I doubt custom wheels is the problem. Just a symptom. When a youthful used-car buyer buys what they believe to a cool-ride the first change they tend to make is custom wheels, mostly a cosmetic improvement; i.e. a car in the shop w/ custom wheels indicate the owner is more concerned with the car’s appearance than any underlying problems , e.g. w/ the suspension system, and so the owner probably will have some future. disappointments when the underlying problems start to show up.
I’m not happy with huge wheel gap of the Lexus IS and Toyota vehicles in general. BMW and Mercedes tend to correct the wheel gap from stock settings.
This is why I was thinking of buying custom wheels and lowering springs from RS-r.
I like the look of this but the owner sits on air suspension, something I can’t afford.
And this is why I won’t be touching mine, though I wish I could. 
It’s all a matter of perspective. One of the reasons I like my truck is b/c it sits tall enough I can crawl underneath without needing to jack it up. I grease the driveshaft by positioning truck over a sidewalk gutter. Plenty of room. Plus it allows me to easily move the truck fore and aft, just pushing it w/my foot, so to get the u-joint zerk fitting into an accessible position for the grease gun.
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My rav4 sits tall and I love the look of it. The height is stock but my point is that SUVs and trucks I love to be high off the ground. Thats why I love the jeep wrangler.
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I always laugh when I see those cars two inches off the ground. First snowstorm and they’ll be stuck still spring. I’m a big fan of keeping things original.
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The guys around here take off the fancy wheels around December and put them back on in May. They are on coilovers, so they can conveniently adjust the height of the car.
My health gets in the way of accomplishing this.
Wheels, tires, and lowering like that could easily ruin the ride. I wouldn’t do it.
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You guys changed my mind. That’s why I love and enjoy CarTalk.
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I agree with the OP’s initial assertion: it’s none of my business.
But like the OP I do observe something that raises my eyebrows. In my case, it’s discovering companies that lease ornate super large wheels with super low profile tires. Lease, mind you.
Maybe even worse is the existence of stores that offer to finance the purchase of over-priced aftermarket wheels. The finance charges are extortionate, but–just as with the purchase of cars–I suspect that purchasers of these wheels only look at the cost per month, rather than analyzing the total cost–which is inevitably more than they can afford.
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My take on those people is that they are clout chasers who make unsound choices from a financial perspective. Not everyone understands the value of a newish bare bones economy car over an older luxury car, and it’s their money to spend, so it’s not my place to second guess their decisions unless I’m asked for my opinion.
For collectors and restorers, that might be an attractive deal. For people who live paycheck to paycheck, not so much.
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I’m sure it can be, but being able to afford the maintenance is the issue. If you do your own basic maintenance, it might even be a financially sound decision, but luxury cars typically cost more to maintain, leading to neglect during times when owners are financially strapped.
If you look at “reliability” as in “Will the car break down and strand me somewhere waiting for a tow truck?” you can pretty much avoid that by doing diligent maintenance on even the most unreliable modern car.
OTOH, if you look at “reliability” as in “Does stuff break, requiring costly repairs?” I’d steer clear (no pun intended) of luxury brands.
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In this case, “ridiculous” and “stupid” are synonyms 
There are four major reasons:
- European cars are lot cheaper in EU than in the US.
- Japanese cars are A LOT more expensive in EU than in the US. About 20 years ago, I went to a Toyota dealership in Vienna. Price tag on Prius was $42,000 Euros.
- Parts and repairs of European brands are A LOT cheaper in EU than in the US. We - in the US - are paying for European stigma so even minor visit to a dealer will cost us thousands even if the darn thing is made in mexico or some alabama.
- And finally, we drive A LOT more in the US than people in EU. Even cabs.
All of the above gives them incentives to drive local stuff even though it objectively is inferior to vehicles made in Japan.
Most of the ones I see in my area are 1st & 2nd gen people to the US and they bought them because the driver is far more familiar with the Euro stuff than the US and JDM stuff… Kinda like us if with our Big 3, and JDM’s good or bad we know how to work on our older stuff…
Then there are the ones that think the Euros are some kind of status symbol and then cry when they find out how expensive they are to get repaired…
Dad bought a grey market 500SEL, very nice older Benz, but the A6 AC compressor was 4X the price of a Chevy A6 compressor, just because it was drilled for metric instead of SAE bolts…
EDIT: 500SEL
I remember wrestling those A6 compressors in place . . . and I seem to vaguely also remember an annoying spacer in some applications, which made bolting it up that much more difficult, all the while hoping you don’t mess up your wrist, due to the extreme weight of the compressor
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+1
In areas of The US where there are communities of former Haitians and former residents of The Congo, one used to see a fairly large number of Peugeots, long after Peugeot left the US marketplace. Those neighborhoods also tended to have mechanics who specialized in repairing Peugeots.
People tend to gravitate toward products (both cars and other products) with which they are familiar.
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