The $300k fun to drive question

So yesterday, a dear friend had the opportunity to drive a new McLaren press car on our favorite back roads.  At the same time, I took our base Mini that someone donated to our charity (onramptx.org) out on a separate back roads drive.  

He was obviously excited and star-struck after his drive in such a capable $330k car that we don't even fathom of ever owning.   But, at the same time, I was having a blast taking my twisties in a $1000 170k basic mini enjoying my roads at an easy 70mph while smiling the entire time.  
 

I've posted about this before but dollars don't equate to driving fun.  In fact, I'd venture that I think I would rather drive something cheaper than I can afford to wad up than something that I am constantly worried about.  Plus the fact that I can extract a huge percentage of a cheaper cars potential without ever really breaking the speed limit.   
 

At a charity event last night, I met a Ferrari owner.  He was telling me how hard it was to drive his car because of how low it is, etc.  Then he told me his front lip corners, not the whole lip, just the corner pieces cost $5700!   Even if I was insanely rich, I just don't think I could comfortably fathom having to worry about a $5700 oops if I even hit an animal on my fun drives.   
 

Btw, I love this car hobby and conversations like this.   
 

Here are the cars of this subject:  

I completely understand. I did the Exotics Racing in Las Vegas back in June, I don't think I've done a proper review yet. 

Driving a Porsche Cayman GT4 RS, Lamborghini Huracan EVO, and a Ferrari 488 Pista on a proper race track was absolutely insane. And they don't hold you back either. 

I think in the Ferrari I was clipping 130 or just more on the front straight. 

I can relate.

The only reason I own a McLaren is for track days at big tracks ( I live near COTA), plus One Lap.  It's the perfect car for both.

That said, it is also incredible for country road drives...nothing else is even close.

But...it's a spectacle.  Simply getting gas becomes a big deal as folks come out of the woodwork to take a peak.  That can be fun (e.g. kids) or annoying (e.g creepy dudes).

Which of my cars gets the most track/seat time?  My ND Miata.  It's perfect for Harris Hill, where I go frequently, and great for country road drives with the top down.  But it sucks for COTA, as even novices in modern muscle cars blow by on the straights, while you catch right back up in the braking zone. 

Andy Hollis said:

I can relate.

The only reason I own a McLaren is for track days at big tracks ( I live near COTA), plus One Lap.  It's the perfect car for both.

That said, it is also incredible for country road drives...nothing else is even close.

Can you expand more on what subjectively makes the McLaren so great on country road drives?

So I just don't get the McLaren hype and I have spent a lot of time in them. I also am cursed by that brand though and I seem to break them just by sitting inside. Attention to detail is also lacking but never had one for more then a few days to really get stuck in with. 

300K I am finding the nicest 458 Spyder in the country and never selling it. I have a friend with 140K miles on his, uses it as his daily and the thing has been rock steady. Also 300K gets you a Ford GT now with around 15K miles and that would be interesting as well. 200K buy a 2019ish manual GT3 RS in a good color and a lot of track time as well. 

In reply to wearymicrobe :

There must be something to the McLarens being practical. On a nice day in Manhattan you'll see all types of supercars.  McLarens are the only ones you'll see in rain, light snow, and street parked like regular cars.  

The diminishing returns in fun of buying more expensive cars are sharp, and probably even go inverted at some point. I've discovered the hard way that even the costs of modern low-end sports cars don't really make sense for me vs. their 20+yo equivalents, but I'm caught between the rock of modern car costs and the hard place of the older cars I might prefer instead becoming appreciating classics with rare parts.

Wally (Forum Supporter) said:

In reply to wearymicrobe :

There must be something to the McLarens being practical. On a nice day in Manhattan you'll see all types of supercars.  McLarens are the only ones you'll see in rain, light snow, and street parked like regular cars.  

That is the thing. I have at least a dozen car buddies that have them, sometimes multiples. The one that really stands out for me was the 600LT with all the MSO goodies. I really liked that one when I test drove it before I got my last R8 spyder. Tese guys use them hard and "track" them occationally. Though HPDE is more appropriate. 

