The Best Car for American Highways Is Cheaper Than You Think

You're reading the Pursuits newsletter. You're reading the Pursuits newsletter. You're reading the Pursuits newsletter. Get your guide to a life well spent, delivered to your inbox weekly. Get your guide to a life well spent, delivered to your inbox weekly. Get your guide to a life well spent, delivered to your inbox weekly. Plus Signed UpPlus Sign UpPlus Sign Up By continuing, I agree to the Privacy Policy and Terms of Service. Welcome back to Pursuits Weekly, our look at the world's biggest culture stories, as well as ideas and recommendations for travel, dining and art. Sign up here to get this newsletter every Saturday in your inbox. The best supercar can be surprisingly cheap You probably have a decent idea about the difference between a $50,000 car and a $100,000 car. But do you know the difference between a $1 million car and a $2 million car? Hannah Elliott does, and she just got back from Spain, where she took a ride in the $1,051,500 Aston Martin Valhalla. She agreed to answer some of my questions about supercars. Felix Salmon: I guess my first question is just, what are people buying when they buy one of these cars? Once we get into the seven-figure zone, is it really just a toy to take to the track? Are these even cars, as most folks would understand the term? Or are they kind of a different asset class entirely? Hannah Elliott: The primary thing people are buying when they get a supercar is exclusivity. Buying a car this scarce -- say, 999 in the world -- automatically puts you in rarefied circles, introducing you into a small group of high-net-worth individuals with similar enthusiasms and proclivities, which is great for networking, access, making friends, etc. It's also an investment. Supercars have been just exploding on the aftermarket. Something like the Porsche Carrera GT, which was hovering under $1 million just a few years ago, is now worth $5 million. The values of Ferrari Enzos and LaFerraris are jumping off the charts. My read on this is that lots of folks see these cars as investments they'll hold onto for a bit and then sell. FS: You write about how at the very top end of the market many of these cars are not actually that much fun to drive. And of course speed is not what they're selling, when there are Teslas and Lucids that are just as fast. So what are the main determinants of primary/secondary market value? What's the difference between a $1 million car and a $3 million car, and are any of those differences anything that Hannah Elliott much cares about or notices when sits behind the wheel? HE: It's not about speed per se, but it is about performance -- the combination of power, torque, handling, balance, braking, speed and control. Drivers want the thrill, experience and tangible, memorable driving experience of a car with character. As for the main determinants of primary/secondary market value? It's rarity plus design, for starters. Then throw in ultra-low miles, racing history in the right races, brand prestige and a proven track record of strong market values over years, and that's what'll make a blue-chip collectible. What's the difference between a $1 million car and a $3 million car? Sometimes not much! Honestly, from a driving perspective, there is very little correlation between an ultra-high price tag and an even-more-ultra-high price tag and how well the thing drives. The difference in the price typically comes from how the brand wants to market/position the car, from how many they plan to make, and from how customizable and bespoke it will be for customers. FS: I feel like I know the answer to this already, but would you trade your old Rolls-Royce for any of these cars? HE: NEVER! But much as I love my Rolls, I do not dare take it on some of those epic long desert highways outside Vegas. It would overheat posthaste! Whereas I'd love to get the Valhalla out there -- it would be epic. FS: OK, final question. Obviously, none of these cars is designed for a trip to Ikea. But let's put you on that long desert highway in Nevada. You have your pick of any car in the world, from a vintage 911 to a bleeding-edge Koenigsegg. Which do you choose? HE: Honestly, you know where my mind first went to? The Chevrolet Corvette. Porsches are so fun for canyon carving. Koenigseggs are great for the track and for showing off, but for a good ol' American highway, I'd choose a Corvette C8. The classic Corvette Stingray starts at around $70,000, which is such a great value for the money, and a reason why the 'Vette has become such a legend. And I would have just as much fun driving a lovely Stingray Convertible in Competition Yellow as I would those more expensive variants. It's perfectly engineered for long, fast runways under the sun. To me, the 'Vette needs more respect! By the numbers 16 The number of top-16 teams that won in the first round of the men's March Madness basketball competition, for the second year running. At Why Is This Interesting, Michael Hastings-Black explains that while there might be fewer plucky-underdog narratives now that players are being paid, ratings are up and the quality of the playing has improved. $600 The price of the new Artisan Plus stand mixer from KitchenAid, featuring an LED light to illuminate the contents of the bowl. £7,500 What you now need to spend annually on British Airways tickets to retain Silver status. That's about $10,000. "I'm gutted the goal posts have moved so far," one flyer told Sarah Rappaport. $812,500 The price paid at an Acker auction for a bottle of 1945 DRC Romanée-Conti, setting a record for a single bottle of wine. Spring fish I am extremely happy that Sara Sjolin, Sanne Wass and Christian Wienberg picked Kodbyens Fiskebar as one of the Five Top Tables in Copenhagen right now. Few places capture the spirit of Copenhagen's Meatpacking District better than Fiskebar (which translates as Fish Bar). Its space channels the neighborhood's raw energy into a lively, industrial room that blends urban minimalism with Scandinavian warmth. And the food is simply fabulous without being insanely expensive. Chart of the week: Netflix pricing I'll admit to being enough of a nerd that this chart, from Lucas Shaw's Screentime newsletter, made me laugh out loud. (You think it needs two y-axes, but in fact there's only one!) Netflix recently released The Rip, which in the wake of an interview with star Matt Damon has become the star exhibit for folks who like to complain that movies are being made for viewers with goldfish-length attention spans. As Celia Mattison reports, many current films lean heavily on the "recap flashback" -- a scene repeated just to remind the audience of what's already happened. Probably, if you can't remember the beginning of the film you're watching, you're similarly not going to be able to remember how much your credit card was charged for your Netflix subscription. In any case, if you're wincing from the latest $2-per-month increase, perhaps you can console yourself that your monthly bill is still a mere billionth of its annual content spend. Photo of the week: Rosalía Bilal Qureshi went to see Rosalía's Lux tour in Zurich, and found it to be evocative of Pina Bausch's Wuppertal or an Italian biennale. "Museums, orchestras and cathedrals are embedded into the sets and the grandly European visual language," he writes. Bloomberg House Miami | April 29-30 Bloomberg House arrives in Miami at the Formula One Grand Prix. Set against one of the world's most electrifying sporting events, we bring together business, investment, real-time data and Bloomberg journalism to fuel forward-looking discussions, as well as exclusive networking with global leaders. Register here. New for subscribers: Free article gifting. Bloomberg.com subscribers can now gift as many as five free articles a month to anyone you want. Just look for the "Gift this article" button on stories. (Not a subscriber? Unlock unlimited access and sign up here.)