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I certainly don't find that expensive cars equate to success. But that's just me.
Most people think flashy cars equate to success for one main reason: It is what drives our hyper-consumerist society.
The primary function of a car is to get you from point A to point B. It would be economical to have a car that gets you from point A to point B the cheapest (fuel efficiency). Other than that, everything else with automobiles is artifice.
The color of the car, bluetooth setup, iPod jacks, Bose Speakers, the brand, the image it portrays to your peers, etc. These are all superfluous attributes that have nothing to do with the primary function of a car. However, it is through advertising, and brand creation where people get pressured into spending more money. It is what drives this economy. Advertising creates "needs" out of "wants". "I NEED to buy this Porsche, so I can convince all of my peers that I am affluent and successful." "I'm not going to buy that car, I NEED a car with iPod hookups!"
Thrift and being economical are not traits of the average American consumer. Our society has put more value in consumerism than humanism. What you own and what you wear are what defines you! Not what you actually do with your life. This type of society is gangbusters for corporations looking to peddle goods and make $$$.
I do think this "BUY BUY BUY" attitude has slowed a bit with the recession (this attitude created the recession), but we shall see what happens when the economy normalizes.
Sorry for the disjointed diatribe. I just don't see the point in mindless consumerism.
It would be impossible to measure my success, as I traverse the city with clothes from Salvation Army (pronounced Sahl-vah-cee-yon Ahr-mee), unless I staple postcards to my clothes, from all the places in the world I've traveled to.
I only invest in that which I can take with me when I die, with the least amount of "luggage".
If I had not squandered all my disposable income on travel, I could be driving around in a Maybach.
lol...I revisit this thread and it has once again swerved back to "people with expensive cars are posers, losers, buy the cars just to impress etc. that are dumb and live in apts. etc."
Meh, way to make those blanket statements.
I paid cash for mine and have no other debt.
It's a ton of fun and you can't take it with you.
Take personal responsibility for your own decisions and let people do what makes them happy.
Extravagance is an acceptable way for the privileged to show other members of the privileged class just how successful they are. Keeping up with the Joneses is a real deal for the wealthy and they have transmitted the disease to many of the rest of us.
Does it really matter? Many of the comments on here are from people who cannot afford better (many, not all OF COURSE). If all of a suddent you earned 300K a year, you wouldn't purchase a new car? Isn't it a personal choice and to each his or her own what they do wtih finances? People with small houses like to bash people with large ones, ohhh how excessive they're just being flashy, ohhh thats way to much to spend on a car, they are just showing off. Please. I consider it just as shallow to make these comments as to show off in the first place. If you do not care about it, why make such a fuss? I suspect if you were in different financial shoes you would be singing a different tune.
If I won the lottery I would go out to NM and buy a 1995 Buick Wagon to replace the rapidly rusting '92 Buick Wagon. I happen to like big Buick Station Wagons. I might also replace my '96 Subie Outback with something newer.
I would not be buying to impress or even please my neighbors.
If I strike it rich, a "39 Duesenberg" would look nice in my garage. they are worth more every year. solid investment.
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