2010mRXsh

I have two questions about things I've seen in the cities mentioned above.

LA: When I was near Sunset, I saw at least one small ranch(!) house with a relatively new looking Ferrari parked in the semicircle driveway. If this is the car outside, what's in the garage??? Does anyone know if this is just some kind of trick people play?

I suppose not, since almost everyone in these forums has at least two cars(!!) My guess, they're extremely vain. I want to see that garage door pop open.

I've seen, elsewhere, a Rolls Royce street parked in front of a mansion(!) No, not parked in the massive semicircle driveway, but rather, on the street in front of it.

NYC: When I was in NYC a while ago, I noticed that the preferred car of choice was a black S-Class, late model. There were so many of these...like roaches!

Are these "owned" cars or is this some kind of service? I can think of at least a couple ideas: private taxi, chauffeur service, or some kind of tourist thing. Or everyone just loves the S-Class.

One of the more interesting car images that stuck in my head from NYC was...

The car was really close to me, and I was passing in front of it on foot, so I couldn't tell at the time what it was, so what I mostly saw was the inside...

There was a older middle aged man driving a car, and a kid in the back seat...he looked no more than 15, maybe a little younger...wearing a school uniform. And looking very not pleased, actually. (Ha!)

That car was some kind of modified LWB S Class with private NYC plates.

Incredible. How do these kids live up to their parents' accomplishments??

Anyone know about these trends, and what they really are, if anything? I know about the last part: NYC is full of sick sick sick rich people. So sick.

pvmike1

Perfection

2010mRXsh

Is this an irrelevant question? Or some kind of elitist statement? I don't understand.

TruthTellr

Automotive trend goes west to east. The east coast has absolutely no contribution to automotive culture. All they've done is copy the worse from the west and make it even worse.

Plus they do more smack talking than anyone too. LOL!

Jujharoo

lol
Sorry to break it to you man, the point is, no one cares.
They are filthy rich, they can do whatever they wish with their money. Most people here aren't stupid rich, so we careless.

PhilipMSPT

iTrader: (5)

In SoCal, while driving around (especially in Newport Beach or Malibu), it would be an odd day not to see an exotic prancing around as a daily driver for some.

And nothing is wrong with that. Hopefully, those people that do have such luxuries not only spend money on frivolous things, but hopefully, also contribute such wealth into other helpful community organizations and such. We can only hope...

Faymester

LA: nice weather most of the year, cars sit outside places so what?

NYC: people don't drive them selves because when you arrive at your destination and need to park, parking spots are approx $100k/yr (yes one-hundered-thousand dollars), that's their car w. driver (if you think owning the s-klasse is posh, consider that the owner of that s-klasse also owns that driver)

2010mRXsh

I guess I was trying to figure out if there is as much of a difference between image and reality with these things. I think there is, but anyway.

LA

Oh I know, a Ferrari is a common car in SoCal. I just thought it was odd someone would want to park it outside their tiny ranch house, because I think that seems extremely vain. Maybe that comes with the territory. Although it could have just been a visiting friend.

And since the garage was only a one car garage, if the car inside the garage was more valuable, you'd have to put the junker outside.

If I had a garage, I don't care how much I paid for my car...I'd use the garage. Rain, dust, etc. etc. I'd like to keep the paint job.

NYC

The big thing about NYC was that the S-Class was so common, I wouldn't want to be driving / driven in one. Seriously, maybe it's because I was looking, but the S was outnumbering any other Benz by like 10-to-1. Edit: I'm pretty sure at least some of them are taxis.

NYC doesn't have a lot of posh cars running around actually. A lot of stereotypical banker cars...boring(!) But that comes with the territory I guess.

Now the chauffeur, and the parking spot? That's serious.

It's just interesting to me to see the difference between reality and image.

Like, I know I've been through neighborhoods that are economically depressed, and I'll actually see really nice cars parked outside of houses that cost little more. I've seen a lot of late model Escalades parked outside $70,000-$80,000 houses.

On the other side, I recently read an article in the NY Times that said even the crazy rich are losing a lot of wealth, so they're getting rid of things that aren't noticeable. One figure was, some person's net worth went from $20 to $8 million in a year(!) And people were selling clothes and jewelry, but keeping their Bentley, because people would notice if they were driving a different car.

DASHOCKER

iTrader: (2)

Most private cab companies that cater to large corporate firms here in NYC have Mercedes S class cars in their fleet. My co./firm uses this company if you do a late night.. http://www.mtglimo.com/NYC/ny-car-service.html

Dead give away if the car is part of a taxi/limo fleet would be NYS license plate beginning with the letter "T"....

lexdymndz

iTrader: (1)

i dont think that it is something that is happening just on the coasts. i think rich people everywhere like to show-off/ flaunt their wealth.
if you just happen to be in an area that afluent people live in then thats what you will see.

i live in south orange county and used to work in Rancho Santa Margarita (where the Real Housewive of Orange County live) and a doctor in the building i worked in drove his F430 to work everyday. and the real estate agents i worked for would drive their benzs, beemers, hummers, etc.

