Your Financial Mistake Car

[F22Chris]

I would like to have an 04/05 bugeye WRX with the 06 2.5 in it.

[cb7 calling]

It was a very long and extremely interesting conversation and his advice was that real state was the only thing that one should finance but I did not include that at the beginning due to not being car related. This man was a broker with a firm doing a seminar here in Houston, he told me his earnings were in the millions per year and then showed me his car; a 96 Camry.

It's easy to earn millions but only profit a 1996 Camry. On topic I did some math and if I traded the car my wife just bought could maybe....maybe get a dodge demon.

[toycar]

worked my entire life in finance, completely disagree with only paying cash.


a person who feels that way is either wealthy enough not to worry about financing anything, or so broke that they actually think thats the best way to roll.


think about it like this, you only live once. live at 25 is more valuable than life at 65.

perhaps you could wait till you have the cash, but then youd spend the best years of your life living the cheapest you possibly can, you know to accumulate wealth.


reminds me of an old saying,

do you know when the best years of your life are happening, or do you just wake up one day and realize they have already passed?

semi serious question.


My .02

good rule of thumb is to make sure you save something everytime you get anhthing. live by that and let 20 years pass and youll be ready to buy that all cash car. in the mean time, remember to enjoy the best yesrs of your life. even if that means a little debt. who cares. how does it get cheaper than 0% interest?



anyways, for discussion purposes, i want a monster truck. no idea how much in cost, but itd be dope to have a grave digger looking monster truck in the drive way to play with on occasion.

[CyborgGT]

To the Gent above with the NSX, I saw a red one here in Houston with a 5spd and low miles for $20k.

I wouldn't trust one that cheap. Replacement parts for those are too expensive.

I'd probably J-swap as sonik said. The C holds no value to me, and I'm not a purist when it comes to those unless it's a Type R.

[deevergote]

If I had an NSX, I'd be torn. J swap it for reliability and affordable upgradablility, as well as to preserve the aging C30/C32... OR just keep it 100% original. To me, the NSX is one of those cars that's damn near perfect in stock form. Sure, it could be "improved", but every change makes it less of what it is. I suppose I'm more of a purist when it comes to stuff like that!

As for financing, I don't see the point of financing a used car unless its one that is going to be increasing in value significantly. Cars are very often not investments. Especially if you plan on driving them regularly. To make payments over time, including interest, for something that is steadily losing value is bad enough (and you do that with a new car!) With a used car, you're making payments while incurring repair and restoration expenses.
Granted, a new car loses a huge chunk of value right off the lot, whereas a used car is worth pretty much what you paid for it 6 months later. In defense of financing a used car, at least the major initial depreciation has already hit.

Still, cars like the ones we're discussing here are essentially toys. Most of us aren't talking about our new sole daily driver or family hauler (some of us, perhaps.) Cars like that aren't needed so desperately that they need to be financed. If you're 25 and you want a fancy toy car, work a second job until you have the money to pay for it (with some in reserve to fix it if it breaks shortly after.) You're young. You can put in the extra hours to pay for the car. Incurring needless debt is something that young people do far too often, I feel.

[toycar]

agree with needless debt for no reason being a bad idea, disagree that your youth/pleasure isnt worth investing in..


certainly a balancing act. responsibly managed debt enables you to experience life on a different level wbile saving money
different pace sure, outcome, likely the same if you actjally work paycheck to paycheck and live like 90% of the world

[deevergote]

That is true. I'm 37 now, and I'll admit I'd have liked to have experienced some things at a younger age. Somewhere between the ages of "mommy must have paid for it" and "midlife crisis".

[Raf99]

I was excited as i thought this was a thread about a past car you bought that was a financial mistake.

[deevergote]

that would likely be a very active thread! Let's do it.

[HenRoc]

I've seen some friends from this very forum step up to some amazing cars and Im definitely happy for them because they earned it. I, myself wouldn't mind a Legacy GT but the horror stories of HG and turbo issues just makes me stay away.

The 1st gen NSX grew on me a lot over the years but eh 30k could get me a newer car that could out run an NSX. I also think about the costs associated with it.

The BNR32s also grew on me but I can't justify owning a car that wasn't readily made for this market in the first place as parts would be expensive.

Basic maint isn't an issue as you can get off the shelf wear and tear items but then you have to worry about the aluminum body and the motor.

I know of a guy who owns a really beautiful dark green 96 and he had his car transported to California for a replacement motor since the oil pump went on his original one.

[deevergote]

The NSX appeals to me because its value is only going to go up. Pay $30k now, keep it in good shape, and it'll be worth $50k before you know it. There aren't many readily-available Japanese cars that appreciate like that! That being said, I want a car I can drive... and you don't drive an investment. Not much, anyway!

[foamypirate]

I have to agree to some extent on the "enjoy your younger years!" For quite some time, I was on the cash only band wagon, had all debt paid off except for the house. It was basically sequestration
and austerity at a personal level. I found that it drove me batty. I was obsessed with saving as much as I could for retirement, emergency fund, etc. I finally found a good middle ground recently to where I can both enjoy some of my earnings, while still feeling like I'm being responsible with my money. To that extent, I've got a pretty good 401k balance for someone my age, and I'm having a blast with my C5 Corvette (financed). I basically just direct deposit, 50% bi-weekly, the monthly payment + $15, into the account I have with the bank I financed it from. I never see the money in my regular checkings, and I don't struggle or worry about making the payment. It's almost like I don't even have a payment at all.

Anyway, to the topic on hand, the C5 is my "financial mistake", despite everything I typed above. Not because of the cost of the car, but because I've already got a mod list nearly $15,000 long I want to buy!

[deevergote]

If you factor mod lists into things... my Miata is pretty much there. I have a list of about $3,000 worth of stuff I really want for it now. I can easily add another $7,000 to that if I want to put a K24 under the hood (for some reason that is REALLY appealing to me!)

[AccordWarrior]

My Corvette.

Paid cash, spent money I didn't want to spend on parts I told myself I wouldn't buy.

I'm also sure it's got a bunch wrong with it that should be fixed over time. The only great thing is when it's annoying me, I just pull it into the garage, throw the cover on it and think about it some other time.

[Fleetw00d]

I always wanted a 1959 Cadillac Eldorado convertible.

Our mistake car: 2005 Lincoln Town Car. Paid $13K out the door in 2008 (with 57k), had it for 7.5 years (insurance full coverage, plates, etc) and drove it less than 14k miles. Nice car (wife wanted it, but she only drove it twice), but nothing special and no fun to drive. Sold for $7400.