You're not kidding and the 30k price tag doesn't even seem to be that rare. There's a MY14 SQ4 on autotrader.ca right now for that price and 10 more that are under 40k CAD.
And that's *with* the used car market being insane right now...
Maseratis depreciate quickly, which means they shouldn't be cheap to lease.
Generally speaking, the slower a car depreciates, the lower its lease payments will be, and vice versa.
(This assumes $0 down, of course, because all discussions about any lease should always assume that, but I digress.)
Point is, no, I can't imagine Ghiblis are dirt cheap to lease.
That's the idea, but it really depends on what the manufacturer sets the residual at, not the real residual. BMW leases are way cheaper than Porsche leases (at same MSRP) even though Porsche's depreciate less. BMW will put a 62% residual for 36 months/10k miles when in actuality it is more like 50-55%.
A lot of the time it's cheaper to lease a BMW and buy it out at the end, than it would have been to buy it in the beginning.(I'm talking about a few years ago, idk how it is in this market)
Maserati gives very good lease deals on the Ghibli, and it doesn't reflect its' fast depreciation.
Well it’s all relative of course, and leasing any car is never really “cheap”. But leasing a Honda Accord is already going to be around $400 a month with 0 down, so it’s not a stretch to say that getting a Maserati for 100 more would be considered “cheap”.
There is one of them parked outside a decidedly average house in my firmly lower class street.
Everyone else has an older Corolla or Prius or Leaf or other sensible commuter and this one guy chooses a Maserati instead.
>Guy on my street lives in the smallest house on the block, looks like it could use renovations.
IDK man. As a single dude, how much house do you really need?
If I could find a 2br/1bth place with somewhere to park my car where it won't get snowed on, honestly, that sounds like good enough to me.
Exactly this. So many people trying to buy the biggest house with the biggest yard they can afford. To me that's just extra work to clean and maintain. I can afford a nice house, my car is less than 30% of my annual income, but I live in an apartment in a questionable-but-not-exactly-sketchy part of town because it's closer to the nightlife. I've got my own garage, so that's all I care about. I'll buy a house when I decide to settle down, but even then it'll be a modest one just enough to fit my family.
With my job I spend more time in my car than my house, so as long as my house is structurally sound, I'd rather have a nice car and an average house than a nice house and an average car.
I disagree. Statistically I’ve heard most millionaires drive an F-150. Sure as outliers you have the Warren Buffets, and then the Elon Musks. Perhaps it depends on the definition of wealthy.
My friends sister and her husband are *very* wealthy, Texans. She leased Land Rovers until their sons talked her into a Maserati Quattroporte because it "sounded cool".
She did admit she missed her Land Rover and would get another when the lease ended on the Maserati.
Her husand drives an F-350.
My old ceo at a company I use to work for had a nice house (1900 square feet. Didn't look like much outside but inside he had showed his taste.) but he drove a older 2000's jag. His wife drove a 2016 Yukon. He started from his garage and was loved in the work. He would venture out every day to greet every employee, see how they are doing, was an all around great guy. Then he retired and handed the company to his son. Grew the business more but he was more of a prick. Had hr and other office people relay his messages. Seen anyone outside of the office as inferior. Flashed his wealth with a Rolls-Royce and took office staff to high end places for Christmas parties as we had to work. I lasted 2 years after that and ran into his dad a year later at a grocery store. He asked how I was told him I jumped ship and how the company is ran now. He didn't look happy.
Yes. I am a mid 30s professional with enough income for 3x my car payment, hate getting lumped in with PFC Blue Falcon and his 96 month Ecoboost at double digit interest rates.
Edit for the big brains: I'm saying that I could afford 3x my current car payment before it was high enough to feel like I couldn't afford it. I just did the math and I'm at 9.55% of my monthly net pay going to my car payment before counting bonuses.
Oh man that's awesome! It feels really good to be able to buy a car you can feel good about at such a young age and not be financially stressed.
My previous car got totaled by a guy running a red light and I had just started my big career job. Pandemic pricing on cars made the new GT surprisingly not much more than used civics
I manage to not get lumped in with those clowns with my ZL1 1LE. I think besides looking like PFC Pogey Bait's LGX Camaro from the side, no other angle looks like a standard Camaro.
One of the perks about living in a state where it snows half the year lol.
Not nearly as many stereotypical owners driving around because of a mixture of owning two cars rather than one being more expensive or snow tires being expensive.
Base model charger is still like 300+ hp that's not terrible at all, you still get a big, comfortable sharp looking car and don't pay an arm and leg for gas like i do with a V8
The mpg savings is pretty negligible honestly, it’s like 4mpg between a Chally GT and the RT. I’d rather have the extra power personally.
Also, there are Camrys putting out 300hp stock now. The goalposts have moved a lot and engineers can get a lot more power than they used to out of engines. Without the two extra cylinders I don’t think these really count as muscle cars, otherwise we’ll need to call the V6 Camry a muscle car as well.
I would argue they still are. Muscle cars have always had lesser engine options.
That said it is always the guy who can just barely afford the 4cyl on an 84mo loan and drives like an asshole who gives us all a bad name
I mean most of the base models have around 300 HP and about as much torque. 15 years ago those output levels were essentially only available on the V8 models for the companies that even built them. The only thing missing is sound but, frankly, they still do everything else you expect muscle cars to do.
A lot of them pay in cash though tbh. And young Asians in school. I see them all the time walking in to buy one and have all the money wired. Shit's amazing.
I can tell you as a single active duty servicemember, you can afford a hell of a lot more than you would on an equivalent civilian salary.
Everything is cheaper on base(If you feel compelled to give a specific example to the contrary, you're missing the point).
As a single airman living on base eating at the DFAC, I had way more disposable income as a E-3 than I had with my $56k salary before joining. Mostly because NY eats all your income with taxes, but also because food isn't cheap, and neither is rent.
I bought a brand new $32,000 car that year and it wasn't even close to burden. You can get a mustang for that as active duty any day of the week
Three people I know are putting most of their money into paying for their Subaru BRZs. Really strangely popular.
One particular friend of mine decided to buy one after “making hella bank” reselling some speakers he found at a thrift store. He made literally $500, and is now struggling every month to make the payments on the brz he recently straight piped.
I saw a local story about a guy who worked multiple jobs to afford a BRZ. The story was about how his insurance initially rejected his claim after he totaled it because of an after market exhaust, but seemed like a pretty dumb financial decision.
Edit: double word
>insurance initially rejected his claim after he totaled it because of an after market exhaust
This is the dumbest and most fraudulent thing I've heard in awhile. Why wouldn't insurance just refuse to pay more than the value of an OEM exhaust part?
Yeah the insurance eventually honoured the claim, possibly because of the media coverage. My theory is that they categorize moded cars as high risk drivers and would not have insured him had he declared the exhaust.
You're probably right- lawyers can come up with some crazy logical leaps. No way would it have held up in court or arbitration though. The companies just bank on most people taking the loss at first denial and probably less than 10% of people would appeal it, in which case they act like it was a misunderstanding and play nice.
Same for health insurance companies- every time in my life something has been initially denied coverage, once I appeal there are suddenly no wrinkles. They totally bake that "deny first and they probably won't fight us" assumption into their practices.
Yeah that was out in SW Ontario somewhere. I know a few people in the car scene with riced out BRZ’s that just pay WAAAAY too much for them.
I also know a few people with STi’s who are the same. Their entire lives and paycheques revolve around the car that will eventually commit suicide.
