Do you enjoy driving your $70,000 FPV?

[Troll]

I was going to tack this on to my other thread but I thought it deserved a different thread?

My main question is that for people here who have put down hard earned cash on their brand new dream car is whether they actually enjoy driving it as opposed to that old $5,000 5L with a dent in the door. May seem an odd statement but I have friends and family who have forked out for a new Ford/Holden/Subaru etc. and because there is so much money in it they drive it like it's made out of egg shells cringing at every speed bump constantly stressing about whether to park under that tree or next to that person who can't park properly. These are the same people who I have good memories with riding in the back of VT SS etc. with mates covered in sand because you just have been to the beach with an esky flogging down some fire trail just for the hell of it.

If somebody has the equation for purchase price/disposable income=enjoyment that would be sweet.

[Angeldust]

ok not fpv, but i loove driving my clubbie.

in saying that, im always paranoid when i leave it in a car park, even if it s for a couple of minutes etc.

The other thing i hate, which i can't get used to beacuse its just not me, is the amount of 'looks' the car gets. Everyone takes a good long look at my car. They love it.

[xisled]

I love driving my BA GT now. I used to use it as a daily and from that; it has a couple of scraps on the front bar, needs a good clean. When I was a driving it every day, it just became a car and lost the appeal. Mine has done 180000. What is a point of having a good car if it sits in the garage rusting away?

[GTpilot]

Absolutely, whilst mine is 4 yrs old now, I drove it then just like I drive it now, hard and fast, that's what they're for. However I'm not stupid in what I do, I think about where I park it, under a tree is fine. I do keep up regular maintenance and it's still in great condition.
Anything else and you might as well not bother.

[marcyeo]

I certainly love driving mine - I take a certain degree of pride in all my cars -my very 1st car was a crappy Hyundai Excel, but I still washed and polished it every week and vacumned the seats and made sure it was at least clean.

I still do that to my FPV, and although I don't cringe at every bump, I certainly am careful of where I park it, not too close to others, near a pillar if I can, in the shade if I can - I drive it hard, but I think it's a matter of pride in what I own that makes me do what I do.. if that makes sense.

[pottery beige]

I drive it like I stole it..

[Coyote mk3]

Originally Posted by Troll

and because there is so much money in it they drive it like it's made out of egg shells cringing at every speed bump constantly stressing about whether to park under that tree or next to that person who can't park properly..

No fpv here, but I can tell you I do these things with my car no matter how much it is worth. I Would think it is more to do the people realising they have something special (not just expensive) that they want to take care of properly. There are plenty of people out there with expensive cars that wouldn't think twice about going through a carwash or parking at the closest park to the shopping centre.

I tend to get a lot of enjoyment just out of people staring at the freshly polished paintwork, comments and things like that.

[xisled]

It is funny, people will spend hundreds of thousands of dollars on house and furniture that will get used every day, but a car that is worth a quarter or in many cases a lot less, they park in the garage in fear of a person knocking the car with a door or a shopping trolley.

[A300srt8]

Just use the thing its only metal and plastic,not worth having if you dont drive it

[riggamortus]

Yes, I do.

[Drizz06]

I always treat my car like its worth millions.
There might be 1000s of Xr6's but only this one is mine.

[Franco Cozzo]

No FPV here but I've bashed my cars up and down potholed dirt roads, park them anywhere etc.

I cracked the top right hand corner on my windscreen of my new WS Fiesta at the time and bent one of the steel wheels in a little at the rim at the time hitting a massive pot hole where the gravel met the tarred part of the road at close to 100km/h.

I smashed a wheel speed sensor wire off my Focus when I got it lowered and hit a speed hump too hard.

I totaled my first Focus in a not at fault accident with under 1000km on the clock, was just happy we both come out alive, the car doesn't worry me really, its made to be driven.

They've got stone chips all over them, covered in crap the Focus got washed maybe 6 times since I've had it from early 2011.

I did the whole full day in the sun out with the special microfiber cloths, expensive car care products, clay bar, polish, sealant, etc, then I drove it down a dirt road again.

In all the door jams there is loads of dirt up to the seals, when you get in and out of the thing you end up with dirt on your legs/pants, the seats in my cars have old oil soaked into them from my work uniform, on the door trims from resting my knee up against it while driving, in the Fiesta on a hot day you can smell old engine oil and chemicals, I also spilled injector cleaner on the drivers seat, dropped KFC onto it. If you drive my car in clean clothes you come out with marks on you from how dirty the seats are LOL.

I took a corner hard and my thick shake come flying out of my cup holder in my Focus and it spilled over the center console.

