I do want to buy a used car

[Mercutio]

Option 1 is highly dependent on my dad being willing to sell. In the past he's said he wants to keep it for the same practical reason I have one: They're great to just pile crap in, which is awesome when you're bringing home a load of whatever from Home Depot.

His "main" car is a '25 Grand Highlander Hybrid of some sort and I think the only reason he still drives his dog around in his Element is that leather seats weren't optional for the Highlander he got. I've never been in that car but I'm guessing that it's a very comfortable and relatively affordable. I think he was using a Honda Pilot before that.

 

[DrunkenBastard2]

You mentioned not wanting to stand out as the "fancy vehicle' in a high crime area so maybe your dads Element would be the low profile option if it pans out.

 

[Mercutio]

You mentioned not wanting to stand out as the "fancy vehicle' in a high crime area so maybe your dads Element would be the low profile option if it pans out.

Any car I own is going to get filled with things most people would never guess is valuable, and it will full time look trashed. Photo stands and lights, tons of random cables and plain cardboard boxes with random PC hardware. There won't be visible tools. My T420 is in there someplace, sure, but that doesn't look even remotely worth taking either. I've had a 60lb color laser printer on my back seat since probably February; I've been trying to give it to a friend for months and I'm too lazy to take it back up the stairs to my place, so there it will stay until I find somebody to take it, even if it's some asshole who broke into my car. Sometimes, there's a toddler-size car seat on the other side. If somebody decides to dig through everything looking for something that's valuable enough to pawn or trade for crack, good fucking luck.

The one time my car has ever been broken in to happened in an affluent and lily-white community called Crown Point. They broke my passenger-side window to take a bag with three small Lego sets I left on the passenger seat and they also got the only pair of prescription sunglasses I've ever owned, which had Oakley frames. They didn't even try to go through the rest of the car and the bigger problem of that was happening was having a broken car window in December.

But no, I don't want to be responsible for a shiny and visibly new car, given my address. The parking lot where I live is full of comfortably older, nondescript vehicles. My partner's then brand-new Mini left me with paranoia that never occurred to me before she got it, and that was the impetus for pointing a camera at our parking lot ~3 years ago.

 

[Handruin]

Random aside while I'm sitting in the dark and contemplating my car options: When the hell did Corvettes hit Ferrari pricing? $250k for a ZR1? Corvettes? The car that divorced boomers who never wear anything but khaki shorts and polo shirts, drive?

Where is Clocker? I have so many questions right now.

Today's C8 Corvette is an actual real engineering delight and actually a significantly fast sports car in all types of motorsports compared to previous generations. They didn't half ass this car and a lot of its inspiration (like the flat plane crank engine) comes from Ferrari.

The ZR1 and ZR1X are their pinnacle offering and can easily be considered a super car or hypercar worth comparing to a Ferrari. If one was shopping for this level of performance, their price is worth it compared to the competition.

 

[Mercutio]

New Corvettes definitely look like Italian sports cars, but they're also very common where I live. A cherry red paint job on a low-to-the-ground sports car might be a Ferrari or a Lamborghini. My area does get those, because there's a lot of money in the vacation homes along the Lake shore. But it's usually just a Vette with some dorky older guy in the driver's seat. I've always thought of them as attainable cars, but I guess they aren't any more.

 

[Handruin]

They are still attainable, those would be the stingray edition of the Corvette starting around $70k new. Like many American cars, they chose to have a complex offering of editions and packages to select from.

The ZR1 just happens to be a significant jump in all levels of performance with a $250k pricetag to reflect that. To an enthusiast they'll see the difference but to the masses it'll just be another Corvette diluted in the waters of Corvettes.

Ferrari keeps that exclusivity by not offering a car at a wide range of versions and their pricing being much higher enforces that rarity.