OldManBeach

Car Analogy

Tell you're a car guy. Always have been. That you've put things on hold for a long time, denying yourself for the greater good. You know once kids come the party is over, so its now or never.

The clincher, the car will be worth more when you go to sell it. So you're not losing money. No, its not an investment. But you get something thats very important to you, that ties up some available capital for a while, but you get it all back, and then some.

md6380

I bought mine before we got married and it got grandfathered in with the deal. She lets me keep it because it keeps me entertained...that and she's afraid of what I would eventually try to buy if I got rid of it. LOL.

rudyy

Your wife will probably say " I think we should buy a house first. We need some savings for the down payment..."

Be prepared for the response.

ThreeD

Like others have said every relationship is different. I'm in a similar situation as you - in my late 20s, just got married last year, and just got the S2000 last month. We have not been the most comfortable with money just since we are both just recently out of graduate school, but same as you, we are fairly conservative in our spending, make a good amount of money, and are able to save a good amount every month. I had a E36 M3 that I've owned for many, many years, and have always been a huge car enthusiast, and she has been supportive of my expensive hobby (in fact, our first date was in the M3, and she said she fell in love with the car before she fell in love with me), and over the past years we had been dating she had gotten more interested in the hobby (she already had some interest prior to us dating), so this helped to lubricate the decision.

But when it came down to deciding to get a new car, it was still a tough decision. The M3 had just had a lot of work into it, but like all german cars, you just never know what's going to go wrong with it next (and each time, easily a couple grand). It was running fantastic but probably would need a new engine in a couple years the way I drive it (a lot of canyon / track time). I had owned it for a long time and was ready to move onto the next one, so essentially I explained to her - either way whether we keep the M3 or sell the M3 and get an S2000, we will be putting a good amount of money into keeping a fun car around. The S2000 was something I've wanted for a very long time as well, and she knew it, and since it was now or never (kids will probably be on the way in a couple years), S2000 values are holding steady if not climbing and it's a Honda versus the E36 M3 which is also climbing in value but is a monumental maintenance money pit and likely would need a new engine in a couple years, it wasn't that hard for us to decide to sell the M3 and get a S2000. She is now LOVING the S2000, lol, but she had never been in one prior to us buying one.

The bigger issue though will be how you guys manage and discuss money. We discuss our budget monthly and sometimes try to make it a date, and actually a year or two ago I set up a huge spreadsheet kind of covering our 5-10 year plan, as well as a overall 40 year plan (yes, I am a nut) to see how much we need to save to meet our goals for buying a house, kids, retirement goals, Viper ACR goals , etc. You need to be able to discuss with her what her precise concerns and fears are, deeper than just "I'm not comfortable spending that much money". Her main concern, probably, will be whether your purchase now will affect your ability to meet your future household goals. It takes a lot of work to put together a model that can give you a rough idea of where to set your budget so that you can hit your target goals, but once you are able to show, in numbers, that yes, you can spend $10k or $20k or $30k on a car, and still be able to buy a house in x number of years, then it makes the discussion much easier.

Everyone manages their money differently. We wanted to keep a joint account and make our financial decisions together, and it took a number of months and a lot of work to figure out how to do it. We now have a yearly budgeting tool that we plug our monthly spending numbers into to assess how we are doing on a monthly basis, and have money set aside for spending on cars, personal allowances, etc, and it has been working out really well.

Happy to share the tools as well if you're interested in them.

TL;DR : talk to your fiancee, figure out her concerns, and address them. Or, put it off until after the wedding.

AlivingLegend

My wife still doesn't think its a good idea, and if she had her way, we would sell it. I thought I had her convinced that it was OK before I bought it, but nope. It still comes out sometimes that she thinks its unreasonable that I have a car that "only I can use".

importluva

Having a baby didn’t stop us. In fact you could use it as your getaway car or therapeutic car when the kid drives you insane so it’s quite necessary

rpg51

I just recalled how my first S came about. My Prius was ageing and needed to be replaced. Privately my thoughts initially were that I could get an S for a lot less than my typical purchase of a new car in the 25 - 30K range and so why not? The why not part was, of course, winter in Vermont. But, we have always owned three cars, one is a 4X4 pick up. So, I figured I'll use the pick up a little more by driving it as my daily in winter. No worries. My wife was on board as far as getting rid of the prius, which was my daily, and getting a new car. So, I just kind of mentioned one evening that instead of spending all the money on a new car this time, I was going to buy an older very low mileage used Honda for a lot less. No worries.

I came home with my first S.

The reality is that the "bargain" we have is that we set aside what we both agree is reasonable for retirement etc., after that, we try to enjoy the fruits of our labor. She is fine with all that. She enjoys riding in the S on warm summer evenings with the top down.

Now, I have two. That is another story.

pwrinxs

My 5,000 mile supercharged s2k also got grandfathered in. When my wife and I first started talking, she would talk about her 4 best lifelong friends and their adventures nonstop and I would talk about the S and my adventures nonstop. We both listened to what mattered most to us and what we believed kept us out of trouble. When we met, I took her for a leisurely top down drive. When I liked her enough, I told her that I'm much like this car but every once in a while, I like to have fun. Without warning, at 8k rpm banging gears and switching 6 lanes of traffic and zipping in and out (I was more young and immature at the time), I saw the fear and panic on her face turn into a huge smile and a wow. I think that was the moment we both impressed each other and confirmed that's the type of life we wanted together too: calm and steady on most days but every once in a while, time to reset and let the fun take control!

Theres a lot of good points and advice on here and I hope you read it. My perspective five years later is this. I think finances are a shared item even if both spouses earn. Thankfully I was able to get the car of my dreams before getting married. I was even able to spend thousands of dollars in parts and upgrades when I didnt have a wife and kids to spend money on. Now, when I need a part or upgrade or a day at the track, I can still do it but it usually costs me a designer purse, watch, or a weekend at the in laws whol live far away and I'm ok with that. Life is about give and take.

I would say you could find a local member on here or find one for sale and take her for a test drive. Find a nice road with a few curves and put the top down. Point out to your significant other what you really like about the s. Then maybe even show her some YouTube videos what this car is capable of or push it a little bit and demonstrate during a drive. I am constantly doing these things to preemptively strike the target so the s doesnt become the target. Dont forget, I also remind my wife time to time that just like I sold my first S for what I bought it for after putting 30k miles on it, this is a rarer car and holds its value and it may be creeping up. It lets you enjoy it at very little cost. When we leave the kid and go out for dinner or a spa day, I always take the S and remind her why its so special.

Now I also have another secret weapon. Even my 2 year old girl knows how much I love this car and alsways helps me wash and detail it. She will sit in the drivers seat for hours while I work on the S or another car. She even throws tantrums when we walk past it to take the family sedan when we go out. Now its 2 vs 1 :-)

jts09

It was never an issue. Before my wife & I were married, I owned two RX7's, an '81 and an '88 Turbo. I sold the '81 when we moved to Colorado and the '88 after the birth of our second child. Hard to justify a car without room for both kids. As soon as the RX8 came out, I sold my Accord Coupe to buy one. The back seats were more than big enough for the kids. With both kids in their own cars, I was still happily driving my '04 RX8 with ~120k miles until it was totaled by a driver that crossed into my lane when making a left turn out of a Sam's Club parking lot. The decision to buy an S2000 was completely mine. No need to worry about seating for 4, I wanted a true sports car.