2010 Nissan GTR Switzer P800 with Bose speakers!
Cars. What does the typical audiophile drive?
Just curious. People have asked about watches,
cigars, beer, and even ones income here.
1: What do you drive (daily & weekends)?
2: What might you be driving in the future?
3: What would you drive if $$$ was no object (pick 2 ;-)?
My answers to the above:
1: Toyota truck.
2: Newer Toyota truck.
3: Lamborghini Murcielago & McLaren F1.
cigars, beer, and even ones income here.
1: What do you drive (daily & weekends)?
2: What might you be driving in the future?
3: What would you drive if $$$ was no object (pick 2 ;-)?
My answers to the above:
1: Toyota truck.
2: Newer Toyota truck.
3: Lamborghini Murcielago & McLaren F1.
1,054 responses Add your response
Hey!I thought you all were audiophiles!? If you really care about audio you have to drive a quiet ride. Googling came up with Lexus ES350, Buick Lucerne, the Toyota Camry XLE, Acura TL, Lincoln MKZ, Chevy Malibu, Toyota Sienna, Mercury Marquis. But frankly, I did not find a real head to head listing by quietness!?!? Pfui! I have a suspicion there is a quiet Hyundai and maybe a quiet BMW or Mercedes...but then the Europeans put handling ahead of quiet as best I can tell. I cannot afford a Mercedes V-12. Frankly, the ergonomics of the websites and the pathetic automobile writers worthless priorities exacerbate the decision process. Like what is so hard about taking the cars over the same rough road and measure the DB via a MIC and a laptop or ...?!?! You just need a constant reference. And then there is the noisy versus quiet tire issue...... For the price I am impressed with the Riken Raptor tire for service and quiet and it is an inexpensive tire division of Michelin. Did you know that whitewalls are rarely an option today? I have one of the last sets Michelin made on my Cadillac and i gotta tell you. The exact car in blackwall looks like cra, period. It is not a subjective thing. Blackwalls are bar brawl rough period and were foisted on the public by group think with the help if the infamous auto writers. Leadership decline everywhere in this society. Any one really think PBS ia as good today as it was thirty years ago? i digress. PS as much as I despise internet music streaming it sure allows opening up exposure. I have the tune in app on my iPhone and am listening to some piano jazz station as I am writing this and... the music is incredible. I don't know about the sound compared to my SACD but the music... I'm happy. |
This is easy for me: 1: Subaru Impreza WRZ (hatchback) 2: I'll keep my little subeeboo until it dies... And that should be quite a long time form now.... So I haven't really thought about it. 3: Lotus Elise, Evora, or one of the other beeeyoutiful Lotus machines. I'll add a fourth category, what I drove in the past: I've only ever owned three cars actually.... 1. 1983 Mercury Cougar. (what a machine, a beast of an engine... And electrical problems galore ;) 2. 1994 Plymouth Neon. (a very nice, cute, cost effective car. It was also, it turns out, exceedingly easy to break into.... Or so I found out.... I wasn't the one doing the breaking in...) 3. 2004 Subuaru Impreza WRX. (although this car is now in it's 8th year, it only has 69K miles on it. By this point my Neon had well over 90k and was clearly wheezing. The WRX is doing just fine and I'm thinking of modding it... Yea, that's right! Why only mod my audio gear?) |
2004 Audi Allroad, love the road handling, the extra power when I fire up the bi-turbo w/o paying for a V8, and of course, the extra room to haul bulky audio gear if needed. Next car: Audi S4 or TDI (love the high MPG and great torque at mid revs). Money no object: not made my mind up but for sure I will take up flying |
I just bought a Benz 2001 SLK 230 with 4512 original miles on it tuesday and drove it from Pittsburgh back to St. Pete FL today. 5613 miles now. Got 33 MPG @ over 70 MPH. I'm selling my 2002 that has only 61785 on it tomorrow. I love both cars, but I'll just keep the 01 and never have to buy another one again. |
Tonywinsc, Could be a perfect automotive analogy. Fuel injection is mostly right all the time and extremely dependable but the most perfect running motor vehicle I ever had was a carbureted '88 BMW R100GS motorcycle and it absolutely purred. Power on that bike was like a stepped resistor ladder volume control-I could modulate the throttle in what seemed like one RPM increments. |