I've damaged all the trims in the boot from loading my tool box in and out of the back.

To be honest I'm more worried about the $2500 worth of lights on the front of the thing than cosmetic damage like the stone chips, I make sure its serviced with quality oils and genuine filters. Scrapes, scratches, dirt, dints etc don't bother me at all, the car looks like crap but under the hood she's all good

My cars get used as cars, I eat in them, drink in them, drive it where i need to drive it shopping center or dodgy dirt shortcut.

[Stefan]

At the end of the day it's just a car, granted I don't park my classic GT at Woolies or my FPV for that matter, but if any get a chip or a scratch it's not the end of the world and I'm not going to worry about it.

My daily (Territory) cops it bad and has plenty of car park dings and scratches not my fault, but that's life it's a work horse!

I see my brother sweating bullets every time he parks is daily driver anywhere. I just shake my head, he will literally give himself cancer worrying about a scratch on a car he will sell in three years.

[richo77]

Originally Posted by Stefan

At the end of the day it's just a car, granted I don't park my classic GT at Woolies or my FPV for that matter, but if any get a chip or a scratch it's not the end of the world and I'm not going to worry about it.

My daily (Territory) cops it bad and has plenty of car park dings and scratches not my fault, but that's life it's a work horse!

I see my brother sweating bullets every time he parks is daily driver anywhere. I just shake my head, he will literally give himself cancer worrying about a scratch on a car he will sell in three years.

Cancer is caused by worrying about carpark scratches? Now that we know that we can cancel movember, daffodil day take up smoking and stop the millions spent on research!

[tweeked]

165000 km. Still love driving it every time

Drive it down the quarter.

Drive it round a track.

Drive it across the country.

[335POWER]

Originally Posted by Drizz06

I always treat my car like its worth millions.
There might be 1000s of Xr6's but only this one is mine.

This is my car
There are many like it, but this one is mine
Without my car, I am nothing
Without me, my car is nothing

[SpoolMan]

BF F6 was raced with 2 months of being purchased and would have done over 100 1/4 mile passes, was stripped once for racing, also drove it daily to work, interstate drives, now my brother enjoys it.
Purchased to enjoy and it stood up to everything we gave it, every-time it was driven to the track it we drove it home.
FPV have an awesome product and you be amazed how far they can be pushed with a professional driver.

post 35 has pictures of the stripped out F6.
http://www.fordforums.com.au/showthread.php?t=11261631

[grandpa_spec_F6]

Mine's a daily, put 26,000km on it this year just gone, drove to Coffs Harbour and back, goes to the shops, goes to the park, goes to the beach, goes everywhere my other cars went...

From my point of view, I like driving more than I like looking at it in a garage so I'm going to do just that. 10 years down the track it will be worth less than 1/4 of what it was new so resale isn't a concern... ear-to-ear stupid grins whenever I put the foot down is. It's not 'more fun' than my other cars, it's just different, I still want my old VK back and once I buy a house I'm going to start hunting for a project.

The other thing is I treat it like a garage queen, ask my wife it drives her insane how pedantic I get. I also did this with my other cars, even my crappy old VK commodore I had as a first car (paid $250 for it). Bird poops gets washed off the minute I get home, I polish it every 6 months, wash it once a week/fortnight (if I don't have time), vacuum once a month and regular service will keep her good for many years to come.

My old VY SV8 looked like it had rolled off the showroom floor once I gave it some loving, take pride in whatever you own and it will pay dividends in both personal satisfaction and longevity of whever it is.

Some people think it's "just a car", and for them that's fine, but personally my car is a reflection of me. If I take pride in my car, I take pride in myself, and as anyone in the business world will tell you, presentation and first impressions count for a lot.

[cruseyXR8]

Yes my ef xr8 may not be worth a lot but I hate taking it to the supermarket and never like to park it next to other cars, don't drive it down dirt roads and wash it every week etc... I'm a bit obsessed with looking after it! I also have a brand new G6E obviously worth a lot more than my xr but that's the car I drive every where and I'm not as concerned about where I park it or drive its a bit weird but I just love my xr!

[290GTP]

Yes I admit it, my FPV sits in the garage under a cover for most of its life. But when I do drive it I drive like its supposed to be driven. Hard. Not smoking the tyres every 5 minutes or driving like a dick head, but regular runs to the fuel cut off & the odd drift through a corner are what its all about.
My daily drive on the other hand gets used, abused & parked anywhere, anytime.

[Smoke Pursuit]

I drive mine everywhere now... With the way they depreciate you have to get your money's worth out of them somehow! I do take care where I park it etc though!

