I’m writing to you today because there is no particular spot to park this response on Quora, but it needs to be said. For background, and those of you not on Quora, I answer a few automotive questions from time to time. The ratio between automotive and business questions is about one in twenty, however they draw the largest readership because car topics have a massive audience. Most of the responses are great and we have outstanding debates.

Every time I write about the experience of Lamborghini, Rolls Royce, BMW, Mercedes, or even Lexus ownership, a few of you virtue signalers show up, ready to make virtuous statements intended to make you look better than everyone else, or so you think, while adding nothing to the topic. You’re all very predictable and it’s why more people don’t answer automotive questions. You’re the problem.

You’re so formulaic that I could easily narrow down your opinions into a short list of intellectually lazy statements you always make that have no real merit, but somehow make you feel better about yourselves, all while putting down the owners of these cars. Many of these owners worked a lifetime and made huge sacrifices to someday own that special car. I was one of them.

Here goes in no particular order.

• “There is nothing practical about a Bugatti, Lamborghini, Lexus, etc…”

Who are YOU to decide what’s practical? Are you the world’s reference point about what’s practical? To someone who’s worth billions, a Veyron may as well be a Civic. It’s a two seater, small car that’s easy to get in and out of garages, it’s highly reliable and it is highly maneuverable. Yet, because it costs well over two million, it’s somehow “impractical.” To them, it’s not. You’re not the reference point to what is and isn’t, “practical” or “excessive,” given you have zero frame of reference for anyone but yourself. That’s never for anyone to decided but the person who owns the car.

Did you know that the #1 selling vehicle in the US isn’t a sedan? It’s not an SUV? It’s the Ford 150 Pickup! Doesn’t that seem impractical? The top three selling vehicles are all pickups and make up a whopping 1.9 million of all cars sold in the US each year!

• “How can you buy such a car when that money could be put to good use somewhere else…?”

This is overly simplistic and economically lazy concepts, but here goes. There are so many assumptions with this one. When you see an expensive car, it doesn’t matter what it is, if it’s a BMW, Bugatti, Lamborgihi or Ferrari, that price is a summary of a massive amount of time per car combined with the cost of materials. Cost of materials is also a reflection of labor costs. That’s all it is. That’s what it’s measuring. It’s not as if a Veyron comes off the same assembly line as a Honda and it’s all margin to make one guy rich. So, hopefully you get that. It’s expensive because it’s complicated and there are few of them on which to spread development costs.

That inexpensive TV you own is because of the volume in which it’s produced. In early production with low initial yields, that exact same TV you own cost so much to make, it couldn’t be sold. When it initial sold, it was profitable enough to recoup development expenses. But, in your world, I suppose nobody needed that either.

To build a Veyron, it takes thousand, not hundreds, of highly skilled professionals to do the work to turn that car into a reality. It starts with the best engineers who conceive the car, moving into a massive number of tests to determine of the car is even feasible. It’s a lot of testing and failing and the production of low yield parts. I know of one body panel that had to be tossed out numerous times because they couldn’t get the fibers to line up in a perfect pattern with the abutting body part. Someone has to pay for that. Think of the hours it took someone to make it perfect.

The skill to line up those fibers eventually makes its way into mainstream auto manufacturing. Materials such as chopped carbon fiber that are increasingly common in automotive use had to spend years in testing at the materials lab at the University of Washington. It’s first use was in exotic cars.

Many of the parts have to be machined one at a time. Many have to be tested one at a time. Each craftsman is the very best at what they do. Often the materials are difficult to source and take massive resources to create, from designers, to R&D, to people in the field testing and retesting, all of whom are often the best of the best. This is what often attract people to pursue careers; the chance to push what they do to the limit.

You, on your self-appointed high throne, somehow think one group is more deserving of a job than another. Oh, and by the way, the technology created in the very leading edge of automotive someday works its way into mainstream automotive and other device manufacturing. But, no, you somehow know what’s best and where people should spend their time.

• “I could have had one of those if I wanted…”

Yeah, right. Let’s assume it’s true, and it almost never is, then why the need to say it? To me that’s trying to say, “well, I’m just as wealthy as they are.” Why are you so insecure that you need to say anything? The very wealthy people I know, never care what others think. They would never make a similar statement.

Saying this is dumb, it makes you look trite, so don’t say it. What other people do with their money has absolutely nothing to do with where you are in life or is it any measure of if you are or are not on the same level financially. Why stop there? Why not say, “well I could buy that hotel if I wanted it?” It kind of makes you sound small. It’s also a bit narcissistic. What other people do has nothing to do with you, so get over yourself. Focus on your own great story, and don’t ever assume you don’t have one.

• “You don’t need a car that goes that fast…”

You miss the entire point of a performance car, especially one that’s sticky on a curved road. You don’t know the exhilaration of a car that can quickly accelerate and decelerate in and out of turns and remain comfortably on the road. They are a lot of fun to drive, especially after you know your car. Your statement is like saying, “You don’t need to have fun.” Spend a few bucks and hit a go-cart track, and do it all alone and see if you come off the track without a grin. I’ll bet you can’t.

I’ll bet you’ve never been to Disneyland either and played like a kid. You don’t know what you’re missing.

And now for my absolute favorite-

• “Those cars are only driven by people who want to show off what they have…”

You just accidentally told us what you’re like inside. Oh-oh! You just showed us your twigs and berries and I’ll bet you didn’t even know it! You just flashed the crowd of readers!

This statement is a screaming projection of who YOU are and nobody else. You just told the whole world how you think and behave! It’s called, “psychological projection,” and you can look it up! It’s a real thing! You just provided a text book example. Thank you!

It’s arrogant as hell to think you know how anyone else thinks or the justification for their motives. How could you possibly know their intentions? If you are that good, you need to work in a crime lab! I’ll bet there are hundreds of unsolved crimes that could use your help. I’ll bet you’ve killed the stock market too. I’m rubbing it in…thick!

Sit down for this bit of information, you virtue signaler you.

After co-founding “Exotics at Redmond Town Center” twelve years ago, and personally meeting thousands of exotic and rare car owners, I don’t claim to know motives anymore today than I did when I first fell in love with cars. The fact is, people buy and own these cars for as many reasons as there are cars. In fact, if you listen to many pod casts and read articles about car enthusiasts, you will find that there is someone who loves just about every car for a different reason. However, if you drive a Prius, God help you. That was me projecting. See how it works?

The car community is filled with people of all shapes sizes and personalities and backgrounds. No two are alike and if you’re looking hard enough for all cars, and not just expensive cars, you can find every reason imaginable for owning one.

If it was as simple as stereotyping, the auto makers would have a much easier time marketing cars. Yes, there are some general brand targets, but it’s not an exact science, no matter how they try.

Virtue signalers always think that someone else is doing it wrong, that they are the enlightened ones. It’s dumb. I’m guessing it’s easier to do that than take responsibility for where their own life is going. Someone else is always doing it wrong, while they have the true path to enlightenment. That always always leads in the direction of a very frustrated life.

Quit the virtue signaling because 100% of the time you look small when you do it and you’re consistently wrong. Don’t follow exotic car topics if they are so beneath you. Meanwhile the rest of us will have fun playing with cars.