$9425 closer to being DEBT FREE!

[RobertK]

Hondas are not impervious to repairs....

No one said they were.. they just tend to need less of them..

of course repairing a car is not a big deal unless you are going through engines or transmissions left and right for no good reason.

I guess what some of us are getting at with the depreciation and warranty repair cost on a new car is this. If you buy a car 2 years used like the IS300 mentioned earlier and you blow the engine up it will cost alot less than $16k to replace.

I don't know anyone that would say they have thousands per year to throw away in the name of convenience. However, I do have many friends that do it unknowingly.

To break down the math it's like this:

Average New Car Price = $25,000
Average New Car Depreciation in 4 years = $15,000 (or $3750/yr. or $72/wk.)

Average Repair Maintenance Cost in comparable reliable 4-5/yr used car = $1000-$1500 if that

Bascially when you buy a new car.. you might be buying convenience but you're betting the dealer$15,000 that it will break down in the next 4 years and the dealer payout in repair cost is alot less than that if you win the bet.

[Z3Jonathan]

Nah.. you can buy a 10 year old Honda these days that MIGHT need a new timing belt and that's it. If you buy a car that's 4-5 years old that "needs stuff" already then you bought a VW or a Ford.

I don't like the fact that I bought a 02 Galant but I did buy it 2 years used and now it's 4 years old and all it's ever needed was 4 new spark plugs and a set of tires.

Hondas are not impervious to repairs....

[RobertK]

Im not denying that clientel look at track record most importantly, but you still need to sell yourself. Im not saying taking out a rediculous car payment either, but finanancing a decent car is not going to hurt you.

Actions do speak louder than words though.. most people looking to invest already understand that Rome was not built in a day. In retrospec, taking out a loan to buy a nice new car when you acknowlege the fact that it's a bad investment, it's like saying it's ok to throw money away that you don't really have to begin with.

I guess the point I was trying to get across is that you can save enough money in a short amount of time to buy a nice used luxury car with cash. Let someone else take the depreciation hit in the ass.

When it comes to selling yourself to people, unless you're a traveling salesmen, I doubt a nice new car will really make a difference. Never made a difference to my friend's dad. Fianacial planners let their investment numbers and track record do 90% of the talking. I would say you car would matter to about .5% of the people you meet.

[AdironRider]

Im not denying that clientel look at track record most importantly, but you still need to sell yourself. Im not saying taking out a rediculous car payment either, but finanancing a decent car is not going to hurt you.

[BimmerToad]

Car payments suck, but it's become the American way, thanks to advertising and Keeping up with the Joneses mentality. I just don't get it. I used to work with a girl who was getting ready to make the last payment on her car. Instead of planning to save some $$$ for a while, she was already planning to buy a NEW car- she actually told me the following week that the dealer took her car in trade on a new one and "my payment only went up $120 a month"!!!!

Now, God bless the people who buy new cars every year or two, but I'll let them depreciate about 70% or more before I own one of them.....

Amen. Seems like most people live off of future income, not current capital.

[Bokes]

car payments suck. luckily mine are cheap. as well as my insurance. $1000/yr full coverage FTW.

[RobertK]

Yeah but you dont own the same car from 19-65. Kind of an unfair comparo to make.

The comparison made is buying a new car on payments vs. buying used with cash you save.

If you don't have any payments and know how to save your money. Planning for purchases such as cars is not hard to do. You can save and buy nice cars and not have payments it's not as hard as some people think.

As an example, I know a doctor that still drives a 95 Q45 and a nice 90's model V12 convertable Jag. Neither were terribly expensive, enough to impress and get him to work reliably.

I know that the industry Im planning on getting into, you gotta drive something that is going to impress your clientel. (I want to start my own financial planning firm)

I know plenty of financial investors that do not drive expensive new cars. Mainly because smart experienced financial investors know that new fancy cars are not good investments. Furthermore, if you're clientel bases their investing decisions on what you drive then I would start looking for new clientel. Most of the people I've talked to look for investors who have an excellent track record and consequently those same investors drive mini vans and economy cars.

