Quote:
Originally Posted by XutvJet
Is it that prices are out of control or is it that people's tastes and willingness to buy more high end cars has increased? In 1989, BMW sold around 68ķ cars in the US. In 2023, it sold 362k cars and SUVs. That is a staggering increase. In the 1980s and 1990s, is wasn't overly common to see German cars on the road in the US. Now it's common place. Many people over-leverage themselves for status. Same with houses. Someone living in a 2500+ Sq ft home wasn't very common prior to the 2000s. Now 3500+ Sq ft homes are the norm. Bigger house means filling it with more stuff too.
In 1990, a Honda CRX Si with manual everything including steering, windows, door locks, no ABS, a manual trans, a tape deck, and damn near nothing else in it in it had an MSRP of around $12500. In today's money, that's $31k.
And yeah, I'm one of those rare people that writes checks for their cars. Always have.
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Took me a while to get there but hit the mark about 20 years ago. I didn't get to this point by purchasing new BMW's. I bought reasonably priced used cars, kept them a long time & while I had them saved for the next vehicle. On a BMW forum hearing about people that can't afford another way LOL.
For the "most can't do it" - one way or the other each person buys multiple cars throughout their lifetime, 1 may finance each car they purchase, may buy a lot more than they need, may end up paying far more than someone else. For these 2 people, 1 buys 6 cars in their lifetime, all long payment terms, another finances 2 & pays cash for 4. They both figured out a way to buy the 6 cars, not like the guy that financed everything got a break (he actually paid more).
If I can't afford to pay cash for a vehicle I get something less expensive. Also add that the process of writing a $50k check instead of a $600 monthly payment has me not interested in upgrading nearly as much.