Did you pay cash?

 

Haven't read this thread but with 11 pages just jumped to the last page. According to the Porsche demos tha avg salary of a C2S buyer is 250K a year not that it matters.

 

I financed my membership, got a great rate that's locked in, and just 6 more payments and membership to this beautiful site will be all mine!

 

it is a lot sweeter when you make 50k and pinch everything you have to get your dream toy. Then, you cherish it and love every moment. For guys making 7 digits, it would just be another car to have for a few days to trash around.

If you want it, get it. Once you make it, you may not want it and...may be...at that point, nothing will make you happy. Life is too short.

 

I never liked to "rent" my cars either. I always have owned everything I have. My current 996 is the only car I leased.

Are you guys planning on keeping these cars for more than 5 years? I had a bad experience getting rid of my 1999 BMW 740iL w 49K miles for a new 745i when I had to sell it last year. Wholesale value on the car was $19K. I placed an ad everywhere, but no takers since I priced it at retail value of $27K. I finally sold it to a used car lot for $2K under wholesale, friggin $17K for a pampered 740iL.

I'm curious what you guys have done with previous cars you had owned. Obviously, trade-in value is a joke. For those who paid cash, were you not surpirse by how much your car was worth at trade-in when you had to get rid of the car?

Selling a car was too darn time-consuming for me, so I decided to lease my 996. Thoughts?

 

I discovered the same thing with my 740iL. The only difference was that mine was leased so it cost me $5,000 less to drive for two years than if I had bought it for cash. I lease my BMWs but bought my Porsche since I plan on keeping it and didn't want to get locked in to a fixed term.

Alan

 

from what i hear, it isn't so much the car payment/purchase price as the cost of maintaining the car. if you never drive it then it ain't so bad. put it on the track in any form, and the consumables will eat you out of house and home.

don't have any personal experience here but repeating a trusted source.

 

so far all my 997 has taken from my wallet are the $$$ required for a set of PS2s after 16 track days. Not all that bad.

 

Guys I know who sells cars at auctions told me once that BMW's don't get the wholesale on their lot, but MB's almost always go over the wholesale price. I have a 15 year old 1991 300E with 189K miles. I think that says it why.

I'm thinking about paying off my leased 996, but then the 997 came out. I'm thinking whether to pay off and keep the 996 or to lease a new 997. Cheers.

 

So, in your mind I should not have bought my car. My car payment ($1,068/month) represents 6.6% of my monthly income.

Damn, I didn't realize I was so poor. Anybody want to buy my Porsche? I just found out I shouldn't have it.

 

If I had the cash available to buy one outright I would. Unfortunately I put my available cash toward investments with a higher return. I'd finance one with a good down payment and use the difference to make more money for me as some of the others suggest. I've leased before and to me now that I am older it seems like a waste of my time and money...renting a more of a car at a lower rate basically means I maybe shouldn't be driving the thing in the 1st place if I couldn't afford it outright or by financing it. With my current 997 I traded a vehicle that I'd paid off outright so in a way exchanged one depreciating asset for another.

However I do disagree with those that seem to say or suggest that those of us who didn't pay cash outright for their cars shouldn't have one or drive a Porsche. Rather elite-ist to me. I agree with those who say; if you've covered all your other bases properly and it doesn't significantly change your $$$ bottom line then get one.

 

IF IT FLIES, FLOATS, OR FU%$s, RENT IT!

 

First few posters had it right, avoid financing a luxury especially a depreciating one. If you do you're gambling with the interest rate on the loan + tax benefits versus what you can do now with the money you have.

In that case my argument against financing would be wait, if you're sure your investment is that good put more money into it and wait then you could afford more luxuries!

You dont have to be rich to have a car like this. What it does take is financial discipline unless of course you are already rich.

 

Totally agree. Nicely put.

 

It's not elitist to say "don't buy a car you can't afford". It's elitist to say "you can't afford one and you never will without my help".