[pbonsalb]

Yes, I would have financed the difference between the X5 40i and the X5M.

[Donatello.]

It's too much when it impacts bills that matter or being able to put $ in savings, etc

[Donatello.]

Originally Posted by iX nOOky

How much is too much to spend on a car? At my age if you can't afford to write a check for it you can't afford it .

People still think this nonsense?

Maybe with today's interest rates if your 401K, IRA, etc is not earning more than said rate and you can stroke a check without depleting savings.

Anyone with half a brain knows most Americans cannot afford to pay cash for their car. That does not mean all of them are overextended.

The average new car payment in the US is over $700. The real problem is the prices of new cars is OUT OF CONTROL

[RPM33]

Originally Posted by Donatello.

People still think this nonsense?

Maybe with today's interest rates if your 401K, IRA, etc is not earning more than said rate and you can stroke a check without depleting savings.

Anyone with half a brain knows most Americans cannot afford to pay cash for their car. That does not mean all of them are overextended.

The average new car payment in the US is over $700. The real problem is the prices of new cars is OUT OF CONTROL

Donatello is 1000 percent correct. Not too many people can write a $100K check for a new M3 or M4.

The smart ones have a decent trade-in car and/or decent cash down payment to reduce the loan balance.

[XutvJet]

Originally Posted by Donatello.

People still think this nonsense?

Maybe with today's interest rates if your 401K, IRA, etc is not earning more than said rate and you can stroke a check without depleting savings.

Anyone with half a brain knows most Americans cannot afford to pay cash for their car. That does not mean all of them are overextended.

The average new car payment in the US is over $700. The real problem is the prices of new cars is OUT OF CONTROL

Is it that prices are out of control or is it that people's tastes and willingness to buy more high end cars has increased? In 1989, BMW sold around 68ķ cars in the US. In 2023, it sold 362k cars and SUVs. That is a staggering increase. In the 1980s and 1990s, is wasn't overly common to see German cars on the road in the US. Now it's common place. Many people over-leverage themselves for status. Same with houses. Someone living in a 2500+ Sq ft home wasn't very common prior to the 2000s. Now 3500+ Sq ft homes are the norm. Bigger house means filling it with more stuff too.

In 1990, a Honda CRX Si with manual everything including steering, windows, door locks, no ABS, a manual trans, a tape deck, and damn near nothing else in it in it had an MSRP of around $12500. In today's money, that's $31k.

And yeah, I'm one of those rare people that writes checks for their cars. Always have.

[pbonsalb]

Originally Posted by RPM33

Donatello is 1000 percent correct. Not too many people can write a $100K check for a new M3 or M4.

The smart ones have a decent trade-in car and/or decent cash down payment to reduce the loan balance.

There aren’t that many smart ones. Most BMW, for example, are leased. Most of the rest are financed. Just a small percentage are bought with cash. Leasing cost less per month than financing, since you are really just financing about 1/3 of the cost of the car (the balance is the residual that BMW estimates it can sell the car for after the lease).

If you have a good income, you can drive a nice car. Not everyone wants to wait probably years until they have the cash to purchase. And that is often perfectly OK. I have financed most of my cars, whether they cost $15k or $100k, even when I had the cash to pay in full. Preserving cash can be useful. I also usually keep cars a while (E39 528i for 15 years, E36 M3 for 20 years, E90 M3 for 10 years, E61 535xi for 13 years and will have 4 years with my F90 M5 in a few months.