Driven

I want to side with ryne on the topic, except without the aggression

I feel cars, regardless of the blood, sweat, and money we invest in them, should be driven and shared to the world.
I let friends drive my cars, I let the girlfriend track my cars, I let trust-worthy friends track my cars. I enjoy the social aspect that cars can create. That social environment doesn't quite exist when the vehicle sits hidden away.

Should people sell or get rid of cars they rarely drive, no... who am I to tell you how you should manage your car collection. But for me, I'd be the guy who buys a Bugatti Veyron, goes to all the car meets and track days, and have fun enjoying the depreciation.

rnye

I guess I'm abrasive. Not intended. But I hate seeing cool cars sit in garages their whole lives. The world needs more beauty.. Nissan Alitmas and Accords are not that.

white98ls

First, I disagree with a lot of people's apparent definitions of "garage queen" here. IMO, driving 2-4k miles per year isn't a garage queen. In my 16 years of driving I'm not even sure I've driven my own car(s) more than 10k total in one year yet. I have always lived reasonably close to work and/or taken alternate methods of transport for my main commute. So for me, just having two cars like I did for many years will get me to 2-4k miles/yr on one of the cars just by accident.

To me a garage queen is driven not even every weekend - more like 1-2x/mo max. And there are many like that. Why do you think AP1s pop up with 15k or 20k on them? I envision people taking these cars out gingerly, terrified that they may get a rock chip or windshield ding. More relieved than satisfied, they return to their garage to carefully whisk away any specks of dust that may have been laid on their car, applying another coat of wax over the one from last month.

Re: The S2k as a garage queen - I don't know why people do it. Yes, it is somewhat of a modern classic. But it's dead solid reliable, costs so little to maintain, isn't terribly expensive, is good-looking but not a gorgeous exotic or old classic, and is a lot of fun to drive... why would you intentionally not drive it very much? It was built to be driven fast and nothing more.

Re: Using the S2k as a daily. Mine is my daily and, for the right commute, I think it's great. My old commute was some traffic on the highway and usually nice weather, and I liked it because the car was still pretty fun to drive at low speeds, the tidy proportions and nimble handling make it fun to whip around and easy to park, and of course it's a convertible. But now my commute is a straight 70mph cruise all the way and it highlights pretty much all of the car's deficiencies while not using its strengths - it's loud, rough riding, hard to see out of with the top up, IMO a little sensory overload with the top down at 70mph, and it's downright dangerous with my short/uphill freeway onramps going both to work/home when the engine is still cold (no VTEC) - I basically have to merge at 45mph and hope. So it depends on your commute. The car is mostly annoying on my current one, but then when I run out for errands, I like it a lot.

Also, despite its annoyances, I'd take an S2k even for a fast-moving freeway commute like mine over a boring, automatic car any day. I would get so bored and depressed. It's still fun for me to walk out to a little sports car, to shift through the tight gearing and look for opportunities to rip off a pull to 9k, heel and toeing before dicing up the next corner

white98ls

x2. I always see "This rare supercar from 2005 will probably fetch $400k at auction because there were only 400 brought to the U.S." When you think about it, 400 isn't THAT few. But because people pretty much didn't drive like 250 of those, we almost never see them, and that's a shame.

I've done 5 trackdays now and 50-60 autocrosses. Have only seen a Ferrari once, at an autocross, and he went home after two embarrassing runs. Have never seen a Lambo out there, or an Aston, or really anything exotic worth remembering. The only exception is Porsche, which are bought by a ton of serious track rats. It's just sad that no one takes out their 500hp++ supercars to drive safely in anger on a track, and for others to witness. Even if I'm not comfortable driving at 9/10ths on the track and possibly risking my six-figure car in an "off", I would still take it there just for some fun - why not? You don't have to drive in full attack mode, cars these days come with all sorts of nannies, and there's such a thing as track insurance for the paranoid.

vader1

I would agree with this but I think I understand Rnye's point.

There is a difference to me in having a personal policy that says "don't drive it" versus I don't have time to drive it.

My car falls more on the garage queen side of things because I don't want to subject it to bad weather both because I hate detailing it over and over and I don't want the car to be subject to idiots who can't drive in bad weather and mess up my pride and joy.

Secondly, I try to drive the car where I would actually get enjoyment out of it. If I am going to be running errands on a nice sunny Saturday, or going somewhere out in the sticks, its the queen. If I am going to some stadium to sit in bumper to bumper and roll at 5mph, the car I enjoy more does not have the stick, has the quieter interior, nicer seats.

I try to make excuses to take the fun car, but I think Rnye would agree, no matter how hard you try, you find it is not worth it to take the Exige into a half day traffic jam and park it in the city.

If more of my travel were not into traffic snarls I'd drive it far more often. But the crappy and tough miles go on the comfort mobile, and the open fun ones go one the queen. If I lived more out in the country, I'd probably put 85% of my miles on the toy, but sadly, it is the other way around.

762

Although I put a good few miles on my Atom compared to some others (about 3K per year) I primarily drive it to events, autocrosses, and some spirited drives. However, there is a certain enjoyment I get every time I just pull into the garage and see it there, a dream made a reality through hard work.

waltk88

I really like this - "a dream made a reality through hard work." I must remember it for the future.

TommyDeVito

The Ariel Atom. I covet the!

S2020

an exotic is not designed for X-cross. a stock S2000 or Miata or M Cooper S is better match for a X-cross (slow speed & tight turns) than an exotics designed for high speed courses with larger radius curves.
as far as track days are concerned, a lot of exotics are quite temperamental. as much as they are "designed" for the track, a lot of owners don't want to deal with the cost of running one of these.
Having said that, come to F-chat. Lots of owners do bring their high HP, high price machines out to the tracks. They just frequently have their own "Ferrari track" days instead of mixing it up with the other makes.

S2020

have to disagree on this point.
An S2000 (or whatever car at whatever price point) can be a garage queen. Not everyone can or is willing to spend a big chunk of money on a passion (life happens). It just have to make sense for the owner, it doesn't have to make sense for anyone else.