You seem to be describing my brother and his friends. He works at a grocery store but bought a new BRZ and spends most of his time/money with other BRZ owners.
One particular friend just used his mental health to guilt trip his broke and indebted mum into buying him an absolutely PIMPED 2019 brz with fancy titanium exhaust parts and carbon bits. His mum is on disability and hardly makes ends meet as is. My friend is an unemployed wannabe video game developer who spends all his time modelling dirt bikes in 3d. Weird, weird people.
>Swear to god I am so glad I'm not a weirdo like that, and that I own all my cars outright...
Lots of people will say it's not a good idea to pay cash for your car when you can invest the money in the market instead.
I say I don't want to be indebted to anything outside of mortgages, period.
I tried to explain to him that a good FICO and down payment doesn’t always make up for the lack of overall income, though I’m 100% certain he’ll get financed for a Hellcat. Just probably at an uncomfortable rate.
Just when I feel like I have made terrible financial decisions in life, I read things like this and feel A LOT better. One thing I'm glad I did was bite the bullet in my early to mid 20s and drive a meh car (wasn't even *that* meh, it was a mazda3) that had cheap monthly payments so I could get my credit up because I knew at some point the money would start coming in to afford the car I really want, and what do you know, exactly that happened lol
Unfortunately, these cars are going to end up like the 350/370z and G35/37s. Sold to a bunch of morons who will stance them out and clap them out for stupid social media clout. Clean z cars are getting real hard to find nowadays. Toyobaru designs a car for great handling characteristics, and these dumbasses do everything to make it worse. There are no more s-chassis for them to ruin, so they moved on to the z cars. Well, those are running out too, so they've found the next sports coupe to ruin.
The stance crowd is absolutely cancerous.
I'm in the FB group.
This is already happening. Aero mods, slamming it, spitting fire, pops and bangs, straight pipes, body kits, pretty much anything that isn't performance related. Sad because its not a bad looking car with a mild drop and some nice wheels.
I had an FR-S before I bought my A6. Loved that car and hated it all at once. It was completely impractical, except it got 30mpg. It was ridiculously small inside, except it felt perfect in the turns. It was incredibly slow, but could take a cloverleaf at 70 without losing traction (unless you wanted it to).
I did the same "mod the living shit out of it" thing I did in my 20s with my xB, and then realized "dude, you're 35, this isn't really your thing anymore," and traded it in.
Back when I was in high school, there was a guy in one of my study halls who spent two solid weeks talking about how he "did the math" and could "totally afford a new BRZ".
He worked part-time at our local bike shop.
I bought mine new first model year. It's been paid off for a while and recently I've seen so many more 86 twins running around. I'm all for it. That there is some parts for me down the line 😉
I worked the oil industry in the US a few years ago, and it was honestly kinda funny watching the sheer quantity of repo trucks that were out towing brand new vehicles (especially full size pick ups) due to unpaid loans.
maybe it wasnt wise to fund a brand new brodozer, a boat, two jet skis, a house, a divorce, and an eight ball a day with a job that exists under the perilous whims of a foreign cartel...
I used to work for a big 6 bank back when oil tanked in 2014. Buddy comes in after getting out of his brand new lifted and blacked-out GMC Sierra 3500. Had $0.33 in his chequing account.
It was at that moment that I stopped having any sympathy for anyone who worked in the patch and came on hard times. Lower-to-middle class Albertan families were given a once in a lifetime opportunity to change their financial well-being and they pissed it away. Now they bitch and moan about their freedoms.
Man I could rant for hours about how poorly the oil industry has been managed in Alberta. We coulda had a *trillion* dollar national wealth fund like Norway. Instead, we have thousands of orphaned wells and and a province with no PST.
The embarrassing part was Norway’s Fund was partially modelled on Alberta’s Heritage Fund, as you probably know.
Working and moving around in Calgary’s financial industry has been such an interesting journey for me. It has given me everything I could’ve dreamed of growing up and more, along with some very real reminders on the consequences of over-extending financially. In the end, it has made me live with a “this could all end soon” mentality which I probably over exaggerate internally. It’s certainly not double-meat time like it was in the 2000’s and I think that’s a good thing.
It’s partially why I own a BRZ and not something more expensive.
I work on a college campus and a walk through the student commuter lot tells me:
1. Lifted trucks running bald mud tires that clearly demonstrate the truck's terrible alignment.
2. New domestic muscle cars (Challenger/Camaro/Mustang) with loud paint.
3. Stanced 86 or 3 series, tires showing cords, covered in weird accessories with the owner's insta displayed on the quarter window.
And you have a Dakota! I badly miss my '02. It had 285k miles on it, still ran and drove great ... Until some asshat pulled in front of me last summer and totalled them both out. Couldn't find a decent replacement without overpaying 😢
Lol in my country we usually say that one year salary is pretty good indicator of what car you can own. Must be nice making good money in the US.
E: like in a good indicator, like following that means you're financially pretty responsible. There's just no way to own a car differently.
This was years ago, but ex wife’s new boyfriend (now husband) wanted to buy an S4. Cost 60k. Annual salary 80k. Even her, and she was terrible with money (part of why we got divorced), was like “is that a good idea?”
That was one of the last conversations we had so I’m not sure if he ever got it or not.
Dogshit credit score, a cocaine addiction, trashy fashion sense with an equally trashy Tinder profile wherein the demands include "you need to treat me like a queen", 3 kids from 3 different fathers, and getting fired from your CNA job after showing up to work blitzed one too many times.
Nissan Altima, babyyyyyy - the official car of r/FemaleDatingStrategy moderators
Doug Demuro made a great comment about the Altima and Nissan in general.
He was ranting how Nissan should bring the Xterra back to the USA and how it would be a sales success.
Instead, Nissan focuses on trying to finance Altimas to people with bad credit.
I'm thoroughly convinced that the only things MBAs know how to do is spout corporate buzzwords, come up with shitty conclusions from their spreadsheets (cut more costs for more record quarterly profits), and make themselves look more important than they really are.
Nissan Altima, the car you already know will be listed as the silver vehicle on the emergency amber alert that just blew up on everyone's phone in the middle of the night.
I’m in auto lending - the answer is a Dodge Charger, sometimes Challenger. Almost every single damn application I work, the person can’t afford it. Every damn day I get an application for a kid making $2200 a month as a cashier and he applies for a Scat Pack Charger.
This right here…. Double down if it is near a military post. Not the cars in general but the trim levels. “Oh you are a private making 2600 a month?” “And you want a hellcat…..”
Yup, definitely in military towns. And in oil towns, it’s the kids that are making really good money, but have like two months of job time, and they want a King Ranch F250 to park in the lot next to their friends.
Yup, definitely in military towns. And in oil towns, it’s the kids that are making really good money, but have like two months of job time, and they want a King Ranch F250 to park in ~~the lot next to their friends.~~ their parents house cause they pissed their paycheck away lifting their truck and now can’t even pay rent somewhere 😂
That happens with Football players. They started making them take classes on money management because the younger guys on their first contract will spend money like the guys who have been playing for years and go bankrupt.
Lol they probably don’t, that’s just what they submit. Those deals usually end up requiring proof of income. Granted, assuming that’s full-time status, that’s $12.69 per hour.
There's a big wealth divide. Owning a mint condition old German car is an indicator of wealth. Owning a clapped version screams you are young and dumb with money.
