how much income or how much savings would you need before buying a $40K car?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I would consider buying a 40K Tesla Model E when it comes out:

http://jalopnik.com/the-40-000-ish-tesla-model-e-will-debut-in-2015-1484079617

, because Teslas are fantastically made cars, and I believe that the savings that I would get from never having to pay for gas again would make up the difference in the long run.

Other than that, it's a used car for way less.

How many TSLA shares do you own?

[Anonymous]

I've heard about four people in the past week go on and on about Tesla, so I think they're getting a lot of their marketing for free right now.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:
Re: only buying a car if you have the cash for it - aside from that not being really smart financial advice, it's just not possible for some of us. We could probably live without a car, but our quality of life would go way way down. Life is full of tradeoffs, in other words.

I would narrow this guidance to "only buy an expensive new car if you can pay cash for it." People do need cars to move around, and must sometimes borrow to buy it, but no one needs a new expensive vehicle to get around. Nothing is more pathetic, in my opinion, than taking a loan to buy or, worse yet, leasing a luxury car. That just screams inferiority complex.

Which is why BMW allows you to lease a 5-series for less than it costs to buy a 335.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:
Re: only buying a car if you have the cash for it - aside from that not being really smart financial advice, it's just not possible for some of us. We could probably live without a car, but our quality of life would go way way down. Life is full of tradeoffs, in other words.

I would narrow this guidance to "only buy an expensive new car if you can pay cash for it." People do need cars to move around, and must sometimes borrow to buy it, but no one needs a new expensive vehicle to get around. Nothing is more pathetic, in my opinion, than taking a loan to buy or, worse yet, leasing a luxury car. That just screams inferiority complex.

Which is why BMW allows you to lease a 5-series for less than it costs to buy a 335.

No, BMW "allows" you to do this because the lease price of a car is essentially the expected depreciation of the car over the lease term divided by the number of months in the term. For a five series to cost more to lease than a 335 costs to own, the depreciation of the 5 series during the lease term would have to be larger than the residual value of the 335 after you complete your monthly payments, and the difference in MSRP between the two cars isn't nearly high enough for that to be the case.

Leasing isn't some weird marketing gimmick. The way leases are priced, the cost of leasing for a three year term should be identical to the net cost of owning the same car for three years and then selling it at market value. Owning becomes cheaper than leasing only if you keep the car for an extended period after you've paid it off.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:
Re: only buying a car if you have the cash for it - aside from that not being really smart financial advice, it's just not possible for some of us. We could probably live without a car, but our quality of life would go way way down. Life is full of tradeoffs, in other words.

I would narrow this guidance to "only buy an expensive new car if you can pay cash for it." People do need cars to move around, and must sometimes borrow to buy it, but no one needs a new expensive vehicle to get around. Nothing is more pathetic, in my opinion, than taking a loan to buy or, worse yet, leasing a luxury car. That just screams inferiority complex.

Which is why BMW allows you to lease a 5-series for less than it costs to buy a 335.

No, BMW "allows" you to do this because the lease price of a car is essentially the expected depreciation of the car over the lease term divided by the number of months in the term. For a five series to cost more to lease than a 335 costs to own, the depreciation of the 5 series during the lease term would have to be larger than the residual value of the 335 after you complete your monthly payments, and the difference in MSRP between the two cars isn't nearly high enough for that to be the case.

Leasing isn't some weird marketing gimmick. The way leases are priced, the cost of leasing for a three year term should be identical to the net cost of owning the same car for three years and then selling it at market value. Owning becomes cheaper than leasing only if you keep the car for an extended period after you've paid it off.

exactly, and what idiot would buy a new car every 3 years?

[Anonymous]

Idiots who spend $40K + on a car.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:exactly, and what idiot would buy a new car every 3 years?

I'm not trying to spat with you about leasing versus owning. My point is just that the fact that leasing an expensive car can be cheaper than buying a less expensive car has absolutely nothing to do with marketing to shallow people. It's just math.

I don't have an expensive car, but that's because I don't really give a crap about cars and I use a lot of public transportation. If I liked cars and I drove a lot, I probably would. The fact that several PPs think the only reason to spend money on a nice car is to impress others makes the PPs the judgmental assholes, not the people who bought the nice cars. Everyone with disposable income has something they spend more on than they actually need to, whether its your car, vacations, clothes, electronic gadgets, or whatever. The only reason PPs are projecting negative personality traits onto folks who buy nice cars is because that doesn't happen to be what the PPs personally want to spend their money on.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:exactly, and what idiot would buy a new car every 3 years?

