How much income would you need to afford a car like this?

[Pardus]

Would never buy a porsche, bmw or ferrari, who needs to worry about someone stealing it, rather get a hatchback or small suv with good gas mileage and overall reliability such as:

Honda Accord
Hondo Fit
Kia Sportage
Hyundai Elantra Touring
Hyundai Tuscon

Certified used of course, new is for suckers.

 

[Broheim]

Would never buy a porsche, bmw or ferrari, who needs to worry about someone stealing it, rather get a hatchback or small suv with good gas mileage and overall reliability such as:

Honda Accord
Hondo Fit
Kia Sportage
Hyundai Elantra Touring
Hyundai Tuscon

Certified used of course, new is for suckers.

porsches and ferraris don't get stolen, but honda accords are one of the cars most likely to get stolen...

 

[Ms. DICKINSON]

I don't think I will go beyond 2. I'm not materialistic and "flashy." No matter how much money I have, I'll stick at 2. The last three cars were paid full, in cash. That's the mistake people get into with auto loans. You either put a lot on down payment or pay it full. Just my opinion.

 

[jupiter57]

I don't think I will go beyond 2. I'm not materialistic and "flashy." No matter how much money I have, I'll stick at 2. The last three cars were paid full, in cash. That's the mistake people get into with auto loans. You either put a lot on down payment or pay it full. Just my opinion.

I do like my cars & trucks to look "good", but I'm not the Hummer/ Suburban, Bmw/ Mercedes type guy. Dependability is a must also, so I stick with GM cars & trucks.
I have paid cash for everything I have driven for the past 30 yrs. or so, with the exception of one Crew cab Silverado, (Had Cds @ 3.74%, loan was for 2.9%!).
In my younger days, I have driven vehicles I was absolutely ashamed of, but they were paid for & got me where I needed to go!

 

[Mike Gayner]

Dependability is a must also, so I stick with GM cars & trucks.

LOL!

 

[piasabird]

I spent $11k on my last car Gran Prix used from salvage lot. I buy cars from some guy that buys vehicles at auction. He fixes them up and resales them. I think it is a 2008. It is what my wife wanted. All I care is I like an air conditioned car. Dont like vans or suv's. If I could afford 2 cars maybe a truck might work.

I got use to the leather heated seats.

 

[jupiter57]

LOL!

Says the boy who rides the bus.

 

[ponyo]

I love cars but lot depends on your priorities and stage of life. If my wife left me and the doc said I had 6 months to live, I might have to buy that Bugatti Veyron.

 

[Tim_Derr]

Iam a 4 but I do most of the maintenance myself and payoff loan within two years.

If I didn't do maintenance I would be a 2

 

[nanette1985]

I know one person who actually owns a Bugatti (early 1930's). He doesn't use his actual income to buy any of his collection of cars - he does it with his trusts and other rich-people financial things.

FYI, so that you can all plan ahead for when you all are getting close to buying that exotic dream vehicle .

 

[Noirish]

My net worth would have to be about 10x each of those price points listed to even consider them as an option to buy.

Ditto.

 

[Numenorean]

Hahah...I'm at step 1.5. I'm afraid I'll never see 7 - quite possibly not even 4, but maybe.

I did see an R8 the other day. It was pretty nice.

I don't think I'd ever want to go above step 3. I don't see the point in spending that much on a vehicle. Actually so far I haven't spent over $15K on a vehicle and I have nice vehicles, I just don't buy them new because it's a waste of money.

 

[Mike Gayner]

Says the boy who rides the bus.

I'm guessing you spend a lot of time on the bus while your GM is in the shop.

How can you tell a GM? By the puddle of oil underneath.

Seriously, American cars are awful. That's why you don't really see them outside of America. Their advantage is that they're cheap - both in price and in construction.

 

[mattpegher]

This is ridiculous. That means you can only afford a 20k car at 100k over FOUR years?

When I started out making $45k / yr I went and bought a 17k vehicle and had a $400 some odd payment.

I paid $1k a month and still had money left over. And no I didn't live with my parents.

The percent of income for cars is of course not even percent in all income brackets. The average 100k married couple, pays about 2k/month in car payments(2 cars), about 4k/month in mortgage and property taxes and still runs out of money at the end of the month. Especially if you have kids.

 

[mattpegher]

Currently own an 2009 Audi Q7, 2008 Lexus gx470, a 2001 A6, and a 1986 honda shadow. I do appreciate the ride and the amenities in the luxury class vehicles. I would say buying them one year old, with waranties took a bite out of the initial price but not as much as you would expect. Current debt on vehicle is about 3k/month which is just about the most I can afford. Maybe if the wife and I needed only one vehicle I could afford a 80K vehicle but with two vehicle it is a bit less. So maybe 30-35% is a better estimate.

 

[Mike Gayner]

The percent of income for cars is of course not even percent in all income brackets. The average 100k married couple, pays about 2k/month in car payments(2 cars), about 4k/month in mortgage and property taxes and still runs out of money at the end of the month. Especially if you have kids.

I'd like to see some evidence to support this, because it's not my experience. $100k between a couple is not a particularly high income - me and my partner make this, and we don't pay anywhere near $2k in car payments or $4k in mortgage/tax. In fact, $2k in car payments seems utterly insane for anyone on our level of income.

 

[Aikouka]

I think it more sets the tone of what you SHOULD appropriate to something, rather than what you CAN appropriate.