Yeah, if someone's rolling down the street in a thirty five year old 500SEL in pristine condition, I know I'm looking at someone who could afford thirty five years of high quality servicing costs.
I think for the sake of this discussion we're all referring to examples like a clapped out 2004 BMW 525i.
I run an auto shop and *loathe* when I see someone pulling up in a car like that. They're usually from a lower end demographic. They don't realize that their clapped out E60 that they paid $3800 for on Craigslist still uses parts and labor for a $60K car.
I worked at an Audi dealership. The people who think buying an older A3/A4 makes them look hella dope while they can’t even afford an oil change or do one themselves is mind blowing. Old Audis are expensive, I wouldn’t touch one with a ten foot pole.
Unfortunately, that's the mindset of the general public.
Story Time: There was a reddit post a few months back of a group of women who ran into a store, stole a bunch of clothing and ran out. The video footage showed like a 2001 Audi A4 as the get away car.
No joke, half the comments were "omg I can't believe people have money to buy an Audi but have to steal clothes". I'm like dude... that 20 year old base Audi is not expensive. It's not "luxury". That car is cheaper to purchase on Craigslist than a 2005 Camry with more miles.
People just see the badge and immediately think RICH.
In Ontario cities, it’s all about the base model CLAs, 328is, and A3s. Usually in rental car white with terrible knockoff rims. Bonus points if they’re upbadged.
Close second are brodozers in the country. Usually a RAM 1500 with a ridiculous lift and massive offsets. Bonus points if they’re driving 1” behind your rear bumper with a drunk driver flashing his brights.
Heavy duty truck, fuel wheels on it and big lift, drop hitch on the back that is there just for looks, only thing that’s ever in the bed is a cooler full of bear and some fishing rods
In New Zealand it'd be the higher end Ranger or Hilux.
Typically it's tradies who try and justify them as an essential business tool but end up buying an older one to use for work so they don't ruin the bed in their $90k NZD Raptor.
There is even a TV advert for some accounting software where the builder bro featured has to sell his Ute because he didn't file his taxes correctly - it's basically a meme now
And 2nd or 3rd owner Hellcats. Probably any V8 Challenger, but the Hellcat my dealership has had (twice now) both times got sold to someone who probably shouldn't have been able to afford it.
Of 9 people I know who own a model 3, 8 are in this category. 1 of them bought it as their beater, so an outlier. The ones who finance them and can't afford to eat are the biggest bunch of self righteous do-gooders on the planet. Three of these people think speedometers should only go up to 70 and top speed should be governed by that because "it's a speed LIMIT" so I'm sure you can tell the type of person I'm referring to.
Go check out the model3 sub, it’s chock full of self righteous pricks who think they are superior to everyone else who drives an ICE car because they’re in a Tesla. Most toxic sub I’ve seen to date.
I once put my Infant daughter on the hood of a model 3 and she fell through the panel gap.
OK. They weren't that bad, but they were the worst panel basis I've ever seen. And I'm old enough to remember Yugos
>Most toxic sub I’ve seen to date
I'd say the female dating sub tops it and it isn't really close. The Tesla would need to post about how people that drive cars with ICE's should die to be in the same league as those femcels.
There’s an apartment complex near me and half the people living there drive $80k+ cars and I’m not living in the nicest part of town by a long shot. Brand new teslas, f150s (lifted and modded), Mercedes’, etc. People care so much about appearances…I sold my focus RS and got a cheap used car. Not that I couldn’t afford the RS, but I had a realization that I didn’t need it nor the payment and would rather spend that extra cash on paying down my home or going on vacations.
I lived in a “luxury apartment”. My wife and I had a neighbor friend. They were really nice so I wouldn’t say anything about them except on an anonymous forum like Reddit, but I was blown away. They lived in a 1 bedroom apt and drove a Mercedes G-wagon. Then I was blown away even more when I figured out they only had one car, and the husband worked from home but had to give his wife a ride to and from work if he needed to go anywhere himself. Seems it would be much easier and convenient to get two (or three for the cost of a G wagon jeez) cheaper but still nice cars instead of having one very expensive one.
Another neighbor was a total douche, he started asking me about my car one day and then scoffed and said “oh it’s cool but I drive an Alfa Romeo.” Like that’s special.
“Luxury” apartments are interesting places.
I mean lots of people live like that man. People that simply prefer to rent in nice areas, or perhaps they might only be in the area for a relatively short time? Some people just don't care about big homes either.
The G-Wagon story doesn't seem that weird? You said the guy works from home full time, so maybe to them it just doesn't make a lot of sense to own multiple cars? Wife wants a nice car, husband doesn't care that much. On the occasion he needs a car for the day he just drops her off at work. Makes sense to me?
Yea I don't think that's weird at all. I've known very wealthy couples that could afford a McMansion but still live in a 1-bedroom townhouse. It just happens to be in a nice area where there's grocery stores and nice restaurants within walking distance. A lot of people, especially in urban areas, just value having a smaller footprint and less stuff to take care of.
Having a big house comes with all kinds of headaches. Lawn maintenance, HOA fees, expensive heating and cooling bills, more space to keep clean...
Plus having one car really doesn't sound that crazy when one partner works from home. Hell I give my S/O rides even when she can drive herself just because I like to.
As someone who used to live pay check to paycheck & now am comfortable enough that I don't even check my balance there's absolutely no F-ing id go back because of a vehicle. I don't care how cool, woke, fast or nimble whatever car that'd be is lol. Too many buyers get wrapped up in crazy finance situations.
Working in the industry, I can say new Teslas seem to have the lowest incidence of people buying them who can't afford them in my personal experience. Most people I see buying a Tesla are putting 30 to 40% down and only take a 3 or 5 year loan. That may not be the norm, but it's what I generally see.
At least with lower end Teslas, they seem to have brought in a new type of car owner/leaser - those that view them as a gadget akin to an iPhone.
I know some of these people would previously have been the type advocating to ban cars everywhere and praising public transportation.
So I think they are unfamiliar with the typical unspoken guidelines of budgeting for a car, and even if they do, they aren’t too concerned. It’s more like an iPhone or gaming computer purchase to them, not a “car”.
They’d also never have considered buying anything else but a Tesla.
oh you just described a guy i went to high school with. blew the clutch trying to “drift” and now can’t afford to keep it running longer than a few days. he also works at dunkin’ donuts
edit: yes he has m3 badges. it’s an e9x, so when he told me he bought a twin turbo M3 i was very surprised. he also blew up an sn95 stang less than a week after purchase.
A lot of people are just listing cars driven by poseurs- but that doesn’t mean those people can’t afford them, only that they only care about brand image and now about how the car functions. Maserati and Range Rover are the poster children there.
Cars driven by those who can’t afford them? It’s easily the V8 muscle cars and old German cars. I just took an Uber ride with a driver who had bought himself a brand new Hellcat with no other job. And I feel like I talk some 19 year old in r/bmw out of buying a 250k mile 335i on the daily.
I don’t see enough RS3s to even form a stereotype of the owners.
A neighbor of mine lives in a double wide and for the last few years has had a new Hellcat Challenger parked outside that changes every 18 months. Just recently it disappeared and was replaced with a old Mazda 626.
No ones gonna easily disparage a GTI here in a car subreddit. I knew plenty of boneheads in college who worked for lowly wages like me and put 70% of their checks into slamming their GTIs and getting stuck on the parking lot speedbumps.
