State apparatus (Dallas, Plano, Frisco: leasing, buying, luxury)

[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?

[Capitalprophets]

No doubt, I do.

Originally Posted by WastedLines

You apparently do.

[TeamLynn]

Lots of thousand dollar millionaires in Dallas area. Probably 90% leased. Around here you never know what kind of money people have or don't have. Lots of flash and no cash. They may be struggling to pay their gym bill. You've got the Cubans of the world who wear jeans and t-shirts. Some of the wealthiest here drive very plain cars. I remember assisting Ross Perot one day years ago, walked him to the car he was driving himself and it was a very plain 4 door American made. Athletes are often the worst. League minimum at the NFL is $450,000. 3% to the agent, 3% to the nutritionist, 5% to conditioning coach, $20,000 for your first rookie dinner-buying your teammates steak and drinks, 25% to taxes or more in 10 different states, then if you have $150K left it goes to the Benz or the Bentley. 3 year average career and they leave broke trying to impress people they don't know, cause they thought they were making the big bucks.

So there you have it.

[Soonhun]

A lot of people do judge others for their car, but it only works two extremes. If you drive a really beat up car, then people will judge you and assume you are a bad driver. If you driver a really nice car, or even a plain regular luxury car like BMW and Mercedes, they will judge you, but it varies wildly in how they do; some people will judge and assume you are very successful/have money one way or another and some people will judge assume you are just a thirty thousand millionaire. If you drive a "regular" car, such as Toyota, Ford, Volkswagen, Hyundai, Fiat, and so on, and the car isn't too old (or old but looks well kept), then no one will really judge you or think less of you.

[Treasurevalley92]

LOL I knew a guy from when I worked at Enterprise who was leasing a brand new Cadillac. We were making just over 40k at that point.

[Katana49]

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

[EDS_]

Originally Posted by TeamLynn

Lots of thousand dollar millionaires in Dallas area. Probably 90% leased. Around here you never know what kind of money people have or don't have. Lots of flash and no cash. They may be struggling to pay their gym bill. You've got the Cubans of the world who wear jeans and t-shirts. Some of the wealthiest here drive very plain cars. I remember assisting Ross Perot one day years ago, walked him to the car he was driving himself and it was a very plain 4 door American made.

Perot's old Buick was mostly a gag. When the guy was tooling around in the Buick he also owned private islands, helicopters, jets, a turbine powered yacht, speedboats, stables full of the best horses, he bought all the land he could around his area of Strait Lane in efforts to hand pick his neighbors.

That said a good number of people who are into cars have a daily driver they don't care about.

[Capitalprophets]

Originally Posted by TeamLynn

Lots of thousand dollar millionaires in Dallas area. Probably 90% leased. Around here you never know what kind of money people have or don't have. Lots of flash and no cash. They may be struggling to pay their gym bill. You've got the Cubans of the world who wear jeans and t-shirts. Some of the wealthiest here drive very plain cars. I remember assisting Ross Perot one day years ago, walked him to the car he was driving himself and it was a very plain 4 door American made. Athletes are often the worst. League minimum at the NFL is $450,000. 3% to the agent, 3% to the nutritionist, 5% to conditioning coach, $20,000 for your first rookie dinner-buying your teammates steak and drinks, 25% to taxes or more in 10 different states, then if you have $150K left it goes to the Benz or the Bentley. 3 year average career and they leave broke trying to impress people they don't know, cause they thought they were making the big bucks.

So there you have it.

Thank you for such a great response. Your comment makes total sense.

[Capitalprophets]

Originally Posted by Katana49

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

Yeah maybe not turbocharged but it was definitely a 911 GT3 RS. Seen a sky blue and one all red.

[stephwin]

I had a coworker visiting years ago from the Boston suburbs and he commented about how many nice cars he saw. He was giddy when he saw a Viper, which I didn't necessarily think was that uncommon in this area. While I don't see them that often, there are definitely more expensive cars around.

DFW is car-centric and I think a lot of people don't mind spending money on a car if they're going to be in it for hours a day. People that commonly use a train or bus to commute won't have the same perspective.

That being said, I like nice-ish cars. I currently drive a (10 year old) Lexus and my next one will be a Lexus too. However, we've been buying cars that are 2-3 years old for half the price of the same model new.