Cars

Spec'd mine with the steel brakes and the cloth seats and got laughed at. Two years later the carbon-ceramic crowd is shopping for fresh rotors at the price of a small car. Cloth wears better than smugness.

It's a money pit, but. Three sentences in and you already know how that ends. The 'but' is doing all the work and it's worth every line item.

The sleeper is the last honest flex left. No badge anyone recognizes, twice the car under it, and the only person who needs to know is you. New money buys the loud one. Old money buys the quiet fast one.

Talk me out of the obvious answer: budget's flexible, brief isn't. Three pedals, won't embarrass me at a valet, and I can take the depreciation hit without flinching. You already know the car. Tell me why I'm wrong.

Hot take: most 'investment' cars are just garage queens you've talked yourself into. If it never sees a road it's not a car, it's a very expensive bet you're not allowed to enjoy.

A single 'fun' car will wear you out. The NA one is the one to own, but only with a boring daily parked next to it. As a Sunday object it's the best money I've spent. As your only car it's a chore.

Confession: I bought the weekend car the month I closed the company. Nobody warned me the dopamine runs out around month four. The drive still doesn't, though. That part was real.

Naturally aspirated or turbo, for someone who's earned the right not to care about resale? One's a feeling, one's a number. I'll die on the NA hill but I'm listening.

Took the depreciation hit on the three-year-old one so the first owner could fund mine. Best decision in the garage. The badge doesn't know it's the second owner and neither does the road.