When the Dream Car Does Not Live Up to the Fantasy

Dream cars should mostly be just that - “dream cars”. If you have a dream car, for the dream of ownership to become a reality, you need the right situation too; this is why my mid-life-crisis sojourn into the world of dream sportscars, has proved to be a bit of a fail.

My dream car is probably a Yellow Lotus Exige V6 Roadster. And I had this. The problem was having the dream car in not the dream situation; and therefore, the dream failed for me. 5 main reasons for this failure:

1. I hate being in debt and this limited how much I would use the car*.
2. I am busy with work and other things in my personal life and failed to make/find time to truly enjoy the dream.
3. I do not have a garage.
4. I live on a housing estate (a nice one) close to a town centre, with little privacy.
5. Wanting to manage with just 1 car (due to situation). A dream sportscar cannot be your only car.

*Putting my cards on the table: I currently have £40’000 non-mortgage debt (car finance, personal loan, credit cards). I want to go down to £0 non-mortgage debt, and - going forward - only buy stuff with money in the bank. I have not been totally stupid with my money. I started a 25-year £285k mortgage back in May 2015, now - just over 5 years later - it is under £190k (on a house worth about £400k now) and I have over 2 years’ worth of overpayment reserve. I have been stupid though - if I’d not blown over £100k chopping and changing cars, I would have no debt now, and my mortgage would be in an even better state!

The dream situation I would need to be in before I have that dream car again.

1. No debt (excepting mortgage).
2. Time to enjoy the dream car (perhaps I need to be retired/semi-retired).
3. A big garage (double would be nice) to store the dream car.
4. Live somewhere with a little bit of land (maybe a bungalow in the country, with a fun drive to the closest shops.)
5. Enough money to comfortably afford a good daily car as well as the dream sportscar.

That is, it!

In my current situation, my blue Audi RS3 Sportback (I think of it as a 5-door mini-estate) is the dream car. The Audi RS3 is the dream car for current times. And - if I ever do buy a sportscar again in the future - the Audi RS3 would be the dream non-sportscar to go with my sportscar.

The Audi RS3 is the dream car for my life as it is now.

Image: The Dream Car for My Life As It Is Now