How did your friends react to the car ... ?

[Leverage]

As others said - real friends will be happy for you. I have found a very few people will try to put it down to make themselves feel better but this comes from a place of envy. ...my advice is just don't contribute to envy by being a douche, bragging about it to everyone and acting like an elitist or better-than for owning one. There are some (fill in the luxury brand) owners like that, and I've met plenty. If anything, I think some folks tend to ask about it almost as a micro-aggression to flush out which camp you're in (stereotyping) - are you a rich a-hole or the successful but super nice guy.

Bottom line and this is gonna get a little deep, you should NOT feel guilt! I think it's good you're self-aware and humble. You should be proud of your accomplishments but if you still feel guilt, you probably have some opportunities to ask how you can serve or help others as you achieve that success. I assure you that no material item, including a Porsche, fixes that feeling. What I've personally found does fix it - giving time to help for friends and family, volunteer, donating to some charitable causes, or mentoring others professionally. If you can try to lift up others, the material goods tend to just be there and in most others eyes, justified. Realize it's just a thing and doesn't replace the importance of people and relationships. Now, enjoy the car in good health!!

Thanks for posting and your wise words! Much appreciated. It definitely sounds stupid to feel guilt when you think about it. My friends & wife would call me a very humble person, I never brag or show off. I tend to be as discreet as possible, I'd probably be the quietest person in the room. So buying a shiny Porsche is definitely making me a bit uncomfortable as I'm out of my safe zone.

I'd certainly think about your sound advices, helping others & lifting people around me would certainly help to get over that guilty feeling.

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[JDNEPA]

Thanks for posting and your wise words! Much appreciated. It definitely sounds stupid to feel guilt when you think about it. My friends & wife would call me a very humble person, I never brag or show off. I tend to be as discreet as possible, I'd probably be the quietest person in the room. So buying a shiny Porsche is definitely making me a bit uncomfortable as I'm out of my safe zone.

I'd certainly think about your sound advices, helping others & lifting people around me would certainly help to get over that guilty feeling.

Certainly wasnt Intended to make anyone feel bad about themselves so please don’t take it that way. Most folks don’t want to flaunt it. I’ve found if you’re able to focus on the feedback loops on lifting others up, the guilt of one’s successes tends to go away. It has helped for me personally but it’s always shades of gray and there are alway times when I do this better than others. To me, guilt is just yourself trying to talk to yourself - what you are saying to yourself may be slightly different for everyone. Everyone is a work in progress…..

 

[Da-man]

My friends were very happy and now they are wanting to get their dream car sooner.

One of my friends has 991.1 and was so impressed with Taycan that he want to get one for himself.

My car is Base 2WD with Steel Springs and I feel it handles just like 991.1

 

[axpy]

omg don't de badge the Turbo. Leave it as only porsche fans will know what it stands for.

Might as de badge the porsche crest.

Meh, I not there to impressed anyone and these badge are annoying to clean. All these engine, trim and drivetrain designators are stupid and useless. I don’t have a turbo but i would happily debadge one. If the ridiculous price tag on a GT3 eventually come down to earth, I will buy one and it will be with a clean ass.

 

[Steve R]

Wow, I've got a LOT to say on this......hopefully insightful, humorous and entertaining

First-off, the moment you start caring about what anyone else may think or feel, you've lost. That said, it's very easy to say "Don't care about what others feel" but entirely something else to implement it. Oddly, it's often the case that the way we feel about ourselves is not based on how we come to feel about ourselves or even what others think of us....it's how we perceive others think of us; if you come to believe others respect you, you come to respect yourself. You need to think about that statement for a moment....but in the meanwhile, an entertaining story!

It was about 12 years ago that my wife told me I really needed a nicer car, I was commuting to a ranch regularly and so my daily car was a Mazda 3....a most ideal car for an impoverished college student. My 'special' car was a 1969 VW Karmann ghia convertible in desperate need of restoration. Beyond that, my business was booming, our home was paid for, we had savings towards retirement and the notion of disposable income was setting in upon us. New paragraph, eh?

My wife really loved the convertible Jaguar or maybe a convertible BMW but I had one horrible objection....having worked very hard my entire life, I could not bring myself to purchase a vehicle that would plummet in value. And btw, it would be a USED Jaguar XK or BMW...we're not even talking new! The thing is, I knew any of these cars would be worth $15k-$20k less in a matter of short years....the kid who made $5/week allowance forbid me from pulling the trigger.

