Is Daily Driving an Exotic Car Worth the Hassles That Come With It?
VINwiki founder Ed Bolian lays out the financial, social, and physical pros and cons of putting serious miles on exotic cars.
If you were to listen to a couple of automotive enthusiasts talk about what they’d do if they could buy their dream cars, you’d probably hear at least one of them say something along the lines of, “I’d never get out of that thing. I’d drive it everywhere.” Given that even exotic car owners have to run errands and perform mundane tasks from time to time, that means they would drive their Lamborghini or McLaren or Bugatti in heavy traffic, use it to go to the grocery store, and pick up bulky items in it. All of that running around would put a lot of miles on the car in a hurry, which would shrink the window between expensive maintenance appointments. Would the experience be worth all of its inherent inconveniences?
In the video above, Ed Bolian, founder of the popular YouTube channel VINwiki, provides a thoughtful answer to that question. He says he’s “daily driven Lamborghinis for most of the past eight years.” Bolian put over 10,000 miles on a Gallardo in a little over a year. After that, he had a Murcielago Roadster and then a Murcielago coupe so his response is informed by real-world experience and shaped by his philosophy as a car guy.
It’s also brutally honest and realistic. Is a high-performance machine affordable to maintain? Is it fuel efficient? Does it offer enough room for you and more than one other person? The answer to all of those and other practical questions is no. Bolian also acknowledges the social unpleasantries that come with owning a car that’s low to the ground and has the potential to be mechanically temperamental. The mere act of driving a thirsty, loud, stiff, and vulnerable Euro supercar in a world meant to be navigated by Camrys and Civics can be tiresome. According to Bolian, “You don’t get somewhere relaxed and refreshed. You get somewhere invigorated, a bit, because of the excitement that’s involved, but also kind of exhausted.”
Of course, expenses are always an issue with exotic cars, too. Bolian has calculated them on a per-mile basis. Gas can cost 30 to 40 cents. Tires? Twenty. Oil changes are 20 to 30 cents a mile. And that’s not counting a worst-case scenario, such as having to pay for a new clutch or differential.
Despite all of the potential downsides, Bolian is an advocate for racking up miles on dream machines. It’s worth the headaches to him. That’s partly due to him being a self-described “automotive masochist.” It’s also due to the fact that he believes driving an impractical car in regular circumstances makes mundane things into events. As he puts it, “The worst car for an everyday, normal trip is the best car to put a smile on my face.”
Right now, Bolian owns a Lamborghini Murcielago LP-640 coupe with a six-speed manual gearbox. If his plan for it turns to be successful, he’s going to wind up looking like the Joker. He wants to make his car into the highest-mileage stick-shift Murci LP-640 in the world.
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