Expensive Car Purschase

[Aimster]

What kind of car did you purchase that was 'expensive' to you? Do you regret purchasing it looking back now and knowing your car is worth a LOT less than what you originally paid for it?

 

[rh71]

A year and half later I still look forward to driving the X every single morning. I don't regret it at all... if I keep it 8-10+ years like I have with my other, the $60k won't even be that much. I won't be putting that many miles on it annually anyway - 5k in year 1. And a car's worth is only pertinent if you plan to sell it.

 

[DivideBYZero]

M3.

No. Not ever. Worth every single penny.

 

[RichieZ]

Porsche boxster - week 3.

First new car/first porsche I've ever purchased, loving it. Replaced my old BMW Z4.

 

[zerocool84]

My SRT-4

I do regret buying it as I didn't even need a car but just wanted a new car. Stupid to purchase it so young while having almost no credit and getting raped on the interest rate. I love the car but regret buying it so young.

 

[thedarkwolf]

I'm going to be a little different here.
The expensive and only car I regret buying was a 93 nissan beater truck for $3k many years ago. Not the most expensive car I've ever bought but the most expensive beater. Before that I had an 81 plymouth horizan beater and a major beater it was. Wasn't anything nice about it but all I did with it was drive back and forth to work 2 miles a day and 40 miles to visit my parents every couple weeks. Worked fine for that and I paid $0 for the car and about $300 for crap to fix it including 4 new tires. The truck really didn't do anything any better and cost a crap load more. Sold the truck a year later and replaced it with an 89 dodge caravan that I paid $800 for. The van has been a great beater and I've had it for 7 years now.

Most expensive car is my current 94 miata that was $4k and I don't regret it one bit. I'm a cheap bastard 🙂.

 

[SearchMaster]

I can't say I've regretted any of my car purchases. Even though I'm older than most here, I've probably bought fewer cars because I usually drive them forever.

The most expensive we've bought was a new '07 Odyssey for my wife in late '06. It was $27K...it's been a solid purchase. I bought my '00 Maxima for $16K when it was a year old - at 203K miles now it's been a great car. And my '91 Eclipse GS Turbo was my DD until '01 and I loved it - bought it brand new for $14.5K and it was a really fun car.

It's not in my DNA to buy an expensive luxury car.

 

[amdhunter]

Ferrari Testarossa - my parents bought it for me, but the maintenance was horrible. While it was cool driving a Ferrari at 16, it was a nightmare to maintain. Almost a 5th of my money was spent on the damned thing. 🙁

 

[zoiks]

I just bought an '08 Infiniti g37. I paid 28.5k for it and I certainly don't regret buying it. I'm not rich but I am single so I can afford the car. I could have purchased with cash easily but chose to finance part of it. I owe 13k right now 3.99% interest. Hope to pay it off within 2 years. I figure that I'll probably sell it in a couple of years but I won't regret the 4-5k depreciation since I really like well made sport-luxury cars. I expect that this is the most I'm willing to spend on a car however. Next stop is a house.

 

[JulesMaximus]

Originally posted by: amdhunter
Ferrari Testarossa - my parents bought it for me, but the maintenance was horrible. While it was cool driving a Ferrari at 16, it was a nightmare to maintain. Almost a 5th of my money was spent on the damned thing. 🙁

Yeah, I've owned 2 of them. They are a lot of money to maintain properly.

 

[drewdogg808]

I sorta do, but because things didn't turn out as planned. I still have my car from college (98 civic with 199K miles now) as a spare commuter so my wife and I had planned to keep our new cars for 8-10 years at least. Purchased an '05 Lexus RX330 new, roughly 42K. Now 2 kids later and finding out 1 more on the way this fall, the RX is too small. It's in excellent shape (I'm a autopian lurker) and paid for but trade in value is 16-17K and private party is 18-19K. Sucks. Looking at used Sequoias/Land cruisers/LX470's now.

Also, purchased my '07 Lexus GS350 for about 46K and got it since back seat was somewhat usable for car seats. Turns out I drive it 99% of the time alone to/from work so I've been thinking I should have gotten something more fun/smaller (i.e 335i, g37, etc..) Looking at cars 1-2 years old are alot less than brand new.

So the next few cars will probably be used (expensive will be relative).

 

[RichieZ]

Originally posted by: zoiks
I just bought an '08 Infiniti g37. I paid 28.5k for it and I certainly don't regret buying it. I'm not rich but I am single so I can afford the car. I could have purchased with cash easily but chose to finance part of it. I owe 13k right now 3.99% interest. Hope to pay it off within 2 years. I figure that I'll probably sell it in a couple of years but I won't regret the 4-5k depreciation since I really like well made sport-luxury cars. I expect that this is the most I'm willing to spend on a car however. Next stop is a house.

uh you're going to get a lot more than 4-5K depreciation, that's like 1 year for a newish car. First 2-3 years are the worst.

 

[Riverhound777]

Bought my 06 Mazda 3s brand new. Probably wasn't the best financial decision i've ever made but I don't regret it. 3 years later and it is now paid off and the car has been amazing. Only thing I would have done differently would be to get the GT or Speed version if I had more money like I do now, but I wont be upgrading any time soon.

 

[thomsbrain]

Spending $20K on a car with no practical value to use as a weekend car was a crapload of money for someone with my modest paycheck. But I don't regret it... yet. 😉

 

[Possessed Freak]

I have huge buyer's remorse on purchasing a new car. I love the PT Cruiser, but I did not need a new one. I have gone from purchasing new to purchasing beater only. I see no reason to pay for depreciation ever again and will only buy vehicles that are insane discounts (I remember that 2 for 1 Kia sale they had and I did not take up the offer...) or at the tail end of depreciation.