I tend to relate tubes vs. SS to cars with carburetors vs. fuel injection. Carbureted engines have to warm up before they run well. Carbureted engines can be finicky when the weather changes. Better have a screwdriver handy to make adjustments. But when everything is dialed in, that carbureted engine sounds so good... |
Sumflow, I agree with mid engine concept. In 1976 my best bud had a Fiat X1/9 and we worked it with Abarth suspension, intake, and exhaust upgrades. It still had way less than a hundred horses but that was no comfort to the 'Vette driver chasing us one night who didn't make the last turn before Saratoga on Hwy 9 and plowed sideways into the concrete bridge rails. I drive a pickup truck now but I have a couple motorcycles that will spank your Porsche. Kind of like tubes vs. SS-both good but a matter of preference. Enjoy that McLaren.... |
While I have to much common sense to be called an Audiophile. I enjoy driving fast. I judge a car by its evasive manuverability. The safest car to drive fast, is the best handling car. The best handing cars have engines behind the driver and in front of the rear wheels for balance. Houndco:>1: What do you drive?Boxster Houndco:>2: What might you be driving in the future?Boxster S Houndco:>3: What would you drive if $$$ was no object?McLaren MP4-12C |
judging by the range of vehicles, from exotic to utilitarian, to everything in between, I'd say that the vehicle of an audiophile is no more 'typical' than the audiophiles themselves, that is, a diverse group of people with different tastes, interests, disposable incomes and priorities. I have owned my share of cars at all levels of the spectrum. Still humming along in an older air-cooled P car and use a MiniCooperS as a daily. That new Morgan 3 wheeler looks pretty cool, but then, I'd love to own a decaptitated Citroen 'D' and a Tatra. Love cars as much as I love Hi-Fi. Best, |
After driving German and Japanese cars for 45 years, I finally purchased a 2011 Ford Fiesta SES Hatchback. My last American car was the 1965 Pontiac GTO. I have been looking for a small car with good mileage and something fun to drive. The Ford's handling is great, it gets terrific gas mileage and it is fun to drive. |
I drive an BMW X5 2002 3.0i. Upgraded audiophile speaker system... Weekend car for my time alone is an Acura Legend 1995 LS Coupe also with an entire Audiophile system.. If I had all the money in the world, I would drive an up to date BMW X5 and on the weekends a 6 series coupe from BMW.... I'm not that picky... Although I may go out and buy a Ford Mustang 65 Shelby.... Now we are talking.... If I had the money that is..... |
I live in Japan. In 2001 I bought a Suzuki microvan for about US $500, I still drive it. This "van" could easily be driven up into, and easily fit inside, most American vans, with room to spare. Meantime, I've purchased Accapella Campanilles, Sonus Faber Guarneris and Minima Amators, Acoustic Energy AE II's, Entec subwoofer, Yamaha NSX10,0000's, B&W 805N's, a Luxman 509u, McIntosh MA6800, Chord64 DAC,a Manley Stingray with Mullards all across, a Mac Mini with Amarra as music server, an AH! Njoe Tjoeb, built my own Bottlehead Foreplay, and tons more of audio insanity, building four very different active audio systems in total in various rooms of my two houses, all wired with all silver Inakustik cabling... Next car? Though I wish for a Lamborghini, it'll probably be another Suzuki microvan. I'm on a tight budget, you know... |
As some of you know I moved to Oregon about 18 months ago and found a thriving audiophile community, surprising given the population. I've been distracted of late, I bought a Porsche Cayman coupe in July and the first thing I did was change out the entire audio system. Here's what I ended up installing: Pioneer ABIC930BT NAV/CD/DVD/Bluetooth Back Up Camera HD radio module Infinity Reference speakers JL Audio Xd600/6 amplifier JL Audio 10" subwoofer I also went to great deal of trouble to install an Escort 9500ci detector/jammer.. as Sammy Hagar wrote "I can't drive 55" I have to say driving this car is the most fun I've had with my clothes on! Drive it like you stole it? Absolutely. |
Traded my 96 Lexus SC 400 for a 08 Jet Stream Blue Corvette convertable w/19K miles about 2 years ago. I've put 7K miles on it. It's my "Bucket List" fair weather friend that I've always admired. My Dad had a 69 GOAT (400 auto) and 67 Vette convertable (327 4-speed) when I was a teenager. I plan to keep both the Vette and Tundra a long time. The Vette won the garage space and the Tundra got a big shade tree. |
