S2020

this thread How many months/years of gross income?, Car purchase. What is appropriate? was inconclusive.
people start arguing about depreciating asset and what not.
let's change the perspective a little.

given your exact financial situation today, what would your income have to be to spend, let's say, $125K on a GT3.
the question of affordability is relative but let's make it a bit more absolute. Affordable means that you can pay for it. ie, given my current financial situation, I can afford a GT3 (but I chose not to get one because there are many other things I'd rather get with that money). Given my current financial situation, I cannot pay for an Enzo because it would bankrupt me, therefore I cannot afford an Enzo.
But if I were to make $400K/year and for years to come, I'll probably go down to my local Porsche dealer and pick up a GT3. So for me to get a GT3, I'd want to be making north of $400K. For a F360 or F430 and its associated costs, I'd not feel comfortable unless I'm making at least $6-700K/year. Things could change in the future if I have a larger net worth.

S2020

I know people who make $400K a year who buy a Cayman S instead of a 911 because they cannot "afford" it. for them, to buy a 911, they would have to make more than $400K/year.

yellow2001

they have other things to spend their money on. car is not on the top of their list.

rai

imo

something like $360K ($30K per month take home).

everyone needs a car for everyday driving but that's something like a TL or similar.

To buy a car that costs 3x what a normal car costs I'd have to have 'left over' money. Meaning pay house, pay bills, pay savings etc.. then still have a couple of grand per month left over then it's game on.

Also it depends, some people are able to lease a car through work or as a tax write-off that would place a car (lease) payment as something like pre-tax money. In that case a $100K would lease more like a $60K car (since it's pre-tax money).

I am not able to do that but it makes larger cars easier to lease and I think a lot of people would lease cars like S-class or 7-series (etc.) for similar reasons. Not that they are as expensive as the GT3 but say if you could lease a $70K S-Class but not pay more than somebody who didn't have a tax break would pay to lease a E-Class.

clawhammer

Personally, I would need to have a net worth of $1.25 million or more.

Penforhire

People are weird about money.

A couple of my oldest friends, married couple with no kids, have bitched about the alternative minimum tax for about a decade. Yet only a couple of years ago did they splurge and buy the wife a 3-series BMW (not M, just a 3). She drove a ratty Grand Am before that.

They're both barely over 40 and retiring this year to live in Hawaii (and travel). But they just can't see spending big money on a car. They'll blow $20K on a live-aboard dive boat for a week for ten of their friends (was fun)... but not a hot car.

People are weird. If I were in their shoes I'd be driving some sort of exotic. But then again, I'm not retiring early to Hawaii!

To S2020, we think alike. I'd probably purchase a GT3 if my income was steady near $400K. That'd match my sensibilities and my history, spending roughly 1/3rd of my gross annual on a car.

sahtt

Income isn't a very good indicator. If you are single living in a 120k house at 5% interest, take home 150k after taxes, and invest 75k directly in to the financial markets and have a net worth of 1m before purchase at a younger age say 25-35 y/o, only go on one 3k vacation each year, etc. you could probably afford a very expensive car [125k+].

On the flip side, if you make 400k as a surgeon but live in socal in a 800k house with 3 kids that will soon go to college that all drive or will drive cars, pay for all their auto insurance, health insurance, pay your own life insurance, your wife's mb suv and all her $hit, 3 8k vacations per year for the family, constantly buy a new middle level MB every 3 years than you probably can't 'afford' a 125k used aston martin/ferrari.

I'm definitely going the 1st route vs the second one.

TommyDeVito

300k minimum for the OP. I wouldn't buy one though.
Even if I had a 500k + year, I wouldn't feel the need to spend that much. GTR or Z06 would be sufficient.

Cthemall123

well, i got my 04 used for $26,000 over a year ago. based on the ratio of my income and price tag for the car. For me to afford 125k car and live comfortably, I would have to make about $360,000-$380,000 a year.

of course, i can sell my condo, forget about retirement, and rent a cheap apartment today and buy a GT3 right now. But lets be real. We all have other priorities as well.

Good topic btw, now i know i wont be driving any 100K+ cars for a long time

bjohnston

I think there are WAY too many personal variables to make any one person's circumstances translatable to the next. I could say what I could afford to buy now and choose not to or how much more I would need to make to buy this expensive car or that expensive car, but I doubt my personal choices would be of much relevance to the next guy or girl.