The 3 car family - how to do it best

[12,000 RPM]

Dude you've been talking about doing track days for years and have yet to do one.  Be honest with yourself.  You scare yourself driving on the street.

It's not a matter of fear of speed... if that were the case I wouldn't drive the way I do. It's a matter of time. Getting to and from the track is like 3 hours. Then getting enough sessions in to make it worth it would be another couple. Gotta eat and stuff down there too. And of course there is the cost.... suit... trailer... consumables... and of course track fees

Compare that to sim racing, the kart track 10 minutes from my house, taking the back roads on my commute..... it's tough. If I was in NYC or something maybe but I get enough thrills for cheap/free

And now with the G even the bike is becoming redundant. I'd rather get a slow steady drip of thrills than have to go out of my way for a big hit like 2-3x/yr. Thankfully I don't have to deal with traffic and that's not even counting the lane expansions they are doing on my commute's interstate.

[Cookie Monster]

Yeah, that's why I sold my "track" CBR and the dirt bike. Too much effort to get out there.

I might get a dual sport to ride to and from the trails though.

[CaminoRacer]

That's why you get an El Camino. Fun to drive on twisty roads, but also cool to just cruise around in. If you don't stare at your car when you cruise past storefront windows, yer doin' it wrong. Also, going to car shows and autox events is a blast. Not even the driving part - I've made dozens of friends through car shows.

[giant_mtb]

It's not a matter of fear of speed... if that were the case I wouldn't drive the way I do. It's a matter of time. Getting to and from the track is like 3 hours. Then getting enough sessions in to make it worth it would be another couple. Gotta eat and stuff down there too. And of course there is the cost.... suit... trailer... consumables... and of course track fees

Compare that to sim racing, the kart track 10 minutes from my house, taking the back roads on my commute..... it's tough. If I was in NYC or something maybe but I get enough thrills for cheap/free

And now with the G even the bike is becoming redundant. I'd rather get a slow steady drip of thrills than have to go out of my way for a big hit like 2-3x/yr. Thankfully I don't have to deal with traffic and that's not even counting the lane expansions they are doing on my commute's interstate.

There's the honesty I was looking for...clearly you're not gonna do track days. 

[12,000 RPM]

There's the honesty I was looking for...clearly you're not gonna do track days.

It's fun to say

[giant_mtb]

It's fun to say

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Boy_Who_Cried_Wolf

[Lebowski]

I'd love to do a 2-3 day driving school sometime, but I have zero interest in tracking my own car.

[Laconian]

I have that BMW thing coming up

[12,000 RPM]

I feel like that BMW thing is close enough to me that I could make a trip out of it. I'd love to do it at Road Atlanta

[MexicoCityM3]

I'd love to do a 2-3 day driving school sometime, but I have zero interest in tracking my own car.

I have that BMW thing coming up

When?

[MrH]

I'd love to do a 2-3 day driving school sometime, but I have zero interest in tracking my own car.

Same.

[r0tor]

Question I have for MrH/r0tor....

From what it sounds like, you guys have shitty commutes, shitty roads and shitty weather for a good portion of the year. How many miles do you drive a year, and how many of those miles are in the fun car?

I was averaging about 5K miles a year on the motorcycle out of a total of about 20K, but with the G that has plummeted. I don't think I will break 2K this year and I'm honestly thinking about selling the bike or taking it off the road and doing track days. I don't do "fun drives to nowhere"... my commute is pretty sweet, sim racing is enough for my lizard brain, and I just don't have the time. IS there some minimal mileage before you would say the 2nd car's not worth it?

I drive around 12-15k miles a year.

Traditionally about 5k miles of that is in the Mazda.  I try to drive it whenever its >40 degs and dry outside, but with my new high speed all highway commute the road noise and engine screaming it doesn't get me too excited to take it to work the the mileage might come down.

[Laconian]

I'm not really excited about tracking my RF, still too protective about its good looks to throw it into a tire wall.

[Rich]

[12,000 RPM]

I drive around 12-15k miles a year.

