VVG

So I went to get my 1 year oil change on my Spyder today (epic drive, but that's a different story). As I am waiting in the dealership, I look around and spot a 2019 911 Carrera 4 GTS for sale in the showroom.

The car had 975 miles on it. Why does someone buy a car like this only to drive it 975 miles in 2 years. What is the point? I am at 4600 miles in 1 year on my Spyder, and it is a total fair weather toy. I can even see a few thousand miles in 2 years, but 975?

Archimedes

Why do people buy second homes they barely spend any time in?

Because they can.

UncleDude

I agree, I don't get it. I also am very interested in acoustic guitars and have a couple of vintage Martin's and I know guys who collect them and don't play them. They sit in a case.

dmk2

Adding to this idea, many of these cars do sit at second or third homes. Some as pieces of garage art. Hard to use when you are not there.

I have owned each of my sports cars as tools for enjoyment, but they are equally pieces of well cared for art in the garage.

Most recently, I can attest to the fact that work and life can get in the way of getting to use these tools.

I put about 4800 miles in two years on my last GT4 due to the intensity of work.

This time around COVID gave me the opportunity to drive nearly 7000 miles in less than a year on the 718 GT4.

We shouldn’t bemoan those that appreciate these cars differently

McMGC

Too many things in life and time is finite.

TRZ06

Some just like the thought of having something or doing something, but don't actually want to use it.

There was a guy a while back at my flying club who was taking flying lessons, but had no desire to solo. He was content on just going up with an instructor and flying around.

With cars, I love the thrill of driving them and using them as intended. I am not a garage queen type.

Dyim

Some really baby and bubble wrap their car.

Good for the subsequent owners.

phaser

A Porsche is a one time deal for many guys. They purchase a sports car and have little to no idea what the long term experience will be. Test drives are almost worthless for those who aren't long term car guys and know little to nothing about this stuff.
The pride of ownership bubble bursts after the new owner realizes that his shiny new Porsche is no where near as comfortable or quiet as his daily driver Cadillac/Lexus/BMW and his Karen wife bitches every time she has to ride in it. The majority of the 900 miles were likely put on the car in the 1st month or two and then the owner just simply avoided driving it. Some guys and I have know several in this position were actually afraid of the cars. This is an extremely common scenario with any high performance sports car.

OttawaSteve

Unlikely with a GTS, but some are speculators. Just look at the mileage and prices for "used" GT cars.
There are also people who buy lots of new cars just because they can. Pocket change.

IL_Pete

I agree, such a waste. These cars are meant to be driven.

I have had my Cayman GTS 4.0 for less than 3 months, and have 3200 miles on it. Like Joe Achilles said on his review of this model - I can’t put the keys down! When the weather is nice I go for an hour+ drive with no destination, on my “SavageGeese-like” Country/Farm roads. It is incredibly fun, and therapeutic!

I am putting so many miles on this car so far, I may need to add a GT4 to the stable to keep a 4.0L Cayman with low miles on it to keep around for a long time, for when we can’t buy these fabulous engines anymore…

TRZ06

I have seen this many times on multiple platforms. Z06's, ZL1 1LE's, etc.

The lure and looks of a sports car draws people in, but high performance sports cars like you say, do not drive like your everyday point A to point B basic transportation car. The devil is in the details. The fact that most dealers do not allow test drives in their high performance variant cars just adds to the issue, so the buyer is left taking a chance.

Bxstr

Work. Family. Winter (for those that don't want to drive it in salt which in my experience has destroyed cars).

I'd also say that for me, I drive 2k miles a year on my GT3. I want to keep it nice. It goes out on nice days. I wouldn't say I'm saving it for anyone else, I'm keeping it nice for myself to continue to enjoy for years to come.

There's also people that have 3-5 sports cars, or even more. If they put 500 miles a year on each, that's still considerable mileage that they're putting on.

It also depends where you drive. I can go out for an hour drive on some of my favorite roads and only add 50 miles. If I do that once a week for the 30 summer weeks, that's still under 2k miles. My car doesn't typically go and do normal shopping, I'd take my daily driver for that. Whereas some will take their car to work, long trips, which adds considerable mileage.

I'm definitely a driver, but also enjoy detailing, reading about, installing parts, as much as I do driving.

VVG

I get the whole notion of "because they can". I still don't understand wasting money just because one has it. We own 3 homes and we use them. My Spyder is a total toy. I take it out only in nice weather, purely for fun, and I spend a lot of time detailing it and taking care of it. It also looks nice sitting in my garage and I very much enjoy how it looks there. But I also use it !!! I don't mind spending a lot of money for something as long as it is money well spent. If I waste $5, it bugs the crap out me. Guess maybe because I wasn't born wealthy ?!?!

As far as garage art goes, I have an old M3 OEM exhaust on my wall and a nice framed F1 pic. A few other things scattered around. I can even see a vintage Porsche speedster or something as garage art. But a newer model 911 GTS? This is a total driving toy. What a waste !!!

VVG

I specifically don't own multiple sports cars because I know I can't drive them all. I still don't understand the wasting money thing. I flip my toys about every 3-4 years. In that time, the cars have usually had about 5000 miles per year on average. A 911 also in't a car for ultra-high net worth people to "collect". Bugatti, 918s, Rolls Royce, rare Ferraris, etc. These are the low use toys of the filthy rich. A 911 is fairly plebeian by comparison.

Archimedes

This. I had three Porsches at once for a few years and only put about 2,500 miles average on each per year.