I am not kidding about them being temperamental with me. I can crash my friends navigation software at will, same with his radio. First time I ever got to drive one I did a quick small test at legal speeds and ended up getting the gearbox to drip all over the dealership tile floor.  It just seems to happen with the brand with me, I have driven some hoopty Ferrari's in my days and they seem to like me, even the ones that are known to fall apart. Lambo/Audi never had a single issue. 

If I were spending $300k on a car, I don't know if I'd buy something that new. I have also come to the realization I don't have a lot of interest in track days, so a car focused on those abilities would be somewhat wasted on me. 

It would have to be a car that's engaging and interesting to drive.  A reasonably comfortable long distance tourer as well.  An late 90s Ferrari - a 550 maybe... or an Aston Martin V8 Vantage...

It's an interesting budget exercise.  While $300k is a lot of money, it only goes so far in the upper end of the collectable car market.  

Wally (Forum Supporter) said:

In reply to wearymicrobe :

There must be something to the McLarens being practical. On a nice day in Manhattan you'll see all types of supercars.  McLarens are the only ones you'll see in rain, light snow, and street parked like regular cars.  

I'm told that one of the differences is that they don't limit the production of McLarens the way they do for most other supercars.  You have to jump through all kinds of hoops to be considered worthy of buying a Ferrari, whereas a McLaren you just have to be able to write the check.  So you see a lot more McLarens being actually driven vs kept in a climate-controlled warehouse as an investment.

As for the most car-related fun with $300K... M4 GT4 and a couple years' worth of racing budget? :)

This discussion is grassroots as heck.  Is this really about "fun to drive?"  I had fun driving a Geo Metro (with the 1.0) in a parking lot before I changed the oil in it . . .

Truth be told, I scarcely know what the hell fun is anymore.

If I were spending $300K on a car, I'd buy a $75,000 pickup truck and put the rest in my retirement account. 
 

The cheap cars I already own are fun to me. 

z31maniac said:

I completely understand. I did the Exotics Racing in Las Vegas back in June, I don't think I've done a proper review yet. 

Driving a Porsche Cayman GT4 RS, Lamborghini Huracan EVO, and a Ferrari 488 Pista on a proper race track was absolutely insane. And they don't hold you back either. 

I think in the Ferrari I was clipping 130 or just more on the front straight. 

The 488 and GT4 RS are absolutely glorious.  The Lambo... not so much.  I'm lucky enough to have extensive experience with a lot of high price exotics.  If I had $300k for a car, I'd buy a C8 Stingray Z51 and pocket the other $220k.  The C8 is damn near as fun to drive as the Ferrari, for a fraction of the money.

It's impossible for me to imagine spending 300k on a car. I'd rather buy a Mini or Miata and give the rest of the money to something meaningful to me. 

And what's crazy, at this point I am eyeing your Mini with more interest than that McLaren. 

Is it the 'theater' of the hypercars that separates them from just simple but fun cars? I have never really gotten the whole supercar thing as an adult until a few years ago when I was in Carmel/Monterey for car week on a Saturday evening. Hearing three dozen 12 cylinder cars revving to the moon at the same time is a bit heady as a bystander. 

Btw, to Wearymicrobe, McLaren doesn't have the reputation of the best build quality. In other words, I don't think it's you.

Like many people on this forum I get to drive some amazing cars on a regular basis.

They are utterly amazing but if I had super car money I'd buy five or six cars instead.

I'd buy a very rapid purpose built race car, a nice plush big 4 door, a better tow vehicle, a new Outback and an old 4wd truck.

Practically, I agree. It's why I've been putting a bit of money into improving my ~$45k car instead of just upgrading to something in the $70-100k range like I probably should. As someone with a not unlimited budget I'm not sorry interested in things like track insurance that costs 3x the event entry fee, thousand dollar brake rotors, etc. My car does 90% of what the big money cars do and I don't have to worry about it. That said...if I had a more unlimited budget I would absolutely have a gt3rs or similar. That last 10% is expensive but totally worth it if you have the means.