KayGee

Most people with a house small enough to only have a 1 car garage have so much junk in it that they can't get their car in it. Some multi car garages have that same problem.

I'm with you on parking in the garage. The best part of my first house was that it had a garage and I didn't have to scrape the frost off of my windshield in the winter.

pvmike1

Since this is a genuine question, I'll give you a genuine answer. No more hillbilly pics.

Those small ranch houses near Sunset were likely up in Hollywood Hills, an area that is full of multi-million dollar homes. I'd venture to say that the small ranch house you saw was over a million. If you were still here, I'd steer you towards Newport Coast for some real culture shock. Dubbed the "California Riviera," you'll find thousands of homes typically ranging from $2-15 million, with some topping out at $50-100 million. I drove through there today, and I saw at least a handful of Ferraris and Bentleys.

Afterwards, I'd send you to Imperial Courts in Watts. It's the largest projects west of the Mississippi. Have you seen the movie, Training Day? You'll be hearing, "You a long way from Starbucks homey." Part of the movie was filmed there, for realism of course.

So there's your answer. When you come to a large city like Los Angeles or New York, you'll see a lot of EVERYTHING, rich and poor. It just depends on where you look.

AM1

iTrader: (6)

not to sound jaded or anything, but thats nothing new around here. i met a guy at a seminar i was at whose daily driver was a lamborghini diablo SV. followed him while he was flying down the 405, looked in his car when he parked it and there was soda cans, papers, folders, bills, crumbs, all over the passenger seat and floor.

2010mRXsh

Thanks! That's the kind of tip I was looking for. I was pretty certain there was something behind this.

The theme I'm getting at is the difference between having and showing money...it seems that a lot of the show is just that. It's not that 10000 people in NYC have a black S-Class and a chauffeur and just drive around in traffic all day...good to know.

I mean, you can rent a watch, dog, luggage, jewelry, helicopter...nothing is beyond capitalism...

Which is totally awesome, sort of. I mean, I don't see why anyone should have their daily driver be anything less than the best car they've got, unless it's close to a museum piece or not in good working condition. That I never get--including what I see on these forums. If you spent a lot of money on it, only if you have tons and tons more, would you say, "Let me let it waste more money sitting in my driveway / garage."

On the other hand, I'm sure a lot of people see people who are supposed to have a lot of money, and "should" have a nice car, and say, "Wow, they drive a Prius." But then it turns out, they also have a warehouse full of other cars they drive, etc. Like, "Oh, the boss drives a Civic." Oh no he doesn't!!!!

Thanks for the answer. Not for the pic. Were you calling me a hillbilly?? I was confused...

Yeah, I won't deny that I get culture shocked when I see conspicuous consumption, but in my case it'll be tough to ever get over it. There's so many people in this world, and so so many of them are (edit: appear to be) so so so rich.

It will be even tougher because even some things I should be used to, still seem new to me all the time. Like if I moved to LA, every morning (edit: no, all day and night, every day) I'd still be likely to wonder "WHAT is with all this traffic!?!?!?!?"

Know: I'm not shocked by the money. I'm shocked by the difference between what I know about how much money is out there, and how much there appears to be. This difference happens a lot with cars because cars appear to be the first thing people spend a lot of money on, and the last thing they're likely to get rid of, in part because it's a great way to show off.

That makes sense. Thanks for the "tips" on the other places. I won't go to the projects, because I've seen enough of them...but I'll drive by the other places and see if my jaw drops anymore than usual.

Yeah, I was going to say, that house was probably $1-2 million. But that's why it's weird to me. It's not weird to see Ferraris, Bentleys, or multimillion dollar homes. I mean, I see that stuff on TV and unintentionally, when I've traveled.

I guess I didn't get the message across just right. That's not weird.

It's weird to park your Ferrari in front of your house instead of inside your garage, especially when your tiny ranch house is only a million dollars. I just wondered if this was some kind of trick that the attention starved play, or they just own two cars that cost more than their house...but now I know better. And KayGee's response was also a good one.

The case of the S Class has already been "solved."

One more, I remember seeing in San Francisco a whole lot of Porsches, almost all 911s. I mean, way more than anywhere else I've seen. So it makes me wonder, why those? Is there like a free Porsche giveaway there? Or some division of Porsche is near there? I'm not shocked by Porsches, or the fact that San Francisco has a lot of rich people. But why so many Porsches, and not say, other cars?

Haha! Now that's what I want to see. Real reality, not some TV show. Cars were meant to be used. If you spent over $100k on a car...use it. No, I know well that especially in SoCal, nice cars are normal.

But $250,000 cars parked in the driveway of tiny ranch houses? Still not normal. (To me).

Thanks for the answers.