What is your MD driving?

People outside of banking would assume a Bugatti Veyron, Ashton Martin Vanquish, Bentley GT, etc. But my MD daily drives a, up-to-date/fully loaded, Volvo. I was invited to his daughter's birthday party where he showed the team his car collection but it wasn't anything impressive. 2 Harleys and a Ferrari Testarossa. He had a shitload of art pieces, that I couldn't appreciate because I'm not big on art, and a wide range of wines in his cellar. 

What is your MD driving? 

 
Most Helpful

A lot of wealthy people in general are not that into cars, I find.  The average Ferrari owners has the equivalent of a household income of $1-2mm, the average Porsche owner is $500-600k.  Yes, that's a very healthy income but consider that these individuals are in their 40s and 50s, have an entire family to support and that (in the case of Ferrari), they're buying 3-400k cars in addition to whatever cars they already have.  That's why most sports cars are financed / leased now.  I know multiple very wealthy people who drive very ordinary cars and multiple middle class people driving cars that are worth more than 50% of their salary.  

 
Controversial

Always has to be some dude on every thread, if it’s a watch thread he talks about the timex, if it’s a car thread he says no need for the expensive cars and he knows some billionaire who drives an accord etc... great thx 

 

Those things are fun. Friend of mine has a GLC 63 and it is impressive. Crazy handling and power. Kind of useless since it’s right in that crossover/too small to be an SUV size, so I always thought they should’ve just got a C63. But the GLE AMG is gorgeous and actually a functional SUV. Definitely a sick dad car, looking forward to being 40 and buying one.

 

At my previous firm, MD drove an S class sedan. My current boss drives a range rover + S class coupe. 

 

Drives a Toyota Avalon, but he owns a castle in my city.

 

Know a member (partner) at a securities/corporate law firm, at a restructuring legal firm specializing in RX/bankruptcy deals drives a Tesla model S and an x5. Know a SMD at a top 3 PE Shop drives a nice jag f-type and an aston. Know a SMD/CFO of a VC/PE lmm drives a 7 series.

All are great guys and all have a sense of humor that translates to being great guys to have a meaningful yet comfortable conversation with regardless of the usual factors that affect speaking to upper-level professionals.

 

ex-MD I know in Singapore drives a Toyota Camry but lives in an $8M house. Shares the car with his wife. To be fair, a new Camry here costs USD$150k (including a certificate which allows you to own the car for 10 years).

 

Yeah Singapore is like that. It’s such as small and densely populated country so they try to disincentivize owning cars. Only the super wealthy have any type of car, period.

 

One of the MDs known as the "car guy" had a Panamera Turbo, P100D, and now a F-Type R. Not sure if he's gotten anything new. But like others said, most MDs (and older wealthy people in general) are not really into cars. Another MD in the office drives two old BMWs. Wife has a new BMW SUV.

It's really the younger crowd that has the cooler stuff. A lot of associates/analysts here with M2 / M3 / C63 / 911. Texas office

 

Haha for sure. You'd think he'd have something like a GT3 or an actual exotic but nope.

There's some real nice stuff in our office garage though but I have no idea who they belong to. Tons of M cars, a matte black GT63S, two E63S wagons, DB11, and one guy who has a TDF / SpecialeA / F430 Scud / TrackHawk that he swaps out every day. Absolute baller dailying those to work. Must be one of the PE shop partners in the building.

 

Colleague of mine (longtime MD since 33, now early fifties) was joining us for a client meeting. Very hands on, down to earth self-made industrial millionaire. For whatever reason the question came over desert. All eyes on our colleague (most senior, highest payrank). His answer: Fiat 500 Abarth!

He felt compelled to explained, that living in London and taking the car to office (commute) puts limitations on your kit.

After dinner and client meeting asked about "his/mrs other car". He managed to dodge an answer.

Other colleague (late fifties) was visiting for a deal, an MD of our office has a small collection of old jaguars. "I understand you also love oldies, what do you have?" (Over a cigar, evening). "Only a silver ghost, that has been long time in the family"... We found out that it belonged to RR lead engineer who built it (I think it was nr. 2 or 3 produced) and sold it to his family... Talking about old money.... 

The Jag MD had to give up...

 

The strange thing is the more money you have, the modest you become. Aspirational folks stretch their wallets to buy the nicest clothes, watches, cars to show they're doing really well, while those who have true success don't feel the need to be validated that way. Look at Buffet and his Volvo, Li Kai Shing with his Seiko etc. I'm sure they have posh toys but they never flash it in your face. There's no need to.

KC
 

The chief strategist at BX lives in NJ, not sure how he commutes.

 

Whatever the fuck he drives, still calls me up every day incl. weekends to grab him or his wife/wife's sister/kid a Uber/Lyft ride ASAP. FML.

 

Meant be say 8-seater airplane. The keyword was missing.

 

He is, been there since the start of the firm as well.

 

I've seen it run all over the place from a Mclaren 650S, Ferrari 458 Speciale-A, all the way to one of those god awful front wheel drive Lexus sedans. It just depends on taste. I'd say those that are avid enthusiasts generally buy things with appreciation and collectability in mind (e.g. not the Mclaren dude) and likely are making money off their collections long term. Imo, if you're not going to take that approach, you're better off just buying nice basic transport. Paying retail for a new Maserati or S-Class just to eat 90% depreciation over the next few years is for foolish flexing wannabes. 

 

I agree new sports cars are terrible investments, but that doesn't mean you need to have a car collection that will appreciate (that's very hard to pull off). 

If you're a car guy you can still pull off a decent amount of sports cars that are barely used ( < 20k miles) without getting f*ed on by depreciation. 

Think: cayenne, e63, m8, s8.

 

Well yes, but I’m the car guy that’s more likely to buy those (daily a Jetta, 911TT weekend car and some bikes). Once you hit MD, you can afford to only buy stuff you know you won’t lose money on. There’s so much access at that level why wouldn’t you?  I know an MD who hounded the Ferrari dealer for years to buy a brand new made to order 488 with absolutely no prior Ferrari history. That’s damn near unheard of, but he’s got the cash and determination to make it happen. (Different 488, not the speciale-A) 

 

Currently, a Lambo Aventador SVJ (LP770-4), Lambo Urus(for my wife), Mercedes EQC(also for my wife), Ferrari Pista and a Pagani Huayra.

 

911 Turbo (991.2, I believe) and an older BMW X6M. 

Edit: Reply below is me. Updated job info.

 

Dailies a bicycle or walks, as he lives a few blocks away. Beam makes an appearance when we are super busy. Only seen the Porsche on weekends, but it's great motivation.

 

Nothing that exciting. BMWs and Mercedes are common as are some higher-end SUVs.

Ironically the two biggest high-flyers in finance that I know personally have downgraded. One sold their Bentley and the other sold their McLaren in exchange for more useable options. 

 

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