Guilty as charged. Now give me the keys to my supercar.
I only drive high performance vehicles to piss off Al Gore, Ralph Nader, the entire cities of Seattle and San Fransisco and the original poster.
In order to piss off Obama, the Clintons, Nancy Pelosi, and Ted Kennedy, I own guns, some of which are way more powerful than I “need”.
If you are really set on a high performance car, I would buy it now. Main reason are a glut of cars on the market and good deals. Also, Obama will surely put a stiff gas guzzler tax on performance cars soon.
Worth keeping in mind is that oil prices will go up in another 1 1/2 years, and $100+ oil will soon be with us again. Better calculate $4+/gallon for the gas you will put through this baby while you own it.
Before you sign on the dotted line check what the insurance will be. Where I live even a powerful engine in a compact sedan will up the rate. If you are male, under 25 and single, living in New York City, that Corvette will cost you about $8000 per year to insure!
I don’t remember the rules clearly stating that you needed to buy a car with a V-8.
There are some great cars out there with 6 cylinder and 4 cylinder engines that are a blast to drive.
Some of them even have superchargers and turbochargers to up the performance.
I own a Porsche Boxster.
Specifically, a 1998 version with only 201hp and 180 ft-lbs of torque being provided by its 2.5L Flat-6 engine.
Every time I climb in that car, and fire up the engine, the smile starts to spread across my face, even if I’m just running up the store to pick up a can of paint and a couple of paint brushes from Lowes.
Its not just about going fast.
I get just as much pleasure listening to the engine start up, and purr as the car idles, waiting for me to slip it into gear, and feed out the clutch.
If the top is down, I get to listen to the intake roar, as it is just behind the driver’s door, whenever I dip into the throttle, and I can dip into the throttle just about whenever I want, because the engine doesn’t make a ridiculous amount of power, and going from 20 mph to 45 mph is just as much fun as going from 45 to 75.
The steering wheel is perfectly weighted, and communicates extremely well what the front tires are doing. This brings me an additional level of confidence as I scorch the various mountain roads here in Colorado, knifing through the hairpins and switchbacks that are everywhere.
The suspension on my Boxster is perfectly balanced between comfortable and planted, right where I want it. I can use my car to get the groceries, commute to work, or tear up the local track, all in the same day, if I truly wanted to. The rear end of the car is always planted, as the extra weight of the engine being just behind the seats prevents the car from feeling like the weight is transferring from one tire to the other in sharp, fast corners.
Every time I need to slam on the brakes, and bring things to a halt as quickly as possible, I am left wondering why every single car on the planet isn’t equipped with the exact same brakes! Why shouldn’t every car be able to stop right now? Why doesn’t every driver have perfect brake modulation, and feedback from their car during the most important emergency maneuver that a driver ever makes in their car? The Boxster has 4 piston, radially mounted Brembo brakes at every corner of the car. They are phenomenal.
So for me, I have a car that triggers all the different senses I have when I sit in it, and drive it.
I can have the top up or down, and change the experience even more.
I have the mountains of Colorado to look at, or drive in to enhance the thrill even more.
The engine makes beautiful sounds that you just don’t get from a Honda Civic Hybrid, or a Toyota Camry.
But that’s me.
I can appreciate all of those things in my Boxster.
It also didn’t cost me a huge amount of money, because I bought it used.
It doesn’t cost a small fortune to insure because its 11 years old, but I do have full coverage on it.
It doesn’t cost very much to maintain because I do all the work myself. I bought it in early February, and have already replaced the front engine mount, all 4 brake rotors and pads, plus both rear struts. Right around $800 just for all the parts.
So maybe I’m the wrong person to answer why anyone wants to buy a high performance car.
But I can definitely answer why I bought one:
Because it just feels right to drive one.
BC.
I think someone struck a nerve…
Just because I can feel ruts in the road and bumps in the turn doesn’t make my ride harsh.
I think most people would define that as a harsh ride. What is your definition of harsh then?
I for one like having enough power to pass a 4 cylinder camry on a inclined entrance ramp
Passing cars on entrance ramps?!? Amazing.
HEADROOM
Many here have properly equated performance cars with every other purchase choice ; premium/high line -vs- economy/standard. From shoes, purses, wine, cigars, guitars, bicycles, and food to your house and clothes.
Most of us here are posting to each other these facts that we agree about but, I love the line " if you don’t get it , you won’t get it". Has the OP read all these posts ?
Here’s another one that might click . Sound systems.
