03-20-09 - Car Buying Mentality

Car buying is one of those things where you can easily fall into the trap of worrying about what other people will think of it. I don't just mean buying a car to impress others, that's the obvious trivial way and not a big deal. The more subtle bad thought process is mentally justifying your purchase to others. People who buy a Honda Civic are preparing their rationale in their heads as they buy it, imagining conversations where they tell people "it's just so practical, it's very reliable, it's fast enough for me for now" or whatever.

I've always been biased against Porsches because they're underpowered for the money, and they are so often the car of middle aged mid-life crisis men. So what? Getting as much horsepower per dollar is not the goal. It's to get the car that you enjoy. In my head I can hear the taunts of the stupid public saying "oh but some dumb American car has way more power at half the price, how could you buy that?" and I prepare a response in my head. Fuck you, I don't even have to respond to you. Stop thinking of rationales.

In my head I keep hearing people say "why would you get a 1 series when you can get a 3 series for just a few k more?" Well, voices in my head, I'll tell you why - because I like it better. It's smaller, lighter, faster, stiffer, more nimble, more fun. But really the point is that I don't need to make reasons for you, voices in my head.

In the end there are just way too many conflicting factors to weight them sensibly against each other in any objective way. You just have to go with your instincts.