New X3 Pricing Announced

Not sure if its the 50's waiting on me around the corner, or perhaps the shift in my life after divorce but my dreams have shifted.
I don't spend time looking at cars on the web anymore. So long as I have a home, my kids are happy and I can travel and have weekends away with my loved ones I am very much content with my 6 year old car.
 

Quick///M

Well-known member
Hopefully he will learn to make better decisions.

I was also once young and stupid and while I didn't find myself in that exact situation, I learned you don't load any balances on the replacement car, you don't buy on the brink of your affordability, you don't take a balloon option and you don't stretch the term. If you cannot finance a car over 60 months and a without a balloon (keeping running costs in mind), then you simply cannot afford the car.
Balloon on vehicles is like taking out a contract on a phone over 3-4 years, towards the end of it you spent a ton of money for something that has lost a ton of value and somehow you still owe a TON to settle it!
 

TurboLlew

Honorary ///Member
Not sure if its the 50's waiting on me around the corner, or perhaps the shift in my life after divorce but my dreams have shifted.
I don't spend time looking at cars on the web anymore. So long as I have a home, my kids are happy and I can travel and have weekends away with my loved ones I am very much content with my 6 year old car.

I find that for me I don't care much for car shows or newer things anymore. I find it incredibly difficult to 'see' what the R1 Million+ is going into with the newest of cars, but on the other end the excitement has waned on the higher end. It's only partially because they are now just very far out of reach (beyond logic). It isn't like I can look at most of the newer Ferraris or Lamborghinis or McLarens and imagine creative ways of pursuing financial ruin - in other words they are beyond the daydreams :ROFLMAO:

The other part is they are not really all that desirable. I feel (have felt for a while really) like we peaked in terms of 'experience', styling, tech etc at some point in the last few years (brand dependent). The focus moved away from speed and power a few years back. Gradually power wars returned and now we are back to 0-100 and 'ring times again.... and a whole host of new uneducated/inexperienced people who care about these things in the comments sections. There is a little evidence that the pendulum is on its way back though.

That being said, I am very happy with my garage and will be for a while: ancient SUV that gives me 100% of the functionality I need and I don't really care about keeping pristine. If anything, it's been more fun with the little distractions/projects. Family supercar that is likely faster than its replacement in the real world and baby supercar that is happy to eat up laps and breakfast runs while being fairly easy to maintain... most importantly one I am comfortable to drive that way.

When I had my Cayenne in at Cafe 9, there was a guy having brake pads changed on a GT2 RS from being on track at Kyalami the day before. The bill for the pads alone was R40K. I think about all the track days and costs of my 4C (granted not in the same area code performance wise) and wonder if I'd ever actually be up for having a R60K+ post-event tyre and brake bill over and above my insurance and prep costs... in terms of being able to 'treat' the GT2 RS the way I currently treat my 4C if you know what I mean.

As I think @TBP88 pointed out before, there is a gigantic gap between people who own Porsches and Ferraris... but there is also a gap between those that own these kinds of things and those who are able to track them/drive them 'without worrying'. To your point about being happy and content there is also the element of just feeling comfortable that we don't factor in
 

TurboLlew

Honorary ///Member
Balloon on vehicles is like taking out a contract on a phone over 3-4 years, towards the end of it you spent a ton of money for something that has lost a ton of value and somehow you still owe a TON to settle it!

The consequence of instant gratification...

Honestly, I don't know how one can justify basically financing phones over that long of a period. Many people don't even have enough airtime and data to make use of the device... but absolutely MUST have an S24/Ultra or iPhone Pro. The argument is usually that people don't have cash and you shouldn't judge them. But I find it difficult to understand how they have R1120/month to spend R40K on an already over-priced R23K phone (numbers not pulled from thin air BTW) :confused:

1727459207957.png

There is nothing in the way of subsidisation anymore anyway - may as well trade/sell your old phone and buy the new one cash.
 

TurboLlew

Honorary ///Member
A friend of mine owns a1991 Mercedes 230e. Being 33 years old I can confirm what @FILV is saying about what used to be Merc quality. All the interior components still work as they did 33 years ago.

Our old 280SE was built like an absolute tank. I'd still love to have a 560SEC

From the era of REAL Mercedes engineering and a design philosophy now reserved for cars beyond the reach of most

WP_20131228_006.jpg
 

TBP88

Well-known member
I find that for me I don't care much for car shows or newer things anymore. I find it incredibly difficult to 'see' what the R1 Million+ is going into with the newest of cars, but on the other end the excitement has waned on the higher end. It's only partially because they are now just very far out of reach (beyond logic). It isn't like I can look at most of the newer Ferraris or Lamborghinis or McLarens and imagine creative ways of pursuing financial ruin - in other words they are beyond the daydreams :ROFLMAO:

The other part is they are not really all that desirable. I feel (have felt for a while really) like we peaked in terms of 'experience', styling, tech etc at some point in the last few years (brand dependent). The focus moved away from speed and power a few years back. Gradually power wars returned and now we are back to 0-100 and 'ring times again.... and a whole host of new uneducated/inexperienced people who care about these things in the comments sections. There is a little evidence that the pendulum is on its way back though.

That being said, I am very happy with my garage and will be for a while: ancient SUV that gives me 100% of the functionality I need and I don't really care about keeping pristine. If anything, it's been more fun with the little distractions/projects. Family supercar that is likely faster than its replacement in the real world and baby supercar that is happy to eat up laps and breakfast runs while being fairly easy to maintain... most importantly one I am comfortable to drive that way.

When I had my Cayenne in at Cafe 9, there was a guy having brake pads changed on a GT2 RS from being on track at Kyalami the day before. The bill for the pads alone was R40K. I think about all the track days and costs of my 4C (granted not in the same area code performance wise) and wonder if I'd ever actually be up for having a R60K+ post-event tyre and brake bill over and above my insurance and prep costs... in terms of being able to 'treat' the GT2 RS the way I currently treat my 4C if you know what I mean.

As I think @TBP88 pointed out before, there is a gigantic gap between people who own Porsches and Ferraris... but there is also a gap between those that own these kinds of things and those who are able to track them/drive them 'without worrying'. To your point about being happy and content there is also the element of just feeling comfortable that we don't factor in
Even myself, 1.5yrs into ownership find myself *very* intimidated by driving the GT4. It is in part the power and such, but at 400ish hp I'm sure some N54 guys have 100s of HP more than that in old 135is.

It's more just the fact that I've put a huge amount of money and time into getting the car that properly thrashing it just feels scary. Even when I do start getting on, exerting the limits of my limited skill! I can never not feel at least *slightly* scared. As pointed out above. The guys who can afford to thrash a R3,4,5,6m car just have money far, far beyond the imagination of "working" men.

There are tiers of wealth that really put things into perspective. I also agree, the really top end stuff has essentially no appeal. The car collecting world, where guys have 100s of cars just sitting in a garage just seems absurd, and, frankly obscene.
 
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