You Can Spend Up To $100,000 On One Car. What Will It Be?

One question that I often get asked is “what car do you really want?” As a car person, you understand that it isn’t a simple answer. In fact, this morning we’ll play a game with that; I’ll give you $100,000 to buy a car right now.

Here are the rules, though: You’ve gotta actually spend it, so you can’t give us the “I’ll invest it” crap. Also, no, you cannot spend it on multiple cars. It needs to be a single running vehicle, but I’m well aware that some of the choices you’d make might not stay that way for long.

To me, there are two ways to look at the question: what would the “left brain” and “right brain” choices be? The former is the purely analytical selection that makes the most sense from every practical standpoint. The latter is just a silly choose-from-the-heart proposition, practicality and what your partner thinks be damned.

Me? Well, the “left brain” choice would be to replace one of our two cars or hand off an old one to my soon-to-be-driving kid. It kills me to say it since it’s so boringly practical, but a loaded Lexus GX550 is a hard-to-dispute option. It will never break, not depreciate much, it has a warranty, and you can eat from a lovely breakfast spread at the marble-floored Lexus dealer while it’s getting serviced. Oh, and washed for free every week, depending on the dealer.

That’s a hard choice to beat from a pragmatic point of view. From a crazy-fun perspective? Forget it, but I told you this was “left brain.”

Crazy “right brain” car choice? I’m not sure if I’m the right (no pun intended) person to ask that, since even my “from the heart” option would not be silly like an Amphicar or some hypercar such as a used McLaren that I can’t even tell you the name of (aren’t they all the same car?) I’d probably buy as much mid-nineties Ferrari 456GT or GTA that I could get, in Blue Swatters or Tour De France Blue with tan seats. At that price and the condition I’d want it would likely have to be an automatic GTA. Our Thomas Hundal wrote about affordable stick ones recently, but as an automatic, at least the rest of the family could drive it (thankfully it’s a good old torque converter slush box and not some dual-clutch nightmare that didn’t even work when new). This in-the-wrapper automatic one below with 4,800 miles went for just a few dollars under $100k.

Here’s a car that our pal Doug DeMuro drove (a rather beat-up example, supposedly) and was shocked at how good it was.

This is the least expensive “real” no-excuses twelve-cylinder Maranello car you can purchase now, not counting the unloved sedan-like 400/412. Well, Daft Punk likes it at least. as do I, but 400/412s will never be worth the money you have to put in to keep them running.

The 456 likely will be worth the “investment”; they listed for over $200,000 when now (around $400,000 in today’s dollars), so they aren’t going to stay in five-figure prices for long. Look at that interior! That rear seat! If the front passengers can slide up, there’s plenty of room for the family. What a lovely car. Hell, your wife will even like it!

Hold the phone! There was a gated-shifter manual transmission 456 that sold just beyond our $100K budget a little while back. Plus, it lacks the fender insignias I don’t want. I can let the $200 above our limit slide for our rules. Thomas pointed out more in his post, but it’s inescapable that a really nice gated-shift example is going to be well over $100k.

Naturally, a “free” Ferrari 456 is a bit of a misnomer. Keeping a V-12 car with the engine under the Prancing Horse up front would likely cost a pretty penny, especially since I’m not a “the A/C is broken, and the left window is noisy, but I’m OK with that” kind of guy. I admire Thomas’s optimism on the reliability of these, but as my college roommate told me, “cars sense fear, and you fear them so they act accordingly.” No, we’re probably talking payments-on-a-nice-new-car money spent on an old car that was given to me for nothing.

In his piece, our Thomas Hundal quoted the praise from a 1995 Car and Driver article where the 456 raced an airplane. He neglected to show other, more telling quotes:

But on the way to the race..the car’s pop-up headlights inexplicably began performing a ceaseless up-and-down Watusi dance at an astounding rate, never mind whether the car was running or not. We yanked a fuse. After this, in addition to having no Ferrari headlights, adjustments and no Ferrari horn.

Yes, that was a brand-new $225,000 car; imagine it now. Still, I think it was the late, great David E. Davis who said, “any person worth their salt should own a twelve-cylinder car at least once in their life,” and also “anyone that has the opportunity to own a Ferrari and doesn’t deserves shooting.” I mean, maybe when the motor needs rebuilding for around $50,000 (or closer to the $100,000 price of the car if you throw a rod or some such mayhem) you’ll want to be shot. Ownership will likely end in tears and shouting, but screw it, I’ll take it. Again, you can see why I’m not really a “right brain” car person, ever; no fun at all.

Hopefully, maybe you are! I really want to hear your choices for how you’d dump 80 to 100 grand on a ride! Let us know.

Top graphic image: Marshall Goldman (car for sale)