How to Finance Your First Exotic Car

[CM]

I Find This Humerus wrote:

NaOH wrote:

CM wrote:

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>4-5 year old Mazda RX-7

>a doctor would drive a much nicer car.

That’s crazy talk right there. Crazy talk. An RX-7 of any vintage is a classy vehicle that signifies its owner is classy as well.

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I’ve always considered myself fortunate that I’ve never had a taste for true exotics – the fanciest cars I can picture myself owning might be in the $100-120k range (and yes, I realize that is still obscenely expensive), and tend to be more high-performance variants of nice but otherwise unobtrusive sedans.

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Mazda RX-7’s weren’t made 4-5 years ago. Unless you meant to say Mazda RX-8?

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[I Find This Humerus]

CM wrote:

I Find This Humerus wrote:

NaOH wrote:

CM wrote:

Click to expand…

>4-5 year old Mazda RX-7

>a doctor would drive a much nicer car.

That’s crazy talk right there. Crazy talk. An RX-7 of any vintage is a classy vehicle that signifies its owner is classy as well.

***

I’ve always considered myself fortunate that I’ve never had a taste for true exotics – the fanciest cars I can picture myself owning might be in the $100-120k range (and yes, I realize that is still obscenely expensive), and tend to be more high-performance variants of nice but otherwise unobtrusive sedans.

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Mazda RX-7’s weren’t made 4-5 years ago. Unless you meant to say Mazda RX-8?

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That’s quoted from earlier in the thread: “I drove a 4-5 year old Mazda RX-7 as a senior resident and first-year attending.”

This was 1989-1990.

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Oh, ok. Then it makes sense.

[BladeRunner]

I love cars.

 

And motorcycles even more.

 

In my opinion, it is all about the enjoyment you get out of the vehicle.

I honestly have yet to find another car that pushes my buttons as much as the Honda S2000 that I have driven daily for the past near 18 years now . It is light and basic, a little loud and quick enough to be fun. Dropping the top for the drive home on a chilly night after a stressful trip to the ER can literally "chill" me out. Also, it is easy to work on and parts are cheap as I do all my own work. I put a rollbar and harnesses in it and do track days at times, where I get passed a lot of course. However, it can be much more fun to drive a slow car fast, than barely touch the capabilities of a truly fast car.

I have a friend/patient who is on his second Ferrari 488GTB. He wrecked the first one unfortunately. It is achingly beautiful, one of the prettiest man made objects that I have ever seen.

Nonetheless, I honestly think that I have much more "fun" with my car than he has had with his.

The possessions can own us, if we are not careful.

[Matas]

BladeRunner wrote:

I put a rollbar and harnesses in it and do track days at times, where I get passed a lot of course. However, it can be much more fun to drive a slow car fast, than barely touch the capabilities of a truly fast car.

 

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A well-driven s2000 will surprise a lot of "faster" cars on the track.

[BladeRunner]

Matas wrote:

BladeRunner wrote:

I put a rollbar and harnesses in it and do track days at times, where I get passed a lot of course. However, it can be much more fun to drive a slow car fast, than barely touch the capabilities of a truly fast car.

 

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A well-driven s2000 will surprise a lot of “faster” cars on the track.

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Unfortunately, the faster cars face few surprises from me.

The one time that I became convinced that I was "above average" after passing an NSX at Road Atlanta, I ended up in the tire wall.

Have that one on in car video, though I had to delete the audio when showing it to the kids due to language : )

But I have a lot of fun!

[NaOH]

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[Matas]

NaOH wrote:

Agreed on the ‘slow car fast’ thing. I’ve been itching to pick up a old Miata for $2-3k, spend a bit rehabbing it, and just goof around with it… maybe sell it in a year or two for basically what I paid for it.

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They're out there. It's a great way to start, and pretty inexpensive. The nice thing about the Miata is you can flog the daylights out of it and still maintain speeds that won't land you in jail.

[The White Coat Investor]

I Find This Humerus wrote:

The White Coat Investor wrote:

I Find This Humerus wrote:

CM wrote:

I Find This Humerus wrote:

Why do you say that?

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Excellent name.  

Welcome to the forum.

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Why thank you. Anyone know how to get gifs to work as the avatar? It works on my profile page but not in the forum.

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No GIFs, sorry. We already had one forum user who posted one with every single post. We’ve got him down to jpg now, which is a little easier on the eyes.

