I already have leather

 

Bollux, why do you say that Tiggs.

Chip.

 

my opinion

when i earnt 30k i drove a 10k car when i earnt 50k i drove 15k car and so on....i found these a liitle costly in comparison to my wealth and they slowed my progress in other areas (house buying, etc)

with hindsight i wish i'd stuck to 25%...which i do now.

i find it odd that ppl make such big compromises to get their car...the weirdest has to be those in flash cars who live at home!

each to their own but i wouldnt drive my 540 (which at a cost to me of 23k is less than many scoobs) if i earnt 20k a year.....and i certainly wouldnt have it at home on my folks drive!

 

Fair comment

Chip.

 

Isn't all this assuming that the whole car is on credit ?


If you had paid off your last car, car before that etc, then you woulf probably have at least a few grand to budget with.

e.g. year 2000 car - subaru give you £11k against a £22k STi - so you own a £22k car but are only paying for an £11k car. So if you earn £22k this should be OK.

£11k over 60 months is roughly £250 including interest and protection insurance.

 

crack on....if you want to upgrade your car at a cost of 50% of your years GROSS pay then do so.....maybe the fact you can do by spreading the cost over 5years is a clue! then what? start again? your gonna constantly pay out a large part of your earnings to rotate a series of cars over your drive? i wouldnt.

T

 

Trade up !

I earn 30 grand a year (until next month muhahahahaha), my car cost 7 grand but I bought and sold a few and made some money, sold my Mondeo last week for 5 grand which paid off my overdraft, made 2 grand on the Mondeo and a few quid on other along the way, might do a few more now.

From what I have seen, a spanking new STi PPP is a way to spunk eight grand inside 18 months, I would have to be money no object to spend that on one, nice car but loosing eight grand in 18 months scares me witless. Would have to win the lottery.

Doesnt bother the missus though, she spent twenty grand on a VW Sharan !

 

All this assumes you don't have any problems with the car. Imprezas are notorious for expensive repairs when they fail so what happens then? Stick £3000 on an interest free credit card? Tiggs's 25% is a conservative figure and sensible but you only get to appreciate that when you get out of the twenties!

I was and am car mad and my priorities were well screwed with my first car costing 45% of my gross salary! Thankfully I now have that ratio at a much more realistic level! (75 yrs old in a caravan and drivin' a trabant! LOL)

Cars lose money period..........but you're only young once.

Jerome

 

I bought a new Boxster a couple of years ago and a chap at work said to me "we're paying you too much if you can afford one of those". I pointed out that due to the strong residuals it would actually cost me less over the same period of time as his depreciation tastic Freelander which made him go a funny colour.

2 years down the line and out of warranty, he'd had to fork out for leaking sunroofs, repeated transmission problems, failed PAS pump, random electrical gremlins and a water pump (car had done about 40k miles).

In the same time, my car cost more to service but didn't cost me anything else as nothing went wrong. Net, net my car was actually cheaper (or should I say less expensive) per mile than his. Not a scientific like for like but goes to show that it's not all that simple.

Cheap cars don't exist but some are better than others. Spend £20k on a brand new Mondy V6 Ghia and I'd say "er, no" but £20k on a 2 year old BMW 320d (or whatever you can get) would be a wiser buy.....

 

On that,I'd spend £8k assuming its on credit.Will cost around £200 a month and leave you enough to live on.

 

Hehe, I'm 19, live with my parents, and earn 15k a year. Last year I bought myself a £6k, 2 year old, Saxo VTS after saving up for a little while, it cost me £2k a year to insure and quite a lot in fuel! Still have that, go out a lot (5 nights a week mostly) and have just got myself a "fun" car after saving for a little while. Still have some money in the bank and I haven't had to cut back on anything. All depends how you manage your money and what else you HAVE to spend a month ( house bills etc - I'm not looking forward to moving out! ).

Enjoy it while you can

Rich

 

dont worry...keep spending and you wont need/be able to move out till your 49

 

just to add...this may be lost on you lot but the "you're only young once" thing is a nonsense.

i am 30 and enjoyed my TVR more than i enjoyed my capri that financially screwed me at 18......and because my TVR didnt bust my 25% rule i'll enjoy my SL55 AMG when im 40 even more!

you may only be young once but you're also 30 once, 21 once, 32 once....you get the idea.

T

 

I'm with Tiggs totally on this one. None of my three cars cost more than 25% of my gross annual income

If you go straight to expensive cars you'll miss out on that stage that everyone looks back upon with rose tinted glasses. I still reckon my first car, a MkII Golf, is the most fun car I've ever owned. Modern cars are too heavy and dumbed down! Get a Pug 205 or something like that - an honest driver's car... unless you're trying to impress the ladies of course.