Have yall ever heard the term ‘head room’ when talking of amplifiers ? ( 30 years in weekend country/rock bar bands ) Whether it’s home, auto, or live performance ,You may never operate the system any louder than 50 decibels but you never want THAT to be at a volume setting of 8 or 9 or 90% of the operating capacity of the amp. You want operational extra space or “headroom”. You puchase a much more powerful amp that allows your day to day operational volume setting to be at about 2 to 4.( we can rattle the rafters on a volume of 4 on the right system ) Then the low volume product will sound great instead of over worked and barely passable.
Perfomace cars allow you the same operational “headroom” as clearly stated by others here. Power to spare, better suspension, handling…and looks all allow for EVEN BETTER day to day driving capability without THAT being 80% of what your car can do, it is instead merely 20% leaving a nice feeling of “headroom”.
Some V6’s & V8’s get mpg’s as good as 4 cylinders.
Which ones?
Yea, nerve a little struck before, but I’ll defend my statements from you anyway. A harsh ride is one where your suspension bottoms out in mild bumps, where you more than just feel ruts and bumps through the steering but also get diverted in a path that isn’t your intended path because of said bumps and ruts. A harsh ride is one where you are tired from driving on rough roads because you never relax in the seat, and where you feel you should appologize to your car when you hit a pothole. My car swallows up the road and spits it out nicely, but doesn’t turn it into a numb morphine binge by wallowing over bumps, getting rid of feedback in the steering, or rolling like a whale in turns, thats all I was saying.
And yes, passing cars on an entrance ramp is pretty normal in a two lane entrance ramp, don’t you have 2 lane entrance ramps onto a highspeed highway where you are? If I didn’t pass that little 4 banger, I wouldn’t be at a proper merging speed when I reach the end of the merge lanes. And I don’t want to be “that guy” who slows the flow of traffic when merging, and guessing by your moniker TwinTurbo, I doubt you’d appreciate if I did that to you.
Yeah, our definition of harsh is quite different then. Bottoming out to me is way beyond harsh. I have a number of cars with sporty suspensions, some you can feel every bump, some are more refined. The refined ones do not necessarily isolate you from the road, they just don’t transfer the shock to the driver through the seat or steering wheel. What you’re describing sounds more to me like a slammed civic than a sports car 
I’ve also owned a couple of luxo-barges that were really wallowy. When you live on the east coast, feeling every rut gets old fast!
Nope, no two lane entrance ramps here. I’ve had people pass me on the outside shoulder of the ramp when I was towing before so I guess that is why I reacted the way I did. The only place I have seen them is where the other lane is used for car pool (multi-occupant) vehicles and they’ll give you a ticket if you drive in them for any reason if you don’t meet the requirements. I guess we have to develop a bit more patience here due to the situation. I get stuck behind slow pokes all the time (even people who are merge challenged and STOP at the end of the ramp to wait for an opening) but it’s usually only a few seconds before we enter the highway and can go around them.
My physician, as a joke, wrote a prescription for me that said that for my well being I ought to have a Mazda Miata. I would want an earlier Miata with the flip-up headlights because it reminds me of the early Austin-Healy Sprite with the bug-eye headlights. I’m in my late 60’s and comtemplating retirement in another year or so. At that point, I just might buy the Mazda Miata. On the other hand, there is a an organization in our community that does volunteer home maintenace for older people on low/fixed incomes so that these people can stay in their homes, so I will probably wind up with a compact pick-up truck. I’ll be certain to get one with a 4 cylinder engine and manual transmission so I can at least pretend that I have the Miata.
If you have to ask why, you’ll never understand.
As for a practical answer to your question, high performance cars, as the name would imply, do everything better than other cars, top speed being the most minor. They brake better, steer better, ride better, have better ergonomics, and even have better seats. They are the thoroughbreds of all the things cars are, strictly speaking, meant to do.
What they don’t do well are all the extras people have come to expect from cars. You will feel the road. You will have to shift for yourself. You won’t be able to watch a movie. If you’re over 300 lbs, you won’t fit.
There’s an ethos to owning one, beyond the stereotype. If you believe not getting in an accident beats having a high safety rating, if you actually enjoy driving, if your car is more than a mode of transportation, you probably already have the answer to your question.
To add fuel to the fire, there are a number of top end high performance cars that delete things such as radios and air conditioning in the name of performance. After all, you don’t need the radio when the engine is singing to you, and air conditioning is just too heavy.
If you can’t comprehend that, at least as a pipe dream, just go ahead and drop $70K on a 'slade for driving around town. After all, that probably makes sense to you.
You ask a good question.
The only good answer is because they are way more fun to drive 
.
