Same here: My wife drives a manual, as do I. :-)

The funny thing is, my wife currently owns a Cobra Mustang, which followed a 69 Porsche 911T, which follwoed an 84 Mustang. She makes fun of my responsible car and talks about the new Mustang she’s going to get.:-) This is why I am lucky. My wife loves cars and only mildly rebuffs me when I talk about getting her an RX8 or a Porsche Boxster for her next car. The other reason I am lucky. My wife refuses to buy an auto. She has never owned an auto, and if she has any say in it, never will.

While we’ll never own anything ridiculously expensive, we both like to dream about it, and at the end of the day both of us come to our senses and get the (mostly) sensible car.

Thanks!

She drives a ~15 year old Geo Prism that’s taken all we can throw at it; we’ll be replacing it soon, methinks. It should be interesting :)

Thank you for the kind words. :-)
(I’d be remiss not to mention the help from fine editors here at TTAC.)

This takes impressive patience:
Looked for the right car/deal for about a year.

Anyway, the wife and the Miata sound like keepers to me! Good finds both.

Enjoy the fun car.

Enjoy the glow of your newly-wedded bliss–while it lasts. ;-) Seriously, congrats on the new partnership.

Glad you enjoyed the article. And even if it comes five months too late, you’ve still got many years of married life ahead to practice the fine arts of marital negotiations. :-)

All the best to you both.

1) Buy a car.
2) Drive it for 10 years.
3) Sell Car.
4) See #1.

We also have two play cars: A 1990 Alfa Spider, and a 1972 M-B 280SE 4.5 Sedan. The Alfa was my wife’s first car out of college, and the benz was her grandmother’s car. She sold it to me when she turned 91.

We’re looking to dump the Alfa and the Benz and buy a “driver” convertible, like a 69-72 Olds Cutlass, or something like that. We have two kids, and want a 4 seat convertible (No room in the Alfa, and the Benz is a hardtop).

Our daily drivers depreciate, but we hold them for a long time. Our play cars are fairly stable in value at this point, and if we sell, we’ll definitely get our money’s worth.

Our daily drivers are for Point A to Point B driving, and so have to be reliable. Hence, two Honda products.

Actually, my wife is driving the search for an old convertible, as she wants to be able to take the kids. I’d be happy with the Alfa and Benz for a while, but hey, if she wants a new ride…

For the time being I don’t mind driving the beater…My car is so old and banged up that it’s got a personality of its own at this point. Additionally, I feel more comfortable sending myself out into traffic with it, then my wife…let her drive the car with airbags and ABS and stuff like that…I’ll take my chances with the tin box on wheels.
Plus I’m not always the nicest on my vehicles…I can drive very sanely, but sometimes it gets boring…if I’m going to pseudohoon, I’d rather do it in a car that isn’t worth more than a couple of tanks of gas.

So I take it my bizarre love of estate cars / station wagons won’t be an issue when I get married?

If you married my wife, you’d be screwed (not in the GOOD way).

My wife just HATES any kind of wagon.

Doesn’t matter how fast, doesn’t matter how expensive.

She likes two doors with fast rooflines…

and automatic transmissions.

We make about the same. She’s absorbed a little bit of my car knowledge, even learned enough stickshift driving for emergencies. I’ve made it clear I’ll be driving stick for a while, and she seems to be okay with that. Either way, I’d be willing to compromise – she can have the new Acura or Audi, I’ll just buy an old $5,000 Miata.

I’m not ready to even think about kids yet, but I’ve dropped that I’d like a couple, which is more than she’s thinking about. I bet I end up driving the family hauler. I know this is stupid, but if I were stuck with a minivan (only if I somehow have 3+ kids of similar age), I’d install a sway bar, look for coilovers, and give it some nice rims. Whether it’s infantile escapism or genuine dynamic improvements, I won’t go quietly!

Wussy or not, wealth comes in many forms.
It’s not only the car one drives that makes the man.

That said, if I was single, I’d no doubt have an expensive, go-fast car.
But come retirement time, I’d likely end up living in it.

If the choice is between being automotively “well-off” in the present vs. having a financially-secure retirement, I’ll go with the latter. :-)

What more do you want? A Toyota badge……?

The car each person in the marriage purchases shouldn’t be much of a negotiation. Two people and two cars so what’s the problem? As long as the vehicle you choose can do the duty required.

I have two very small children and my wife has a mini-van (which she choose and I didn’t want but hey it’s her car). She is the primary kid-hauler while I handle drop offs. I normally don’t have the kids in my car a lot. So as long as it has four-seats that can fit boosters or child seats it’s a familiar car to me. Coupes would be pushing it at this stage (or when I bought my 06) but everything else is on the table.

It also is important to found a spouse with similar values. If one is frugal and another a spend-thrift then you are going to have issues. Also its about priorities, Some smoke a pack a day, drink a two $3 lattes a day, eat out a lot and go on huge vacations abroad. Me? I like cars and that’s where my spending money goes.

Moderation, everything in moderation.

Hah, depends on the woman. My better half still doesn’t understand why in the world I insisted on a wagon when I bought an Audi. I think it makes her feel old…

You spend a serious amount of your life in a car. Sure, alot of it is in traffic and on highways, but its alot nicer to be in a nice car during those times. Maybe I can’t tap the power of my ride on my daily commute but I can goose the gas and snap my head back in the seat from time to time or send the tires screaching on an exit/entrance ramp. I don’t need to go into bankruptcy to get the 996 TT, but I fully intend to daily drive the best used hoonmobile I can afford forever and if times get good a side of fun convertible weekend car + race car.

The exception is with cars. If you were to discuss cars with Mrs T&C she would probably give you the impression that she fits into the “caring about how long a car will last” variety, perhaps also focussing on comfort and safety whereas I go for the fast ones.

So when we replaced her car it was left to me to pursuade her into the 140hp version although slightly thirstier instead of the 105hp version. I suggested it would be safer for the kind of back roads that exist in Northern parts of Scotland where she drives. Safer overtaking that is. She argued against but we got a good deal which made the difference in price go away.

And she wanted leather. Must have leather.

And bum warmers.

Must have them because of the leather being cold in the morning.

So the new car came and she said it was just “ok”.

Except. I suspect the power has become corrupting. How do I know this ?

Well, When I drove her car the last time I got the average MPG to over 60. She rarely gets it over 45.

And then came the admission – she has been testing out the top speed.

And now she really cares about beating other cars off the line.

Its kind of a racer’s red mist. And its not all good.

The other week the local people who check speed decided to write us a nice letter about how they had observed the car registered to Mrs T&C exceeding the speed limit. Unfortunately unlike the Italian police they were not writing to congratulate her but to ask for a penalty and award some points. Points in this case do not mean prizes.

Thankfully this observation did not coincide with the V-max test.

The plan is to change her car in 2 years and then in another 4 when she is planning to retire.

And now when checking cars (and she does, this is another change) she looks at the safety bit second after the performance stats.

Oh and the top speed ?

Apparently it said 136 on the speedo.