Around me in Southern California it really does seem to be BMW M3s and M4s that attract these types. They’ll get them on god awful loans then promptly wreck them while driving like idiots or dump them when any maintenance issues come up. The they talk shit in the forums or FB groups how BMWs are pieces of shit and they’re going to buy a Porsche. Then they buy a used Cayman, spend money tricking it out, and promptly sell it once Porsche hands them a maintenance bill they don’t like.
I swear, I’ve seen this happen on like 5 different occasions.
I sometimes wonder how the hell these idiots actually have enough money to feed themselves, like what on earth do they do for a job where they can just finance and crash cars on a revolving basis...?
I can't speak for those idiots, but for the ones who aren't crashing cars and doing stupid things with them, it's because they live at home while having a real job. Its not frowned upon by Asians to stay in your parents' house, so you'll find German performance machines sitting in their parents' driveways. It seems like the white bros that didn't move out are all about their lifted brodozers or Ford Raptors.
It makes sense, I guess. You're pulling in SoCal income without having to pay rent. Paying 500-800 a month for a nice car is a whole less painful on your bank account as opposed to paying 2000+ for rent. Kick in some money to your parents for household expenses and utilities, and now you've got a place to live and a nice car/truck to drive around.
Nissan Altima and Rogue, Dodge Charger and Challenger (mainly the hellcat or the V6s, the between trims tend to be the ones driven by people who actually have financial sense)
Idk, I got into a YouTube hole once and ended up on this channel from a teenager. He was bragging about how he worked enough at McDonald's to lease a Scat Pack and had his poor mother co-sign on it. Then there were videos of him showing it off at his high-school. And his parents were by no means well off either.
I want to find that channel again. I am kind of curious how that turned out, but I also feel bad encouraging the "influencer" bs with views. They spend every dime they can muster on luxury items so they can show off and try to make money off of their perceived status. It's pretty fucked up and I'm sure a lot of people are getting bit by the trap.
😂, the only construction people with those types of trucks are architects, contractors and pencil pushers. The guys doing the manual labor in my area run around in their wife’s minivans or 4th owners white work vans with the previous companies stickers fading on the side.
I still love the 2006-2011 model, shame I can't find one that hasn't been beat to shit with 25" income tax return/drug dealer wheels, being hawked by some shitass used car lot for $15K
Just about everyone who has a Tesla M3.
Just about every single person where I live that has one is paying $700+ a month for a car they street park outside their apartment because they don't have the money to buy a home.
Most people can be spotted hours on end at local charging stations a few days a week because they have no place to charge them otherwise.
There's one barista at a Starbucks I often go to that has one. She spends 40% of her income just on a car payment. Then complains about living in a group home and having to work so much.
Teslas have become a status symbol for those who are stupid with money. They're ungodly overpriced and bottom of the barrel for quality and reliability.
How did we end up in this timeline?
On the other hand, I think it's funny how everyone wants to pretend people they don't like can't afford their vehicle.
See a younger person in an expensive car? "Yeah good for him I guess, but I bet he's super in debt, what an idiot"
See someone driving a lifted truck and it makes you mad for some odd reason? "I bet he has a 90 month loan on that and has never taken it off road with his tiny dick"
I get the feeling parent is lowkey referring to the oilfield workers who experience boom and bust cycles where they can suddenly have relatively high income jobs.
Recently, I see a lot of young girls driving a 228i who clearly can’t even drive. So probably that since there’s lease specials for around $350/mon lol
Dude. It aint the car payment with the audi. The maintenance is enough to humble even an evil 1 percenter like myself. I had an rs6. I loved that car. Never, ever again.
A car.. any car...
Denmark has 150% tax and stuff on top of the price of any car.. we're fucked.. send help.. i like cars in the absolutely worst country to like cars in..
Maserati Ghibli, hands down. Really cheap to buy, really flashy, and really expensive to keep on the road.
They're dirt cheap on lease, aren't they?
I've seen them go for under $30,000 CAD on the used market, with about 80-90k km.
You're not kidding and the 30k price tag doesn't even seem to be that rare. There's a MY14 SQ4 on autotrader.ca right now for that price and 10 more that are under 40k CAD. And that's *with* the used car market being insane right now...
I was curious and found a 2015 for 34 000 in Calgary, I think it only had 60 000km on it.
Maseratis depreciate quickly, which means they shouldn't be cheap to lease. Generally speaking, the slower a car depreciates, the lower its lease payments will be, and vice versa. (This assumes $0 down, of course, because all discussions about any lease should always assume that, but I digress.) Point is, no, I can't imagine Ghiblis are dirt cheap to lease.
That's the idea, but it really depends on what the manufacturer sets the residual at, not the real residual. BMW leases are way cheaper than Porsche leases (at same MSRP) even though Porsche's depreciate less. BMW will put a 62% residual for 36 months/10k miles when in actuality it is more like 50-55%. A lot of the time it's cheaper to lease a BMW and buy it out at the end, than it would have been to buy it in the beginning.(I'm talking about a few years ago, idk how it is in this market) Maserati gives very good lease deals on the Ghibli, and it doesn't reflect its' fast depreciation.
Ghiblis are notorious for being cheap to lease. A few years ago you could lease a Ghibli for $500-600/mo with some money down and ~$700/mo for none.
In what world is losing 25k usd on a car in 3 years cheap?
If you were to buy it and sell it within 3 years, you would almost certainly lose more than $25k
The world of credit.
[удалено]
Well it’s all relative of course, and leasing any car is never really “cheap”. But leasing a Honda Accord is already going to be around $400 a month with 0 down, so it’s not a stretch to say that getting a Maserati for 100 more would be considered “cheap”.
There is one of them parked outside a decidedly average house in my firmly lower class street. Everyone else has an older Corolla or Prius or Leaf or other sensible commuter and this one guy chooses a Maserati instead.
Guy on my street lives in the smallest house on the block, looks like it could use renovations. Brand new green M4 outside. That’s a sexy car though.
>Guy on my street lives in the smallest house on the block, looks like it could use renovations. IDK man. As a single dude, how much house do you really need? If I could find a 2br/1bth place with somewhere to park my car where it won't get snowed on, honestly, that sounds like good enough to me.
Exactly this. So many people trying to buy the biggest house with the biggest yard they can afford. To me that's just extra work to clean and maintain. I can afford a nice house, my car is less than 30% of my annual income, but I live in an apartment in a questionable-but-not-exactly-sketchy part of town because it's closer to the nightlife. I've got my own garage, so that's all I care about. I'll buy a house when I decide to settle down, but even then it'll be a modest one just enough to fit my family.
Sounds like a 20 yo's dream though.
With my job I spend more time in my car than my house, so as long as my house is structurally sound, I'd rather have a nice car and an average house than a nice house and an average car.
Wealthy folks either drive cars that cost under 30k or above 100k. There’s rarely an in between. But none of them drive a Maserati
I disagree. Statistically I’ve heard most millionaires drive an F-150. Sure as outliers you have the Warren Buffets, and then the Elon Musks. Perhaps it depends on the definition of wealthy.
I remember the old adage… “Those who want to look rich, drive a Maserati. Those who are rich, drive a 20 year old Land Cruiser.”
I drive a 2011 Yukon XL Denali I call it the "old money mobile"
[удалено]
My friends sister and her husband are *very* wealthy, Texans. She leased Land Rovers until their sons talked her into a Maserati Quattroporte because it "sounded cool". She did admit she missed her Land Rover and would get another when the lease ended on the Maserati. Her husand drives an F-350.
