spectre6000

I was cruising the interwebs the other day, and saw one of those ubiquitous "perfect three car garage" things. This one was thematic by country (perfect three car garage of all Japanese/American/German cars for instance). Obviously, that's an artificial constraint. But it got me thinking...

What is the perfect three garage? You pick three cars that meet all possible needs. What are those needs? In that instance, the author opted for sporty, luxury, and off road. Elsewhere, I've seen sporty, utility, efficiency and sporty, DD, utility and sporty, sportier, sportiest and "the three cars I own or have owned that I like". There's almost always a sports car in the mix.

That got me thinking though. The specific cars are immaterial (please don't post your three favorite cars), and vary by venue and individual. I'm sure there'd be lots of RX-8s and FDs in this group for instance. It's the TYPES of cars that I'm interested in. This will also vary person to person to a significant degree. I live in the mountains above Denver and must regularly contend with snow and terrain, but also city streets. Someone in NYC, or even just down in the flats in Denver will have a different set of circumstances precipitating a different collection of genres. A boat owner might need a tow rig capable of XK# for instance. That said, I think there might be a way to distill the genres of the classic three car garage to a set that makes sense nearly universally.

I just typed and deleted "DD is a given" (and then retyped it), but is it really? Assuming one has a commute, a typical grocery run, or whatever constitutes "DD duty", surely there must be some aspect one would prioritize for that. Fuel efficiency, cargo space, seats, what have you. Unless you've saddled your imaginary self with three thirsty and trunkless two-seaters, or haven't figured out birth control, there's likely to be a vehicle of the three that maximizes whatever utility sufficiently for the task.

One common theme is that there is ALWAYS at least one sports car in the mix. If you're enough of an enthusiast to even be thinking about such things, you undoubtedly enjoy driving, and thus a vehicle that maximizes the joy of driving makes sense.

Utility... The meaning of this varies from person to person, but I think the category is probably pretty universal. The exception would be if one's utility needs are light enough to be satisfied through other genres, and maybe the other genres could be crafted specifically with this in mind, in which case it's not...

Luxury. Another of my hobbies includes mechanical watches. This rings "dress watch" in my ears. Something that goes well with a suit for whatever formal occasions one is disposed to. I see the reasoning behind it. When I pull up to whatever place for a business meeting, stepping out of an S-Class gives off a very different vibe than stepping out of a Sorento. This would be especially the case on the east coast, but out here, a decently late model built Jeep, as an example thinking of a handful of specific cases, would be just as good. So maybe this doesn't warrant a category?

Off road. This is sort of a sports car is disguise and possibly a utility category. For me, it would be in the DD/utility camp, but I'm not sure it's necessarily its own thing. I've said that a few times now...

Efficiency. In my musings for my own garage, I've honestly given thought to electric cars. I'm not sure there are any that grab me really, but as someone with a fully functioning brain, I can't help but consider the environmental ramifications of driving cars with thirsty and often dirty engines. Keeping old cars on the road mitigates the production costs, but there are limits to that line of thinking. An especially efficient car combined with the DD or maybe Luxury categories makes a lot of sense.

I'm sure there are a half dozen other categories I'm not considering. Then there are combinations of categories. That there are specifically three cars in this scenario is of no special significance. The point is... Well I like talking about cars, and have a philosophical bent. The point is to start a conversation. And now I've finished my tea and need to go start doing things for the day. I look forward to seeing what others think on the subject!

SleepeR1st

iTrader: (2)

Toyota Tacoma
RX8
Toyota Presidential(Century its actually called)/Any cool japanese ultra luxury car

SleepeR1st

iTrader: (2)

What we actually have is,
2011 Toyota Tacoma, manual V6 offroad TuRD edition
Shinka rx8 manual of course
Mazda CX3 before the updated skyactive engine

Havent had a payment on our cars in years, cx3 is an amazing daily driver with AWD, great reliability and 30mpg. Tacoma and rx8 speak for themselves, need the CX3 due to the less than stellar fuel mileage of the Tacoma TuRD and rx8

SayNoToPistons

iTrader: (8)

If I am forced to be thematic by country:
Toyota Rav4 Prime
Lexus LC500 Coupe
Mazda ND2 Miata

Going on a tangent... Ideally without a country restriction, it would be this:
Rivian R1S
Lexus LC500 Convertible
Porsche 992 911 GT3

This makes me realize that no Japanese manufacturer makes a car comparable to the GT3 besides the soon-to-be-discontinued Acura NSX.

spectre6000

The point is not to list your favorite cars, but to figure out what TYPES of cars should constitute a "perfect three car garage". What types of cars are those being listed, and why are they part of the "perfect three car garage" and not other types of cars?

SayNoToPistons

iTrader: (8)

Utility/Efficiency (with light off-roading in mind)
Luxury
Sport

Meat Head

1. Old reliable 4*4 suitable for overgrown logging roads and general boonie-bashing. Capable of holding Bambi’s dad.
2. Hot hatch or wagon for running about/commuting.
3. Sports car but, not stupid fast/expensive. Going to jail for shifting into 3rd is pointless.

spectre6000

This is what I'm talking about. You have what I would call a DD for #2. RX-8 seems to fit #3. Sports car is a definite theme across pretty much every one of these lists, as stated in the OP. A DD is almost as common, but not as 100% ubiquitous. I think that's for pretty obvious reasons.

Here's the interesting nugget though... Clearly, your 4*4 needs are dictated in part by your other hobbies/interests. This may be a bit of a break through brainwave, in my head at least. Maybe this one might be classed as a "support vehicle" for other hobbies/interests? That might be a good classification of classifications for a category on its own that sort of encompasses others...