SKJSS (formerly Klayfish) said:

z31maniac said:

I completely understand. I did the Exotics Racing in Las Vegas back in June, I don't think I've done a proper review yet. 

Driving a Porsche Cayman GT4 RS, Lamborghini Huracan EVO, and a Ferrari 488 Pista on a proper race track was absolutely insane. And they don't hold you back either. 

I think in the Ferrari I was clipping 130 or just more on the front straight. 

The 488 and GT4 RS are absolutely glorious.  The Lambo... not so much.  I'm lucky enough to have extensive experience with a lot of high price exotics.  If I had $300k for a car, I'd buy a C8 Stingray Z51 and pocket the other $220k.  The C8 is damn near as fun to drive as the Ferrari, for a fraction of the money.

Man the little Lambo's are such great cars, all the passion of the originals with 99% less problems now that they are built by the Germans. Screw the big ones even though I love them, just horrible to use in the real world. But yes my C8 Z51 3LT at a fraction of the price was just as good as a 458, faster and easier to live with. Not special but for driving dynamics is all of what a 458/488 can do. 

Are they special which I think somebody asked. Absolutely but if you can only afford the car and not to use it all the time or you care in any way about resale at this price point. If you stretch or need to keep it prefect for the next owner it is an anchor. For people like us if we did have that cash there are a million used things we would all go after. Hell something like a GTC330 would be amazing around this price point if you had the means and wanted the classic experiance. 

IMO 250-300K is starting to become the new mid exotic at least new which is terrifying or just inflation. MC20, last of the R8's things like that. Not hyper cars by any stretch. In my world to buy but not something I want. If you look at what is in my garage it's smaller dollar cars that fit a niche and are really good examples that you can use. Good area to buy used at 65% the new cost, sell at 50% with minimal maintenance costs and have your fun at a low out of pocket. 

300K nothing really long term cool really out there now as a single buy. 175K buys a good spec GT3 RS though if you really look around. I would put 250K in the market and if you told me I had to have one single car for everything it would be the remaining 50K for the best 6.2 F150 Raptor on the planet and keep it forever. 

We have to see a crash soon on the mid range super car market. Just so much inventory available. They made 14,000 Hurrican's, 44,000 R8's, 15,000 base coupe 458's that is just the big three but double that with the other manufactors on top. 

The $300k question does not compute for me. My greatest automotive project desires could be accomplished for less than than that, and if I had that much to drop on just a toy, I'd also have the time and space to accomplish them... So that's what I'd do with it.

Im not a track person and the idea of trying to drive something that fast and that expensive at a good pace on a good road.... it doesn't sound fun. I would rather sling a cheap car around with reckless abandon.
Also the low splitters on these cars is so counter productive in the real world. I think 80s-90s cars did that better in terms of real world performance. 
 

But maybe I'm just picking nits because I don't have the means. If I did I might not care. Ah well

My early interest was in Italian cars. I drove Fiats, but was immersed in everything Ferrari, Lambo, Maserati and so on. Aesthetically, I still think they are beautiful cars (old ones) but the maintenance headaches are not to be taken lightly. New 'exotic' cars don't do much for me. I think they all look like different versions of the same doorstop. The performance is wasted on someone who doesn't own their own racetrack. And like all electronic-laden cars, they have so many nanny aids that anyone with a pulse can drive one quickly.

I owned an 'exotic' car for awhile, a Fiat Dino coupe. It was a running, driving car but a project. The rebuild I faced was expensive. The parts, available only occasionally from cottage businesses. And a lot of the people I met in the exotic car community were, shall we say kindly, not the sort of people that are fun to be around like most here.

I vastly prefer my bottom feeder cars and the people who play with them.

My $30K Cayman S is more car than I will ever need. Fantastic in the canyons and an incredible grand touring car.

In reply to Tom1200 :

The older I get, the less I want five or six cars to care for. I am not in the market for a $300k car but I can certainly see it. I'd rather have ine awesome car than six cool cars. But of course a maclaren can't be your only car so ...