What Is Your Poser Car

Another thread planted this in my brain.

Is there a car, or variation a model you consider a "poser" car?

As an example I consider Green Day a poser punk band. It doesn't mean they are, it just means I think they are. It also doesn't mean they are bad, it just means that I don't like their music.

My poser car is a Ferrari Mondial convertible.  The hard top is one of my two favorite Ferraris but if I see someone in a convertible my brain instantly says "Poser". 

With that said if I were buying a car to be seen in I'd absolutely get a Mondial convertible.....red with tan leather. 

This may seem illogical, but when have car enthusiasts ever been logical. 

350/370 Z, or the Infinity versions. 
 

Almost every civic and a lot of WRX Subarus. 

Altima coupe.  Is it strange that you don't really see them much anymore?

.  I

Everything that made the previous generations of DSMs was dead in this.

Even eject-o seat-o couldn't redeem this pile.

Anything Lamborghini that came after the Diablo. If you show up someplace in a Diablo, or a Countach, or a Miura, cool. I'm going to want to come talk to you. If you show up in a Gallardo, or a Revuelto, or a Urus, I'm going to assume you spent the last 45 minutes driving slowly around the Starbucks parking lot, occasionally revving your engine, seeing how many people looked at you.

Is it weird that I think that? I'm sure some of you here have those cars and do nothing of the sort. I don't mean offense by it. I guess I spent too much time living next to a 24 hour Starbucks in Edgewater that saw way too many Gallardos being driven it around at idle--their owners doing exactly that. Lots and lots of money--so they spend it on the Lamborghiniest Lamborghini they can because it'll impress their friends. A true car enthusiast would have blown that money on something truly special. Like a Pagani Huayra, a V8 Esprit, or a '91 Miata.

Except for the Lightning, and the 10th Gen Superdutys,  anything north of the 9th Gen F-Series

Especially anything labeled Harley Davidson Edition. 

In reply to confuZion3 :

I was wondering when a Lamborghini would come up.

Of course people do this same thing in Vettes, Camaros and Mustangs. 

Here in Vegas when someone does that in a Lamborghini we automatically assume you rented it. LOL

Harley's in general. 
 

Trucks that have been modified to be significantly worse at being trucks then when they started.  

I used to think almost anything Mercedes qualified--overpriced, unreliable, just meh in terms of performance.  Definitely a car that's all about image and vanity.  Unfortunately, I have to revise my answer since my wife just bought a new E450. 

So yeah, the "upmarket" Nissans, i.e. Infiniti.  Nissan quality at a higher price = posermobile.

cybertruck...

confuZion3 said:

Is it weird that I think that? I'm sure some of you here have those cars and do nothing of the sort. I don't mean offense by it. I guess I spent too much time living next to a 24 hour Starbucks in Edgewater that saw way too many Gallardos being driven it around at idle--their owners doing exactly that. Lots and lots of money--so they spend it on the Lamborghiniest Lamborghini they can because it'll impress their friends. A true car enthusiast would have blown that money on something truly special. Like a Pagani Huayra, a V8 Esprit, or a '91 Miata.

Let me preface this by saying that I've never driven a Lambo of any type, so this is all based on what I have read and heard.

That said, this actually seems somewhat backwards to me.  Old school lambos were all about over-the-top design and pushing high top speeds -- they were not driver's cars in the way that Ferraris of a similar vintage were.  That changed when VW/Audi bought them and they started paying attention to handling, chassis design, things like that.  The Gallardo is supposed to be a much better car to actually drive than any Lambo before it.

I suspect one thing that may be feeding into the "poseur" perception is that Audi also brought higher production numbers to the brand, so it became much easier for people to actually get one.

06HHR (Forum Supporter) said:

Altima coupe.  Is it strange that you don't really see them much anymore?  I

You don't really see coupes of any kind.  Nobody seems to want to buy a 2-door, 4-seat car any more.

codrus (Forum Supporter) said:

06HHR (Forum Supporter) said:

Altima coupe.  Is it strange that you don't really see them much anymore?  I

You don't really see coupes of any kind.  Nobody seems to want to buy a 2-door, 4-seat car any more.

 

Still lots of Mustangs, Camaros and Challengers out there. At least where I live. Too common to even be a poser car unless you modify the exhaust to be noisy.

