Ever think that owning the Porsche of your dreams won’t ever happen? After all, we’re talking in some cases about a car stretching upwards of $200,000. Heck, for a lot of us, thinking about buying a run-of-the-mill car in the $15k to $20k range can seem more than a bit daunting.
I read an interesting article on MoreIntelligentLife.com about renting the car of your dreams. A father and son team went out for a day of high end fun where they were able to drive 6 super cars on the open road in the UK. Among them was a Porsche 911 Turbo.
Basically they got seat time (the son was only 11 years old, so his was passenger seat time) in this amazing list of cars:
- Porsche 911 Turbo (type 997)
- Lamborghini Gallardo Spyder
- Ferrari F430
- Aston Martin DBS
- Audi R8
- Bentley Continental GT
The cars were provided by a company named Dream Car Hire as part of their Supercar Day program. For £995, you get an hour behind the wheel of each of the cars. Back-to-back. Would be a great chance to compare a broad range of some of the top cars money can buy today.
This article got me to thinking about ownership vs. renting. I know most of us probably don’t have $1500 to drop on a day of fun like that, but if you took the money you would normally spend on a car of that caliber and put it towards a car club membership, I wonder if you’d find more enjoyment and less hassle out of the deal?
You’d get to drive a broader range of cars, many of which might be out of the range of what you’d normally be able to afford, plus you wouldn’t have the hassle of maintenance, storage, full-time insurance, etc. On the other hand, you’d be at the mercy of the club’s schedule requiring a little more planning and the car wouldn’t be “yours”. You also would be in more of a lease situation where you walk away from the car after the end of the membership period.
There’s also the drive time factor in high end cars like Lamborghini, Ferrari and Porsche 911 GT2’s and GT3’s. It’s pretty common to see less than 1500 to 2000 miles put on these cars per year. That’s not more than a weekend or two a month, and more likely averaging less than a day a month. A heck of a lot of time for a high dollar car to be sitting in a garage somewhere.
If you were a car fanatic, and had some discretionary money to spend, it would be a pretty cool option to do something like Supercar Days or be part of a car club with access to a stable of cars.
What’s your feeling though? Car ownership or club membership?
i do understand the club membership thing but do you really want somebody else driving the car of your dreams??
I would still rather own the car. The membership is cool but I would want the ability to jump in a go whenever I wanted. Also the ability to customize your own car would be good.
For the price – I’m with you.
Yeah, you could sink a few hundred grand into an awesome supercar, and it would be all yours… but so would all of the problems, all of the maintenance, all of the $1500 oil changes and headaches of owning an exotic. Not to mention you’d always be driving the same car. I would seriously consider a time-share. Just the ability to drive any of a dozen different supercars and have someone else maintain them seems worth it in my eyes.
This place looks like its got some great rides:
http://www.gothamdreamcars.com/dreamshare-club.htm
Our Current Fleet:
* Aston Martin DB9 Volante
* 2x Bentley Continental GTC
* Bentley Continental Flying Spur
* 2x Ferrari F430
* Ferrari F430 Spider
* Ferrari 360 Spider
* 2x Lamborghini Murciélago
* Lamborghini Murciélago Roadster
* Lamborghini Gallardo
* 2x Lamborghini Gallardo Spyder
* Maserati GranTurismo
* Maserati Quattroporte
* 2x Mercedes SL65 AMG
* Porsche 911 GT3
* Saleen S7 – *DreamShare Exclusive*
Planned Additions
(we’re giddy just thinking about these…)
* Ferrari GT California (F149)
* Ferrari 599GTB Fiorano
* Ferrari 612 Scaglietti
* Lamborghini Murciélago LP640
* Lamborghini Gallardo LP560-4
* Mercedes-Benz SLR McLaren
* Pagani Zonda
* Porsche Carrera GT
* Rolls Royce Phantom
* And more…
hmm, what if its not the color you want?
ok ok andrew. after checking out that website you’ve changed my mind. that’s quite an impressive company.
Speaking of clubs – I just saw this:
http://www.wreckedexotics.com/newphotos104/exotics/430_20080110_002.shtml
Some pretty crazy wrecks on that site. I can’t believe the damage to some of those high end cars. Easy to do though.
If you can afford to buy a supercar with cash do it. Otherwise for the average person if I had an extra $1500 a day of driving those cars would be a dream.
I couldnt join that club as nice as it is. It would mean after my time is up, Having to give back the ride…I would rather not be taunted 🙂
i would join the club just the drive the rolls royce phantom and the carrera gt