Traditionally about 5k miles of that is in the Mazda.  I try to drive it whenever its >40 degs and dry outside, but with my new high speed all highway commute the road noise and engine screaming it doesn't get me too excited to take it to work the the mileage might come down.

http://www.autotempest.com/results/?make=porsche&model=macan&radius=any&zip=90210&domesticonly=1&minprice=&maxprice=50000&minyear=2012&maxyear=&minmiles=&maxmiles=&bodystyle=any&keywords=s&transmission=any&saleby=any

http://www.autotempest.com/results/?make=bmw&model=x4&radius=any&zip=90210&domesticonly=1&minprice=&maxprice=50000&minyear=2012&maxyear=&minmiles=&maxmiles=&bodystyle=any&keywords=xdrive35i&transmission=any&saleby=any

[r0tor]

Mecan is too small... I've looked and tried to justify it, but its clearly not designed for a family.

I hate the coupe SUVs.  I have been looking at CPO X5's especially with the "dynamic handling package" (active roll bars and torque vectoring rear diff) and want to see how the new X3 is.  I think the daily drive would be much better in them compared to either of my 2 cars, but I'd still keep the Mazda going this route for those extra special nice days.

[12,000 RPM]

Saw an X6 with the V8 today... between the shape and the exhaust note, such a ridiculous machine

I think a properly equipped X3 could do the trick, but I still loathe IDrive and the lack of redundant steering wheel controls to make up for it. Maybe an F-Pace?

[MexicoCityM3]

Saw an X6 with the V8 today... between the shape and the exhaust note, such a ridiculous machine

I think a properly equipped X3 could do the trick, but I still loathe IDrive and the lack of redundant steering wheel controls to make up for it. Maybe an F-Pace?

.

IDrive is like one thousand times better than whatever that Jag has. And the F Paces interior is subpar.

[r0tor]

I love the outside design of the F-Pace and it is the right size.  The interior is pretty bad to be honest.  Jag reliability is a but scary and their infotainment is ridiculous infuriating.

Still might take one for a test drive some day.

[r0tor]

I do think morally I have a problem of spending $50k on a bmw and it not being the M3 I asked to get for the last decade

[Rich]

The next M3 will probably have higher ground clearance and AWD anyway, to make it more SUV like

[ifcar]

I love the outside design of the F-Pace and it is the right size.  The interior is pretty bad to be honest.  Jag reliability is a but scary and their infotainment is ridiculous infuriating.

Still might take one for a test drive some day.

The infotainment isn't too bad. A few functions are unnecessarily annoying to get into, but the basics are fine -- at least on the optional larger screen.

[12,000 RPM]

My main litmus test for infotainment is the steering wheel controls. That's a huge part of what makes the MKX tolerable. Seems like the F-Pace is OK on that front:



Though it loses points for a lack of redundancy (touch, but no jogwheel or knobs it seems)

Infotainment is really where modern cars fall off though. JFC,

[r0tor]

I tried it and it seemed like it wanted to freeze up just flipping through the screens like a 5 year old smartphone

[r0tor]

The wife and I saw a X5 M Sport on the road yesterday.  I pointed it out and asked what she thought about it.  The reaction was pretty much "replace the jeep with that".

Progress...

[MrH]

That's a pricey replacement.

[r0tor]

I can find 2 year old Cpo examples with <20k miles for the low 40s... add in another couple grand for a M Performance Power Kit and M Performance Exhaust

I had thought of a new X3 but that would be in the 50s.  Same for a Disco.  F Pace would be in the upper 40s probably.  New JGC (which I don't want) would be low 40s.  So yea it's pricey, but so is most other mid sized SUVs.

[12,000 RPM]

X5 is a big girl, I feel like X3/F-Pace class is the better fit

[MexicoCityM3]

I can find 2 year old Cpo examples with <20k miles for the low 40s... add in another couple grand for a M Performance Power Kit and M Performance Exhaust

I had thought of a new X3 but that would be in the 50s.  Same for a Disco.  F Pace would be in the upper 40s probably.  New JGC (which I don't want) would be low 40s.  So yea it's pricey, but so is most other mid sized SUVs.

If you can test the V8. Ours is really stupid fast. And it gets very reasonable MPGs highway. I've managed almost 25.

X5 is a big girl, I feel like X3/F-Pace class is the better fit

It is smaller than most of its competitors like the Q7 and the XC90. Unless you really want 3 rows.

[r0tor]

X5 is a big girl, I feel like X3/F-Pace class is the better fit

It's within a couple inches of the JGC.

I'd go X3 but I just could never get myself to like the proportions of them.  Maybe it's better with the new gen, but the current one just looks too "wimpy" I guess would be an adequate word.