They used to call them "secretary's cars".

codrus (Forum Supporter) said:

confuZion3 said:

Is it weird that I think that? I'm sure some of you here have those cars and do nothing of the sort. I don't mean offense by it. I guess I spent too much time living next to a 24 hour Starbucks in Edgewater that saw way too many Gallardos being driven it around at idle--their owners doing exactly that. Lots and lots of money--so they spend it on the Lamborghiniest Lamborghini they can because it'll impress their friends. A true car enthusiast would have blown that money on something truly special. Like a Pagani Huayra, a V8 Esprit, or a '91 Miata.

That said, this actually seems somewhat backwards to me.  Old school lambos were all about over-the-top design and pushing high top speeds -- they were not driver's cars in the way that Ferraris of a similar vintage were.  That changed when VW/Audi bought them and they started paying attention to handling, chassis design, things like that.  The Gallardo is supposed to be a much better car to actually drive than any Lambo before it.

 

No, see, I think that was the point of Lamborghini. They were impossible to see out of, a lot of them caught fire, and they didn't really drive all that great. They were outlandish and pretty, loud, and very fast--a view of the future of super cars. They were on posters on our walls when my generation were kids, and they earned their place up there because they were unlike anything before them. Yeah, you could go get your Ferrari, and drive it to your Starbucks, and sip your late, wearing your Ferrari hat, Ferrari leather jacket, Ferrari leather pants, Ferrari racing shoes, etc.... or you could show up in a Diablo, strap an outlandish 80's electric guitar to your back, and uh... I'm not really sure where I'm going with this... Pit Viper sunglasses? Maybe... a mullet? I don't... I don't know where I'm going here.

A modern Lamborghini is a refined car made by a gigantic automotive conglomerate. They sell lots of them. Oh, and now they sell an SUV! But maybe they sell lots of them to people who think they're buying what the Diablo morphed into. While the spiritual successor of the Diablo was the Murcielago, I think the dream died when the last Diablo was rolled off the line.

Maybe I kind of feel the same way about modern Lamborghini as I do about the crossover that the Eclipse morphed into. People who loved the DSM Eclipse might be fooled into thinking they're buying the spiritual successor to that car. But in fact, they're just buying an SUV.

Any and all Mercedes built after about 1992.

A Wrangler/Tacoma/4Runner with all of the overland stuff thrown at it. 
 

Maybe they're using that stuff often, but I would be surprised. 
 

Who am I to judge... yet I do. 

confuZion3 said:

No, see, I think that was the point of Lamborghini. They were impossible to see out of, a lot of them caught fire, and they didn't really drive all that great. They were outlandish and pretty, loud, and very fast--a view of the future of super cars. They were on posters on our walls when my generation were kids, and they earned their place up there because they were unlike anything before them.

It sounds like we're in agreement -- older lambos were a car that most people bought to impress other people.  Isn't that kind of the definition of a poseur car? :)

Don't get me wrong, they're super sexy, beautiful cars, especially the Countach.  I just have zero interest in owning one.

There are too many, really, but most full size diesel trucks, BMW's and Mercede's.

The more expensive, the bigger the poser

OK I'll say it... pretty much any newer Porsche.  I have great internal conflict saying this because I absolutely love many of them, including the Cayman that I owned. But I saw the way that people looked at me at the gas pump, and their expressions said "poser".  And I realized that I looked at people driving them exactly the same way when I saw them any place but the track. Many people drive them because they are talismans of wealth and status (often imaginary). The price explosion of the last few years cemented it for me. The people driving up the prices up are the same ones buying $10,000 purses and $1500 fly rods and such. 

Would I own another one? Yep. Would I look like a poser? Probably. Would I care? Not one bit. 

In reply to Peabody :

I sometimes use the phrase Nouveau Pauvre; because it's fairly easy to get financing on them.

My cheapness makes me shriek in horror at $1000 car payments.

Wranglers with ducks in the windshield.  MB G-wagon.

ANYTHING in the Starbucks drive through line.  Yeah, that's pretty much my feelings on Starbucks.

Tuner European CUVS E.G.  AMG A-Class, M X3/4, FPace etc

Any non-race pickup with sub 50 profile tires

BMW GS motorcycles. You can ride to Starbucks on literally anything, dude.

As for cars, I'll nominate most anything from the 'decal era' of the 1970s/1980s.

Does anyone else remember the Chevette 'S'? Blacked out trim with red decals was supposed to make it GTI-ish. Epic Fail.

There's a guy out there that has this in the back of his mind as THE car he would love to own.

In reply to ddavidv :

If they'd just gone into production with the V6 Chevette.................