Quote:
Originally Posted by benjammin
I'm in a similar predicament. A couple years older, a few thousand less each year, a year out of college. I have thought long and hard about buying a new E92 but will probably still get one ED next summer.
My living expenses are quite a bit lower and I have and will continue to skimp on everyday expenses (no cable, make my own lunches, going out infrequently, etc) to instead put money towards the car. Once the payments begin I want to be sure I can still bring home at least $500 a month for emergency expenses, even after the increased insurance and gas bills. I've been saving for a year now for a decent down payment (~$25k). And I'm not considering any real estate purchases for awhile.
I plan on keeping this car for 10+ years so I’d prefer to buy new, and I want to get one before the eco cloud rains on the parade that is the S65 V8. Is it a poor financial decision? I will admit that it is. I’m trying to lessen the financial burden by making sacrifices elsewhere but I know that’s still not protection against job loss or other unforeseeable circumstances. Everyone in this thread has given good advice but as persian said, you’re only young once. As long as it doesn’t consume all your disposable income, I would go for it.
BTW, I also made the mistake of test driving an M3  |
The problem is that when someone has to "skimp" on anything in order to get the car, they're putting themselves into a potentially bad situation. At your age, you're better off building up an emergency fund, working on funding your 401k investments, and getting your savings in place to get some property instead of dumping everything into a depreciating asset that costs more money to keep insured/running.
Originally, being from the Detroit area, myself, you're also in an extremely unstable job market - you should have 6 months minimum, 1 year, preferred, worth of cash in an emergency fund. I'd seriously consider putting savings and housing at a much higher priority than a depreciating car because there are some major steals to be had in the area. My friend sold his condo and picked up a house in Novi for a mere $35k cash.
Quote:
Originally Posted by eamon
Correct me if I'm wrong, but you're saying to buy a new M3 "comfortably," one must be making 400k/yr... Serious?
Do people agree with this? That you should spend less than 1/4 of your salary to buy a car?
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I think your math is off by a magnitude. The number he used was $3200 / month. That's only about $40k year (not $400k) in take home, so about $70k / year base. I'm pretty sure his statement that most M3 owners are making significantly more than that is a pretty safe assumption.