A friend of mine, who "had money' gave me a crazy suggestion....he told me to buy a 'well sorted' used Ferrari because, like artwork, it would hold value. I ended up buying a red'black gated '95 355 spyder with only 2k miles from a dealer for $88k.....it would be almost 2 years later that a guy looking to make room for his impending purchase of an Enzo that I bought my 360 spyder and sold my 355 for $91k....which represented a $3k appreciation from my purchase price!

Now, did I make money? No....I still put a challenge grill, new stereo and tires on that 355 and I also had to pay the registration....BUT I didn't lose 1/3 the value of the vehicle as I would had I bought the Jag, BMW or Mercedes! Sometimes you spend more money but you get something that retains value! But on the whole, you don't buy a car as an investment...but if you buy the right car, you may not bleed-out on it's value!

Now, is the Taycan or any modern Porsche a good value? Particularly since this is an EV? You know what....who the hell knows! But I would say the mistake is to measure the value in monetary terms! (hold onto your seat). Unless you live in Africa or Ukraine, life is not merely about survival.....today we enjoy technology, science, education, abundance of food & shelter that we've moved past existing to support our needs and can enjoy life. As they say, life is short and (so far as we know) we only get one shot....and so here's my music video drop from Eminem:



If YOU want this car and it's within your financial capacity, then do it. The wealthiest guy is not by measure of financial capacity but rather who has the most smiles per gallon. Having been in the Ferrari club, I've met guys who miserably work hard and long hours just to get themselves another million.....and I know teachers who live in condo's driving Hyundai's who spend their time traveling, enjoying concerts and shows and immersing themselves in life's rich pageant.

We all need to find happiness within ourselves. There will always be someone richer/poorer, taller/shorter, younger/older, better educated, having a hotter wife, having more hair on their head (a shout out to my fellow receding hairliner's) and let's not forget fatter/skinnier. Life is long and in the end we're only in competition with ourselves and I tell you this because once you own a car that rises above commonality, you will get attention and some of it isn't fun.

Just because you own or do something that doesn't make sense to someone else doesn't make their perspective your problem. As others have stated, if they are truly your friend, they'll be happy for you. I think the key is not to brag, boast, bullshit or make Porsche ownership say anything about you beyond which car you decided to buy. The car doesn't make us better, smarter or more successful than anyone else....just a bit faster.

Sorry for the rant, it's a rainy Sunday and I've got the fireplace on.....

 

[kmcdonal]

1. Debadge (especially the words "electric", "GTS" or "Turbo")
2. Don't talk money (the average person will expect a Porsche to be more expensive than average, but without being interested enough to configure one, I doubt someone would realise just how much more expensive)
3. If still necessary, find better friends
...that said, since I retired, I find myself in the company of fellow car enthusiasts or people who have no real interest in cars, and neither of those groups has generated any negativity.
You might get unsolicited compliments from the general public- to be fair, there are probably equal numbers of people who'll hate you for your car, but you'll only notice the ones who won't let you out at junctions.

The term "electric" can play both ways. Where I live there are a ton of EVs and a lot of people are more accepting of the Taycan when they know it is electric. I had a few people see the car and ask (disapprovingly) why I bought a gas guzzler. I love the look on their faces when I pop the frunk so they can look around for the V8 they are expecting.

 

[DCYL725]

Meh, I not there to impressed anyone and these badge are annoying to clean. All these engine, trim and drivetrain designators are stupid and useless. I don’t have a turbo but i would happily debadge one. If the ridiculous price tag on a GT3 eventually come down to earth, I will buy one and it will be with a clean ass.

Yeah…
Have fun waiting on the Gt3 price to come down.

Let’s revisit this when we all have gt3s and then debadge it. Lol.

 

[axpy]

not sure you read correctly what I was saying. I am not looking for a cheap GT3, I am just not playing the ADM game. And yeah If you want the bragging right, good for you. I passed the point in my life where I need to impress strangers with my possessions.

 

[GTSCarLife]

Sorry, I just couldn’t care less what other people think. I buy what I want, for me. They have no say and no impact on my happiness or enjoyment. We have a 3 car garage and 3 Porsches- 2011 911 GTS, 1985.5 944 and 2016 Cayenne S (which will be replaced by the Taycan 4S TC) Frankly the few people who know about our car, which docks in Jacksonville tomorrow night, think we are foolish to buy an electric car. Ask me if I care.

