Partner wants to buy a Super Car worth 150k

[Lordosis]

Panscan wrote:

I find it intersting people freak out about someone wanting an expensive car. Do you all live in 1500 Sq foot houses in Kansas? If not I don’t see much difference and they likely get more use out of their expensive car than you do out of your 5th bedroom, second family room or whatever is in a mcmansion

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We close down the east wing when we do not have guests

 

Seriously I think the difference is;

You need to live somewhere.  And if you buy an expensive house it is a luxury and you can live there. The value tends to keep up with inflation.

You need transportation.  If you buy a luxury car I doubt it would be your daily driver.  It is likely a secondary car.  Needs storage for the winter.  Needs extra care and maintenance.  It depreciates.

I think the more apt comparison would be buying a second home that is 5 times the worth of what is a basic home.

 

I also think there are not very many car people on this forum

[Gas_Doc]

MPMD wrote:

This is different than a premium watch or a premium set of golf clubs by an order of magnitude.

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It's actually hard to find a set of irons from the major manufacturer that runs north of $2,000. This super car gambit is actually two orders of magnitude from golf clubs.

[MPMD]

Lordosis wrote:

 

 

I also think there are not very many car people on this forum

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To paraphrase our fearless leader I am very much a car guy, I just don't buy stuff I can't afford!

[CordMcNally]

There’s a very large difference between spending on an expensive house and spending on an expensive car. I find people tend to make poorer financial/investment decisions when their consumer spending involves $150k cars. That’s my observation only and I have zero data to back that up.

[ZZZ]

@mpd

'When you spend that much on a vehicle you are purely paying for the name on the front of the car, full stop.'

Lol. Cars aren't everyone's thing. However, to suggest that something pushing 700hp that can pull 1.1g or more on a skidpad is 'paying for the name' belies an utter ignorance of what exotic supercars can do. Sure, they don't make financial sense for the masses, but that's not who they're for. For all we know, OPs partner is a single neurosurgeon making $1.5M with an eight-figure trust fund and no intention of having kids -- in which case, 150k is chump change.


Not everyone wants to take the bus to work.

[MPMD]

ZZZ wrote:

@mpd

‘When you spend that much on a vehicle you are purely paying for the name on the front of the car, full stop.’

Lol. Cars aren’t everyone’s thing. However, to suggest that something pushing 700hp that can pull 1.1g or more on a skidpad is ‘paying for the name’ belies an utter ignorance of what exotic supercars can do. Sure, they don’t make financial sense for the masses, but that’s not who they’re for. For all we know, OPs partner is a single neurosurgeon making $1.5M with an eight-figure trust fund and no intention of having kids — in which case, 150k is chump change.

Not everyone wants to take the bus to work.

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I know they do more than regular vehicles, but what is your actual experience if you buy one?

If you are daily driving a Ferrari at the level where you are doing more than you can do in an Audi then you are probably doing something illegal. That's what I'm talking about. I'd love to go to one of those racetracks and drive one around the loop a few times it'd be sweet. But you can't do that outside of playgrounds where it is allowed.

Do people really get that much enjoyment out of knowing that their vehicle is ridiculously over-engineered for what they do with it?

If the OP's partner is as you described than go back and re-read my post. If you're burning money you don't need you should do whatever makes you happy. I just think this is a unique situation with minimal marginal performance increase and significant increased carrying cost. As I said if you buy a $10k shotgun or purse you don't have to pay money every month to insure or repair it, it's a one time hit.

[Panscan]

My feeble(albeit poor) justification is that extra performance could save ones life one day and allow them to avoid another dangerous driver!

[CordMcNally]

Again, I think it depends what the partner wants out of the car. I don’t see too many exotics at the drag strip or racing (and winning) on the street. Is it because there just aren’t as many of those cars out there? Sure. But it’s also because there’s usually much better options

[CordMcNally]

@Panscan , that extra performance can also increase the chance that they’re the dangerous driver. Didn’t they make a big deal about the number of people that never made their first payment on the old Shelby Cobras because they wrecked them? I’m not sure because it was before my time but I thought that was a thing at one point.

