09-07-2024, 04:15 PM
I happen to be a life-long auto enthusiast with many cars under my belt, one under construction now and a track log book. I also maintain two mid-engine sports cars myself.
This is my take:
Brands I 100% will never buy or own:
Ford
Chevy
GM
Jeep
Anything made in America.
American cars are terrible if made after about 1990. Note I said cars - the trucks are OK if you need one. Build quality sucks, attention to detail sucks - they suck. No soul, no quality and unreliable as hell becuase the UAW sucks and accountants run everything. These cars are really unsurprising. Sorry, home country, but you build really bad and crappy cars.
Along these lines, other cars I’d avoid:
Land Rover past 2010
Range Rover
BMW/Porsche/Audi SUVs (all of them)
Jaguar anything
Tesla
Any “luxury” EV car
Brands that are rock solid cars:
Porsche
Audi
Mazda
BMW
Subaru
Honda
Toyota
Lexus
Acura
I’d own several cars from each of those brands. No question.
I have had several Porsche 911’s and they are bullet proof.
I daily an Audi R8 V10 if it’s not too cold or wet. Best car I’ve ever owned.
My Ferrari 360 is infinitely more reliable than any “Premium SUV” we have had. By miles.
Cars are mechanical art to me. Some people paint, make music, use clay, etc. My canvases have four wheels and beating mechanical heart. I drive my sports cars hard fast and sideways, care not about the PITA factor and find maintenance (note, not repair) cathartic. Cars are one of my few passions beyond the love, caring and betterment of my wife and children.
If you want transportation - get a Mazda, Subaru or Lexus. I have several cars in my stable and my wife drives a Mazda and I drive a Subaru all winter. The new lexus SUV looks amazing - and overall the lexus GX we had before was a solid car (too slow and unresponsive for us, though - Mrs. Vulcan is also a sports car fan and couldn’t handle it - that thing was really slow, vague and unresponsive).
As a gent who is also restoring a 92 Corrado VR6 and an e46 m3, I say all of the above as a deep automotive enthusiast who only stops turning wrenches when my ability, fear-factor or space/tools run out. I actually have the shadow goal of opening a shop when I retire - if you have a 1980-2008 European car I can probably fix it, modify it, enhance it or generally evolve it.
My mid-engine cars, pre-2008 M cars and all 911s have never left me on the side of the road. Ever. Literally. (No jinx :))
Do anything you can to avoid American cars and buy Japanese or German for transportation.
Buy all of them before model year 2010. A 2006 BMW, for instance, has knobs or buttons for your HVAC (thank god), Bluetooth, butt warmers, cup holders and power everything. What else do you need and it’ll cost you 6-10k a 2006 3 series. It’ll go forever if you do your oil changes and basic old-school maintenance.
If you have read this far, you know I’m ranting because you hit my passion.
I’ll stop with this:
Ferrari gets a bad rap for “reliability”. My 360 is fantastic. Parts are accessible, Bosch makes most of them, and there’s plenty of room to work on them. The sound that comes out of it is hand-built angelic symphony at 9k RPMs.
Mazda makes an AMAZING SUV or Crossover. I feel Mazda is overlooked but dang the CX-90 is a good car - and frankly their dealer experience is excellent - as is parts.
Subaru is also excellent for customer service and overall reliability. Japanese cars have the ability to “limp” if there’s a problem. I drove my STi hard on a roadtrip AFTER I encountered dash lights I deemed erroneous - drove and pulled like a champ. These are very, very durable and quality cars.
Disclaimer: I’m a guy who is about to take on a moderately higher mileage Ferrari FF as a daily/kid hauler. Yes, I’m confident in my wrenching abilities but that’s going to stretch me. I like that though. My point in saying this is all of my commentary above isn’t coming from a place of willingness to embark on what most people would view as a “dangerous journey” but instead to say I’ve turned my wrenches and owned a lot of cars and when I view something as quality or a “good decision” I have experience on away from the axis on tbe Dunning-Kruger chart to state those opinions as someone with experience.
