Misconceptions about driving a Ferrari

Calm down dear. It cannot be coincidence that Clarkson comments on it and I have noticed it. It may depend what part of the country you live and drive in, but it is very real, unfortunately, trust me. You are lucky that you have not experienced it.

 

Haha, one local plumber in my city has small office right next to nails salon and takes his cars every day to the work - FF, 458, Panamera Turbo S, Cayenne Turbo. it is funny, I wouldn't think, that is even possible earn that much in that place

 

I don't doubt it can happen, but living in the South and driving into London it is nothing but love.
Drive the M3 and wow, that really is hate.

 

I wish this thread would die......

 

Get some popcorn and enjoy the show , bro.

 

You're not helping!

Do Porsche people have this problem of "Wealth guilt"?

 

I live in a small town and was a little worried about buying my F12... So I asked a colleague and friend if he thought it would be an issue...he said," are you ****ing kidding me? Everyone knows where you live and a Ferrari, or a few Ferraris, pales in comparison!"

Oops...guess I should have thought about my house first.

 

I don't! But, when I drive the 911 to work, l don't flaunt it. Even though it's bright red. But, I don't keep it a secret either. People who are truly my friends know it's my dream car, and are happy for me. Or, so they say! Other people, who knows, don't care. It's not a bad thing to be successful...T

 

Can't be replaced when you work for yourself

 

Interesting thread with some odd responses. I would like to address the doctor who passionately describes the social-economic gap between patients and staff and would never drive his Ferrari to work.

Some key professions, to me, do not have an inherent stigma associated with apparent wealth. Doctors are one of them. Even when I was just starting out of college, if a doctor I had to see had a nice car I would feel relieved not jealous. Ferrari even better. I would only feel that you are a car guy like me and might be better qualified to take care of me because you are apparently paid well. Lawyers - same thing. Plumbers - No Way!!!

 

You don't want a flooded house. Always pays to get the best.

 

Unfortunately I keep clicking...

 

I know this thread has really run it's course but it boils down to other discussions we've had about "why don't people drive their F cars much?" -- AKA: "Why are there so many 5 year old cars with 5000 miles or less on them?"

And there are several reasons

1) Honestly, they don't make good daily drivers (which is why I can't understand why Ferrari keeps making them more and more GT like every year). You worry where to park them, if they will get vandalized, if some idiot will run into you, if you'll be ticketed, etc

2) Most of us have a number of cars anyway. Why take the Ferrari if you have something better to get around town in hassle free?

3) The weather is bad half the year so why take it in rain or snow?

4) People want to keep mileage low to keep resale value high

5) You don't want to look like a rich snob or have employees or clients see you in it for fear of what they might think.

You can't do much about 1-3 but you can about 4-5.

Or just buy a Porsche.

 

+1 Everyone is in a different situation in life... age, social status, martial status, location, employment, gender etc. no one size/answer fits all. But yes a Porsche will certainly balance a person out.. Moderation in all things. A Prius works fine for me..

 

I don't care what kind of car a plumber drives. I do care if he does not do the job right or does not fix any mistake.

I see no correlation between the 2. If he's charging too much and he sucks.....I know enough about business to tell you he wouldn't be driving a Ferrari. Reviews and word of mouth would beat him up too much. It's a lot harder to suck and keep it a secret nowadays.

 

Your neighbors must get a kick out of watching who shows up at your house :-j Plumbers pull up in red Ferraris. Gardeners arrive in Rolls Royces, etc.

 

Kind of.......I'm a dog trainer and I daily drive it so they are used to it.

 

We have two miniature Dachshunds. Very smart dogs. They understand every single thing we tell them to do...they just won't do any of them. LOL. I read a book about Dachshunds, and it said Dachshunds train their owners rather than vice-versa

 

Cool dogs!

 

I realize I'm late to the party, but I thought I'd throw in my $0.02 anyway. Cars are potent social signaling devices and people are tribal and very good at evaluating social signals relative to the norms of their particular community. My son's university has a sub-culture of very wealthy foreign students, typically from China, Hong Kong, and the Gulf States. They tend to wear gold lamé sneakers, cover themselves in designer clothing, and drive exotic Italian sports cars. All ways back home of signaling they are part of a particular community. Those signals are interpreted very differently by the rest of the students at the university, who view them as bling-y and gauche, and it's apparently interesting to watch how they begin to modify their behavior as they spend more time away from home and in a different environment at school. Here in Silicon Valley, the social signaling is completely different but no less present. And I'm sure it's equally different in L.A., North Dakota, and Singapore. And of course it varies by subgroup within locale - here in Silicon Valley if you're in the VC community your signals are different from those of the software engineering community, or if you've emigrated from India instead of having grown up here. The problem is that people usually interact with many different social subgroups, each with their own signals, and it's challenging to navigate through them. Everyone who commented upstream about being in the medical profession and having to think about who sees their car is spot on. I rarely drive my Dino to work, mostly because it's no fun in traffic, but also because I care about how members of my community there perceive me. If you can flip everyone the bird and do whatever you want, more power to you, but that's unusual in my experience.

 

Great post. Thanks! I guess the old saying is true: theres a time and a place for everything... So the key with a Ferrari is to maximize those

 

Are you really sure about this? So if a doctor recommended surgery for you or one of your family members...who will you get a second opinion from...the other doctor who owns a Bugatti or Lambo?

I'll give you a better situation and example related to the doctor situation. My friend was experiencing severe back pain. There were two options for surgery to do some work on his spine:

1. Going through the front was less risky and less painful but less effective. May work or may not.
2. Going from the back required his back to be torn open and obviously more painful and risky but more effective in curing his pain.

I'm not sure if he is the one who made the choice but option 1 was taken and then like 6 months to a year later it proved it didn't work so they had to do option 2. Now...imagine going through this and then seeing your doctor pull up in a Ferrari. Hmmm....

There are similar situations for lawyers or for anybody. The problem you have introduced...especially for a consultant is that you have your client/customer wondering if you're just trying to make more money off of them.

For all of us who own a Ferrari and/or other exotics...we can all be humble and grateful for what we have.

 

All good points.. the same that were made back in page 1-4. Thanks for sharing.

 

Agreed, this is just Clarkson being Clarkson and exaggerating for effect to appeal to the masses.

For every one minute of pleasure you get ten minutes of hatred?!? I've owned Ferraris for about eight years now, driven them relatively regularly (5000 miles a year on average), and encountered probably three negative reactions (and these were nothing major, a middle finger, shout of w*nker etc) in all that time. I also get let out of junctions far more in the 458 than I do in my Audi family car!

Sometimes I *think* that people are thinking bad things, but that's another story about being British!