I'm not trying to spat with you about leasing versus owning. My point is just that the fact that leasing an expensive car can be cheaper than buying a less expensive car has absolutely nothing to do with marketing to shallow people. It's just math.

I don't have an expensive car, but that's because I don't really give a crap about cars and I use a lot of public transportation. If I liked cars and I drove a lot, I probably would. The fact that several PPs think the only reason to spend money on a nice car is to impress others makes the PPs the judgmental assholes, not the people who bought the nice cars. Everyone with disposable income has something they spend more on than they actually need to, whether its your car, vacations, clothes, electronic gadgets, or whatever. The only reason PPs are projecting negative personality traits onto folks who buy nice cars is because that doesn't happen to be what the PPs personally want to spend their money on.

leasing is never a wise financial decision, just like buying a new car every 3 years is never a wise financial decision.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:So, back to the original question - husb and I make about $150k between us, no kids, about $70k still in student debt. I think we'd have to make about $50k more and be done with the student debt before I'd be comfortable with a $40k car. Husband was ready to spend that much on the last car we bought (we ended up getting a Kia Soul, which has suited us incredible well and cost about $20k altogether).

Re: only buying a car if you have the cash for it - aside from that not being really smart financial advice, it's just not possible for some of us. We could probably live without a car, but our quality of life would go way way down. Life is full of tradeoffs, in other words.

We bought a car for $65K. But no way that I would pay all cash for it. Never know when you might need that cash. 3 year old .9%

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Idiots who spend $40K + on a car.

There are a lot of very wealthy and successful idiots running around DC and I guess you're not one of them.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:So, back to the original question - husb and I make about $150k between us, no kids, about $70k still in student debt. I think we'd have to make about $50k more and be done with the student debt before I'd be comfortable with a $40k car. Husband was ready to spend that much on the last car we bought (we ended up getting a Kia Soul, which has suited us incredible well and cost about $20k altogether).

Re: only buying a car if you have the cash for it - aside from that not being really smart financial advice, it's just not possible for some of us. We could probably live without a car, but our quality of life would go way way down. Life is full of tradeoffs, in other words.

We bought a car for $65K. But no way that I would pay all cash for it. Never know when you might need that cash. 3 year old .9%

new car... 3 year loan. No did not buy a car for our 3 year old.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:exactly, and what idiot would buy a new car every 3 years?

I'm not trying to spat with you about leasing versus owning. My point is just that the fact that leasing an expensive car can be cheaper than buying a less expensive car has absolutely nothing to do with marketing to shallow people. It's just math.

I don't have an expensive car, but that's because I don't really give a crap about cars and I use a lot of public transportation. If I liked cars and I drove a lot, I probably would. The fact that several PPs think the only reason to spend money on a nice car is to impress others makes the PPs the judgmental assholes, not the people who bought the nice cars. Everyone with disposable income has something they spend more on than they actually need to, whether its your car, vacations, clothes, electronic gadgets, or whatever. The only reason PPs are projecting negative personality traits onto folks who buy nice cars is because that doesn't happen to be what the PPs personally want to spend their money on.

+1

[Anonymous]

I've heard about four people in the past week go on and on about Tesla, so I think they're getting a lot of their marketing for free right now.

That's because they are a really cool product. Well made made in the USA, innovative, environmentally friendly, and look awesome. I test drove one and it was great. I can't afford a 70-100K car, but I could justify a 40K car given how well they are made + gas savings.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

We bought a car for $65K. But no way that I would pay all cash for it. Never know when you might need that cash. 3 year old .9%

Is that 9% or .9%?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:exactly, and what idiot would buy a new car every 3 years?

I'm not trying to spat with you about leasing versus owning. My point is just that the fact that leasing an expensive car can be cheaper than buying a less expensive car has absolutely nothing to do with marketing to shallow people. It's just math.

I don't have an expensive car, but that's because I don't really give a crap about cars and I use a lot of public transportation. If I liked cars and I drove a lot, I probably would. The fact that several PPs think the only reason to spend money on a nice car is to impress others makes the PPs the judgmental assholes, not the people who bought the nice cars. Everyone with disposable income has something they spend more on than they actually need to, whether its your car, vacations, clothes, electronic gadgets, or whatever. The only reason PPs are projecting negative personality traits onto folks who buy nice cars is because that doesn't happen to be what the PPs personally want to spend their money on.

What I spend more money than necessary on is for my own personal consumption. Cars are for public consumption, at least in part.