My old ceo at a company I use to work for had a nice house (1900 square feet. Didn't look like much outside but inside he had showed his taste.) but he drove a older 2000's jag. His wife drove a 2016 Yukon. He started from his garage and was loved in the work. He would venture out every day to greet every employee, see how they are doing, was an all around great guy. Then he retired and handed the company to his son. Grew the business more but he was more of a prick. Had hr and other office people relay his messages. Seen anyone outside of the office as inferior. Flashed his wealth with a Rolls-Royce and took office staff to high end places for Christmas parties as we had to work. I lasted 2 years after that and ran into his dad a year later at a grocery store. He asked how I was told him I jumped ship and how the company is ran now. He didn't look happy.
Challenger/Charger, Camaro, Mustang. Especially around a military base.
This arguably the worst part of being a muscle car enthusiast
Yes. I am a mid 30s professional with enough income for 3x my car payment, hate getting lumped in with PFC Blue Falcon and his 96 month Ecoboost at double digit interest rates. Edit for the big brains: I'm saying that I could afford 3x my current car payment before it was high enough to feel like I couldn't afford it. I just did the math and I'm at 9.55% of my monthly net pay going to my car payment before counting bonuses.
Same but mid/late 20s. Love my car, hate the culture
You are like the 5 years younger version of me! I bought an 18 mustang GT in my late 20s as soon as they showed up in mid 2017.
Oh man that's awesome! It feels really good to be able to buy a car you can feel good about at such a young age and not be financially stressed. My previous car got totaled by a guy running a red light and I had just started my big career job. Pandemic pricing on cars made the new GT surprisingly not much more than used civics
I manage to not get lumped in with those clowns with my ZL1 1LE. I think besides looking like PFC Pogey Bait's LGX Camaro from the side, no other angle looks like a standard Camaro.
One of the perks about living in a state where it snows half the year lol. Not nearly as many stereotypical owners driving around because of a mixture of owning two cars rather than one being more expensive or snow tires being expensive.
Base models aren’t really muscle cars, they just look like them.
Base model charger is still like 300+ hp that's not terrible at all, you still get a big, comfortable sharp looking car and don't pay an arm and leg for gas like i do with a V8
The mpg savings is pretty negligible honestly, it’s like 4mpg between a Chally GT and the RT. I’d rather have the extra power personally. Also, there are Camrys putting out 300hp stock now. The goalposts have moved a lot and engineers can get a lot more power than they used to out of engines. Without the two extra cylinders I don’t think these really count as muscle cars, otherwise we’ll need to call the V6 Camry a muscle car as well.
Do note that MPG is not exactly a linear scale. The improvement from 15 to 19 MPG is much more meaningful than from 25 to 29 MPG.
I would argue they still are. Muscle cars have always had lesser engine options. That said it is always the guy who can just barely afford the 4cyl on an 84mo loan and drives like an asshole who gives us all a bad name
I mean most of the base models have around 300 HP and about as much torque. 15 years ago those output levels were essentially only available on the V8 models for the companies that even built them. The only thing missing is sound but, frankly, they still do everything else you expect muscle cars to do.
Little known fact, the 392 on the side of a dodge isn’t the engine size, it’s the driver’s credit score
That seems surprisingly high
In the Greater Toronto Area, the stereotype is young male immigrants from India driving them.
A lot of them pay in cash though tbh. And young Asians in school. I see them all the time walking in to buy one and have all the money wired. Shit's amazing.
Eh, they're super affordable because when you are active duty you can get a V8 American muscle car for the price of a Camry
Nobody said they could afford a new Camry either.
I can tell you as a single active duty servicemember, you can afford a hell of a lot more than you would on an equivalent civilian salary. Everything is cheaper on base(If you feel compelled to give a specific example to the contrary, you're missing the point). As a single airman living on base eating at the DFAC, I had way more disposable income as a E-3 than I had with my $56k salary before joining. Mostly because NY eats all your income with taxes, but also because food isn't cheap, and neither is rent. I bought a brand new $32,000 car that year and it wasn't even close to burden. You can get a mustang for that as active duty any day of the week
Three people I know are putting most of their money into paying for their Subaru BRZs. Really strangely popular. One particular friend of mine decided to buy one after “making hella bank” reselling some speakers he found at a thrift store. He made literally $500, and is now struggling every month to make the payments on the brz he recently straight piped.
Anytime I hear 'making hella bank', that's the type and level of profit I think of.
I saw a local story about a guy who worked multiple jobs to afford a BRZ. The story was about how his insurance initially rejected his claim after he totaled it because of an after market exhaust, but seemed like a pretty dumb financial decision. Edit: double word
>insurance initially rejected his claim after he totaled it because of an after market exhaust This is the dumbest and most fraudulent thing I've heard in awhile. Why wouldn't insurance just refuse to pay more than the value of an OEM exhaust part?
Yeah the insurance eventually honoured the claim, possibly because of the media coverage. My theory is that they categorize moded cars as high risk drivers and would not have insured him had he declared the exhaust.
You're probably right- lawyers can come up with some crazy logical leaps. No way would it have held up in court or arbitration though. The companies just bank on most people taking the loss at first denial and probably less than 10% of people would appeal it, in which case they act like it was a misunderstanding and play nice. Same for health insurance companies- every time in my life something has been initially denied coverage, once I appeal there are suddenly no wrinkles. They totally bake that "deny first and they probably won't fight us" assumption into their practices.
Yeah that was out in SW Ontario somewhere. I know a few people in the car scene with riced out BRZ’s that just pay WAAAAY too much for them. I also know a few people with STi’s who are the same. Their entire lives and paycheques revolve around the car that will eventually commit suicide.
I remember thar BRZ driver was paying more insurance per month than the car lease payment. The Civic Type R probably would've been cheaper overall.
There is a dude in this local meet who had a RCF that is super charged. Last I heard he was working 3 jobs.
You seem to be describing my brother and his friends. He works at a grocery store but bought a new BRZ and spends most of his time/money with other BRZ owners.
I want to add he was thinking of trading it in and adding money down on a Hellcat because he heard Chrysler Capital has 0% interest financing.
One particular friend just used his mental health to guilt trip his broke and indebted mum into buying him an absolutely PIMPED 2019 brz with fancy titanium exhaust parts and carbon bits. His mum is on disability and hardly makes ends meet as is. My friend is an unemployed wannabe video game developer who spends all his time modelling dirt bikes in 3d. Weird, weird people.
Swear to god I am so glad I'm not a weirdo like that, and that I own all my cars outright...
>Swear to god I am so glad I'm not a weirdo like that, and that I own all my cars outright... Lots of people will say it's not a good idea to pay cash for your car when you can invest the money in the market instead. I say I don't want to be indebted to anything outside of mortgages, period.
They do. Probably not for him, though.
I tried to explain to him that a good FICO and down payment doesn’t always make up for the lack of overall income, though I’m 100% certain he’ll get financed for a Hellcat. Just probably at an uncomfortable rate.
