jpog

I guess alot has changed over 5 years. When I had my '00 white/red, it was the first one in the area. I was coming through a cove behind a 911 Turbo, probably about a 1997 or so. We toyed around for a few miles and I pulled into a convenience store to get a drink. The guy pulls in to admire the car and tells me how he is considering picking one up (already a compliment as he is driving one machine). He asks if I would let him take it for a spin, and I guess I showed him a look mixed with concern and "are you serious". He then says, "oh, you can drive mine." Ummm... ok. We met back and drooled over each others' cars for a few more minutes and he left. Very cool experience. So then I leave the parking lot and some punks in an Eclipse GSX pull up. Monster sound, revving the engine. I drop it and get a great launch. They hand me my a$$ promptly. Cool thing was they slowed to tell me they liked the ride.

FF to my '04. Not much in a month. One guy asked if I had gotten the body kit, and who made the wheels. I explained that '04 was different from previous years. That's it. Go figure...

JPOG :

mbilderback

Me after a takeoff: Not bad for 4 cylinders.
Father: Wait, I thought this was a V-8.
Me: Nope, no bigger than (name of my step-brother)'s eclipse's engine.
Father: ...

My father...being born in the era of the big-block, is still in that mindset. I think I just put a big hole in his usually steeled argument.




Even better:
I got a new job and now work for the local county. Shortly after beginning work, I put a pic of my car on the desktop of my computer. A co-worker sees it.

Coworker: Is that your dream car?
Me: Well, yes, and it's in the parking lot.
Coworker: Oh...


Now I'm 25 and work in the tech industry, not someone generally thought to be poor...people must think these cars are much more expensive than they are.

allkingz

I get that a lot.

This past weekend I was at the gas station and a guy asked me if it was the new Porsche. I wasn't sure which "new Porsche" he was referring to, but I politely told him it's a Honda S2000. After being corrected, most people will want to know more about it, what year is it, what engine does it have, is it fast, but this guy insisted it looked like a Porsche. He even went so far to say it looked like a 911.

allkingz

The same thing happened to me at work. My new boss came back to introduce himself and noticed pictures of my car. He made a comment referring to my S as a "dream car" and "good motivation" for me. I told him that's MY car in the pictures to which he replied, "I can see we're paying you way too much." I smiled and told him, "Good employees aren't cheap, and cheap employees aren't good."

It's amazing how many people think these cars are much more expensive than they are. I'm 26 and still get comments that my parents must have "helped me" buy it.

dcak

I agree with the "it must look more expensive than it is" idea, but another thing to consider is the age of the person admiring it. I think those in the baby boomer and above generations would not have tended to finance a car as expensive as the S (even though it's not THAT expensive) as those of us who are like 26 now. Different ideas about debt, etc.. Of course, some of you lucky bastard 26 year olds might not have had to finance yours
Yesterday a guy in a beat up something or other behind me at a light snaked is whole torso out of his drivers window with his mouth gaping open to look at the S. It looked pretty damn funny.

BlitzSRM

on my way to work today, i was cruzing with the top down. 2 bleach blonde girls in an eclipse yelled accross 2 lanes of traffic "NICE CAR", i just waved.

ruexp67

While this may not be true of Memphis, but here in Chicago it's pretty rare for people to have a convertable sports car as their only car. People do it, of course, but when I see someone with a sports car I assume the also have a beater car.

They might be assuming that you have more than one car. For me, I felt the need to calculate the cost of the S that way. I didn't feel I could afford it, until I could afford it AND a more practical daily driver.

mbilderback

True, I would undoubtable not own my S unless we used my wife's car extensively. If this were my only form of transportation, I'd still own my 240.

ajlafleche

One evening last week at dusk I've gone to the local supermarket to pick up something or another. On the way out, I'm waiting at the light in the middle of stopped cars. From two lanes over a teenaged girl calls out. "I love your car, it's so cool"
"Thanks"
"I want my dad <who's in the driver's seat> to buy one."
"He should."

kctham

went up to Deal's Gap some time ago (same time as the miata meet) and caught up with a friend :

Friend: Hey, I read somewhere that your car does 0-60 in 8 secs!
Me : (Kinda flabbergasted...) What.... dude. 5.5 - 6 secs is more like it.
Friend: Hell no! 8 secs! only slightly faster than a miata!
Me: This isn't a miata, and even the mazdaspeed miata doesn't come close. Drive my (wife's) car (MY04 silverstone, stock) and you'll know.

Need less to say after a few turns his jaw was slack....

And another time in the parking lot of a walmart, some guy saw the car and went, "Nice car!"
"Thanks, it's my wife's."
"How much is it new?"
"Thirty-two"
"Thirty-two hundred?"
"Urm... no.... thousand...."
Ok... that was my bad there.... need to be a little more precise...