No one has said anything negative about my 911. There are some expensive cars in the lot - Bently, F40, SL500, CL65, Gllardo.

 

My wife IS just the opposite!
We used to have a 3 series cab all lowered with 19" wheels....great car....and a couple of male customers came in and seen her new car...2007 Nissan Altima.Thinking they were going to be smart-asses they said to her "Times are tough,eh...had to sell the BMW"?
She replied "Nope have a Porsche now!"
They just laughed at her as if she was lying.
Next day,by fluke,approx. same time I drive in with......the Porsche...their faces DROPPED and I think she grew 2 inches taller!
Never seen her smile that BIG!

My motto is:
If you can afford it,be proud of it!
No shame in owning a nice car!

Stacy

 

everyone thinks my 911 is my dads anyways... I guess being Asian with the youth looking gene, it happens alot... Especially with the comments like "must be nice when you parents buy you nice toys"... I just laugh it off. I been a business owner for 3 years so I reward my 80+ hours of work with something I enjoy DD'ing everyday.

 

I couldn't care less what strangers think, but as the owner of my company, I do care about what type of image I project to my employees and to my customers. My personal office is not located in the same place where the rest of my employees are, so if I am just at my office all day, I can and do drive the porsche to work a few times per week. The rest of the time, and def if I am going to one of my sites, I drive the Prius.

 

What he said..my BMW 335 is my DD

 

Yep, soon all the calmness in your city will be gone... I would think twice about parking nice car outside with drunken hordes roaming around.

 

I doubt the Porsche will see much of the road during the next few months. PS2's aren't good snow tires. The Touareg is a consumable, break it and I get it fixed, or replaced.

 

I've worked really hard to build my business to the point where I could afford a new 911, but being in the residential real estate sales business in the current market, I go out of my way to keep clients from seeing it. I have clients worth tens of millions and others who are a payment away from losing their homes, so it's best to avoid the situation altogether by never driving the car to appointments. I do drive it sometimes to the office and co-workers see it, but there's no guilt since they all know I work hard and I'm single without many of the expenses they'd spend the 911 money on (spouses that don't work, college funds, kids in private school, etc.). I ultimately bought the car to take out on the back roads and to Austin/Hill Country and California, which is a lot more fun than driving it around town avoiding potholes and door dings (and clients for that matter).

I constantly flip through cars and have found it very interesting to see how the general, non car-obsessed public reacts to vehicles based on image and perception rather than actual value. I seriously considered a slightly used Audi R8 rather than the 997.2 at the exact same price, but knew I could hide better behind the 911's relative familiarity and not draw as much attention as I would in the Audi. My client car before the BMW X5 was a current-style black/black Range Rover, and I could tell that people looked at the RR as a much more expensive, exclusive vehicle. Funny thing is that the X5's new price was DOUBLE what I paid for the lightly used RR with just 35K miles, and the X5 ended up being a better vehicle that becomes less of a conversation piece.

 

next time you drive your 997 to work, make sure you are wearing your Porsche Hat, Leather jacket, sun glasses and racing shoes.

 

I get exactly the same thing! The asian gene works against you sometimes... I have my own consultancy business and my partner is a dentist so we work very hard and we don't spend much on anything else so for us the 911 was a treat to us both.

We're both young too, I'm 29 and she's 27. I even get stopped at the bar for my ID to be checked (and in Australia the legal drinking age is 18!)

In fact, to my colleagues and superiors I have concocted a lie:

"My uncle, has gone overseas to start up a business and before he left he had ordered a new 911, waited MONTHS for it... He wasn't available to pick it up so asked me to pick it up and look after it for him since I was the best nephew who liked cars as much as he does... So while he's gone for 6+ months, I've been tasked with taking care of it and in return I get to drive it as if it were mine"....

The lie has worked so far.

 

I have never driven mine to work for many of the reasons already given by others. Too many questions, too many looks,where do you park it, too much BS. And while there maybe no shortage of expensive cars in the parking lot there are no Porsches.
I do drive it everywhere, all weekend long. I don' make a big deal about it and wouldn't apologize to anyone for it either. I didn't buy the car to impress anyone and frankly very few people know I own it. I bought it because I always wanted to own a brand new 991 convertible. I have no desire to impress anyone with that fact and have even less desire to explain it to folks that don't get it.... accept no substitute.

I will tell you I drove it to a Ferrari club meeting in town one sunny summer day and got a great reception. Now there's a group of regular guys and you know what, that get it. Trick must be to hang with guys whose car is more expensive than yours.

 

I find myself in a situation similar and also don't quite know how to go about it. I don't have an office to go to, being a musician, but I'm 25...which presents its own set of unique and unexpected hassles. I get less of the "daddy's car?" then you'd expect, which may come from being 6 feet tall and heavily tattooed, but the looks of general disdain are shocking. I realize, and try to be sensative to the fact, that times are tough right now. But S%$!...can't a guy enjoy something that makes him happy? I had an ex girlfriend with close to 100 pairs of shoes at god knows how much, per pair. Everyone's got a love, and it's not anybody's business to pass judgement on how you spend your money....I think....maybe i'm still too idealistic.

-Alex

 

I drive mine to work, I have a reserved stall. There is an older 7 series (E38) on one side of me and a 2008 +/- RX350 on the other. In the same row the cars range from a Toyota Tacoma to 2 new Jags XFs in the same bad color.

I do agree that clients may get the wrong impression. I went to the Panamera event here and saw a client but he could have one if he wanted, he has his own plane instead. He understands.

I will not take it to most clients' place of business at least not for a while. While they do not begrudge my success some of them are in tough times.

There is a 2009 997TT cab parked where a walk into the garage so I don't worry about standing out. The "real" reserved parking in the basement has many nice cars.

 

Porsche guilt. Damn, I thought I was the only one...

 

I used to think this way but over time realized that it doesn't really matter who , or how old , etc . No one is going to be happy for you if you have a Porsche at work . I understand that there may even be those who have more expensive cars but even then there's an envy to the possibility that you are having more fun in your life than they are . Money doesn't buy happiness but if you have money and hint at any happiness --you stand alone .