more or less on downpayment?

[richardbb85]

i can do either 15 or 20k down, my monthly payment will be $912 if 15k $800 if 20k on a 5 yrs loan at 3.9%

i will save 500 on interest if i do 20k.

what would you guys recommend on doing?

[kaykay]

3.9% financing - ewwwwww, disgusting.

It's 0.9% financing (at least here in the U.S. it is)

Maybe find another lender that will give you a better deal.

I personally don't buy cars because buying cars is just a terrible investment and I like a new car every 2 years or so.

[richardbb85]

this is for a 2011 coupe, and 3.9 is the best rate my parent is qualified for.

and i do plan on keeping the car for quite a long time.

[mclarenmaniac]

Originally Posted by richardbb85

this is for a 2011 coupe, and 3.9 is the best rate my parent is qualified for.

and i do plan on keeping the car for quite a long time.

Ask your parents to go with Bank of America as i got 2.9 for 60 months for 2011 thru BMW finance!

[richardbb85]

my dad doesn't want to go thru a bank (he said it require more paper work), and 3.9 isn't the problem.

[Slpnbyu]

Put down as much as you can, cars depreciate very quickly so you want to get it paid off as early as possible with as little interest as possible.

[chumpion]

Put down as much as you can. You will be glad you did in three years when you are trying to sell/trade the car in for something else.

[richardbb85]

that's what i was hoping to hear

thank you, 20k it is

[oldmanstyle]

Originally Posted by kaykay

I personally don't buy cars because buying cars is just a terrible investment and I like a new car every 2 years or so.

that is quite the paradox

[bonedoctor]

Wait a sec!

Think about things again. Forget all this talk about I want to have higher or lower payments. Forget about when you are going to sell the car and whether you want to pay off your loan early or late or not at all. Forget all that. It really isn't all that relevant. Forget about whether to lease or to buy unless it benefits your individual position.

The question is, if you put down $20k downpayment, you are essentially putting $20k into a money market account that pays 3.9% and you are fixed into that account for 5 years, with no withdrawals or options.

At 3.9%, why not take the $20k, and invest it somewhere else. At 3.9%, it would even be better to put it into your parents' mortgage (unless they are paying lower than 3.9% on their mortgage (less than 1% of people are paying less than 3.9% on their mortgage).

Talk to a competent accountant and don't leave this to gut feeling "my payments are going to lower", or "I can get this thing paid off", or "what if I want to sell the car?". Makes no difference.

And the 0.9% is only available for 2010, as far as I know.

[chumpion]

Originally Posted by bonedoctor

Wait a sec!

Think about things again. Forget all this talk about I want to have higher or lower payments. Forget about when you are going to sell the car and whether you want to pay off your loan early or late or not at all. Forget all that. It really isn't all that relevant. Forget about whether to lease or to buy unless it benefits your individual position.

The question is, if you put down $20k downpayment, you are essentially putting $20k into a money market account that pays 3.9% and you are fixed into that account for 5 years, with no withdrawals or options.

At 3.9%, why not take the $20k, and invest it somewhere else. At 3.9%, it would even be better to put it into your parents' mortgage (unless they are paying lower than 3.9% on their mortgage (less than 1% of people are paying less than 3.9% on their mortgage).

Talk to a competent accountant and don't leave this to gut feeling "my payments are going to lower", or "I can get this thing paid off", or "what if I want to sell the car?". Makes no difference.

And the 0.9% is only available for 2010, as far as I know.

Sound advice for sure. But something tells me that a guy who needs his parent's credit to get the car is not going to be able to afford the payments with zero down.

[richardbb85]

well....my parent's house is paid off

i do plan on buying an apt/townhouse this summer though, but that shouldn't be a problem.

[kaykay]

Originally Posted by chumpion

Sound advice for sure. But something tells me that a guy who needs his parent's credit to get the car is not going to be able to afford the payments with zero down.

Why would the OP make a 5-year commitment to a loan that he might not even be able to pay off?

5 years in a LONG TIME, throwing $20k into a car for 5-year that you might get sick of on year 3 or might not even be able to sell for 30% of its value in year 5 is just stupid finance.

I never understood threads like these...

If you can put $20k down, don't buy a brand new MSRP 2011, find a used M3, save money on both the car and interest... Thread makes no sense.

If you're fine paying 3.9%, I'll give you the money and you pay me the 3.9 - I'll even charge you 3.75% because you're an M3 Post member...

Buy some gold, when you can afford an M3, and a new one at that since that's what you want, buy it outright, lease it, or finance it with good terms.

[richardbb85]

thank you kaykay for the info

i will look into leasing as an option also

[kaykay]

Richard, I would honestly lease the car and buy $15k worth of gold. Trust me.

The market is too volatile and times are not stable to commit to a car for 5-years. Not to mention it might be worth a lot less than what "they" are predicting it will be worth.

[chumpion]

I understand the crushing urge to get the car right away. But the house and some breathing room with your finances is one of the smartest things you can do. Enjoy the hell out of it if you get it, but don't buy a toy that you can barely afford, especially if you are not even on your own two feet yet.

[richardbb85]

payment isn't a problem

i just want to make the best choice with the money so i don't feel so dumb later on.

[Leonardo629]

I'm with kaykay, it's not a good idea to put down 15~20k on a depreciating item...

Why not buy some energy ETFs? oil price is low, and it's definitely a good time to enter the market....and use the gain later on to offset the gas guzzling M3.

[richardbb85]

anyone have an idea what the payment/# will be with a 36months 12000/15000miles lease?

just did a bunch of reading

so should my # look like this?

$64000 - 57% = $27520/36 = $764

$64000 + 57% = $100480 * .00230 = $231

764 + 231 = roughly $995/month + tax?

[Leonardo629]

the deal I just got, ordered the car last Sunday.

http://www.m3post.com/forums/showpos...&postcount=171

[corrupt23jj]

Yes, looks correct. Did you include the $1300 gas guzzler tax? Also, if you want to lower the money factor, 7 MSD will bring it down by .00049 which is around -1.2% and add 2% to the residual if 12k and 3% (or 1% more) for 10k.

Originally Posted by richardbb85

anyone have an idea what the payment/# will be with a 36months 12000/15000miles lease?

just did a bunch of reading

so should my # look like this?

$64000 - 57% = $27520/36 = $764

$64000 + 57% = $100480 * .00230 = $231

764 + 231 = roughly $995/month + tax?

[richardbb85]

Originally Posted by Leonardo629

the deal I just got, ordered the car last Sunday.

http://www.m3post.com/forums/showpos...&postcount=171

i have a MSRP of $66875, Invoice of $62040

Originally Posted by corrupt23jj

Yes, looks correct. Did you include the $1300 gas guzzler tax? Also, if you want to lower the money factor, 7 MSD will bring it down by .00049 which is around -1.2% and add 2% to the residual if 12k and 3% (or 1% more) for 10k.

the gas tax is included in the $62000 price, thanks