Only Porsche GT cars for me with manual transmission (although I’m on the list for a GT4RS allocation which if rumors are correct maybe PDK). This is a mid-engine unlike the 911 so it corners like a dream. My previous 911s were starting to feel bloated and disconnected IMHO they are getting to big.
Living in Texas, you have to have AC. But is that really an “option” these days vs. standard?
My current car has seats that heat in the winter and cool in the summer. The cooling function is a nice luxury.
I like being able to lock and unlock the car from my phone. Can start it or turn it off from my app as well. All of that is “nice to have” but not a must.
I don’t drive cars until they die because the process of stuff going wrong more and more often is too painful. There is no good time to break down on the side of the road. I usually get a new car every 4 years or so, but DH has surprised me a few times by buying a new one in as little as 2. My current car is 2 years old and I have no need to even think about replacement yet.
My wife and I never liked leather seats because we felt they were too cold in the winter (seat heaters help) and hot in the summer (especially in shorts). I’ve been in cars that had AC seats and it definitely helps.
Cars that are properly maintained do not break down. We’ve been driving cars until they die for 35 years and have never once had a road event.
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Consider yourself extremely lucky! I’m guessing most of us who also properly maintain our cars have still have had malfunctions happen on the road. Properly maintaining hopefully minimizes these incidents. 
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I am not a CAR person. When I was married I would give my hubby a list of must-haves and no-gos and he’d come back with my car. LOL We have access to dealer auctions so typically bought a year old and would drive forever as long as it met our needs. I’m super diligent about maintenance and regular details, but my SUV can get messy at times.
I currently have an older CX-9 (Which I will drive until it dies. It has been a great car.) and 430i convertible (divorce, fun car).
(That is a seriously gorgeous feline!!! And I like your sense of humor!)
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I’ll respectfully disagree, your experience not withstanding.
Cars can breakdown even if they’re extremely well-maintained. But certainly, well-maintained cars should have fewer breakdowns.
Besides tire blowouts and dead batteries, alternators/regulators can and will go bad and then there are many unknown/unseen items like plastic and/or metal cooling parts (e.g., water pump and it’s myriad of related/connected parts), which can “let go” earlier than the prescribed manufacturer’s replacement recommendations of 60,000 or 90,000 miles.
And with increasing amount of electronics and computers in cars, there’s always the possibility of an electrical-related item that can completely shut down a car on the road.
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Neither H nor I are car people, but ever since we got married I’ve been the one locating every single car we’ve purchased from an auction buy (I found the auction) to new off the lot. We buy the car together, making sure we both like it, even if it’s mainly going to be for one or the other of us, and we have both names on the title so the other one would naturally get it if one of us bit the dust, but reflecting back over the 3+ decades I can’t think of even once that H showed me a vehicle and said, “What do you think?”
He’s done that with boats, but never cars. He’ll often spend free/relaxation time looking at various sailboats. I used to do that with ponies too in our earlier days with the pony farm. For both of us, cars are pure utility.
I have always had my cars serviced on time. Yet I have found myself on the side of the road several times in my life*, and have had cars that gradually had things going wrong just too often, so that it’s just not worth it. I’ve never had a car that ran perfectly and then one day just died. It was always a process. Obviously this is a YMMV situation.
Sort of off topic, I once worked for an attorney who handled lemon cases. These disasters often happen to the most conscientious people. You really feel for these people.
*Well, one time when I was sixteen my Dad’s car “broke down” and I had to call him to come help me. Turns out it was out of gas…so I guess I can’t count that one. 
Back to OP, there are fun things you can get for cars, and they are nice to have, but at the end of the day, I just want a car that is dependable and gets the job done. I think more people feel this way than not.
Do you still have a boat? There’s an old saying “it’s best to have FRIENDS who have boats!”
We had one for years, but I don’t miss it. Need to find a friend who has one though, because they are lots of fun.
ETA: oops, you said your husband was done with boats.
I only let a car strand me once. After that, it’s gone - traded in for the next one.
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Ahhh, back before most people realized that seat belts actually do save lives…
Seat belts were required in the front seat of new cars sold in the US since 1964, and all seats in 1968, the year that the front outboard seat belts had to have shoulder belts. However, some safety regulations may have been later for trucks (including vans and SUVs).
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I’ve always been a 911 kinda person. And while I always enjoy looking at and watching something like a GT3RS zoom down the road, I really enjoy the air-cooled 911’s the most, before the “bloat.”
And always make mine a Viper Green, Riviera Blue or Speed Yellow. I really enjoy the “jelly bean” colors.
I didn’t always wear my seat belt, until the day I had an accident in Austin (came around a curvy road only to see a car stopped in the middle of the road and hit her, going about 35 mph). I hit the steering wheel with my face-it felt like someone hit me in the mouth with a baseball bat. I had a gash just below my lip and I could see my teeth through the hole. I was lucky I still had any teeth to see!
Probably why I now have TMJ. Anyway, I have never driven without a seat belt since. But back in the day, it just wasn’t universally done, which looking back on it seems crazy.
He’s not done with boats. He brought his small sailboat up here to the St Lawrence to enjoy and has gone out on it most days.
When I said “he’s done that with boats” I meant sat in his recliner just surfing online looking at various sailboats - their designs, what’s for sale, etc, the same way some people will do with cars. I’m sure if he could he’d be living aboard a boat. Unfortunately for him, I didn’t get that “boat loving” gene. I much prefer sitting on shore and taking pictures of him. We both love big water. He likes being on big water. I like looking at it or snorkeling/scuba diving in it. He loves snorkeling/scuba too.
All the (routine/expected) things that have failed or gone wrong with our cars as they’ve aged have been able to be repaired/replaced during scheduled maintenance. We always listened to our mechanic. If he said the brakes or transmission needed to be replaced, we did that. We’ve never had an on-road surprise. Just lucky I guess.
When I was about seven my dad got in a roll-over accident. Fortunately he wasn’t thrown from the car and had no major injuries. The replacement car (used, don’t know how old) had front lap belts. He bought aftermarket seatbelts and I remember watching him install them in the back seat. We weren’t allowed to leave the driveway without them buckled. This had the added advantage of Dad not having to drive with three kids draped over the back of the front seat whining “Are we there yet?”
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Re:seat heaters - my grandma loved giving her daughter the latest in kitchen gadgets and small appliances. One such gift was an aluminum globe shaped thing to keep rolls warm. It plugged in and took up far more table space than it was worth. The outside was incised with a fern-like pattern and on the top said Bun Warmer. As preteens my sister and I found this hysterically funny - “oh, do your buns need warming?” So yeah, 50 years later the seat heaters in my car are bun warmers.
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