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Mike, you know better than to add up how much you've spent on a car. I know I have approximately 1.5x my purchase price in my 996.2 rebuilding the engine and turning it into a street-legal track car. Shhhh…...don't tell my wife.
That excel sheet is never gonna lead to anything good.
That Excel sheet shows the last 15 vehicle purchases and compares my wife’s strategy (buy a 2-yr-old car and suffer depreciation, but not repairs) versus my strategy (buy a 10-15-yr-old car and suffer repairs but not depreciation) to see who ‘wins’ over the long haul.
So far I’m winning
But the real victory is against brand new cars. We are both winning there.
Spent just less than $20K on engine rebuild/3.8L upgrade and sold my race car, trailer, and tow vehicle to pay for it. Driving on freeway today, easily passed “slow” cars with slight push on throttle in 5th, can’t believe the 65-85 time. Was it worth the cost? OMG, YES!
Mine was front-loaded because of clutch, IMSB, AOS, RMS, etc. being done right after initial purchase. Also, plenty of "optional" expenses included in there- suspension, wheels, tires, etc. Required maint costs have actually been minimal to date.
Bought ours for $16.5k 22 months ago and the only money I have put into it is two oil changes I did myself and the double din update, so around $800 all together. Oh wait I put the garage door opener in that was 12 bucks lol.