Can I afford this car?

[Porsche]

Originally Posted by strat61caster

Other side of the coin is that the happiness for the amount of money spent can be well worth it.

Amen, my friend!

Sometimes the "analysts" forget (or never knew!) that automobiles can have value beyond the mere practical and utilitarian, that to some of us cars are not merely another household appliance.

[kuhlka]

Originally Posted by Tgionet

Fine

You've got some well-behaved dogs. Mine can't sit still for very long.

[Porsche]

Originally Posted by AG74683

That's not at all why I asked. I know I can afford the car in the sense that I could make the monthly payments. I asked because I assume that a car such as this has a reasonably diverse crowd of enthusiasts, including people who are thinking about buying the car (in the same situation I am), who have recently purchased and could perhaps detail how the purchase has affected them (both positively and negatively) or someone who might be a bit older (ie "wiser") and could give advice on how a purchase like this impacted their life years after.

Critical analysis is all very good, and I'll leave it to you to decide whether this marvelous and FUN sports car is "affordable" at this point in your life ... but I would encourage you to give some weight to the JOY factor in your young life, too.

Arguably, that's irrational.

So?

We're not MERELY rational beings.

Find some JOY, my young friend.

The years of your youth will fly by faster than you can imagine. Right now, the "future" seems endless. It's not.

In the future, I predict that you'll look back upon your BRZ as one of the most FUN cars you ever owned. You'll smile with satisfaction looking back.

Only you can decide whether now is a good time to buy it.

[Dadhawk]

Originally Posted by extrashaky

No. But I wouldn't buy one assuming that it would be reliable. It's a simple fact of engineering that the more miles a car has on it, the more likely it is to suffer mechanical failures.

I disagree. A modern car with 100,000 miles on it that has been well maintained (check the records/CARFAX/etc) is just as reliable as a 50,000 mile car. Is there a possibility it will break-down, sure. But that is true with a brand new car.


In the past 6 years I've bought two used cars that had at or around 100K miles on them, a Honda Accord mentioned before, and a Chevy Suburban. Neither has been in for any major work to be done on them since purchase and my family has put 20,000 miles or more on both. I would get in either and drive to Alaska tomorrow.


In the case of the Suburban, it was a $50,000 Z71 when new in 2004. With the exception of a little paint wear, it looked like new when purchased, and I paid about 20% of the new price for it (80% discount). So, even if it did break down, and I had to replace the entire engine, I'd still be way ahead of the game except maybe for the inconvenience.


My last 3 Daily Drivers have all gone over 200,000 miles, and one to 289,000 miles. None of them had any major repairs until over 200K on the odometer that were break-downs. The 289K one died hard at 289,000 miles (ate its motor bearings) but the other two were still drivable when I sold them.


Then again, maybe I've just been lucky.


Now if you are going to drive them hard and but them up wet, yea, you could be right.

[NCItaly]

I've had a lot of cars and I'm certainly one to consider the "happiness" value of a purchase. That being said, listen to some Dave Ramsey it's a good base line to understanding your finances and making good financial priorities.

To save you a bit of research, what his advice would be is: save up and buy it cash. you'd be surprised how fast you can do that when you're not in debt. If I could do it again, I would have done it that way.

My 2 cents.

[moojpg2]

The short answer is no you can't if you stress about the future, but I say buy it because while you can save for retirement and all this jolly good crap the one thing you can NOT guarantee is that you will live to see retirement or be in good health when your middle aged. My father was a millionaire when he was 65. He was diagnosed with cancer and has been fighting it for four years and he's at the end of that run. He never got to do anything that he planned on doing after he spent his whole life stressing about the future and saving all that cash for retirement. I've seen this story unfold at least a half dozen times around me because I was born when my mom was 44 and my family is older. I am 26 yrs old also, I grossed over 300k last year....I could have bought any car on the planet but I chose the BRZ because it's the one car I know I'd probably be struggling to pay for if I was in your situation because I know it would be worth every second of penny pinching ripping around in such a sweet handling, plain old fun, car. The BRZ isn't about ego trip drag races or practicality, it's a drivers car, designed by a driver. It's a modern day car guy's car that regular guys can afford, and for those who want the car because they know they'll enjoy the hell out of it for what it is and not worry about it making their balls look bigger than the next guys.

