Life Advice Needed

[MRM]

The RX 8 is way too expensive and the lease purchase price is more than it is worth.

Buy a used Toyota Camry, drive it, save money with it every month because it is reliable and cheap, and buy your 911 in a couple of years when the amount of money you didn't spend buying a fancy car now totals the cost of the car you want.

If you need a fancy car to bolster your self-image you should be honest and get a bumper sticker that says "I got this car to compensate for the shortcomings in my pants". A car is form and function. Use the cheap functionality of the Camry until you can get the perfect fusion of formand function - the 911 of your dreams.

[dd74]

Originally posted by rammstein

A) Buyout the car-> the buyout will be around $17k. The car will only have about 21K miles. I can continue to AutoX it, and have an awesome car. I will have to finance it through a credit union, so thats something to consider.

What happens to the car if the leasee doesn't buy the car out? Does it move over to the used car lot? And will $17K be the price they'll ask, or will they jack it up?

I ask only because buying a lease turn in has been suggested to me a couple times as a way to get a nice car without the "nice car price."

[rammstein]

Originally posted by MRM
The RX 8 is way too expensive and the lease purchase price is more than it is worth.

Buy a used Toyota Camry, drive it, save money with it every month because it is reliable and cheap, and buy your 911 in a couple of years when the amount of money you didn't spend buying a fancy car now totals the cost of the car you want.

If you need a fancy car to bolster your self-image you should be honest and get a bumper sticker that says "I got this car to compensate for the shortcomings in my pants". A car is form and function. Use the cheap functionality of the Camry until you can get the perfect fusion of formand function - the 911 of your dreams.

Hey buddy-

While I appreciate the attention you've given my crotch, lemme point out that in my initial post, I stated that I don't care about the image whatsoever. For christ's sake, I willingly drove a rusted out Crown Vic for years. And I liked it! The other 2 sports cars were bought for pure driving pleasure- if I could have the RX8 in a body that looked like an aztek, for $10000 less, I would do it in a heartbeat.

And who told you about my pee-pee?

[Dan in Pasadena]

If you think you're "piss-dirt-poor" then my advice would first be to STOP beating up on yourself and resolve to make smarter money decisions. When you "beat yourself up" mentally...there is no one in there; in your head, to defend you! It's poisonous thinking which leads to, "Oh well, who am I kidding I'll never get a handle on this" kind of defeatist thinking.

Get the HELL outta debt of ANY kind. Don't buy that lease car and don't autocross anymore until your financial condition is radically improved. Personally? (even though I'll get flamed) buy a clean, several years old Toyota or Honda ($3,000-$4,000) and plan on driving it long term to eliminate money expenditures on cars for as long as possible. Lurk here, get your Porsche "fix" vicariously and systematically put every dollar you WOULD have put into that lease payment against your debts, one by one. When you pay one off apply the payments you WERE making on the lease and on that paid off debt to the next one, and on and on. Best of luck. It CAN be done but it is a long road.

[lendaddy]

Yep, I went from driving and loving my 930 every day to a salvage title seven year old Toyota PU. I have my fathers SC in the garage but I don't drive it as it just wouldn't feel right. I get my fix here and I'm fine. I'll have a 993 C2S some day, silver if you please, and that's enough for me right now.

Craptastic isn't as bad as it sounds Ram

[rammstein]

I just wish someone hadn't spilled the beans on my pee-pee.

But seriously, I appreciate everyone's thoughts. I know damn well what the right choice is, like I said all along. Its just so hard.

As a side note, I am not in any real debt (save for the student loans), but my goal in life is to become financially independent by building up enough cash to start making wise investments in commercial RE, the field I work in. Then, I can have the money and time to be at the track, whether it be in a car or kart or whatever.

I think I have to avoid something like a Miata. The temptation to put money in it would be too much.

Sidenote- if I DO decide to turn it in, I would happily sell it to anyone here for the buyout, no profit to me. It really has been a great car, no problems at all. It was manufactured in Hiroshima! Its kind of like a 944s2- OK power, not tons of it, and WAY lesspower than the chassis can handle.

[on2wheels52]

"we want the world and we want it
now"

My next car (or lease) payment is the first. Can only think of four new purchases in the last 35 years, have been a number of late models, several under $1k, and one for $35.
Jim

[MRM]

I didn't say you had shortcomings in your pants. I said that if you needed a fancy car to bolster your self image, you did. Kind of Freudian how you jumped on that subject, isn't it?

OK, I'm just giving you a hard time, but there is something serious in what I am saying and something contradictory about what you are saying. If you spent years driving rusty Crown Vics and liked it, what's the issue with turning in the flashy new car you own now? It's a car. You have a good job. You'll get another. Theres a saying about living like no one else would be willing to live until you can afford to live like no one else can. The two thoughts go together.

Look at the numbers. The lease buyout price is higher than you could get the same car for off the used car lot, but you wouldn't know another car's history. The cost of paying back your student loans and the car loan are more than you can comfortably afford.

If you can stand to buy a three to five year old Toyota Camry you'll have cheap, comfortable and efficient transportation for as long as you want it. The money you save driving that car for 200,000 miles will pay for a brand new 911.

Let me use myself as an example. My wife and I went through exactly what you are going through now. We're probably ten years older than you. We now have a very comfortable income (thanks to a very good client, knock on wood). You know what we have for daily drivers? A 2000 Camry and a 1998 Camry. We've had them both since 2000. We'll keep them for as long as I can see.

With the money we've saved we paid off our second house and are otherwise pretty debt free. I have enough cash to comfortably buy a newer 911 when I get ready. I'm targeting next fall when prices fall again, but you never know when the bug to buy will get the best of me. None of that could be possible if we were paying $500 a month times two for newer cars. Take that thousand dollar a month savings times almost seven years and you have a serious piece of change.

An article in the WSJ a couple of weeks ago gave five or six simple steps that people could do to save the $700,000 in cash it is probably necessary for them to retire in comfort. Step one was to buy a cheaper car and keep it two cycles instead of one. Total savings and income if the savings were invested over 40 years: $600,000.

Think about it. The decision you make today will live with you the rest of your financial life. I wouldn't waste my time and yours responding seriously to your question if I didn't care about you making the right decision.

[fintstone]

Buy the 951 back.

[rammstein]

MRM- yeah, I knew the crotch short-comings were in jest.

[on2wheels52]

MRM

"An article in the WSJ a couple of weeks ago gave five or six simple steps that people could do to save the $700,000 in cash it is probably necessary for them to retire in comfort"

You mean I could have quit three years ago?
Wife and I may have fifteen years on you, it is possible for nominally middle class people to pull it off.
Jim

[MRM]

Of course it is. That was my point about buying modest cars. I didn't quit at the $700,000 either. Hoping to retire even more comfortably on a beach somewhere when I'm 50.

[Jims5543]

Reading back through this thread I change my anser to a:

+1

To Dantilla's post. Walk away from the 8 but a nice Miata cheap and you can still AX and do track days. Save your money and get ahead.

Originally posted by Dantilla
I bought a 1993 Miata with hard top, soft top, leather, cruise, A/C that will make a 911 owner weep, all for $4500.

Well over 100,000 miles, and between my wife and I, it gets driven just about every day. Dead reliable, and an absolute hoot to drive. Put some good tires on it, and it's ready to autocross.

If you look around, early Miatas can be found for 3000.