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

[Anonymous]

We are at 250k and I am never buying a new car again. DH bought a used car at my urging this year and I can't get over how he paid 17k to essentially have the same car his sister paid 45k+ for just by getting it a few years older.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:We are at 250k and I am never buying a new car again. DH bought a used car at my urging this year and I can't get over how he paid 17k to essentially have the same car his sister paid 45k+ for just by getting it a few years older.

this just dawned on you????

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:If you supposedly can't afford 40k on your income, I am wondering who drives all those expensive cars?

This thread, like so many others (making 500k while living paycheck to paycheck and wearing hand me downs) is just so much BS. People are like counting every penny while getting ready to spend 5 million dollars in tuition for some worthless degree 15 years down the road.

We make 150k and will be buying BMW X5 when our old car dies. We can buy it for cash several times over but we would never do it, certainly not with these interest rates. Our old car is 10 yo audi A4, which cost maybe 35k when we bought it. At the time we made like 90k or something, though we lived in a much cheaper area. We have no debt. I find this whole forum crazy.

you are the one pissing tens of thousands away on a depreciating asset for no reason, and we are crazy? hey, if I was single I'd have a nice car. Might help get me girls, who knows? but I'm not trying to impress my 8 year old ...

no reason? the reason is i want to live a good life. driving nice cars is a part of that. what, i am supposed to save every penny? why? because he who saves most money wins or something? no, thanks.

as long as you have pretty airtight job security, go for it.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:If you supposedly can't afford 40k on your income, I am wondering who drives all those expensive cars?

This thread, like so many others (making 500k while living paycheck to paycheck and wearing hand me downs) is just so much BS. People are like counting every penny while getting ready to spend 5 million dollars in tuition for some worthless degree 15 years down the road.

We make 150k and will be buying BMW X5 when our old car dies. We can buy it for cash several times over but we would never do it, certainly not with these interest rates. Our old car is 10 yo audi A4, which cost maybe 35k when we bought it. At the time we made like 90k or something, though we lived in a much cheaper area. We have no debt. I find this whole forum crazy.

Amen. Not to mention if you are not yet a homeowner, a car loan helps build your credit.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I would need the kids through college and $5 million net worth.

Thats crazy, you sound like a miser.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:We are at 250k and I am never buying a new car again. DH bought a used car at my urging this year and I can't get over how he paid 17k to essentially have the same car his sister paid 45k+ for just by getting it a few years older.

this just dawned on you????

But he lost years of driving it?
How many miles when he bought?
He lost all that drivability.
Plus, his years of ownership will have more years of repairs.

You urged him to guy the same car as his sister, competitive much?
Oh, wait, you lose. You bought the OLD car.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I would need the kids through college and $5 million net worth.

Thats crazy, you sound like a miser.

+1

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:We are at 250k and I am never buying a new car again. DH bought a used car at my urging this year and I can't get over how he paid 17k to essentially have the same car his sister paid 45k+ for just by getting it a few years older.

It might be the same car at the moment, but she had several years/many miles/free repairs of driving better (new) car. This is what she paid extra money for.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:We are at 250k and I am never buying a new car again. DH bought a used car at my urging this year and I can't get over how he paid 17k to essentially have the same car his sister paid 45k+ for just by getting it a few years older.

this just dawned on you????

But he lost years of driving it?
How many miles when he bought?
He lost all that drivability.
Plus, his years of ownership will have more years of repairs.

You urged him to guy the same car as his sister, competitive much?
Oh, wait, you lose. You bought the OLD car.

The research is pretty overwhelming that if your sole goal is to minimize cost, buying a slightly used car and driving it into the ground is the most economical.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Funny, I have a similar dilemma. I have an 11-year old Mazda Protege5 and $35K in cash (after emergency fund, college savings, 401K etc) to spend on a car. I thought I'd buy Lexus CT - efficient and reliable hatchback with a little bit of a status. And then I saw Mazda3 hatchback and totally fell in love. The design, the sporty handling, the stick! And it's half the price of Lexus. Or... is the price really a positive? That's my dilemma. Should I buy the more expensive car for status (I'm pushing forty and we do have a 200+ HHI) or stick with the car I love and have some money left over? I never even thought I would be in this position, but here it goes - status is an important factor in buying a car, even for people like myself who have long managed to disregard it.

We just bought the Mazda3 hatch stick shift. Total out the door price less that $25k (including grand package with nav, Bluetooth, Bose speakers, pandora radio, etc.) And it handled great in the snow. Love!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:We are at 250k and I am never buying a new car again. DH bought a used car at my urging this year and I can't get over how he paid 17k to essentially have the same car his sister paid 45k+ for just by getting it a few years older.

this just dawned on you????

But he lost years of driving it?
How many miles when he bought?
He lost all that drivability.
Plus, his years of ownership will have more years of repairs.

You urged him to guy the same car as his sister, competitive much?
Oh, wait, you lose. You bought the OLD car.

The research is pretty overwhelming that if your sole goal is to minimize cost, buying a slightly used car and driving it into the ground is the most economical.

Biut wouldn't market prices already reflect that? We looked at slightly used cars many times and they were always very expensive. As a potential buyer, I really never saw that precipitous drop in price that supposedly happens the moment you buy a new car.

[Anonymous]

Buy the less expensive car. Then you can be smug when you talk about it, and act all millionaire next door.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I would need the kids through college and $5 million net worth.

we are talking about 40k car, not 400k car.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Buy the less expensive car. Then you can be smug when you talk about it, and act all millionaire next door.

+1000

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:(That being said, I don't think there's anything unreasonable about owning a $40,000 car on a $400,000 HHI. DC is a bit weird in that you regularly see $800,000 homes with civics out front. In cities with cheaper real estate and better weather, everyone with a $150,000 condo has a $30,000 car).

to the defense of those civic owners, their 800k homes look like they cost 150k.