Seriously, a good high performance car has many advantages over a run of the mill car - should be a lot better handling (at the expense of some ride comfort), accelerate quicker, and stop quicker. 2 of 3 could save your life if you need to suddenly stop or swerve to avoid something. Worth the extra expense? For you to decide.
I do get behind PLENTY of “high performance” cars with drivers poking along way under the speed limit and / or taking 2-3 MINUTES to get up to speed. Heck, even run of the mill cars like the Camry or Accord offer I4 or V6 options - and I see plenty of the V6 models being driven by real slow pokes. I can see getting a high performance car, but why would a slow poke (or even a normal driver?) feel the need to buy a higher performance run of the mill car?
The other side of the coin, I get people flying by me all the time in cars with much less power. So having a low power car means nothing if the driver wants to speed - it may take a while to get up to speed, but means they don’t want to slow down at all .
Drive a high performance car and see what YOU think. If you like the experience then you should get what you want.
Dennis
This is why they have horse races, a difference of opinion. Why have a big bathroom or a big bedroom or anything else big? It is up to you to buy the car you want or think you need. This is what makes the U.S. great…but for how long, who knows.
Thorstein Veblen coined a phrase for it, “Conspicuous Consumption”.
The “High Performance” car is for people that want to show that they have enough money to be able to afford to wast a bunch of it.
Transportation does NOT equal motorsports. Two entirely different things. But everyone wants to be a race car driver. It is kind of a fashion statement.
Race cars do not make good “daily drivers” and daily drivers don’t perform well at the race track.
If any of you has ever studied engineering, you will know that almost all engineering is a game of compromise. Same goes with high performance cars.
Really it is all about choosing the machine (automobile) which best suits the task at hand. Unfortunately many people allow their emotions to cloud their decision making process.
Oh by the way.
In 1977 I got clocked on a residential street going 110 MPH in a 440 six-pack Roadrunner with slicks on and open headers. Gee what caught that motorcycle cop’s attention :), I think he was just picking on me.
Anybody doing 110 mph on a residential street in ANYTHING has something clouding their decision making process. In your case it sounds like it was youth.
Yes, I want enough money to be able to show people that I can afford to waste it. I want to flash my solid gold Rolex out the window of my Bugatti Veyron.
Billy Joel coined a better phrase: “I’d rather laugh with the sinners than cry with the saints”.
I only had my license for a month. That cop was right behind me on that Kawasaki too. He didn’t put his lights on until he followed me into my driveway. He called for backup and 6 police cars showed up,Just about the time my mom walked out the front door
It was 1 AM and I had a license with a curfew too.
I was in deep doo-doo. I got out of it though.
Well in a way, 32 years later my mom still brings it up when she is mad.
If you get a compact pickup don’t get a 4-cylinder they can’t get out of their on way. (unlike a miata which does quite well on a 4) As for why people buy performance vehicles its purely a matter of desire. If all of us bought just the car we need to get from point A to B the worlds automotive population would consist entirely of Volkswagon Beetles and Model T Fords
“If all of us bought just the car we need to get from point A to B, the words automotive population would consist entirely of Volkwagon Beetles and Model T Fords”.
In many ways the MG midgets and Austin Healy Sprites of the 1960’s were basic transportation. At least in the early 1960’s, these cars had side curtains instead of roll-up windows and you reached outside to open the door. Power steering, power brakes, automatic transmissions, air conditioning, etc. weren’t available. However, I thought that these cars were fun to drive. The original VW Beetles, in my opinion, were also fun to drive. On the other hand, I don’t find most cars today particularly fun to drive, but the Miata is an exception.
In my case, a compact pickup with a diesel engine may just fit my personality–make a big stink, a lot of noise and not move very fast–THAT’S ME!
I’ll bet you didn’t know that ride would stay with you forever.
I agree that personal choice is the mark of a true democracy. However, since the US imports over half of its oil and runs a horrendous trade deficit on other goods as well, any consumption in excess of basic needs should be heavily taxed to reduce those deficits.
The last time I was in Paris (France) there was a V8 Range Rover parked in front of the Lido nightclub on the Champs Elysee, the main shopping and restaurant thoroughfare. You get arrested in France for leaving the pavement and the owner was about 1000 miles from anywhere he could actually use this vehikle as a 4WD, offroad SUV.
However, France is a free society, but for such a privelege the owner pays about $2500 per year road tax to keep the plates on, and fills the tank with $8/gallon gas.
So, I have no quarrel with anyone wanting a peformance car, but the taxes should reflect that previlege.