My best friend's dad is a senior investment planner for Prudential Financial and he drives a 1998 Ford Contour and his mom drives a 2000 Ford Windstar but their house is HUGE.

My advice would be to keep the E30 for fun and buy a 95-96 model 5 or 7 Series. You can get them at a good price with cash and still make a good impression without looking like you're driving a 10 year old beater.

[uofom3]

congrats! you are making decisions that will improve your life for years to come.

[Beej '86 325es]

But still.. 16k depreciation in 2-3 years is horrable for a Lexus.

heh, My parents bought a 2 year old Lexus LS430...loaded...some options that weren't even in the brochures, paid somewhere in the mid-$20k's for it. New, that was a $70k car.

[AdironRider]

Yeah but you dont own the same car from 19-65. Kind of an unfair comparo to make.

Heres my addition, some people cant be bothered driving 20 year old foreign beaters around to their everyday jobs. I know that the industry Im planning on getting into, you gotta drive something that is going to impress your clientel. (I want to start my own financial planning firm) Face it, 99.9% of the cars on this board are not going to be anything more than a glorified beater. Things break, and while some of you might have 3 or 4 other beaters roaming around your property, some of us dont want to have our driveway look like Big Als rent a wreck. When I get out of school I plan on buying a tacoma pickup a couple years used for a small loan and have that as reliable transportation. Then I can do with the e30 as I please and not have to worry about it.

[RobertK]

Car reliability is a mentality... I read a Forbes magazine article that said that the two most expensive ways to own a vehicle were to buy one new and even worse.. leasing one.

After doing a price comparison of you you actually end up paying MORE for a new car "warranty" than you would pay to have the drivetrain rebuilt on the vehicle 3 times over.

An example being the 16k depreciation on the IS300 mentioned earlier in the thread within 2 years time. Just think of what you could fix on a car for $16k. 99% of the time the "reliability" convenience people find in a "new" car is all in their head and they end up paying more for the warranty than any worse case scenerio repair job.

Another interesting fact is the math on the car payment.. $300/month on a new car = -60% everytime sometimes more, but that same payment made to a growth stock mutual fund averaging 10-12% from age 18 to age 65 is about 3-4 million dollars. Hope you really like the car.

[rs4pro3]

Here's to being 22 and having no debt I've thought many times about getting a loan for a newer car, but the e30 is reliable and with as many back up cars as I already have who needs one.

[trashcop 80s 80s]

Debt sucks, but I love having my Frontier waiting on me when I need it. I doubt I will have any trouble from it for at least 100k. Its a nice feeling. I can start work on the e30, get pissed off/drunk, and not have to worry about finishing it for the next day. $230 a month for 3 years, its worth it totally.

[Jarvis]

I'll hopefully be paying off my ~$55k in student loan dept within 3 years of graduating and going to STEP. It'll be aggravating watching all my peers who had everything handed to them spend all their spare cash on fun shit, but in the end I'll be more experienced and prepared for the future. Good luck to the rest of you doing the same. Loan payments suck balls.

[Rigmaster]

Car payments suck, but it's become the American way, thanks to advertising and Keeping up with the Joneses mentality. I just don't get it. I used to work with a girl who was getting ready to make the last payment on her car. Instead of planning to save some $$$ for a while, she was already planning to buy a NEW car- she actually told me the following week that the dealer took her car in trade on a new one and "my payment only went up $120 a month"!!!!

Now, God bless the people who buy new cars every year or two, but I'll let them depreciate about 70% or more before I own one of them.....

Oh, and whoever said Mortgage payments suck, well- sending off that $$ every month might suck, but I'd much rather be paying a mortgage payment than a car payment (or RENT) - a house has a MUCH higher chance of appreciating in value than ANY car does. Besides that, you can still get a nice tax deduction for all that mortgage interest you pay every month. I bought a house 1 year out of college- didn't really know what I was doing, but my Mom helped alot (she's a real estate agent) and told me it was a great deal. The house is now paid off, and worth a whole lot more than what I paid for it.



Bret.