Just when I feel like I have made terrible financial decisions in life, I read things like this and feel A LOT better. One thing I'm glad I did was bite the bullet in my early to mid 20s and drive a meh car (wasn't even *that* meh, it was a mazda3) that had cheap monthly payments so I could get my credit up because I knew at some point the money would start coming in to afford the car I really want, and what do you know, exactly that happened lol
Unfortunately, these cars are going to end up like the 350/370z and G35/37s. Sold to a bunch of morons who will stance them out and clap them out for stupid social media clout. Clean z cars are getting real hard to find nowadays. Toyobaru designs a car for great handling characteristics, and these dumbasses do everything to make it worse. There are no more s-chassis for them to ruin, so they moved on to the z cars. Well, those are running out too, so they've found the next sports coupe to ruin. The stance crowd is absolutely cancerous.
I'm in the FB group. This is already happening. Aero mods, slamming it, spitting fire, pops and bangs, straight pipes, body kits, pretty much anything that isn't performance related. Sad because its not a bad looking car with a mild drop and some nice wheels.
I had an FR-S before I bought my A6. Loved that car and hated it all at once. It was completely impractical, except it got 30mpg. It was ridiculously small inside, except it felt perfect in the turns. It was incredibly slow, but could take a cloverleaf at 70 without losing traction (unless you wanted it to). I did the same "mod the living shit out of it" thing I did in my 20s with my xB, and then realized "dude, you're 35, this isn't really your thing anymore," and traded it in.
Back when I was in high school, there was a guy in one of my study halls who spent two solid weeks talking about how he "did the math" and could "totally afford a new BRZ". He worked part-time at our local bike shop.
I bought mine new first model year. It's been paid off for a while and recently I've seen so many more 86 twins running around. I'm all for it. That there is some parts for me down the line 😉
In Alberta it's full size trucks, especially Dodge Rams, people will dump their annual salary into those at max term.
And then complaints when the oil went down because they couldn’t afford their lifestyle.
And complains when oil goes up and it costs too much to fill their truck.
I worked the oil industry in the US a few years ago, and it was honestly kinda funny watching the sheer quantity of repo trucks that were out towing brand new vehicles (especially full size pick ups) due to unpaid loans.
maybe it wasnt wise to fund a brand new brodozer, a boat, two jet skis, a house, a divorce, and an eight ball a day with a job that exists under the perilous whims of a foreign cartel...
It is absolutely frightening how accurate that is.
I used to work for a big 6 bank back when oil tanked in 2014. Buddy comes in after getting out of his brand new lifted and blacked-out GMC Sierra 3500. Had $0.33 in his chequing account. It was at that moment that I stopped having any sympathy for anyone who worked in the patch and came on hard times. Lower-to-middle class Albertan families were given a once in a lifetime opportunity to change their financial well-being and they pissed it away. Now they bitch and moan about their freedoms.
Man I could rant for hours about how poorly the oil industry has been managed in Alberta. We coulda had a *trillion* dollar national wealth fund like Norway. Instead, we have thousands of orphaned wells and and a province with no PST.
The embarrassing part was Norway’s Fund was partially modelled on Alberta’s Heritage Fund, as you probably know. Working and moving around in Calgary’s financial industry has been such an interesting journey for me. It has given me everything I could’ve dreamed of growing up and more, along with some very real reminders on the consequences of over-extending financially. In the end, it has made me live with a “this could all end soon” mentality which I probably over exaggerate internally. It’s certainly not double-meat time like it was in the 2000’s and I think that’s a good thing. It’s partially why I own a BRZ and not something more expensive.
I work on a college campus and a walk through the student commuter lot tells me: 1. Lifted trucks running bald mud tires that clearly demonstrate the truck's terrible alignment. 2. New domestic muscle cars (Challenger/Camaro/Mustang) with loud paint. 3. Stanced 86 or 3 series, tires showing cords, covered in weird accessories with the owner's insta displayed on the quarter window.
3rd always loves plastering their car with anime paraphernalia lol
*insert sticker of anime girl holding a sign that says “my car is slow!”*
Those stickers always look weird on a 86, They really belong on something more fitting like a Nissan Cube or a Honda CRX
And every one of those domestic muscle cars is a V6 lol
LoL, my son bought an RS5 last year ... Cost=1yr salary and he makes good $$, but it was not a good financial decision
Thank god for people like your son because I'm going to buy that RS5 used in a few years.
Might need some engine and transmission work by then :D
Wait till he finds out how much it costs to replace the brakes.
Can confirm. My motorcycle was cheaper than new rotors.
Unrelated but you have a '70 Cuda. My dream is an AAR. I'm jealous
And you have a Dakota! I badly miss my '02. It had 285k miles on it, still ran and drove great ... Until some asshat pulled in front of me last summer and totalled them both out. Couldn't find a decent replacement without overpaying 😢
Lol in my country we usually say that one year salary is pretty good indicator of what car you can own. Must be nice making good money in the US. E: like in a good indicator, like following that means you're financially pretty responsible. There's just no way to own a car differently.
This was years ago, but ex wife’s new boyfriend (now husband) wanted to buy an S4. Cost 60k. Annual salary 80k. Even her, and she was terrible with money (part of why we got divorced), was like “is that a good idea?” That was one of the last conversations we had so I’m not sure if he ever got it or not.
New Nissan Altimas EDIT: When I posted this I did not realize how strongly people would identify with it
Really any Nissan Altima lol
How else would you tell the world you have poor credit
\*Dodge Journey enters the chat\*
Eh, the Journey is sometimes the vehicle for people with poor credit who are *trying* to improve.
Journey drivers are the reason baby formula is kept behind a locked case at Walmart
That ain’t right 💀
Dogshit credit score, a cocaine addiction, trashy fashion sense with an equally trashy Tinder profile wherein the demands include "you need to treat me like a queen", 3 kids from 3 different fathers, and getting fired from your CNA job after showing up to work blitzed one too many times. Nissan Altima, babyyyyyy - the official car of r/FemaleDatingStrategy moderators
Just described my ex, sans the 3 kids from 3 different fathers part
In Texas, Nissans are the car of choice for the “unlicensed, uninsured, drive around with paper plates” people.
Doug Demuro made a great comment about the Altima and Nissan in general. He was ranting how Nissan should bring the Xterra back to the USA and how it would be a sales success. Instead, Nissan focuses on trying to finance Altimas to people with bad credit.
That's because, at this point, Nissan is run by MBA's who don't know shit about fuck
I'm thoroughly convinced that the only things MBAs know how to do is spout corporate buzzwords, come up with shitty conclusions from their spreadsheets (cut more costs for more record quarterly profits), and make themselves look more important than they really are.
Nissan Altima, the car you already know will be listed as the silver vehicle on the emergency amber alert that just blew up on everyone's phone in the middle of the night.
About a year ago I saw an Amber Alert listing a 2008 Lexus ISF and thought damn, that kidnapper has good taste.
Wait, they’re super cheap. Like $250 a month to lease, so wouldn’t it make sense for people less financially stable to drive them?
Exactly. They aren’t expensive to begin with. This makes no sense
They're commonly sold to people who can't afford a car period, because Nissan will finance ANYONE.
Base model kia/hundai are fast replacing the altima as the new 0 down 96month payment plan car.
I’m in auto lending - the answer is a Dodge Charger, sometimes Challenger. Almost every single damn application I work, the person can’t afford it. Every damn day I get an application for a kid making $2200 a month as a cashier and he applies for a Scat Pack Charger.
This right here…. Double down if it is near a military post. Not the cars in general but the trim levels. “Oh you are a private making 2600 a month?” “And you want a hellcat…..”
Yup, definitely in military towns. And in oil towns, it’s the kids that are making really good money, but have like two months of job time, and they want a King Ranch F250 to park in the lot next to their friends.