Said since I’m a dude on the internet to all who read this :)
Drive what you love and it will change your life for the better.
VW
This is my take:
Brands I 100% will never buy or own:
Ford
Chevy
GM
Jeep
Anything made in America.
American cars are terrible if made after about 1990. Note I said cars - the trucks are OK if you need one. Build quality sucks, attention to detail sucks - they suck. No soul, no quality and unreliable as hell becuase the UAW sucks and accountants run everything. These cars are really unsurprising. Sorry, home country, but you build really bad and crappy cars.
Along these lines, other cars I’d avoid:
Land Rover past 2010
Range Rover
BMW/Porsche/Audi SUVs (all of them)
Jaguar anything
Tesla
Any “luxury” EV car
Brands that are rock solid cars:
Porsche
Audi
Mazda
BMW
Subaru
Honda
Toyota
Lexus
Acura
I’d own several cars from each of those brands. No question.
I have had several Porsche 911’s and they are bullet proof.
I daily an Audi R8 V10 if it’s not too cold or wet. Best car I’ve ever owned.
My Ferrari 360 is infinitely more reliable than any “Premium SUV” we have had. By miles.
Cars are mechanical art to me. Some people paint, make music, use clay, etc. My canvases have four wheels and beating mechanical heart. I drive my sports cars hard fast and sideways, care not about the PITA factor and find maintenance (note, not repair) cathartic. Cars are one of my few passions beyond the love, caring and betterment of my wife and children.
If you want transportation - get a Mazda, Subaru or Lexus. I have several cars in my stable and my wife drives a Mazda and I drive a Subaru all winter. The new lexus SUV looks amazing - and overall the lexus GX we had before was a solid car (too slow and unresponsive for us, though - Mrs. Vulcan is also a sports car fan and couldn’t handle it - that thing was really slow, vague and unresponsive).
As a gent who is also restoring a 92 Corrado VR6 and an e46 m3, I say all of the above as a deep automotive enthusiast who only stops turning wrenches when my ability, fear-factor or space/tools run out. I actually have the shadow goal of opening a shop when I retire - if you have a 1980-2008 European car I can probably fix it, modify it, enhance it or generally evolve it.
My mid-engine cars, pre-2008 M cars and all 911s have never left me on the side of the road. Ever. Literally. (No jinx :))
Do anything you can to avoid American cars and buy Japanese or German for transportation.
Buy all of them before model year 2010. A 2006 BMW, for instance, has knobs or buttons for your HVAC (thank god), Bluetooth, butt warmers, cup holders and power everything. What else do you need and it’ll cost you 6-10k a 2006 3 series. It’ll go forever if you do your oil changes and basic old-school maintenance.
If you have read this far, you know I’m ranting because you hit my passion.
I’ll stop with this:
Ferrari gets a bad rap for “reliability”. My 360 is fantastic. Parts are accessible, Bosch makes most of them, and there’s plenty of room to work on them. The sound that comes out of it is hand-built angelic symphony at 9k RPMs.
Mazda makes an AMAZING SUV or Crossover. I feel Mazda is overlooked but dang the CX-90 is a good car - and frankly their dealer experience is excellent - as is parts.
Subaru is also excellent for customer service and overall reliability. Japanese cars have the ability to “limp” if there’s a problem. I drove my STi hard on a roadtrip AFTER I encountered dash lights I deemed erroneous - drove and pulled like a champ. These are very, very durable and quality cars.
Disclaimer: I’m a guy who is about to take on a moderately higher mileage Ferrari FF as a daily/kid hauler. Yes, I’m confident in my wrenching abilities but that’s going to stretch me. I like that though. My point in saying this is all of my commentary above isn’t coming from a place of willingness to embark on what most people would view as a “dangerous journey” but instead to say I’ve turned my wrenches and owned a lot of cars and when I view something as quality or a “good decision” I have experience on away from the axis on tbe Dunning-Kruger chart to state those opinions as someone with experience.
Said since I’m a dude on the internet to all who read this :)
Drive what you love and it will change your life for the better.
VW