Buy the damn car. Sure it might be tight now, and it may mean u have a little less money in the bank, but you may never get the chance to buy it if you wait, you really only do get to live once, and there's no way I would wait until I'm ready to retire to start living.


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[exmayol]

01. get a better paying job
02. pay off student loans
03. save up some cash for a rainy day
04. get a better place to live
05. some
06. other
08. responsible
09. stuff
10. reassess if you still want a brz

[Photonic]

Im in the 60k a year range, Im paying 400$ a month, which I was "happy" to get.

For me its easy, not that I make a lot of money. But because I want to learn to drive in this car and dont want to mod it to hell and back. With every mod I forget what "I am doing" versus "What my mod is doing" for me. I spent my teens and early twenties in 240 after 240 as I blew them up or wrecked up and discarded them.

The only mods I have are Slotted rotors and HP+'s for track days, and a spare set of stock wheels. And I run Michelin Pole Positions. They are half the price of the stock primacies ..and actually resist chunking better ,with better dry and wet performance (marginally).

I am not sure why primacy's cost so much at all ..must be the fuel mileage or something.

Its supposed to be a car for fun, and a car to learn on. Don't mod it to hell and back ..just make it suit your preferences and learn on it. In that regard it is highly affordable.

[SirBrass]

Primacies are spendy b/c they're LRR tires

On phone I am. Therefore, if mistakes I make, Frank Oz blame you should.

[val_lixembeau]

Originally Posted by Dadhawk

• The total value of anything with an engine in it you own should not add up to more than half your annual income. That's a lot of money to be losing every year. (That kills the supercar for me!)

This is my rule of thumb too. I think half your gross is the very upper bound of how much you should consider spending on a car.

I'm kind of surprised how many people are looking at the monthly budget to see if the car is affordable while leaving basically no room for "unforeseen" big ticket items that you need to save up to pay later.

Also, I personally would think about this from a long term net worth point of view more than a how-many-dollars-do-I-have-left-each-month point of view.

To the OP, if you drive so little that you only spend $40 on gas, why do you even want a fun car anyways? So you can admire it in your parking spot?

[LtKarma]

Alright so honestly
I have no idea how I pulled this off but I'm 21 with a good job
Making good money but
I got my car for
1000$ down
Base with sat nav
At 197$ bi weekly finance
At 3.99% interest
Then i have insurance at 426$ a month

Just a few things too.
I live in Toronto
This is my first car so also it's my first insurance policy too
Only down fall is it is a 7 year term
A lot of my friends and family are
Confused how I pulled it off but honestly i don't regret anything
It's a really nice car


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[kberkel]

Originally Posted by Photonic

Its supposed to be a car for fun, and a car to learn on. Don't mod it to hell and back ..just make it suit your preferences and learn on it. In that regard it is highly affordable.

I like this part, and I agree.

I've been doing appearance and audio mods.. but to be honest I'm getting cheap skinny tires just so I can slide around like I have been in the past. I enjoy it as a waterproof gokart more than a fast car.

If you've raced some decently fast indoor gokarts (40mph).. they never fly off the line.. but they corner like crazy and you could slide the rear end out and have tons of fun.

I get this feeling almost every day

[extrashaky]

Originally Posted by LtKarma

I got my car for
1000$ down
Base with sat nav
At 197$ bi weekly finance
At 3.99% interest
Then i have insurance at 426$ a month
...
Only down fall is it is a 7 year term
A lot of my friends and family are
Confused how I pulled it off but honestly i don't regret anything

Hate to rain on your parade, but you "pulled it off" because it's a bad deal. Maybe you have money to burn, but usually when someone has to resort to this kind of financing, he can't really afford what he's buying.

[LtKarma]

Originally Posted by extrashaky

Hate to rain on your parade, but you "pulled it off" because it's a bad deal. Maybe you have money to burn, but usually when someone has to resort to this kind of financing, he can't really afford what he's buying.

Ok in hind sight you are correct I would've had to save my entire years salary for this

Yeah I do have some money to burn
I'd rather spend it on this so I guess it's bitter sweet



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