What's your ideal, real-world 3-car garage?
Discussion
I'm sure that it is something that we have all thought about and some of us may be lucky enough to own our ideal, real-world 3-car garage but I think that 3 cars would cover most people's needs. If you already own them, what are they and if you don't then what would they be?
I'll fight the temptation to go with a Range Rover Autobiography, a Ferrari 458 Spider and a 2+2 manual Aston Martin DBS but I'm sure the reality would be that I would mostly drive the Range Rover, as I wouldn't want to take the Ferrari/Aston out in the rain and snow and ice or leave it in a multi-storey/Tesco/station car park. Alright if your daily commute is an Alpine pass or a high-speed trans-continental Autoroute/Autobahn schlepp but unfortunately not so relevant to my real world. I see this with a lot of the Automotive vloggers who spend most of their time driving their "daily" performance cars, whilst the supercars sit unused at home.
So for me, my "practical" car would be the new Audi RS4 Avant in the Sonoma Green
Then a "fun" car in lieu of the Aston that I can take all the family out in. A manual, V8 coupe. Although I prefer the Challenger, I like these too and they're not quite as huge.
Apparently if i crash a Mustang then my kids will die though, so perhaps an E92 M3 instead?
Finally an open-topped sports car just for me to enjoy in lieu of the Ferrari. Not sure whether to go for a manual 981 Boxster S
or the flawed but more exotic Alfa 4C Spider?
So what would the 3 cars in your ideal, real-world 3 car garage be?
I'll fight the temptation to go with a Range Rover Autobiography, a Ferrari 458 Spider and a 2+2 manual Aston Martin DBS but I'm sure the reality would be that I would mostly drive the Range Rover, as I wouldn't want to take the Ferrari/Aston out in the rain and snow and ice or leave it in a multi-storey/Tesco/station car park. Alright if your daily commute is an Alpine pass or a high-speed trans-continental Autoroute/Autobahn schlepp but unfortunately not so relevant to my real world. I see this with a lot of the Automotive vloggers who spend most of their time driving their "daily" performance cars, whilst the supercars sit unused at home.
So for me, my "practical" car would be the new Audi RS4 Avant in the Sonoma Green
Then a "fun" car in lieu of the Aston that I can take all the family out in. A manual, V8 coupe. Although I prefer the Challenger, I like these too and they're not quite as huge.
Apparently if i crash a Mustang then my kids will die though, so perhaps an E92 M3 instead?
Finally an open-topped sports car just for me to enjoy in lieu of the Ferrari. Not sure whether to go for a manual 981 Boxster S
or the flawed but more exotic Alfa 4C Spider?
So what would the 3 cars in your ideal, real-world 3 car garage be?
Daily: 2005 Nissan X Trail 2.5 Petrol This needs upgrading ideally but it starts and goes which is all I need to be fair.
Longer trips/special runs: 2017 Mercedes E63s 4Matic+. Was going to be a daily but I hate using it in the crap weather we've been having of late, hence the X Trail.
Special toy: 1989 Mercedes 190E 2.5-16. Currently off the road but looking forward to April when it'll be (hopefully) ready to play with.
Longer trips/special runs: 2017 Mercedes E63s 4Matic+. Was going to be a daily but I hate using it in the crap weather we've been having of late, hence the X Trail.
Special toy: 1989 Mercedes 190E 2.5-16. Currently off the road but looking forward to April when it'll be (hopefully) ready to play with.
Right now, my 3 car perfect garage would be a full fat Range Rover for family duties, a Panamera Sport Turismo for my own daily, and a Singer 911 for special days. Not exactly real world though!
Would also settle for an alternative approach- really liked the RR Velar, a new Bentley Conti GT and a 997TT. Still not real world enough...
Current situation is RR Sport (wife/family wagon), B7 RS4 avant (my daily), and to this I would add something 911 flavoured or a Pagoda 280 SL
Choices, choices! Sadly lack of garage space and lack of funds prevents buying a 3rd, special days car. one day!
Would also settle for an alternative approach- really liked the RR Velar, a new Bentley Conti GT and a 997TT. Still not real world enough...
Current situation is RR Sport (wife/family wagon), B7 RS4 avant (my daily), and to this I would add something 911 flavoured or a Pagoda 280 SL
Choices, choices! Sadly lack of garage space and lack of funds prevents buying a 3rd, special days car. one day!
A man of pretty simple tastes but mine would be something like:
- VW T5 camper van (the one I have now in fact!)
- a fast estate (something a bit under the radar like a tweaked, facelift E91 335i would be nice or a Passat R36 with a supercharger bolted to it!)
- third option would be the tricky one as it depends on the mood I'm in so could be any one of: early VW Bay van, old skool VW Beetle, mk2 Golf with a silly engine in it, I have a real hankering for a mk4 Golf R32, 70s 911 and the oddest one, a 6N2 Polo GTI (I've had 2, they've got awful gearboxes but theres something about them I really like!). Full blown supercars just don't do much for me!
- VW T5 camper van (the one I have now in fact!)
- a fast estate (something a bit under the radar like a tweaked, facelift E91 335i would be nice or a Passat R36 with a supercharger bolted to it!)
- third option would be the tricky one as it depends on the mood I'm in so could be any one of: early VW Bay van, old skool VW Beetle, mk2 Golf with a silly engine in it, I have a real hankering for a mk4 Golf R32, 70s 911 and the oddest one, a 6N2 Polo GTI (I've had 2, they've got awful gearboxes but theres something about them I really like!). Full blown supercars just don't do much for me!
My current three are almost perfect:
XC90 - the family car, has a good range, good for towing, great comfort, loads of space, not a Range Rover.
