The Internet’s Shocked by the Cars Truly Rich People Drive
When us peasants think of rich people, we think of the highly visible ones. These are the “new money” rich. These are the “I want to show off I made a few millions of dollars” rich. Imagine a bro who caught a crypto pump and gets a neon-colored Lamborghini. But there’s another type of rich. And it can be much harder to spot.
The “old money” rich often don’t want to show off. Old money rich is, “My family’s had billions of dollars for generations.” Many of these folks grew up rich and felt they were either judged or couldn’t trust anyone around them. Disappearing into the crowd is a rare treat that they must plan out. And the internet is shocked by what they drive.
A Reddit user recently asked “What do the very wealthy, but not flashy people drive?” Some commenters weighed in with personal stories that shocked many redditors.
One said: “The richest person I know, who comes from a multi-billionaire family, drives a volvo.” Another agreed: “Volvo is the stealth wealth car that comes to my mind.” A third specified: “In snowy areas, volvo suv’s are hugely popular.” And yet another user specified the model “Volvo V90/CX90.”
So there you have it. One of the most popular “stealth wealth” cars is a Volvo. And honestly, this makes sense. It is a comfortable and safe brand with an engineering-first philosophy. So while its not flashy, it is discerning.
Another common comments was, “top trim Toyotas.” One commenter explained why: “Toyotas. Cars depreciate.” They added “The exception to this is cars purchased as investments/stores of values like very limited run Porsches etc etc.”
And this checks out. Many very wealthy people have investment portfolios that include vintage cars. But for their daily driver, they don’t want to throw money into an asset that will lose value quickly.
One common answer was: “Truly wealthy people don’t drive but are driven.”
Warren Buffet (who is technically new money, but worth billions) confirmed this. He drives simple Cadillac sedans. He said, “The truth is, I only drive about 3,500 miles a year so I will buy a new car very infrequently.”
Another example of multi-billionaire new rich is Sam Walton. The Walmart founder famously kept his 1979 Ford F-150 to drive around his home town.
To get to Walton or Buffet levels of rich, you need to make money wherever you can while saving wherever possible. So maybe that’s why these self-made billionaires can be humble in their car choices. And they aren’t the only ones.
One Redditor said: “Richest guy I know owns a Bentley Flying Spur, GT3 RS, and some kind of Benz SUV. His daily was a 2012 Chevy Sonic base model with manual transmission that he bought new and just got rid of last year because it died. I think he replaced it with another one.”
Another commenter had a similar story: “
The billionaire I met once had a Nissan Quest minivan with peeling paint as his daily…He also had an S-Class for when he & his wife would go out to dinner.”
Next, see what Jay Leno’s surprising daily driver is.