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I think I have more ambition and get more pep to my step owning and driving an older car.
A newer car and I’d just get lazy and fat.
With an older vehicle…you take a two hour road trip one way and spend three hours on the way back home. That extra hour is used driving a little slower so you can spot all the parts that fell off on the way there. Stopping to pick up that rear shock that fell off, or walking through the tall grass for 200 yds trying to find that hubcap that you saw rolling away in the mirror.
It all takes time and darting out into the road between semi’s for the water pump can be exhilarating, to say the least.
If I’d buy a newer car, I’d have to take up golf for the exercise!!! No that wouldn’t work…golf is like watching paint dry, and I’d just fall asleep on the putting green.
Yosemite
Actually that happened to me one morning on the freeway. I saw my wire wheel cover rolling along the road and into the ditch. Traffic too busy to stop but I noted where it went in the ditch and picked it up again on the way home. I try not to litter.
I’ve owned a few cars and a few motorcycles that would provide an adrenaline rush while driving them.
One car in particular was a '59 Corvette (especially at night with the top off) and a BMW motorcycle.
I was used to wallowing along on a Harley and when I got the BMW I got a rush out of picking the speed up on winding roads and leaning into the curves.
Yeah, I think a new Bentley or Porsche would give me more energy in the morning.
A new Scion? Naw.
A new Chevy? Hang me from the rafters.
A new Range Rover? I’d drive it to a remote area and leave it there.
Question, Tom: are you trying to convince the wife?
I think TSM is on to something. The OP wants a new car.
I don’t think having a new car in and of itself will do anything for your physical energy level. But I will agree that it may liven you up a little bit. We all need change from time to time, and a new car is a fun and simple way to achieve that.
Cars aren’t a lifetime item. We trade them in regularly like we do clothes, shoes, houses. They come and go much like friends, hobbies, anything else we do in life. I don’t think it has anything to do with maturity. You don’t wear the same clothes you wore 10 years ago. You redecorate your house, change the landscaping of your yard, make new friends, pick up a new sport or hobby, eat at different restaurants. Life is too short to let it get stale and boring.
And sometimes that newfound enthusiasm that comes with a new car has a tendency to fade a bit as the new car smell disappears and the monthly payments become a grind.
No to new cars with overly boosted steering and mushy brakes. An unequivocal yes to new sports equipments. I recently upgraded my bicycle hubs because the old hub and spokes were rusted to the point of being dangerous. There’s something about those hubs that makes me want to fly pass electric scooters on my way to work and grocery runs
“A new Scion? Naw.”
What about a Scion FRS?
Yeah, except I can’t get in or out of them. They put seats in with huge bolsters on the sides, and they’re impossible to fold myself into over/past the bolsters.
Once in a while…I go new guitar shopping.
Shopping, but not buying.
If I bought every one that caught my eye ?
I could expand the sound possibilities with , say , an acoustic or a fretless.
But will that give this 60 year old more personal energy ?
Probably …from a sufficiently lighter wallet. . . . ( the one’s I like are not cheap. The Ibanez I play now was $1500.00 in 1992. A Curbow I like is 6000. )
Twice a year I spend the better part of a day cleaning up my car inside and out. I have a Bissell “little green machine” to steam clean the carpets and the seats. I wash and wax the exterior. I get a real rush out of driving a clean car. I guess expending the energy also contributes to my well being.
I wish I could find a good tool to steam clean the interior headliner. I drive with my roof open whenever the temperature is above 50F and it isn’t raining, and after ten years of this my headliner parts have gotten really dirty. I tried my shop vac with various adapters, but it really doesn’t do as good a job as I’d like. I wonder how much a detailer would charge just to do the headliner.
Personal energy?? The very term strikes me as touchy- feeley nonsense.
t.s.m.;
The Bissell little green machine that Triedaq speaks of is the tool you want. Especially for working upside down. It sprays the cleaning water right at your target surface and vacuums immediately.
Sounds like Mr. Green has a common affliction; a severe case of GAS… 
I’m gonna have to check that Bissell out.
I used to go guitar shopping, occasionally buying. With the exception of a Taylor, I’ve owned just about every make over the years, but by far the best I’ve ever owned was a high end Washburn. The sound was rich and full, the resonance unbelievable, the action… it almost played itself, and it was in perfect tune no matter where you went on the neck. But, alas, over the years my shoulder started giving me extreme pain from putting my arm over the dreadnaught body. I packed it up and shipped it to my son, who still has it. He attended Berklee for a few uears, so he can put it to good use. I play a Tele now. Painlessly. Except to the listeners.
I guess I’m different. I love to drive. But I don’t get an extra thrill driving a newer vehicle. I enjoy the vehicles I own. I don’t drive my 05 4runner much…but still enjoy driving it…even with 280k miles.