 

Jlang, Agree on the Golf MK2, wonderful drive, miss mine.

 

You all you guys are on more than 22k. Their must be someone witha scooby that is making less than 22k.

Ray

 

My 2p's worth.

Start cheap & simple. Gains you an appreciation for the mechanics of a car, and also given you drive more carelessly in your younger years, doesn't matter if it gets bashed a bit

It also makes every new car after that feel faster & better. If you were to begin with a Scooby, any new car with less than 220bhp are going to feel crap.

I built my way up (through fiscal prudence really) from a 1.3 8v, to a 1.9 8v, to a 1.8 16v, to a 2.4 8v, to a 2.0 16v turbo (Scoob).

Miss them all. Bangers have memories too you know Each & every one has special memories, and even the 1.3 8v Golf MkII had played its special part in my life.

A Scooby straight away would have been exciting, but in some ways, it's more fulfilling to have built up to it along the way......Michael Schumacher didn't begin his driving career in the best car, so why should you

 

Yeah me. and i'm in debt LOL.

But i wouldnt be if i didnt have to commute 80 miles a day!!! Daily runabout on the cards, but a job closer to home on better money would be nice!

I live at home but thats cos i want to. I could get a flat close to work AND keep the scoob, but a) it would be too much like hard work having to fend for myself, b) i dont wanna live somewhere crap. I can't see any good reasons for moving out IN MY personal case.

 

One more thing - the benefit of hindsight is a wonderful thing, but had I spent less on cars in my 20's, and more on property, I'd now be worth an absolute mint

Cars are great, but property is better - one appreciates, one can do nothing but depreciate in droves

 

" unless you're trying to impress the ladies of course. "

give a girl a flash car in your younger years and you can bang a slapper, give a woman a big house when your older and you have quality sex on tap forever.......when you then park a TVR in front of the big house you get even more!

life does not end at 26!

 

Hahaha, quality. Reminds of the 'teach a man to fish' quote

I'm 26 in June so I'm glad I've got more than a year left. We looked at a very nice 5 bed place this weekend, so I'd better get ready for all that sex WAHOO

 

And how flash a house you want...

Horses for courses. There's only two of us (and the dogs) so anything over 3 bedrooms would be a waste.

House prices/cost of living varies widely. Some live in very expensive areas.

When I had my Scoob including wife's car the cars list price was almost 50% of our gross per annum.

And we had a nice modern three bed bungalow with garage and large garden and could still go out, have holidays and save a bit.

So work the numbers (carefully), and prioritise whats important to you at this time, not what's important to some jumped up IFA with an attitude problem

Oh - we came out of it fine , now have less expensive cars and considerably more equity in our current house - through choice. And our joint income is less cos wifey doesn't work full time any more. Priorities change, you see. Have an open mind, unlike some.

If I hadn't spent ludicrous amounts of money on the cars, I'd always wonder what it would be like to have done it.

Good luck

D

 

I earn 22k not including any bonuses (3K to 5K in year ish) and my Impreza cost me £10K - How? re-mortgage the house

Bought 3 bedroom semi 3 years ago with mortgage of £58K. Remortgaged last year on a lower rate and popped an extra £10K on so my mortgage is now £68K but our house is currently worth £120K. With all outgoings taken into account - Tesco, Sky, Insurance, rates etc I'm still left with £600 spendo for the month. My credit card debt has been reduced to £3000 and with bonuses from work coming soon that should half if not more.

Misses takes home £11K and she pays for creche for our daughter and all costs on her car including a loan of £5K

 

I wouldn't spend more than a couple of months wages maximum on a car. Neither would I buy a fast depreciating liability on any kind of interest acruing credit scheme.

Plenty of idiots do though, the UK motor industry relies on mugs.

 

Some of us jumped up IFAs are in the same boat too Diablo!

We don't all stare at the client thinking "Please sign, I'm sure my clutch is slipping"

 

"If I hadn't spent ludicrous amounts of money on the cars, I'd always wonder what it would be like to have done it. "

as opposed to never having done it and having ludicrous amounts of money

T

ps. funny how attitude problems are never a problem to those with the attitude

 

 

LOL

Kinda like:

"Give a man fire and he'll stay warm for one night.......set a man on fire and he'll be warm for the rest of his life"

I'm also 26 in June, dunno about 5 bedroom places though - we're in a 1 bedroom flat currently worth £130k - bl00dy south east!!

 

PMSL

Tell me about it... we're looking around the outskirts of Reading.

 

small world...im in Earley.....few mins from Reading