 

[StageLeft]

Closest I've come is buying cars either before I needed them or for more money and every time I've not gone through with it I've subsequently felt so happy about it.

I bought my '00 Maxima for $16K when it was a year old - at 203K miles now it's been a great car.

hells to the yeah. I got my 00 max for $15,300 when it was three years old. Only 126k now, though, but it's been great, too.

Agree about that G37. Unless it stays in the garage and is not driven at all, it will lose more than $5k in two more years, no doubt about it. Probably more like twice that.

 

[PricklyPete]

So far I have not had a regret. I am tempted all the time to buy cars though as I really like them...but I've managed to be fairly financially responsible regarding actually purchasing them. Most cars I've owned I've driven to considerable miles. I did buy my current '05 Tacoma new, and it is 4.5 years old now. Still runs almost like new for the most part (I've driven it off road a lot...so only "alsmost"). It has 54K miles on it and I hope to get 10-15 years out of it...if not more. It's my wife's car that I keep on wanting to replace...but the fact that I want to avoid the buyer's remorse and losing the opportunity to use that money elsewhere has kept me from heading to the dealership.

 

[zoiks]

Originally posted by: Skoorb
Closest I've come is buying cars either before I needed them or for more money and every time I've not gone through with it I've subsequently felt so happy about it.

I bought my '00 Maxima for $16K when it was a year old - at 203K miles now it's been a great car.

hells to the yeah. I got my 00 max for $15,300 when it was three years old. Only 126k now, though, but it's been great, too.

Agree about that G37. Unless it stays in the garage and is not driven at all, it will lose more than $5k in two more years, no doubt about it. Probably more like twice that.

We'll see. This was 42k new and I got it at 28.5k. We'll see how it goes but I think I'll definitely get rid of it once the warranty expires.

 

[amdhunter]

Originally posted by: zoiks
I just bought an '08 Infiniti g37. I paid 28.5k for it and I certainly don't regret buying it. I'm not rich but I am single so I can afford the car. I could have purchased with cash easily but chose to finance part of it. I owe 13k right now 3.99% interest. Hope to pay it off within 2 years. I figure that I'll probably sell it in a couple of years but I won't regret the 4-5k depreciation since I really like well made sport-luxury cars. I expect that this is the most I'm willing to spend on a car however. Next stop is a house.

How do you like it? That is on my short list of "next car to buy."

 

[PricklyPete]

Originally posted by: amdhunter

Originally posted by: zoiks
I just bought an '08 Infiniti g37. I paid 28.5k for it and I certainly don't regret buying it. I'm not rich but I am single so I can afford the car. I could have purchased with cash easily but chose to finance part of it. I owe 13k right now 3.99% interest. Hope to pay it off within 2 years. I figure that I'll probably sell it in a couple of years but I won't regret the 4-5k depreciation since I really like well made sport-luxury cars. I expect that this is the most I'm willing to spend on a car however. Next stop is a house.

How do you like it? That is on my short list of "next car to buy."

You mean you're not getting another Ferrari?

 

[Engineer]

I actually regret not buying the one that I wanted when I had the money. Always thought that the money would grow and that I could wait. Not sure that I'll ever get the chance (or want to) again.

 

[zoiks]

Originally posted by: amdhunter

Originally posted by: zoiks
I just bought an '08 Infiniti g37. I paid 28.5k for it and I certainly don't regret buying it. I'm not rich but I am single so I can afford the car. I could have purchased with cash easily but chose to finance part of it. I owe 13k right now 3.99% interest. Hope to pay it off within 2 years. I figure that I'll probably sell it in a couple of years but I won't regret the 4-5k depreciation since I really like well made sport-luxury cars. I expect that this is the most I'm willing to spend on a car however. Next stop is a house.

How do you like it? That is on my short list of "next car to buy."

Really peppy and fast. Well built interior and very functional. The only thing about it is the road noise but that's what you get when you have 19" wheels.

 

[Don Vito Corleone]

I have never really bought a car that was a reach for my budget. My current car, a 2006 BMW 330i, is the nicest and most expensive car I have ever bought, but I got it as a 2-year-old Certified Pre-Owned car with 13K miles, so it wasn't heinously costly. I love love love it, and the only regret I have is that I didn't buy a BMW sooner. My next car will definitely either be a 335i or an M3 (or, alternatively, I may buy a used M3 as a weekend fun/track car and keep my 330i as a daily driver).

 

[Throwmeabone]

We bought a new Jetta Wolfsburg last year for a little less than 22k before TTR. We financed it because there was a 0% offer. I love the car but next time I will save up and get a certified preowned 3 series or maybe an A4 for only a little more.

 

[amdhunter]

Originally posted by: PricklyPete

Originally posted by: amdhunter

Originally posted by: zoiks
I just bought an '08 Infiniti g37. I paid 28.5k for it and I certainly don't regret buying it. I'm not rich but I am single so I can afford the car. I could have purchased with cash easily but chose to finance part of it. I owe 13k right now 3.99% interest. Hope to pay it off within 2 years. I figure that I'll probably sell it in a couple of years but I won't regret the 4-5k depreciation since I really like well made sport-luxury cars. I expect that this is the most I'm willing to spend on a car however. Next stop is a house.

How do you like it? That is on my short list of "next car to buy."

You mean you're not getting another Ferrari?

Nah I got bored of them after a while. 😉