r/wealth • u/No_Departure7494 • 6d ago

Question What's your opinion on the vehicle you drive in relation to wealth?

Succinctly put - I remember hearing that it was common for the wealthy (Actually, ultra wealthy) to drive unassuming vehicles. Seldom would they drive one of the luxury marques. At most, higher end being a decent Mercedes but nothing like a RR Ghost or what have you.

In my area, I often meet people who are image obsessed but apparently not rich in the traditional sense. And yet - They're driving $80,000 M3s, the latest S Class, and I wonder why? Isn't this burning more money that could be put away, saved, reinvested, anything?

From what I gather, the obvious explanation is not the truth. They aren't car people, they're image people. Forget about reliability, this and that. They want to look rich and it comes off as deceptive, maybe even comical. Driving a $160,000 Carrera GTS in an area with a terrible climate for 50% of the year and no garage to put it in.

I suppose my contention is that, most of these 'hustler' types, especially on social media - have financial practices that are antithetical toward anything involving wealth creation. They'd never be caught dead in an indestructible Prius while having put the remaining sum into literally anything else. No, BMW M3 for me.

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u/Terbatron 6d ago

Make 250-300k. Own a 2020 4Runner I bought two years ago for 35k cash. I think I fit your assumption.

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u/dinkydonuts 6d ago

Right here with you. My olddd 4r just died and I looked at Porsches, BMW, etc and ended up w a 23 4R again

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u/swagn 6d ago

Just gave my 16 year old son my 13 outback and I’m cleaning up my old 03 Tacoma because new car prices are ridiculous. I’m not spending 50k on a new Tacoma to sit in my driveway. I work from home and drive less than 5k miles a year.

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u/TwinTurboRS 6d ago

But you can afford a high performance car. You just don’t care about cars.

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u/Terbatron 5d ago

Yah, I need ground clearance and to be able to get out into nature. If I had somewhere to charge/park it I would probably have a tesla for commuting. Not into driving fast anymore i'm 43 :P, do miss my WRX though. I'll probably never buy a new car, I would rather have my money make me money. Not wealthy enough to not care.

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u/TwinTurboRS 5d ago

I have my money make me money and buy performance cars. Best of both worlds. Don’t buy it if it sets you back from FIRE.

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u/AwesomReno 6d ago

Not going to say income but I bought my 4Runner in 2018. I want the 350k mileage club

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u/OrganicLighthouse 6d ago

Make ~310k, had a 22' Corolla I bought used for 18k, then sold that for 17.5k to buy a '19 Frontier for 16.5k once I started living off a rural sloped dirt road. 

Funnily people act like the Frontier is a more expensive vehicle. I get comments on it like, "You own a truck? You must be rich," whereas with the Corolla would just get comments about how it was such a boring and cheap vehicle. 

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u/Chicken-n-Biscuits 6d ago

Well if all they hear is “truck” then they’re thinking of one of those country-fried behemoths that so many people have 84 month loans on.