[VagabondMD]

fatlittlepig wrote:

I won’t spare you.

Bought a 28K car, heated leather seats, Apple car play, gps/maps etc. more reliable than the Ferrari or other “super” car, more fuel efficient, and an order of magnitude less expensive to maintain. A true super car indeed.. oh yeah and none of this angst and stress about how to pay or finance it. The purchase amount was about as stressful to me as buying a pack of gum, walked in and walked out.

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I find myself either agreeing completely with @flp or disagreeing completely. There is never a middle ground. In this case, I agree and have had mostly similar experiences buying cars in recent years.

[Zaphod]

Lordosis wrote:

Panscan wrote:

I find it intersting people freak out about someone wanting an expensive car. Do you all live in 1500 Sq foot houses in Kansas? If not I don’t see much difference and they likely get more use out of their expensive car than you do out of your 5th bedroom, second family room or whatever is in a mcmansion

Click to expand…

We close down the east wing when we do not have guests

 

Seriously I think the difference is;

You need to live somewhere.  And if you buy an expensive house it is a luxury and you can live there. The value tends to keep up with inflation.

You need transportation.  If you buy a luxury car I doubt it would be your daily driver.  It is likely a secondary car.  Needs storage for the winter.  Needs extra care and maintenance.  It depreciates.

I think the more apt comparison would be buying a second home that is 5 times the worth of what is a basic home.

 

I also think there are not very many car people on this forum

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Agree with Panscan here, money is fungible, and theres no difference in the end. If you're frugal but doing 4 super vacations a year, etc...I dont see the difference, only the balance sheet matters in the end. If the numbers are similar, ie, % made/saved, etc...than it should not matter at all whether your discretionary spending is "experiences" like vacation or a fun car.

Its all just signaling and judgement after that. I dont think I would personally buy a car that expensive unless I had a ton of cash, but I feel the same about vacations and cant see the difference, except you have the car until you sell it or it dies.

[Lordosis]

Zaphod wrote:

Agree with Panscan here, money is fungible, and theres no difference in the end

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Without a doubt.  But I personally think an extra 150K in your home is better then a 150K extra vehicle.   But you are right it is still 150K you cannot spend on other things.

In reality these things do not live in isolation.  The guy with the fancy car has a fancy house and the fancy watch. Likely takes extravagant vacations as well.  Maybe the golf clubs too I am not sure.

[Tim]

Zaphod wrote:

except you have the car until you sell it or it dies.

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https://www.motortrend.com/news/7-sports-cars-hard-to-handle/

Cars, motorcycles, buses, and the big trucks all take special drivers licenses to operate on the roads.

Somehow we as a society, we exempt muscle cars and super cars. Driving high performance cars are a different skill as well. It's only on tracks that a special license is needed. The driver really needs to perform well at a high skill level.

Carry on.

[ZZZ]

"The guy with the fancy car has a fancy house and the fancy watch. Likely takes extravagant vacations as well. Maybe the golf clubs too I am not sure."

Yep, lots of people are really rich and have lots of nice things. Asceticism isn't all that great when you've got money to burn. Good for them, enjoying the fruits of their labors or good fortune.

[fatlittlepig]

ZZZ wrote:

“The guy with the fancy car has a fancy house and the fancy watch. Likely takes extravagant vacations as well. Maybe the golf clubs too I am not sure.”

Yep, lots of people are really rich and have lots of nice things. Asceticism isn’t all that great when you’ve got money to burn. Good for them, enjoying the fruits of their labors or good fortune.

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Well many of the people with the ostentatious lifestyle (esp physicians) can’t afford it, and there is a lot of space between asceticism and buying a Ferrari and Rolex.