Is there a formula for how much money you should spend on a car?
How many month's pay is the right amount to give up in order to have the best driving experience possible without ruining your financial situation indefinitely?
What is the absolute best car you could buy with one year salary?
Ideally, 20% of your annual salary.
But we don't live in an ideal world.
>tfw spent 13k when I earn 40k because to dumb too buy a 3k civic
If I had the knowledge/time/skill to make a 3k civic into a reliable DD, I would have spent 3k+ for a civic. Instead I fell for the CPO meme.
You must be joking. So I make ~100k a year and you expect me to drive a 2017 base civic as the highest experience i can afford?
I hope you mean 20% of your salary per year as payments.
>payments.
>financing things
poor people, everyone
> being scared to pay $2k extra over the course of 5 years to have an expensive car.
poor people, everyone.
>i can afford
This is a shifting definition depending on the individual. If you are prudent, and recognize that DDs are depreciating assets, you would weigh how much actually spending more would help you. And I do mean 20% of your gross annual.
I mean, you can afford a car that doesn't break 100k when you include cost of ownership and your cost of living minus your liabilities.
Should=/=could
>make just over £30k a year (that's $240k)
>spend £8k building cool car that will never be worth more than £4k
>only £5-7k to go and I'm finished building it
>$2,000 to car over the course of 5 years, plus interest you pay
or
>$2,000 invested into something and get extra shekels after 5 years.
If I had a choice I would not have financed by grocerybox. It was a calculated gamble that I'd rather not do again.
You should spend the least amount possible. Preferably without taking a loan. Get a used car that you like and keep it until the wheels fall off.
>$2000 to the car over the course of five years
or
>$2000 invested into something, minus the benefits of owning a car for five years
hmmmmmmm
>buying a car you can afford in one payment and having more money each month which you can use in other stuff
>buying more than you can afford just so you can drive a brand new civic
I was looking at a 911 Targa, the civic idea was just me making fun of the guy who said 20% of your salary.
Well if the benefit you derive from owning a $102,000 car offsets the potential gain that the extra $2,000 would produced while relegating you to drive a car worth $100,000, that is all you.
If the $2,000 is required to actually drive the car in the conditions you face during your DD (snow tires, etc) then why not just get a cheaper car?
But hey, stealership employees got to eat too
But a BMW M2 seems like a better option right now.
Say my rent is 2000 EUR, I live alone, no kids etc.
If I move to a place with 1400 EUR rent, the 600 EUR/Mo BMW M2 payments will not put me at a different financial position.
Jesus christ user you need to move either way
Seems like you're just finding justifications to buy a nice car. To answer OP's question:
>How many month's pay is the right amount to give up in order to have the best driving experience possible without ruining your financial situation indefinitely?
>What is the absolute best car you could buy with one year salary?
You take your one year salary, deduct taxes, deduct yearly expenses, and what's left over you can spend on your car plus cost of ownership.
Can you afford it? Absolutely
Will it fuck you financially? No, assuming everything stays the same.
Should you? Well you get to have "the best driving experience possible" so I guess that answer resolves the thread.
>>£30k a year (that's $240k)
Get a boxster S and call it a day. Almost the same power as the targa and mid engines. The normons will never know it's anything but a Porsche.
I watched a lot of youtube "financial" guys and most agree a car that is 1/4 of your annual take home should be comfortable for most. So if you take home $20,000, a $5000 shitbox is about right. Financing a $10,000 car for 4 years at less than 6% would also be a comfortable purchase.
A lot put emphasis that newer, lower mileage cars are less burden and headache, and that may or may not be more valuable than being pestered with breaking down, chance of being stranded over an $79.99 battery or $119.99 alternator or fuel pumps, etc. I like working on cars as long as I dont depend on it for getting to work in the morning...
>as cheap as possible to buy/operate
cars are a meme hobby and not worth wasting your allowance on
Depends on how much of your pay you need to give up for food, shelter, and other things you decide are necessary.