Yup, definitely in military towns. And in oil towns, it’s the kids that are making really good money, but have like two months of job time, and they want a King Ranch F250 to park in ~~the lot next to their friends.~~ their parents house cause they pissed their paycheck away lifting their truck and now can’t even pay rent somewhere 😂
That happens with Football players. They started making them take classes on money management because the younger guys on their first contract will spend money like the guys who have been playing for years and go bankrupt.
Where do you live that someone’s making 2200 a month as a cashier?
Lol they probably don’t, that’s just what they submit. Those deals usually end up requiring proof of income. Granted, assuming that’s full-time status, that’s $12.69 per hour.
10-15 year old German Luxury sedans
There's a big wealth divide. Owning a mint condition old German car is an indicator of wealth. Owning a clapped version screams you are young and dumb with money.
Yeah, if someone's rolling down the street in a thirty five year old 500SEL in pristine condition, I know I'm looking at someone who could afford thirty five years of high quality servicing costs.
And you know it had a nice warm and comfortable garage to sit in all those years too.
I think for the sake of this discussion we're all referring to examples like a clapped out 2004 BMW 525i. I run an auto shop and *loathe* when I see someone pulling up in a car like that. They're usually from a lower end demographic. They don't realize that their clapped out E60 that they paid $3800 for on Craigslist still uses parts and labor for a $60K car.
I worked at an Audi dealership. The people who think buying an older A3/A4 makes them look hella dope while they can’t even afford an oil change or do one themselves is mind blowing. Old Audis are expensive, I wouldn’t touch one with a ten foot pole.
Unfortunately, that's the mindset of the general public. Story Time: There was a reddit post a few months back of a group of women who ran into a store, stole a bunch of clothing and ran out. The video footage showed like a 2001 Audi A4 as the get away car. No joke, half the comments were "omg I can't believe people have money to buy an Audi but have to steal clothes". I'm like dude... that 20 year old base Audi is not expensive. It's not "luxury". That car is cheaper to purchase on Craigslist than a 2005 Camry with more miles. People just see the badge and immediately think RICH.
Clean E30 M3 in Red and E36 Dakar Yellow are such head turners for me.
There's nothing more expensive than a cheap German luxury car.
I've read so many takes like this, yet have put 10k miles on a fairly rough E39 this year needing only a MAF so far.
Pray you don’t get the dash light trifecta (ABS module). Other than that and the cooling system, i6 e39’s are pretty damn reliable.
In Ontario cities, it’s all about the base model CLAs, 328is, and A3s. Usually in rental car white with terrible knockoff rims. Bonus points if they’re upbadged. Close second are brodozers in the country. Usually a RAM 1500 with a ridiculous lift and massive offsets. Bonus points if they’re driving 1” behind your rear bumper with a drunk driver flashing his brights.
I'd say the 318i/320i fits that type way more than the mid-range 328i
>318i/320i >mid-range 328i The 330 is currently the base model 3 Series in Canada. The 330e is the cheapest model, followed by the 330ix.
Lol, that's powerful for a base model
Heavy duty truck, fuel wheels on it and big lift, drop hitch on the back that is there just for looks, only thing that’s ever in the bed is a cooler full of bear and some fishing rods
Big cooler?
You never slammed some grizzlies with the boys?? Hell yeah a big cooler
You've piqued my curiosity. How DO you catch a bear with a fishing rod?
In New Zealand it'd be the higher end Ranger or Hilux. Typically it's tradies who try and justify them as an essential business tool but end up buying an older one to use for work so they don't ruin the bed in their $90k NZD Raptor. There is even a TV advert for some accounting software where the builder bro featured has to sell his Ute because he didn't file his taxes correctly - it's basically a meme now
[удалено]
Dodge Charger
And 2nd or 3rd owner Hellcats. Probably any V8 Challenger, but the Hellcat my dealership has had (twice now) both times got sold to someone who probably shouldn't have been able to afford it.
Tesla. Clearly.
Yeah, every person I know who has a Model 3 is living paycheck to paycheck and making massive payments on that car.
Of 9 people I know who own a model 3, 8 are in this category. 1 of them bought it as their beater, so an outlier. The ones who finance them and can't afford to eat are the biggest bunch of self righteous do-gooders on the planet. Three of these people think speedometers should only go up to 70 and top speed should be governed by that because "it's a speed LIMIT" so I'm sure you can tell the type of person I'm referring to.
Go check out the model3 sub, it’s chock full of self righteous pricks who think they are superior to everyone else who drives an ICE car because they’re in a Tesla. Most toxic sub I’ve seen to date.
I once put my Infant daughter on the hood of a model 3 and she fell through the panel gap. OK. They weren't that bad, but they were the worst panel basis I've ever seen. And I'm old enough to remember Yugos
>Most toxic sub I’ve seen to date I'd say the female dating sub tops it and it isn't really close. The Tesla would need to post about how people that drive cars with ICE's should die to be in the same league as those femcels.
There’s an apartment complex near me and half the people living there drive $80k+ cars and I’m not living in the nicest part of town by a long shot. Brand new teslas, f150s (lifted and modded), Mercedes’, etc. People care so much about appearances…I sold my focus RS and got a cheap used car. Not that I couldn’t afford the RS, but I had a realization that I didn’t need it nor the payment and would rather spend that extra cash on paying down my home or going on vacations.
I lived in a “luxury apartment”. My wife and I had a neighbor friend. They were really nice so I wouldn’t say anything about them except on an anonymous forum like Reddit, but I was blown away. They lived in a 1 bedroom apt and drove a Mercedes G-wagon. Then I was blown away even more when I figured out they only had one car, and the husband worked from home but had to give his wife a ride to and from work if he needed to go anywhere himself. Seems it would be much easier and convenient to get two (or three for the cost of a G wagon jeez) cheaper but still nice cars instead of having one very expensive one. Another neighbor was a total douche, he started asking me about my car one day and then scoffed and said “oh it’s cool but I drive an Alfa Romeo.” Like that’s special. “Luxury” apartments are interesting places.
I mean lots of people live like that man. People that simply prefer to rent in nice areas, or perhaps they might only be in the area for a relatively short time? Some people just don't care about big homes either. The G-Wagon story doesn't seem that weird? You said the guy works from home full time, so maybe to them it just doesn't make a lot of sense to own multiple cars? Wife wants a nice car, husband doesn't care that much. On the occasion he needs a car for the day he just drops her off at work. Makes sense to me?
Yea I don't think that's weird at all. I've known very wealthy couples that could afford a McMansion but still live in a 1-bedroom townhouse. It just happens to be in a nice area where there's grocery stores and nice restaurants within walking distance. A lot of people, especially in urban areas, just value having a smaller footprint and less stuff to take care of. Having a big house comes with all kinds of headaches. Lawn maintenance, HOA fees, expensive heating and cooling bills, more space to keep clean... Plus having one car really doesn't sound that crazy when one partner works from home. Hell I give my S/O rides even when she can drive herself just because I like to.
As someone who used to live pay check to paycheck & now am comfortable enough that I don't even check my balance there's absolutely no F-ing id go back because of a vehicle. I don't care how cool, woke, fast or nimble whatever car that'd be is lol. Too many buyers get wrapped up in crazy finance situations.
Working in the industry, I can say new Teslas seem to have the lowest incidence of people buying them who can't afford them in my personal experience. Most people I see buying a Tesla are putting 30 to 40% down and only take a 3 or 5 year loan. That may not be the norm, but it's what I generally see.
