredom issue and the want to trade in for a new car when something new and shiny comes out. When the lease on the A4 is up, I'm thinking RS4 or S4 Avant for DD duties unless something else comes along. The key is having a nice DD, that you would want to drive all the time, without any other car to fall back on. I had an IS300, it was nice but it didn't quite do "it" for me, that and it sucked in the snow, so I traded that for the A4.

An extremely understanding wife is also the most important factor in getting away with the multi-car disease, especially with little kids running around (we have 2, a 6 y/o & 3 y/o).