Congratulations, Mr. or Mrs. Bigshot, you just got a raise! But with that new promotion, you can’t be seen by your co-workers in that well-travelled coupe your parents gave you from the early 2000s, so you’re faced with the sobering reality that you may need a new vehicle. Once you get past the overly-aggressive car salesmen, you also find that you have to deal with the plethora of optional upgrades each car can have, which can make choosing a new vehicle a daunting task. So what exactly do these rigged-up automobiles have that stock models don’t, and should it matter to you?

You’re not the only one in a pickle here. The entire industry has been thrown a curveball as traditionally value-oriented brands have opted to up their game with high-end models of their value lines that can compete with luxury brands. Having a new Platinum model Ford Explorer can indeed compete with Range Rovers, and do so at half the price. Besides leading consumers to ask themselves if luxury brands are even worth it in the first place, it also puts the pressure on luxury brands to add more ridiculous features to differentiate themselves.

What are these features? For starters, your car is going to seem more like something from Xzibit’s Pimp My Ride than you may imagine. My parents’ new Ford Escape, Titanium Edition, includes relatively basic features ranging from back up- cameras, remote starting on the keys, and moon roofs, to more exhilarating components like the ability to parallel park itself and a legitimate AC-power outlet (Nintendo 64 on road trips, anybody?). While some of the new doodads may take some training to figure out, they can certainly add a new dimension to a vehicle from modern times, especially if you’re as good as almost everybody else when it comes to parking in cities.

Let’s be real here–running video games in your car is incredible, but is nonetheless still a novelty. So how useful would a new-age car be to your everyday consumer? Well, there are more than just a handful of nifty tricks these upgraded swag-wagons can do to impress your passengers. For instance, some cars have a button for when you don’t need all that torque and can switch you into “eco mode,” saving you money on gas. Others have blind-spot detectors, collision avoidance detection, and automatic braking systems, making you safer when you’re fiddling around inside your vehicle instead of giving your undivided attention to the road. In my personal hero Elon Musk’s case, his Teslas already have the necessary hardware for a self-driving update in the future, which can save you, well, effort. As a man with a wistfully aging 1998 Ford Explorer, getting a new vehicle certainly has some drastic pros.

Alright, alright, so getting a new car can actually be useful. But how much do you really need one? Two words for you–street credit. I love my trusty Explorer more than life itself but to my grandparents? To my preppy little sister? To a date? I’m sorry, my beloved Panzer V, as my ride is affectionately known, but it is a slight bit embarrassing. So as your quasi-normal everyday consumer, perhaps getting a new vehicle isn’t something you need to do–it may just be something you want to.