[Elks]

Yep I drive mine and enjoy it when I can ( I have a work car that's a daily). But the GTE does get used. I even to it to the AFF Heathcote Nats.

The TS was a 70k car in its day. And over the 12 years I've had it its been driven by friends and family and learners, its been the holiday bus, the camper the work hack, stone chipped, scratched, crashed, belted at Heathcote and Simonds Plains and other than a flat battery never let me down. It's in well earned retirement now though.

Like most of the guys on here I fuss over my cars when I can. Which of late hasn't been enough, but they are there to be driven. Then pampered then driven again.

[Stagg]

pffft I bought my Fairmont for $4500 and no matter where I drive it I'm scared someone is gonna steal the brakes or something like that, and it's by no means a $70k FPV! hahaha

Everyone is different I guess, I know a lot of people who go for a novated lease of a brand new Audi and treat is like crap, because it will become someone else's problem.. yet some people have a few grand spent on a car and it becomes their baby. You'll find some folk will drive it like it's stolen and some folk who are so incredibly retentive about how they drive it!

[Drizz06]

Originally Posted by grandpa_spec_F6

Mine's a daily, put 26,000km on it this year just gone, drove to Coffs Harbour and back, goes to the shops, goes to the park, goes to the beach, goes everywhere my other cars went...

From my point of view, I like driving more than I like looking at it in a garage so I'm going to do just that. 10 years down the track it will be worth less than 1/4 of what it was new so resale isn't a concern... ear-to-ear stupid grins whenever I put the foot down is. It's not 'more fun' than my other cars, it's just different, I still want my old VK back and once I buy a house I'm going to start hunting for a project.

The other thing is I treat it like a garage queen, ask my wife it drives her insane how pedantic I get. I also did this with my other cars, even my crappy old VK commodore I had as a first car (paid $250 for it). Bird poops gets washed off the minute I get home, I polish it every 6 months, wash it once a week/fortnight (if I don't have time), vacuum once a month and regular service will keep her good for many years to come.

My old VY SV8 looked like it had rolled off the showroom floor once I gave it some loving, take pride in whatever you own and it will pay dividends in both personal satisfaction and longevity of whever it is.

Some people think it's "just a car", and for them that's fine, but personally my car is a reflection of me. If I take pride in my car, I take pride in myself, and as anyone in the business world will tell you, presentation and first impressions count for a lot.

I understand 100% mate, I've never had a fear of driving my car or taking it anywhere, but i still treat it the best i can.

[strik9]

i,m as careful as i can with mine. it does,nt go to the movies or shopping ect. but that does,nt mean it does,nt get driven hard and enjoyed.
nothing wrong with taking pride in the appearance

[Rodge]

If somebody has the equation for purchase price/disposable income=enjoyment that would be sweet.

Yeah I drive mine and enjoy it. My Dad once said to me avery long time ago, Son never spend more than 1 year's income on a car and never spend more than 4 years income on a house.
I've been an accountant for longer than I care to remember and i've yet to hear or decipher for myself better advice than that. If you're spending more than that you may be chasing physical possessions too hard. (Even houses can drop in value). My 2 cents.

[DBourne]

Originally Posted by pottery beige

I drive it like I stole it..

That's because you probably did ....


Kidding, I love you


Don't hit me :(

[rors]

Hi all,

Referring back to the original question... Does anybody feel that something has been lost with newer cars that are a) much heavier, and b) use fly-by-wire throttle?

I did, which is why my last two cars have been a 99 WRX, and more recently, a 99 AU XR8... and a motorbike, just for a new experience...

Cheers,
Rors

[Rodp]

Mine's a work daily and had my F6 for a little over 2 years now. Have done nearly 170000kms in it. Doesn't feel as special as it once did but then if I were to jump into a Camry now, the difference would make a massive deal.

Often have to park in dodgy places in the City at night where a few clowns have taken to a couple of doors with keys and have many battlescars on the front bar due to having to drive it in places where cars with a low front bar weren't meant to go.

[SpoolMan]

Originally Posted by DASH GT

I drive mine everywhere now... With the way they depreciate you have to get your money's worth out of them somehow! I do take care where I park it etc though!

Spot on seen this first hand.
I guy I work with purchased 2005 BF GTP sold it late last year with 4500 klm on the clock, after waiting 6 months he got $39k for it.
He thought he was going to keep it forever.
I would want more enjoyment than just looking at it sitting in the garage when paying reg and insurance on top of the deprecation every year.
$40k hit for 4500klm.