I'd agree it is unlikely a $50k vehicle is a wise investment if your yearly income is $70k, however if you've saved for years or had a large windfall and you only do this once, there is no issue.

I agree with you on this one. Even if I had $50k in savings and decided to buy a car, it's not instant money. It still took time to build up that $50k, so it'd be worthwhile to consider how long it took to build that up in the first place.

I mean, as people in the Garage section may know, I'd love to own a Nissan GT-R. I make decent money, but a new one still costs a little more than I make in a year. Even if I saved up the ~$80k to buy one, would that be a wise decision?

Survey says... NO!

I'd possibly consider a GT-R if I made around $150k a year, but to me... that would be pushing it. If you're looking at a car that's around 50% of your gross, you need to be very careful. It's not clear-cut and depends a lot on your other expenses.

 

[mattpegher]

I'd like to see some evidence to support this, because it's not my experience. $100k between a couple is not a particularly high income - me and my partner make this, and we don't pay anywhere near $2k in car payments or $4k in mortgage/tax. In fact, $2k in car payments seems utterly insane for anyone on our level of income.

You sir are one who lives within his means. After some research I think the average is closer to 1.5k and 2.5k but thats extrapolation off wiki. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Average_Joe

 

[HardcoreRobot]

average joe, maltese variant is joe borg? lol

 

[rh71]

Certified used of course, new is for suckers.

certified doesn't always mean they actually did a thousand-and-one-point inspection on it either. They slap that warranty on it which is nice, but that doesn't tell you how it was broken in or otherwise treated. I don't want to spend $20k+ on a used car and have problem after problem, regardless of a warranty. A $5k honda, sure.

 

[Tweak155]

The percent of income for cars is of course not even percent in all income brackets. The average 100k married couple, pays about 2k/month in car payments(2 cars), about 4k/month in mortgage and property taxes and still runs out of money at the end of the month. Especially if you have kids.

The thing is with your numbers... at just over $100k after taxes you're probably bringing home just over $6k after tax per month income (maybe $7k if you have perfectly set withholding). There is no way that much of the income can be allotted to car and house.

Of course this depends how far over $100k you are, but you still have a lot of other expenses to handle.

 

[Wyndru]

It depends on how much you like cars.

For me I doubt I'd go for number 4 ever, I'm just not interested in cars being anything other than an item to transport me and my stuff around.

This, if it runs, and isn't costing me a lot for maintenance, I'll drive it. I actually am not even interested in stage 3, even if I could afford it comfortably. I've never liked the idea of buying a car and having it lose value instantly and depreciate significantly in the months/years to come.

 

[alkemyst]

too hard to determine...too many things can influence.

It's safe to assume that going to about 36-40% total debt would be safe for most (rent/mortgage/car/credit/loans)...things like outrageous insurance or gas costs could kill the deal...also as you get beyond $75-100k in cars they tend to get more exotic.

Sometimes being exotic means pulling the engine out for simple maintenance.

I have generally been able to buy cars at about my yearly income and still be comfortable. I am targeting much less than that now though (looking at two cars worth about $75-80k combined) as savings is a priority as well as disposable income.

 

[HumblePie]

When I bought my car in 2005 I was making $45K a year. The car was $21.5K and I financed it over 5 years. The total cost at the end was $23.4K with my financing. It's paid off now, but I was making $390 payments a month which was doable.

The car is a 2004 mazda RX8. However, I wish I had bought a slightly more reliable car. Luckily I haven't had to foot the bill on the bigger issues with the problems I've had with the car so far, but the warranty finally ran out on it completely. I've already had to do two engine replacements and a catalytic converter replacement. I need to change out the air intake manifold though cause the SSV valve is stuck on it still and warranty wouldn't cover it. It runs just fine with the stuck valve, but I can't push more than 4K rpm or the engine will try to suck down more air than the manifold can provide.

I've had to replace the spark plugs about 3 times now, the ignition coils twice, break pads once, and the tires a few times as well. It's about $100 for a full set of spark plugs or ignition coils online. I've also paid about $50 per tire so far by shopping around. So I've paid out another $1000 in maintenance costs in the last 6 years for it which isn't too bad I guess.

The only reason I'm considering even getting a new car is to get something that I won't have to worry about having to do a complete engine replacement if the ignition coils fail again. Retarded design on the 04/05 models of RX8 that wasn't fixed until later models. Those of us that bought the first production runs of this car are screwed. The later ones do not have the same problems and are much more reliable. I could modify the car to fix all those design errors, but again it will cost quite a bit of cash up front to do so even if I did most of the work myself. I know soon I need to at least replace my rotors for my breaks, and rebuild the calipers or buy new ones as the front ones are sticking.


So when looking at car costs, it is not just the price of the car you must factor. Gas and maintenance are big factors as well. My car requires premium and if I'm lucky I get 20 mpg on the highway. The RX8 blows donkey balls for gas costs.

At the moment I'm stuck with the car and hoping that nothing causes it to blow up any time soon. I'll drive it into the ground and try to put the bare minimum of maintenance costs into it. Hoping to get another 2-3 years out of it before I dump it for something better.

 

[GotIssues]

I'd have to make a hell of a lot of money to pass by #3, that's the limit of what I'm willing to pay. $25k-$30k buys plenty of fun stuff. Not saying the higher end cars aren't worth it, just not worth it for me.