MX-5 - great for weekends away or sunny days out with the Mrs, just enough power to be fun to drive on the road
Mk Indy - fun and easy to drive on the track, still kept it road legal for those sunny days you want something a bit faster than the MX-5
Also just visible in the first picture is my Golf R, now sadly departed after it was stolen. I'd like to replace that with a 2 seater GT as I don't like driving the XC90 when its just me driving for work, as it is massive and not suited to hard driving.
Long term I'd love:
XC90 - keep this as a family car but swap it for the faster T8 version
V12 Vantage Convertible - swap the MX-5 for this, preferably the V12 version, just everything that the MX-5 is turned up to 11
Radical RXC - swap the Indy for this, as I want something faster than the Indy but with a roof, to make those wet track days more bearable
XC90 - the family car, has a good range, good for towing, great comfort, loads of space, not a Range Rover.
MX-5 - great for weekends away or sunny days out with the Mrs, just enough power to be fun to drive on the road
Mk Indy - fun and easy to drive on the track, still kept it road legal for those sunny days you want something a bit faster than the MX-5
Also just visible in the first picture is my Golf R, now sadly departed after it was stolen. I'd like to replace that with a 2 seater GT as I don't like driving the XC90 when its just me driving for work, as it is massive and not suited to hard driving.
Long term I'd love:
XC90 - keep this as a family car but swap it for the faster T8 version
V12 Vantage Convertible - swap the MX-5 for this, preferably the V12 version, just everything that the MX-5 is turned up to 11
Radical RXC - swap the Indy for this, as I want something faster than the Indy but with a roof, to make those wet track days more bearable
Already got one of my three which satisfies my "Toy" requirement:
"Toy", for road, track and race = Mk2 Escort (far from standard!!!
)
"Road fun", for occasional use, occasional circuit use, and travelling around Europe = 997 GT3 RS 4.0 (a "normal" GT3 997 would be more than adequate)
"Daily" = If fuel consumption wasn't a concern, it would be something like a BMW X5M or M50D. I've a ten year old E70 X5 as my current barge, and it does a superb job of daily duties. Yes, it's little fun to drive, uses more fuel than a smaller car (what a shock!), and for every weakness there is a car out there that does something better. Thing is though, there's not one car that does everything better, or more significantly better, to persuade me that there's a better alternative.
"Toy", for road, track and race = Mk2 Escort (far from standard!!!
)"Road fun", for occasional use, occasional circuit use, and travelling around Europe = 997 GT3 RS 4.0 (a "normal" GT3 997 would be more than adequate)
"Daily" = If fuel consumption wasn't a concern, it would be something like a BMW X5M or M50D. I've a ten year old E70 X5 as my current barge, and it does a superb job of daily duties. Yes, it's little fun to drive, uses more fuel than a smaller car (what a shock!), and for every weakness there is a car out there that does something better. Thing is though, there's not one car that does everything better, or more significantly better, to persuade me that there's a better alternative.
I liked it when I had my Cerbera for weekend fun, my X5 4.8iS for tip runs/practicality, and a E90 330d for economy/long runs. I miss having a weekend fun car now that's for sure...although I'm not sure how often I'd get to use it currently...one for when the kids are older I reckon.
McLaren F1. This would be my daily driver. Reasonable luggage space, three seats, just over 1000kg, manual gearbox, no driver aids, n/a V12. It's got everything I want out of a car.
Lotus Elise Sport 220. The Elise is the best road car I've ever driven, so I doubt this latest version would disappoint.
Ferrari 312T 1976 F1 car. V12, manual gearbox, not much downforce. To run such a complex beast I'd need to pay a team to store and transport the car, which gets me over the problem I now suffer from - the need to have a tow car. I'd also be highly tempted by a Lotus 49, a Reynard 92D, or a 1980s Brabham, but I have work to do so can't spend all morning deciding
I was tempted to go for a Gordon Murray clean sweep and have the McLaren F1, a LCC Rocket and a Brabham F1 car.
Lotus Elise Sport 220. The Elise is the best road car I've ever driven, so I doubt this latest version would disappoint.
Ferrari 312T 1976 F1 car. V12, manual gearbox, not much downforce. To run such a complex beast I'd need to pay a team to store and transport the car, which gets me over the problem I now suffer from - the need to have a tow car. I'd also be highly tempted by a Lotus 49, a Reynard 92D, or a 1980s Brabham, but I have work to do so can't spend all morning deciding
I was tempted to go for a Gordon Murray clean sweep and have the McLaren F1, a LCC Rocket and a Brabham F1 car.
What about things I could probably genuinely afford at some point in my life?
Subaru Forrester STI:
Get a decent example for 8-10k, plenty power, 4WD, lots of space, general day to day load lugger.
Honda Integra DC5:
Probably in the 6-8k range, the best FWD car of all time.
Mazda Autozam AZ-1:
Rare, quirky, gullwing doors, RWD. Perfect fun weekend car. Not sure how much they cost ...
Alternatives: V8 Mustang instead of Integra, S2000 or Honda Beat instead of Autozam, Wrangler over Forrester.
Subaru Forrester STI:
Get a decent example for 8-10k, plenty power, 4WD, lots of space, general day to day load lugger.
Honda Integra DC5:
Probably in the 6-8k range, the best FWD car of all time.
Mazda Autozam AZ-1:
Rare, quirky, gullwing doors, RWD. Perfect fun weekend car. Not sure how much they cost ...
Alternatives: V8 Mustang instead of Integra, S2000 or Honda Beat instead of Autozam, Wrangler over Forrester.
Edited by Integroo on Tuesday 9th January 12:12
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