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You should update your profile pages then where it says gifs are allowed formats so other people don’t waste time trying to figure out whats wrong.

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Thanks. I'll put it on the list.

[Hatton]

I had not been following this thread because cars really don't interest me.  Full disclosure I have owned a Porshe.  I now drive a FORD SUV.

In my younger years when I went clubbing I did not care what kind of car a guy drove.  I think this is just ridiculous.  I would recommend passing on any female you meet in a bar who is overly interested in your expensive automobile.

[kuma1212]

BladeRunner wrote:

In my opinion, it is all about the enjoyment you get out of the vehicle.

I honestly have yet to find another car that pushes my buttons as much as the Honda S2000 that I have driven daily for the past near 18 years now . It is light and basic, a little loud and quick enough to be fun. Dropping the top for the drive home on a chilly night after a stressful trip to the ER can literally “chill” me out. Also, it is easy to work on and parts are cheap as I do all my own work. I put a rollbar and harnesses in it and do track days at times, where I get passed a lot of course. However, it can be much more fun to drive a slow car fast, than barely touch the capabilities of a truly fast car.

I have a friend/patient who is on his second Ferrari 488GTB. He wrecked the first one unfortunately. It is achingly beautiful, one of the prettiest man made objects that I have ever seen.

Nonetheless, I honestly think that I have much more “fun” with my car than he has had with his.

The possessions can own us, if we are not careful.

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Totally agree with you!  The vast majority of folks on this forum are not true car enthusiasts (there are other forums for that).  But for some people, including some who have a good sense of finances and money, cars are a true passion.  I have no issue with this at all.  The ones that feel they need a nice car to attract the opposite sex or to feel a sense of status or self worth are lame.

I love to feel a car and an S2000 or Miata, or used bmw (like e36 m3) are not that expensive and are awesome drivers cars.  I still love my (now sold) 2004 VW R32 manual transmission.  Miss that thing and regret selling it, especially since it has held its value really well.

 

[I Find This Humerus]

Coastalinvestor wrote:

Sorry I guess posts like these are just low-order compared to what I’ve been reading on other finance websites and books.  Posts should be devoted to arming physicians with knowledge that increases their net worth & financial literacy.  Trust me, I love cars as well I guess I just don’t see the point of discussing it here.

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I see this forum more as a place where like-minded and like-career people can share thoughts on all things.

[ajagannathan]

Interesting discussion here, I also am of a mind that this is an appropriate forum to discuss how a car enthusiast (or junkie) like myself can more prudently indulge their passion.  I've done a number of foolish things with regards to car purchases, especially early in my career, including leasing a new 2008 porsche 911 C4S straight out of fellowship, followed by frequent selling/buying of sports cars, sometimes with little to no depreciation or even appreciation, sometimes with very painful depreciation.  A lot of expensive lessons, but I've learned through them what I do and don't derive utility from in the cars I buy, and how to maximize this.

[CryptoMD]

I had an attending in residency that enjoyed exotic cars. I wish I could remember the exact $/mile amount he said his Ferrari (at the time) cost to drive or own, it wasn’t cheap but I also remember thinking it wasn’t as bad as I expected it to be. He did a good job IMO of mitigating costs by buying used, putting relatively few miles on them, and understanding maintenance schedules and depreciation tables of the particular model so that he could own during a time period where relatively little maintenance was expected. He managed to sell one while I was working with him for the exact same $ amount that he paid for it despite owning it for a couple of years. I remember he would always talk about trying to find desperate athletes new to the area that weren’t patient enough to wait for a good deal and were more likely to buy the first Ferrari (for example) they could get their hands on. No idea how often that actually worked out for him.

It probably didn’t hurt that he was a surgeon in his 60’s and his wife was a CFO of a local hospital system. At some point I guess you just might have more money than you really need...I drive a 08 Ford Escape. I wouldn’t know what that’s like.

[Chickenlittle]

Realize this is about financing but if you want exotic car price a 2 year old one it will:

1.open eyes to see depreciation on it and

2. Make you realize how much better deal a used one would be

also look at maintenance are repair costs on car a real eye opener.  Once I could afford too stopped financing my cars and paid completely for them. Not investment but to my eye should be considered consumables.

[ajagannathan]

Agreed, but as WCI often mentions, those that are on his site and frequent the forums have self selected already and don't really need the advice, lol.

Even if I could go back in time and advise my 30 yo straight out of fellowship self to never lease and only buy cars with cash, I doubt he would listen.