Take care of your health and enjoy your new Porsche!

 

[tomahawkBE]

Hi All, First time buyer of a Porsche (totally fell in love with the CT4S when test drove the car). If all goes well I should get the car in January 2023. As the deadline approaches I'm starting to think about how other people will react to the car. I know I shouldn't give any importance to it but still...

Many of my friends aren't used to buy +130k cars, let alone a Porsche.

I've already had comments such as: "That car is definitely not worth that price tag" or "Electric is not the futur, your car will depreciate so fast", "Tesla does it better (lol)", etc... I feel like there will be a lot of negativity surrounding the car from people around me.

I'm wondering if other people did face similar situation and how they dealt with it.

I would totally disregard any type of negative comment. I don't like to be around negative people anyhow, in a more general sense. Many (I don't want to generalize now) who are against electric cars never drove one and cannot afford one. Electric might not end up to be the future but it's at least paving the way to the future. That's good enough for me.

If so called friends don't want to be my friends anymore because I buy a shiny expensive Porsche then I've got room to make new friends who are more positive thinking. Not everyone will always be around as a friend and that's fine. My real friends know how hard I work to achieve what I have already achieved and they strongly believe in me being successful, they will state things like "you'll have to taxi me to the restaurant then" instead of being negative As such, sharing the joy of driving around in a nice Porsche.

 

[bxwatso]

Their behavior is easily explained:

Thank you for posting this. Loved that Morrisey period, but I had forgotten about this song.

 

[jld1]

All of mine are super excited, it's actually quite sweet. Most of them ask me, "Where is your car/When is it coming!?" when I see them even though I never bring it up myself. I'm a bit embarrassed because it's quite an expense, even debadged mine so hopefully they can't figure out exactly how much I spent. But yea, nothing but positivity.

 

[ThePaddyWan]

I've only shared the Taycan purchase with my fellow car friends. They see it as a cool EV, though, prefer ICE sports cars. No judgment on the cost or purchasing a Porsche. It helps that we all happen to be in similar income ranges.

I didn't bother sharing with anyone else though, including family. I prefer not to show-off, if anything I'd want to be humble. The one colleague that happened to see the car when visiting started telling other people on our behalf, which helped confirm my decision.

 

[Leawood CT]

You hit the spot Brian... I can relate to your post. I didn't bring my parents in the subject but they could be another thing to deal with. They don't really like shiny & expensive objects. I've always been raised as not showing off and living low profile.

My father worked for Ford for 38 years and it was Ford money that my Dad earned that put me through school, clothed me, fed me, etc. He had Ford's for all the years he worked there and after in retirement. He never purchased Lincolns because he thought those were just for show offs. I had all kinds of trepidation about telling my Dad that I had bought my first Porsche (about 23 years ago now. Time flies). I had nothing to worry about. He could not have been more proud of the beautiful triple black 968 Cabriolet I had purchased. He recognized it as part of his son's success and saw how happy I was when I took him for a drive in it. Due to the excellent dealership I worked with (Euroclassics Porsche), I was able to show him a video of my latest Porsche, my Taycan CT, before I got it. He was once again absolutely thrilled for me and thought it was the best looking Porsche to date. Unfortunately he passed two days after I showed him the video and therefore I could not take him for a spin in it. Even though it was shiny and expensive, he would have loved how it drove and been smiling the whole time. Take your Dad for a drive in the car if you can, I know he will be thrilled with it and so happy for you!

 

[4thPcar]

Hi All, First time buyer of a Porsche (totally fell in love with the CT4S when test drove the car). If all goes well I should get the car in January 2023. As the deadline approaches I'm starting to think about how other people will react to the car. I know I shouldn't give any importance to it but still...

Many of my friends aren't used to buy +130k cars, let alone a Porsche.

I've already had comments such as: "That car is definitely not worth that price tag" or "Electric is not the futur, your car will depreciate so fast", "Tesla does it better (lol)", etc... I feel like there will be a lot of negativity surrounding the car from people around me.

I'm wondering if other people did face similar situation and how they dealt with it.

have had only the opposite reaction to my car. admirers love the styling, the color (Neptune blue) and all my friends that have driven it want one. Of course, none of this matters. If you worry what others will think of you or the car, then don't buy it.

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