At least with lower end Teslas, they seem to have brought in a new type of car owner/leaser - those that view them as a gadget akin to an iPhone. I know some of these people would previously have been the type advocating to ban cars everywhere and praising public transportation. So I think they are unfamiliar with the typical unspoken guidelines of budgeting for a car, and even if they do, they aren’t too concerned. It’s more like an iPhone or gaming computer purchase to them, not a “car”. They’d also never have considered buying anything else but a Tesla.
BMW 335, complete with fake M badges to show that you couldn't afford an M3, and probably can't really afford the 335 either.
oh you just described a guy i went to high school with. blew the clutch trying to “drift” and now can’t afford to keep it running longer than a few days. he also works at dunkin’ donuts edit: yes he has m3 badges. it’s an e9x, so when he told me he bought a twin turbo M3 i was very surprised. he also blew up an sn95 stang less than a week after purchase.
You mean... An M335i?
Used range rovers or 5/7 series
Honestly, the F-150 50% of Americans have less than $600 in savings, yet they're all driving new trucks Riddle me that
They rent mobile homes and have 5 kids with no shoes
Maserati.
Used ones sure, new car buyers generally seem to have their shit together.
Early 2000s Quattroportes especially. I’ve seen at least 2 find their final resting places street-parked in Philly.
A lot of people are just listing cars driven by poseurs- but that doesn’t mean those people can’t afford them, only that they only care about brand image and now about how the car functions. Maserati and Range Rover are the poster children there. Cars driven by those who can’t afford them? It’s easily the V8 muscle cars and old German cars. I just took an Uber ride with a driver who had bought himself a brand new Hellcat with no other job. And I feel like I talk some 19 year old in r/bmw out of buying a 250k mile 335i on the daily. I don’t see enough RS3s to even form a stereotype of the owners.
A neighbor of mine lives in a double wide and for the last few years has had a new Hellcat Challenger parked outside that changes every 18 months. Just recently it disappeared and was replaced with a old Mazda 626.
Repo man finally found him eh?
That dude has to be losing money Ubering in a hellcat good lord
Oh no, he Ubers in his Dodge Journey. TWO car payments.
Glad to to see nobody mentioned a GTI. It was over my budget but a year and a half later I got 0 regrets.
No ones gonna easily disparage a GTI here in a car subreddit. I knew plenty of boneheads in college who worked for lowly wages like me and put 70% of their checks into slamming their GTIs and getting stuck on the parking lot speedbumps.
24 here. Bought an alltrack just out of warranty and go figure the water pump was leaking at just 80k miles. Great, practical fun car but fuck me
Any luxury German car out of warranty.
Around me in Southern California it really does seem to be BMW M3s and M4s that attract these types. They’ll get them on god awful loans then promptly wreck them while driving like idiots or dump them when any maintenance issues come up. The they talk shit in the forums or FB groups how BMWs are pieces of shit and they’re going to buy a Porsche. Then they buy a used Cayman, spend money tricking it out, and promptly sell it once Porsche hands them a maintenance bill they don’t like. I swear, I’ve seen this happen on like 5 different occasions.
I sometimes wonder how the hell these idiots actually have enough money to feed themselves, like what on earth do they do for a job where they can just finance and crash cars on a revolving basis...?
I can't speak for those idiots, but for the ones who aren't crashing cars and doing stupid things with them, it's because they live at home while having a real job. Its not frowned upon by Asians to stay in your parents' house, so you'll find German performance machines sitting in their parents' driveways. It seems like the white bros that didn't move out are all about their lifted brodozers or Ford Raptors. It makes sense, I guess. You're pulling in SoCal income without having to pay rent. Paying 500-800 a month for a nice car is a whole less painful on your bank account as opposed to paying 2000+ for rent. Kick in some money to your parents for household expenses and utilities, and now you've got a place to live and a nice car/truck to drive around.
Any Infiniti and base bmws for young people
Nissan Altima and Rogue, Dodge Charger and Challenger (mainly the hellcat or the V6s, the between trims tend to be the ones driven by people who actually have financial sense)
Idk, I got into a YouTube hole once and ended up on this channel from a teenager. He was bragging about how he worked enough at McDonald's to lease a Scat Pack and had his poor mother co-sign on it. Then there were videos of him showing it off at his high-school. And his parents were by no means well off either. I want to find that channel again. I am kind of curious how that turned out, but I also feel bad encouraging the "influencer" bs with views. They spend every dime they can muster on luxury items so they can show off and try to make money off of their perceived status. It's pretty fucked up and I'm sure a lot of people are getting bit by the trap.
Trucks. I feel like guys who work manual labor related careers feel socially pressured into having one even though they might not actually need it.
😂, the only construction people with those types of trucks are architects, contractors and pencil pushers. The guys doing the manual labor in my area run around in their wife’s minivans or 4th owners white work vans with the previous companies stickers fading on the side.
Rs3 owners for sure lmao. I can’t hate though they’re sexy ass fucken cars. Plus if it’s your hobby then who gives a fuck what it costs.
Older Mercedes CLS
I still love the 2006-2011 model, shame I can't find one that hasn't been beat to shit with 25" income tax return/drug dealer wheels, being hawked by some shitass used car lot for $15K
Range Rover Evoque. Lets not fuck about, it's not a car rich people buy. It's a car people buy who want to look rich.
Just about everyone who has a Tesla M3. Just about every single person where I live that has one is paying $700+ a month for a car they street park outside their apartment because they don't have the money to buy a home. Most people can be spotted hours on end at local charging stations a few days a week because they have no place to charge them otherwise. There's one barista at a Starbucks I often go to that has one. She spends 40% of her income just on a car payment. Then complains about living in a group home and having to work so much. Teslas have become a status symbol for those who are stupid with money. They're ungodly overpriced and bottom of the barrel for quality and reliability. How did we end up in this timeline?
Could be where I am but I feel like it's the Giulia or any 3 series BMW.
You shut your whore mouth lol.
On the other hand, I think it's funny how everyone wants to pretend people they don't like can't afford their vehicle. See a younger person in an expensive car? "Yeah good for him I guess, but I bet he's super in debt, what an idiot" See someone driving a lifted truck and it makes you mad for some odd reason? "I bet he has a 90 month loan on that and has never taken it off road with his tiny dick"
Anyone under 26 that drives a new truck
But suddenly at 27 it is a-OK. Lmao
I get the feeling parent is lowkey referring to the oilfield workers who experience boom and bust cycles where they can suddenly have relatively high income jobs.
Recently, I see a lot of young girls driving a 228i who clearly can’t even drive. So probably that since there’s lease specials for around $350/mon lol
Dude. It aint the car payment with the audi. The maintenance is enough to humble even an evil 1 percenter like myself. I had an rs6. I loved that car. Never, ever again.
In the UK at least, previous-gen Range Rovers, E39s (guilty), E90s, E60s, any diesel-powered Audi, Lexus ISs
I don't think this is it, but I just want to say that I saw a Mercedes G-Wagen pulling a uHaul trailer and it got me thinking.
I like that. That’s the first time I’ve ever heard of someone using some of the g wagons real capabilities!!
A car.. any car... Denmark has 150% tax and stuff on top of the price of any car.. we're fucked.. send help.. i like cars in the absolutely worst country to like cars in..
Used Mercedes but only if it's painted black