[Tcoat]

Originally Posted by dhuang

Occasionally I'll still get gas station encounters -- which blows my mind because this car has been available for 5+ years and there are plenty of them on the road. I'd figure most people know what they are now... I guess a tastefully modified 86 segments the car to look more expensive and exotic than a stock 86.

Anyway, here's my conversation from last night while filling up at a QT...

Two guys in a car finish pumping gas and then drive over to me, slowing down to get a better look.

"Is that actually yours?"
Yeah, it is. Still perplexed by that question

"What's the monthly payment?"
There isn't one.

"What do you mean there isn't one?"
There isn't one, it's all paid for.

"What do you do for a living?" I hate this question
What do I do for a living?

"Yeah, how can a young guy like you afford that?"
I deflect by looking over at his car, which is the last generation Camry.
You know this car is not as expensive as you think... What kind of Camry is that, LE, XLE?

"SE"
Yeah, this is probably 2-3 grand more than your Camry. It's a FR-S, now called the Toyota 86.

He looks over at his buddy and he mentions Scion, etc, finally realizing what the car is... which is not $250k+.
"...oh it's the Scion... how fast you get it up to...?"
Plenty fast, but it's not really meant for straights...

Non-car enthusiast small talk continues and eventually I'm mentally checked out of the conversation.

Alright guys, I gotta run. Drive safely!
While I'm getting in my car, the Camry launches forward with all the FWD fury a Camry SE can unleash. He circles around the station and gives me a few beeps as he passes by, leaving me to ponder what just happened.

I would probably hate being an exotic car owner and dealing with non-car enthusiast banter.

My standard response to "is it fast?" Is "it is RWD". This response weeds out the pretenders in a hurry. If they go "ahhh yes" and nod knowingly then you know they don't know squat about cars but somehow figure that if it is RWD it must be "fast". If they look confused or say "what?" you know they understand how cars actually work and you can have a reasonable conversation with them.

Scion is a pretty rare brand around here so many people believe it to be some exotic and very expensive. The orange colour doesn't help much either I guess.