1320str8liner

Curious to hear the thoughts of Porsche owners.
I've had a life long dream of owning a 911 and each day the dream gets closer to reality.

My question:
1. Save more and purchase with cash
2. Put down large down payment and finance the rest (fully optioned car?) I do plan to keep it for a long time unless something unfortunate was to happen.

STG

1. Buy used
2. No need to spend over $100K
3. % interest is dirt cheap
4. Cash or finance, who cares.

Porsche Jeff

Cash is King$$$

mtgadbois

First one - down payment and get big loan. Maybe one more just like that then for cars number 3 and beyond pay cash or do 50-50 and invest the cash.

Fred R. C4S

What's the longest you've ever owned a car? I doubt that you will be keeping this car anywhere near as long as you mentioned.

I've never purchased a used Porsche, all were new. That said, I only borrowed money on the first couple until I was in a position to pay cash. Since then, it's been cash only except for one 30 month lease for a car I wasn't sure I wanted to invest the capital, and planned to walk away from anyway.

I was able to secure a new car loans from my credit union. They allow a member to convert the loan to a "courtesy mortgage" which at least allowed me to deduct the interest on personal tax filing.

Best advice I can give you is pay cash and don't try to live too far above your realistic means. It took me 20 years as an engineer before I was able to buy a 911, even with 75% down.

CSK 911 C4S

Life is too short to drive boring cars .... there's plenty of time to buy a Civic.

Just do it any way you want.

needmoregarage

How can anyone else answer this question?

I don't want answers but here are some things to ponder so you can come to an informed decision:

- what is your debt position?
- are major investments in your life embarked upon like owning property? Significant savings? Emergency fund of at least 6 months cash for expenses in case things go south quickly?
- other significant life priorities that might take precedence over a car (child's college fund, retirement savings, braces, health care, etc)

We lived conservatively for decades before going off the "deep end' with respect to car ownership.

I believe it depends to some degree on how you are raised and the values instilled regarding paying cash for whatever "splurge" you want (or having the ability to pay cash even if a loan makes more financial sense)

This is very individual and while it's nice to get other opinions, without knowing lots of specifics about your situation I don't see how someone else's advice could be realistically relevant.

There are two schools of thought:
- buy while you're young and can enjoy it - who cares about debt?
- wait and save till you can comfortably afford it and don't take on debt

One thing to consider: once you buy it (whether cash or financing) you still have to pay to operate, insure, maintain and possibly repair. It's easy to get in over your head. And most cars (unless rare and collector quality) are depreciating assets.

Good luck with your decision.

Rezus

I bought mine 9 months ago. Had cash to pay it all off but felt bad dropping 135K on a car so paid half and financed the other half, low interest of 2.4%. My payments were a little over $1100 a month, out of which $100 was interest. After paying $1000 in interest I decided to pay it all off as my money sitting in the bank was not doing me any good and other investments were up and down giving me heartburn.
I say unless you can invest the money and have at least 5% return just pay cash and be done with it otherwise money is fairly cheap and you be ok to finance.

1320str8liner

Thanks for all the comments, I realize that it's a personal decision and some say cash is king and other sayings. Like said cars are a depreciating asset which is why the question cash vs finance?

I don't like debt, but I also hate the thought of investing lots of hard earned cash into a vehicle that travels the same roads as the "banana truck"

I was just curious to hear the position and views of owners

NoGaBiker

Have always paid cash. It's a personal discipline thing. Whether I make a 2-3% spread on the cash or not (I target an average "preservation" return of around 5% average across the portfolio) doesn't matter one bit. But always knowing "it's paid for" matters a hell of a lot.

And like most of us, I haven't always been able to pay cash. So I didn't buy a Porsche at that time. Which, in my case, greatly hastened the time when I could pay cash (late-thirties) without causing problems with the rest of our finances.

So for me, those early years in old Z-cars and a couple of Miatas were crucial to:
a) my driving skill. You don't recover from a bad line at Road Atlanta Turns 6&7 with a 128hp Miata. You just spend the entire long back straight being passed by every other car on track. And you learn how to maximize your traction circle
b) our finances. By putting off till I could easily afford a Porsche, the money was used building our business up faster, without borrowing. It worked great for us.
c) my character. Not getting a Porsche till I was older was -- what can I say? -- just plain old fashioned good for me. I sure as hell didn't like it at the time. But I was having so much fun in my other cheap-*** sportscars that I really didn't mind the discipline.

Your mileage may (and surely will) vary.

crossroads

I've done both. I prefer cash or paying off the loan early.

I really hate giving the bank money but if the interest rate is low, it's a little more palatable.

My current pcar is paid off (woo hoo).

oolor13

I paid cash. I considered financing at a low APR, but with the current state of the financial markets I didn't feel comfortable investing to try to beat the APR.

Duke I

My advice is to never use the word or thought "invest" in buying a car.

Pay off your home first, then pay cash for your Porsche. It's worth the wait. Defeased debt is the best kind.

ipse dixit

If this is a question you have to consider, much less consider with some hesitation, then with all due respect it appears you're not in a position yet to purchase a 100K+ sports car.

niche

Buy used. Buy cash.