Warning - rant coming up!
Are we enthusiasts overthinking cars? At least some of us?!
- Gorgeous 2014 C63 AMG with hardly any miles for a bit over 40K - I should just shut up and buy it, but here I am saying.. it's not the latest generation, its resale value will drop like a brick!
- Beautiful C400 for just under 40K, I test drive it and say.. the transmission could be better! It is beautiful in every other way, but I notice the one negative thing about it.
- Lovely Mustang GT, great deal on it too - but I notice the throttle lag on it!
- Amazing lightly used m235i, a good price on it, but all I can think of is the fact that the m240i will be out soon.
- The 340i is GREAT, but its "too mainstream" now.
- Jag XE drives awesome, but interior feels too cheap.
... and so on.
At some point.. I feel like I am overthinking it!! Just buy the car you like, enjoy it and stop thinking about other cars! Just yesterday I met a few old friends, one of them had bought a GLC300 (Merc SUV) for over 70K! I was like holy moley, 70k! I wouldn't pay so much for THAT car, if I had 70K in my budget there are so many other models I would buy instead.
But my friend is oblivious to all of that. He has no idea what a Macan is. He doesn't care, he likes THIS car and he bought it, he is having tons of fun with it. Now for a moment that makes me pause, who is the enthusiast here and who is having the most fun?!
So that makes me wonder if sometimes we (at least some of us) are overthinking it. I have another friend, he doesn't consider himself an enthusiast, he has a base 4-cylinder Accord. But he drives his car a LOT, goes on a ton of roadtrips and enjoys driving. He does have a lot of fun with his car.
Sometimes I wonder if we should take it down a notch, enjoy the moment, enjoy what we've got, stop thinking about the next toy, and drive more. Or if we're really in the market for a car, just buy the one that appeals to us on a base level, with its flaws and all, and stop searching for the "perfect" one.
Like I said, just a rant. Maybe this applies not just to cars but other things in life as well. Stop searching for perfection, appreciate the thing we have more, and just go after what we like.
I think I was a lot happier than I am now, when I first got my Mazda 3. Just saying.