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this is bias towards men. I don't know many women who would think of a car being an investment. All these cool old sporty cars are mainly for dudes, I guess we, women who want comfort, reliability and minimal maintenance are stuck with the 'depreciating assets'.
I know a few gals that enjoy collector cars, and older cars. You can not, of course, drive such a car everywhere every day and keep in in condition - but for everyday and/or rough condition use, we have the older, fully depreciated car that we rebuild ourselves for peanuts.
I hadn't though much about this thread before, but then I read in a gun thread about guys comparing their cars as success symbols, so I thought about how important they are to me.
In 1996, my wife and I traveled around the world, spending about 7 months on the ground along the way. The total cost for the trip, including plane fare and everything we spend on the way, was a little over $5,000. A couple of years after we got back, I bought a 9-year old Toyota minivan (which I still have) for a little over $4,000. So, for $10,000, I have a wonderful travel experience for two, and seven years of a car that is still all the car I need.
How could I be better off if I had spent twice that much on a new car and not taken the trip? And even for $20K, I couldn't have gotten a car that would scream success.
re luxury cars......bek women are excited by confident failures in tight pants flinging fist fulls of money into a flushing toilet? just guessing. my favorite place to look at drivers and cars is the laundry mat---- a whole row of poorly maintained luxury cars on the curb. ewww sexy sexy.
I was listening to he Yolanda Adams morning show today while i was running errands. I heard Yolanda say something that got me thinking. She said, "Toyota is a fine car. But what if you bought the Toyota yesterday and got a call from the Mercedes dealership saying your credit was straight and you could get the Mercedes?" That made me think; here was a christian speaker basically saying that you should get a Mercedes if you are blessed enough to afford it. I'm thinking so i'm sinning if i can afford to pay for a Mercedes but choose to stick with my 01 honda accord and use the money i would have to pay for the mercedes for other things such as charity or helping my family or friends out if they fall on hard times?
This aint the only instance where i feel pressure of getting a new car if i have success. My mother and I were having a conversation of what i would do after college. She suggests i buy a new car after graduation. I say i probably own so i can concentrate on paying off college debt. Mom says sometimes its good to reward yourself. I say cant I reward myself by paying off my college debts a couple of years early?
Whenever i see a nice new expensive car i think of a few of things, debt, upkeep, the condition of that person, and security.
- Debt. Whenever i see a Mercedes or BMW, i think how much are the payments running per month? How much is it to insure?
- Upkeep. How much does that car cost to maintain? I've heard of European cars like BMW and Mercedes costing thousands a year to maintain. Its hard enough for me as a college student keeping a 01 Honda accord matained. How is someone making $30k a year gonna maintain a Mercedes?
- Condition of the person. Why did that person buy a BMW or Mercedes? Is it to show off? Is it regional pressure? Is it to give an impression that you've done something great?
- Security. In my neighborhood, upscale cars are vandalized and broken into all the time. Just last week a Lexus SUV got its entire front body stolen off it inside my parking garage. Why would you buying an expensive car if you live in a questionable or bad neighborhood?
I guess it is the materialistic nature of the US. Success is measured in posessions instead of the impact you leave on other people's lives. I think its sad that people will think i'm broke and unsuccessful because i'll see no reason to part with my (hopefully running) 01 honda accord after my college graduation.
If you have to finance any car you are not advertising wealth in any way shape or form. All you really are showing off is a 40,000 debt.
Most of the time you can't tell for sure, if the person driving the luxury car owns it or not, but you can kind of tell anyways.
If you really have the money to by a luxury car, then you also have the money to live in a nice neighbor- hood. And the insurance costs shouldn't even face you.
All I'm saying is that there are people who lives in the poorer neighbor-hoods and driving expensive cars and you just know they are either leasing them or paying 600 bucks a month in car-payments. Unless they own the car by some other methods not worth mentioning here.
It is nothing wrong with financing a car. I have never been able to buy a car out-right. But I think you are a damn fool, if you go and buy a brand new BMW and then struggling to make the payments on it, just so you can look good.
According to Consumer Reports, a Land Rover is the absolutely worst car built. The only reason to get one is the snob appeal.
Be wary of consumer reports, they use some misleading terminology...ie "Expected Reliability" instead of actual....after all it's a survey.
(This means that they tend to miss improvements or deterioration in quality.)
However, in this case it's 100% correct.
There are better surveys out there that actually track the number of defects vehicles have in their first few years.
There are better surveys out there that actually track the number of defects vehicles have in their first few years.
Those are covered by warranty. Smart consumers want to know about defect that they'll be paying for when it is out of warranty, and automakers are amazingly consistent about mid-to-high mileage reliability from decade to decade. Hence, "predicted reliability" is more than just a wild guess.
My wife and I love getting new cars - and inasmuch as we can afford it, we have no qualms about trading every couple of years.
Recently, my wife purchased the new Volvo XC60 - a totally new model from Volvo. She absolutely loves it.
If one can afford new cars - why not?
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this is bias towards men. I don't know many women who would think of a car being an investment. All these cool old sporty cars are mainly for dudes, I guess we, women who want comfort, reliability and minimal maintenance are stuck with the 'depreciating assets'.
