Every one has different situations, when i was 17 i made 1500 a month , and out of that 900 went to my 350z , but i didnt have to pay rent, phone bill , food , i had no worries just my car.

 

I've never owned a GT-R, family members have however, but I've owned several cars around that price range. As far as a set number it is impossible to say. From what I know of GT-Rs they're operating expenses aren't as high as some of its competitors, however, it will be FAR from cheap. Assuming you buy a moderately used one, don't have any other large car or house payments, and don't have a family to support, I'd say at least 130k, but this I don't know all your details like where you live and where you drive. Its to bad I don't have a GT-R as I live in Raleigh and would've enjoyed giving you a ride haha.

 

For those that pay cash for toys it isn't a ratio of income to car expense that matters but networth to car expense. Basically what percent of your money are you willing to have tied up in a large depreciating asset. I feel that is a more prudent way of looking at it as opposed to just looking at income.

That being said for my comfort I can't see having more than 10-15% of my money tied up in a car.

 

Buy a 2-3 year old car with the lowest miles you can find (and lowest price)... finance it for 72-84 months, drive it for a year or two, sell it for close to what you bought it for. You need to know the market and monitor the depreciation and always get the newest/lowest miles (but after the majority of depreciation hits).

For me it's all about cash flow. Why pay cash when you can pay 2.9% interest and you have no interest in actually keeping the car to the loan terms of 72-84 months? You're out of pocket is obviously taxes, registration, interest on the loan, and any depreciation so your purchase price is key to maximizing this. Furthermore, why tie up cash in a depreciating asset?

I bought my ISF in April and could still turn around and be able to sell it for what I bought it easily today as they haven't depreciated appreciably (and it's a low production volume car like the GTR). So i'm out on taxes/registration (3k), 2.9% a month for say 18 months before I sell it next year. Assuming I even lose 1k on my sales price from what I bought it i've lost 4500.00 to drive the car for 18 months. That's 250.00/month to drive a 50k sports car. If I breakeven on my sales price it's under 200.00/month. Just my .02.

 

Yeah, if you only keep the car a year or two then the amount of interest paid is probably insignificant to warrant tying up cash in the vehicle. If you keep it longer, 4-5 years, the interest then becomes more significant and if cash is available why not use it to save yourself money.

 

I agree!

When I was younger, I used to race Mustangs and dump 80-90% of my salary into the cars. drive to work on weekdays, blow up and fix on weekends.

But now, I hate debt. if I have to make payments, I cannot afford it.

 

You show me a car that loses 1% and I'll buy it.

 

No kidding, I might take two.

 

I bought my 996TT for 41k 2 years ago. I could still easily get 41k out of it. I'm not sure why this is so hard? Obviously it doesn't work on a new S-Class or Exotic which is why you have to find that sweet spot of depreciation but it's certainly doable, some models more than others. It tends to be between 2-4 years old from what i've seen.

You guys really think if you picked up an '09 GTR with 30k miles on it for 60k you couldn't turn around in 12 months and sell it for close to what you paid for it assuming you didn't put more than say 10k on it?

On cars.com there is on with 27k for 60k, and one with 41k miles for 58k. Obviously these are just asking prices and nothing is for certain but that's a 14k mile spread over 2 grand in asking price? And most 30k mile GTR's are still asking 64k+ so I certainly think you could do this with the GTR assuming you don't get bitten by replacing the brakes or something big like that during your ownership.

Again - not here to start a war. Everyone does their own things with their cars, money, and views on finance. Just something i've been doing and found it to be successful personally.

 

I bought a used ZR1 2years ago for 100 K and after only putting 8000 km on it two years later, I was lucky to get 70,000 for that car. There are many factors besides just being limited edition that determine its value, ie, new model releases for one.

 

very smart and wise advice!

 

Did this with a 99 Viper ACR, 02 M3, and 04 Termi Cobra. The sweet spot is 5-6 years old for it to actually work (rather than 2 to 4), but this is fantastic advice that I agree wholeheartedly with. The only key is really knowing the market, being able to wait for a deal, and being able to sell on your own terms. Definitely works exactly as prescribed. Took a much bigger hit on my 997 911 Turbo and E63 M6 because they were newer when I bought them (but I knew exactly what I was doing when I bought them).

 

I was in the market for a GTR, i was buying new from dealer with $50,000 down and the rest finance. I was very close to making the purchase and could have.

It would have made living extremely tight. Cost of living here in Northern VA is high, close to NY City and California’s nice spots.

So I had to make a decision, keep and enjoy my paid off 99 ACR Viper with less than 1500 miles on it and enjoy the comfort life with my family. Or make the buy and cut back on enjoying life with my wife and son?

For me it was a no brainier. Family first, hobbies come later.

And in all honesty, when I stepped back and really thought of it, i didn't enjoy the test drive of the GTR due to the e-gear paddle shifting. I need a true manual. For the price, I rather jump in to a used Ferrari or Lambo.

I've owned two 1100whp Supra's and have a love for JDM automobiles, however the new GTR just came up a little short for me.

Really am enjoying the torque of the Viper and challenge of driving it. I know for a fact if I had purchased the GTR, I would be driving it in automatic all the time. That’s no fun.

 

Lotus Elise, I bought mine 2.5 years ago for $27k with 16k miles, it now has 23k miles and I can probably get 28k easy if not 30-31k where a lot of cars are selling for with lower miles and no issues.

To the OP if you bought a 65k GTR at 2.44% which is what I just looked up on my credit unions website! you payment would be $1,153 a month, add in $200 for gas $140 for insurance and let's say $200 a month for maintenance(guessing here) and your at $1,693 with. I money down. So... How can you make enough to live, eat, play and save for retirement with $1,693 a month left over for your car?

 

People always say "I bought my car for x, and I could get x amount for my car based on the market", but I never hear of anyone actually selling their car for a profit like that.