While I agree that any big ticket item...car, boat, wife...can’t always be justified in financial terms...with the ridiculous prices of good secondhand cars nowadays...I think we are as close as we are ever going to get to saying that buying a new car makes sense
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The "savings" from giving up your Tesla (under Loan) for a Cheap, old car, paid off
- Thread starter RonKorakas
- Start date
golfpilot
Member
My monthly expenses on my model 3 is like $15 in cleaning supplies, $18 in electricity, $33 in tires ($800/24), $1 for windshield wipers maybe?, insurance ($60), and CA registration (~$50 a month). I dunno, its dirt cheap. My buddy has a gas car that is just a quick as my car and he is constantly doing "maintenance" and spends more on gas and oil changes in a year than I have spent in 3.5 years owning the car. And that is a newer, still under warranty car. Never mind the constant tuning and modding he has to do to make his car do 11.6 1/4 miles. The thing has to get tuned on raceday to adjust to temperature and humidity and stuff. That costs money. To be fair, I supercharge my car those days, that's expensive. Even if my car was financed, I prefer having the near $0 operating expenses over a finnicky mess an old "cheap" car would bring
Your problem is you bought a BMW. Had you purchased a Toyota Camry, you would have saved quite a bit. If you can use a socket wrench - even more. They’re incredibly easy to work on and very reliable.
So what you’re saying was op wasn’t really trying to see if he could save money, rather gave it a half-assed attempt? That’s fair.
I don't think it's half assed to try to save money within a set of parameters. If I want to buy a sporty sedan, in the EV world the model 3 is the main choice, and in the non-EV world, BMW basically invented the sport sedan. It's not super unusual to see a 3-series and model 3 cross shopped (and that's a decent number of us who are former 3-series / M3 owners). He thought an older 3-series would be a net savings over a new model 3.
I don’t get this. I still have an 07 Camry that my daughter now drives. Over 200k miles. It’s not the fastest car in the world but it’s been an amazing investment. Would I trade it for a BMW that constantly has issues? F no. Only maintenance I ever had to do is change some coil packs and drop a new radiator in it - both which I did myself by watching some YouTube videos. It’s costed me next to nothing for over a decade other than fuel and oil changes.I agree with this but who wants a Camry. I’ve had a BWM for last 15 years…but never far past warranty. Miss it but don’t miss the maintenance…
This is how you build wealth.
ZenRockGarden
Active Member
Given that Tesla's are currently an appreciating asset, and have incredibly good long term depreciation stats, if you currently have one I don't think it would make sense to sell it for something cheaper (which will then begin to depreciate and require maintenance)
If driving isn't something you enjoy, you're just not going to get it.
And realistically, no one is going to build wealth saving a few thousand over several years. Sure if you live every aspect of your life like that it's a problem... but otherwise most of us do spend some money on entertainment to make life less miserable.
Damn. Sorry to hear that man. Hopefully you get to a better place where life isn’t miserable at all and it costs you $0. But that’s a different conversation all together.
If you don’t think you can invest thousands of dollars over a decade and make some substantial money, I really don’t know what to tell you.
So you're telling me you spend your money strictly on necessities or appreciating assets? Don't take vacations? Go out to concerts? Don't go out to dinner? Buy nice clothes? Watch TV?
Driving is another form of entertainment to a lot of us. A Camry was never in the equation for me. If I didn't buy an M3P, the gas cars I looked at would have been along the lines of a BMW M2 or M3/4. The M3P at least allows me to get the level of engagement I want for a similar buy in price, while having considerably lower running costs.
I took the route of “delayed gratification”. When my wife and I got married, we lived below our means and saved all we could. We paid off our college loans and only bought vehicles that we could pay cash for. The only debt we had was our mortgage. Fast forward we have 3 kids all in private school with one going off to college. We don’t live paycheck to paycheck. Just came back from vacation and paid over 70k cash for a new M3P, winter wheels/tires, full PPF wrap and ceramic coat and my wife didn’t even question what I was spending the money on. Which to me is crazy since I just bought a new motorcycle 4 years ago and I thought that was going to be it…
Was it worth saving and investing all those years and not dropping it on *sugar* we didn’t need? Oh F yes!
.You do you bro. If it was easy, everyone would build substantial wealth and nobody would be broke. Do whatever makes YOU happy.
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But there are probably old less expensive cars that are engaging to drive but not as costly for maintenance and repair as an old BMW.
I agree with this but who wants a Camry
Well, given the volumes they sell Camrys and Corollas at…vs BMW 3 series… you’re technically in the minority
Not
everyone is bothered about enjoying driving, some see it as a mundane chore, hence Camry & Corolla, city cars & every non sport, Gti or supercar. To the majority it’s just a means of getting A to B.Well, given the volumes they sell Camrys and Corollas at…vs BMW 3 series… you’re technically in the minority
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