Cars I Actually Drive

Ethan Lowell

@garagebulls

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San Francisco is allegedly a transit city, but my calendar says otherwise. This is the shortlist of cars I either drive now, have seriously shopped, or keep running numbers on when I should be doing DCFs. Think of it as a mixed portfolio: some blue-chip commuters, some overleveraged fun, and a couple of moonshot EVs that make no sense for street parking but all the sense for my dopamine receptors.

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Cars I Actually Drive — 8 items
Name	Type	Approx price (USD)	My take
1Mazda MX-5 Miata (ND)	Small RWD roadster	$22k–$32k used	The small-cap growth stock of cars: light, nimble, occasionally impractical, but the smiles-to-dollar ratio is absurd. Only downside is explaining to non-car friends why 181 hp feels plenty.
2Toyota GR Corolla	AWD hot hatch	$38k–$50k new	If a track day and a Costco run had a baby. Three-cylinder turbo, manual only, and seats that your spine will have opinions about—yet it’s still a viable one-car solution if you pack like a New Yorker.
3Honda Civic Si (10th gen)	Sport compact sedan/coupe	$20k–$28k used	The overachieving ETF of daily drivers. Manual, decent power, and it sips fuel. You can commute, autocross, then drive your parents to dinner without anyone complaining, including your bank account.
4BMW M2 (F87)	Compact performance coupe	$40k–$60k used	Short wheelbase, big personality. Feels like BMW remembered how to do ‘fun’ instead of ‘spec sheet.’ Also feels like a terrible idea for monthly cash flow, which is why it lives rent-free in my browser tabs instead.
5Volkswagen Golf R (Mk7)	AWD hot hatch	$28k–$40k used	The stealth wealth play: looks like a normal hatchback, moves like a junior sports car. AWD for wet commutes, DSG for traffic, enough restraint that your insurance agent doesn’t call you by your first name.
6Lexus GX 460	Body-on-frame SUV	$45k–$65k new/used	Owns the ‘old money off-road’ niche. Feels like you should be wearing a fleece vest and discussing private equity while crawling over trail ruts. Thirsty on gas, but bulletproof enough to outlast a few economic cycles.
7Chevrolet Bolt EV	Compact electric hatchback	$15k–$25k used	The deep-value EV: not sexy, but the math works. Cheap to run, easy to park, range that covers my weekly chaos. Cabin feels rental-car basic, but at this price point, I grade on a curve.
8Toyota 4Runner TRD Off-Road	Body-on-frame SUV	$40k–$50k new/used	Basically a rolling IPO from 2010 that never updated its prospectus, and I mean that lovingly. Old-school, overbuilt, and hilariously overqualified for city errands—but ready the second someone says ‘let’s go find dirt.’

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