patrick.net
An Antidote to Corporate Media
1,363,566 comments by 15,734 users - 6DOF, Misc, SharkyP online now
Comments 1 - 2 of 312 Next » Last » Search these comments
The same reason they spend it on houses - status, prestige, "safety". Watch a couple of TV ads and look no further. Then turn off the TV and stop paying the cable bill. Your life may improve drastically ;)
lostand confused
2013 Jan 25, 12:25am
It depends. If you enjoy that or designer label clothes-fine buy it. I myself buy cheap clothes and cheap cars. But when I used to tow a bit for recreation, I bought a 40k Ford F350-really enjoyed it. Now some may wonder why a single guy wastes his money on a car and a truck? But whatever floats your boat-speaking of boats, one of my co-worker had a really fancy shmancy boat that he put on the house-well home equity loan.
Then there are those that never spend on anything and lose it all in a divorce or bad investments/business. Plus if you have ever driven in Nevada and the eastern sierra nevadas -you can put some speed on those puppies on those roads. Now of course when you approach the itty bitty towns, the cops will give you a ticket for going 1 or 2mph over the absurd speed limits-especially for out of state plates.I once drove on Highway 50 from Utah back to the bay area and pretty much blasted it 110-115 mph on big chunks. I discovered that even though my odometer was 160mph, my car was set to not go faster than 120mph. Aah-youth!!!
Comments 1 - 2 of 312 Next » Last » Search these comments
As someone who lives in the Bay Area, its clear that many people here just love their Bimmers, sports cars, and large luxury SUVs. What's more, it seems many are terribly concerned about having whatever happens to be the newest model.
On each and every day of the week I am surrounded on the freeways by cars that cost 60k,80k, or even 100k+. So much so that many might as well be Camrys and Accords. Oh- another 7 series? Yawn. There's another 50 I'll see on the way home. No, granted these are unquestionably nice cars. But then again, to me its a big waste of money.
I drive two beater Toyotas, one that I've actually had since high school. Both went past 250,000 miles years ago. Neither have any problems. I've always taken good care of them give them a nice wax job every few months, change the oil every 3,000 miles and keep them looking nice. Doesn't matter to me that they're almost 20 years old now. They still run, drive, and look like perfectly fine cars. I make a pretty good income and could quite easily go purchase the luxury car of my choice if I so chose. Its not that I can't afford a 90k car, but more that I'd rather not spend almost 100k on something that's going to depreciate massively as it ages.
If you think about it from a purely financial perspective, let's say that the average luxury car buyer buys the latest-greatest car every 6-7 years. Let's say the average price is around 60k. That equals close to 120k every decade or several million over the course of a lifetime. Had that money been invested in a 401k or stocks, that same person could have literally retired decades sooner.
Lastly, if your car goes 0-60 in 4 seconds and has a top speed of 200MPH, well who cares? The US has speed limits and thus you can't actually really use the car for what it was designed to do. Sort of like buying a blender and only ever being able to use the slowest setting.