Why I’ve owned the Abarth for 8 years
In all honesty I’m not entirely sure. When I purchased the car back in July 2013 I never planned on owning It this long. I hadn’t necessarily planned anything in particular either but if you’d have asked me on that day, I would never have said I’d be keeping it this long.
Truth be told a lot has happened in those 8 years and my life looks considerably different today than it did that summer. So I wanted to explore some of the reasons why I haven’t upgraded just yet and how that might influence the future.
First 4 years
The first couple of years were spent dialing the car in, detailing the paintwork, replacing brakes, tyres, painting calipers etc and in 2015 I fitted the Novitec Challenge Corse exhaust which brought a new lease of life to the car. Those years were also peak Dedication blog, so If I wasn’t working I was off with Chris on some adventure, and although a new car is always good for a motoring Youtube channel, I never ended up finding a deal I liked.
I did originally have my heart set on an Audi TT MK2 during this time which was going to be my Dedication achievement to complement Chris’s R8 but as 2016 was winding down I had my hearts set on something else.
House
2017 was the year I purchased my first (and current) house. This is one of the big reason why I didn’t upgrade to a TT or something else during this time. Being self employed and solely responsible for keeping a roof over my own head, I deployed as much capital as possible for the deposit to keep the mortgage amount as managable as possible. During this era many other Youtubers were financing some ridiculous cars with equally ridiculous finance terms. If I had done the same instead of purchasing a house, we’d be talking prancing horse or raging bull territory.
For a second I did wonder if renting a house instead and fulfilling the F430 dream was the right thing to do, but that only lasted a second.
Owning a home has been an incredible experience. Having a space that you can curate to suit your sensibilities has been a welcomed but unexpected surprise, that I’m still learning about almost 5 years later. I put a much higher value on the fixtures and fittings that surround you on a daily basis than I ever used to. Something I’d like to explore in other posts, but I will say I spent far too much time adjusting my light bulbs to get just the right colour temperature.
Finance
That same year I began to realise how much I enjoyed personal finance as a topic and quickly took it up as a hobby. I tend to take things to extremes sometimes so maximising my investment contributions became and continues to be a bigger motivator than buying a new car. I put this down to how I live my life currently. You see, for the most part the excess income I have has little utility to me when it comes to day to day happiness, so why not try to maximise the potential for future happiness by taking the steps towards a scenario where work becomes optional, or more optional than it is today.
This circles back to being self employed and solely responsible. Where the thought of investment returns taking some of burden for month to month bills is greater than the thought of owning a Porsche today. I’m quite good at delayed gratification so why not utilise that…and if that changes down the road I’ll have a nice sum to buy what I want.
Money gives you options. And I’d rather have more options available to be more of the time.
It’s Good
An unforeseen reason is that I just like it! Apart from a Ferrari F430 and maybe a 981 Boxster Spyder, there really isn’t much else that my heart wants. I do like the MK3 Audi TT and a GT86 might be good fun for a while, but the Abarth is 11 years old and still doesn’t miss a beat. It puts a smile on my face when I drive it and despite a few stone chips and small paint imperfections I still enjoyed cleaning and caring for it.
And in relation to enjoyment and finance, I’ve noticed that the less the Abarth represents of my world in terms of net worth, the more I started to enjoy it and worry less. It’s often the case in the middle of winter when the roads of soaking, gritty and filthy that I’m quite glad I’m driving around in a £4000 car instead of a £40,000 one. It’s at this point I should have Matt Moreman drop in here and start talking about different levels of crazy, but I can’t switch off the Detailer in me and getting a stone chip on a car that represents a huge portion of my net worth is just not worth the anguish.
I’d like to end by saying that It’s very easy to feel pressured as a petrol head to always be working up the automotive ladder at any cost, with the allure of attention and status that comes from the higher end stuff. But it’s imperative that you understand what you find important in life and maximise for that ignoring any pressure that may be trying to dissuade you from your line. For me when I envision owning a Ferrari F430 it isn’t ‘by any means necessary’. I imagine own it as a reward for my hard work, while it sits outside a home that I own and care for, while I run a business that I’m passionate about. The Ferrari compliments my life, it doesn’t make it.
Know who you are and know what you want.
/Si
10 Year Update — June 2023
Another two years has flown by and today marks the 10 year anniversary of picking up the car. Reflecting back on that makes me realise how quick time passes, it honestly feels like no time at all. Despite how much life has changed in that time, it’s also similar in many ways and perhaps that is due to having the Abarth as an anchor point? It’s an interesting thought if nothing else.
Looking towards the future I‘d like to have an Abarth as a daily driver alongside something more special, and at least for right now it doesn’t make a whole lot of sense to replace the Abarth I have with a facelift. Instead I’m thinking about carrying out some restoration work to bring her up to standard and hold out for the electric version as a replacement?
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