State apparatus (Dallas, Mart, Miami: price, gym, garage)

[EDS_]

Originally Posted by Katana49

It's possible Aston Martin of Dallas got one for a customer event or something.

That's right.

[Walter Benjamin]

Originally Posted by cordata

Could someone explain the thread title ? State apparatus ? ?

I'm pretty sure it's a reference to French Marxist philosopher Louis Althusser's concept of the ideological State Apparatus. Althusser argued that institutions such as the educational system, the media, etc., in serving to provide legitimacy for the sovereign state, functioned as 'apparatus' for the state, or State Apparatus.

Similarly, conspicuous display and consumption of elite luxury automobiles serves to validate the status of their lessors, and thereby to maintain the legitimacy of the capitalist state system under which the luxury vehicle market functions. Hence, fancy cars are a State Apparatus.

At least, that's what I get out of it

[RoamingTX]

Originally Posted by Walter Benjamin

I'm pretty sure it's a reference to French Marxist philosopher Louis Althusser's concept of the ideological State Apparatus. Althusser argued that institutions such as the educational system, the media, etc., in serving to provide legitimacy for the sovereign state, functioned as 'apparatus' for the state, or State Apparatus.

Similarly, conspicuous display and consumption of elite luxury automobiles serves to validate the status of their lessors, and thereby to maintain the legitimacy of the capitalist state system under which the luxury vehicle market functions. Hence, fancy cars are a State Apparatus.

At least, that's what I get out of it

Considering that the OP regularly uses the term “I seen ______”, I’m pretty sure there’s a misspelling of
the term “status” involved, and not some esoteric Marxism.

[BigDGeek]

Originally Posted by Capitalprophets

I notice really nice cars are being driven in West Plano, West Frisco area. I go to the Cowboys Fit gym and have seen some Lambos, Ferraris, Porsche GT3 turbos, Bentleys, G Wagon AMGs and too many Range Rovers. I know the Cowboys practice here but even the people who go to the gym here drive really fancy cars. I've seen some young kid rip through the parking lot other day in a sky blue GT3 Porsche 911 turbocharged. I heard the exhaust on that beast almost a mile away.

After seeing all of that, I realize the people in this area are either really rich or trying to fit the status quo.

In general, do people really judge others by the car they drive?

I tend to judge people more harshly if I see that they're driving an outrageously expensive car. I don't think less of someone for driving a 20 year-old Toyota...in fact I think more highly of them.

[EDS_]

Originally Posted by Katana49

It's still a very expensive car, no doubt, but yes... Getting attention with your car and really standing out takes $300k+ or more.


My 911 turbo is pretty commonplace in the metroplex, but on the times when I've driven it cross country, I've had kids in cars video me driving by. Here, it doesn't get a second glance.

After a GT-R flirtation I'm back to a Corvette guy. Your 911 Turbo would get my attention. IMO is the world's best "exotic". They usually start, the heater works, even the AC isn't awful, they are relative bargains and although I never really got the hang of correcting oversteer* and my butt is just too big - it's just a magnificent platform. As a bonus I'm not sure any car sounds better at WOT and the ride on the street is alright too. My GT-R rode like a cinder block on the street.

*I was thinking about going in 1/3s on one of my wife's bosses 911 turbo track only cars. Through all that I put about 100 track miles on the thing including "lessons" from the boss and legit pro lessons and it got weird under me several times. As you know corrective measures that work well in a 'vette or most anything else might be a death sentence in a hot and light 911T.

[Johnhw2]

Having lived in Houston a number of years and DFW metro now, I see more high end vehicles in DFW by a wide margin. Houston is an engineering town and engineers I knew there are more into function than appearances. Acura legend first generation was a very common car on business arking lots even 20 years after they were introduced.

Pro athletes had high end cars in Houston. But as you went up to the business President and C suite's you saw more mundane vehicles. I worked for a company which had two fairly senior executives kidnapped for ransom. They had security assessments of their home and had drivers, usually in a suburban driven by a former law enforcement person trained in high speed escape in a vehicle.

A golf buddy retired with nearly 7 figure number of shares of the company stock and drove a Jeep Grand Cherokee while working and "up graded" to a Cadillac CUV in retirement. The idea was not to stand out, they did not need nor want to advertise who they were.

Dallas seems to have many more of the "look at me" crowd vs Houston.

I lived in NYC metro as well as an upper end neighborhood in Pittsburgh and they too were less this way than Dallas seems.

[Katana49]

Originally Posted by EDS_

After a GT-R flirtation I'm back to a Corvette guy. Your 911 Turbo would get my attention. IMO is the world's best "exotic". They usually start, the heater works, even the AC isn't awful, they are relative bargains and although I never really got the hang of correcting oversteer* and my butt is just too big - it's just a magnificent platform. As a bonus I'm not sure any car sounds better at WOT and the ride on the street is alright too. My GT-R rode like a cinder block on the street.

*I was thinking about going in 1/3s on one of my wife's bosses 911 turbo track only cars. Through all that I put about 100 track miles on the thing including "lessons" from the boss and legit pro lessons and it got weird under me several times. As you know corrective measures that work well in a 'vette or most anything else might be a death sentence in a hot and light 911T.

The thing that hurts the 911 in the $150-$300k price range is that the styling of it's competitors really stands out in comparison. Aston Martin, McLaren, Lamborghini... all their cars have much more presence than a 911 does, even if they may not cost as much.

But, in return, the 911 IS the most usable daily supercar. I have toyed with the idea of getting a McLaren 12C or 570S, but I'm on a few car forums that cater to the high end car market, and pretty much everyone complains about the lack of reliability in comparison to Porsche. That holds true whether it's Ferrari or Lamborghini or any other brand, though from what I hear, the Ferrari California is very reliable. (For a Ferrari, anyway!)

As far as tracking goes, it's a car where you really have to remember to stay in it (and sometimes, push even harder!) mid corner to maintain your line. The AWD helps immensely with this, though Porsche purists prefer RWD models mainly for track days. Most likely, that turbo you drove had been converted to RWD... which is fun if you really know what you're doing, but for the occasional track day driver, AWD is much easier to handle.

Originally Posted by Johnhw2

Dallas seems to have many more of the "look at me" crowd vs Houston.

I lived in NYC metro as well as an upper end neighborhood in Pittsburgh and they too were less this way than Dallas seems.

I disagree. Dallas has a car culture that can only be equaled by a few cities in California, or Miami. It's not about the "look at me" crowd, it's about driving the best that's available.

As far as NYC or any northern city, the weather is a big detractor to owning high end cars. No point in paying $300k or more for a car when you can only take it out for a couple months a year and the rest of the time it's rainy or there's snow on the ground.

[tcualum]

My husband is considering replacing his Audi with an Aston. I told him that if it’s in shop all the time he gets to deal with it.

[bigbear63]

Originally Posted by Katana49

The GT3 isn't turbocharged. The next one might be.

That's why they make the GT2

[ElmoPuffinburger]

High end cars definitely get attention here. But it doesn’t always have to be just $ cars. For a few years I had a relatively nice ‘67 Deville convertible - triple white; just a No.3/$10k condition car. It NEVER failed to get honks, waves, pictures when out driving - at just about every light. It ALWAYS got parked up front by the valet. I’m not an attention guy so it was always a little embarrassing.

So I get “driving the best available” and can respect that. But I always thought that if you wanted to be a “look at me” guy - it can be done for way cheaper than it needs to be.