When to buy your first exotic car?

[Antifragile]

This is a classic FL post …

not in a good way.

there is a difference between looking successful and being successful. If you focus on looks, you’ll get your Lambo on a lease. If you are after substance, you’ll buy when you don’t give a damn. Worse yet, it might not mean as much to you.

I used to want an M3 BMW - I felt it was a “dream”. Today, i have no car debt. Actually no “unproductive debt” at all. And I want no Lambo. Yet I could walk into a dealership and pay cash. It’s not to impress you, I share this to say that appetite for things changes when the obstacles of getting them aren’t there anymore.

My advice: focus on being productive. When buying a Lambo doesn’t impact your life one bit, and you want it, to get it! Enjoy it. Race it on a track. Just don’t lease it because you can “afford” payments.

 

[Kak]

This is a classic FL post …

not in a good way.

there is a difference between looking successful and being successful. If you focus on looks, you’ll get your Lambo on a lease. If you are after substance, you’ll buy when you don’t give a damn. Worse yet, it might not mean as much to you.

I used to want an M3 BMW - I felt it was a “dream”. Today, i have no car debt. Actually no “unproductive debt” at all. And I want no Lambo. Yet I could walk into a dealership and pay cash. It’s not to impress you, I share this to say that appetite for things changes when the obstacles of getting them aren’t there anymore.

My advice: focus on being productive. When buying a Lambo doesn’t impact your life one bit, and you want it, to get it! Enjoy it. Race it on a track. Just don’t lease it because you can “afford” payments.

Bingo.

There was some surprising statistic about the average net worth of new Lamborghini or Ferrari buyer. I want to say it was like 2 million. That is surprisingly low. Like 1 billionaire can come in and skew that hard to the upside, but somehow it is still massively low.

That means a TON of buyers are worth less than 2 million and some are probably totally worthless. The majority of them are peacocking upper middle class side walkers.

I can’t imagine a frickin car, that you can only drive 30k miles before it dies, swallowing 10-30 percent of my net worth. This says to me that the average Ferrari or Lamborghini driver is emotional with their money instead of disciplined.

When this decision looks more like- 400k Lamborghini in the driveway VS ~30-60k per year for the rest of my life without doing one thing, it gets easier and easier to not GAF about flashy cars.

All of this said, these cars are gorgeous and cool, but I’d wait until I make the entire value of the car every month before I’d buy one. So far I’ve never broken that rule and it has served me well. It amazes me how much of their life people with less than optimal income systems are willing to give up for stylish transportation.

 

[MoneyDoc]

I'm going to be the devils advocate here but buy it when YOU want. No one can answer this question for you and there is no "right" or "wrong" answer. Many called me stupid when I bought my lambo this year, but few understand what motivates me in life and what makes me happy in life. That's why this is a personal question. FYI, I recently sold it and made about $60k after putting on 12,000 KMs. Not one day went by without a smile on my face and that's all that matters in my opinion. Before I would go to bed, I would sneak my head through the garage entry door and I would smile even more before heading to sleep. I love cars. So the answer for me is, whenever I WANT.

If you can do it, and if you want to do it, then go do it! Don't wait for that "perfect" moment, because believe me, it will never come.

There's no point in working and delaying gratification, especially when you're an entrepreneur and you HAVE the wealth. The difference between $5m and $10m is 2x. Which one builds a bigger grave? NONE. Again, everyone differs with their opinion and everyone is entitled to their own decisions in life. But for me, I don't believe in delaying gratification when I can afford what I want right now. It doesn't make sense to me to postpone that so I can invest and make a few hundred thousand more. Then what? That cycle will keep repeating until one day I either get hit by a drunk driver, I get a sickness, or I just don't wake up.

By the way, the supercar market is on fire. Most people are buying high, and selling even higher. SVJs are going for $900k+. SVJ roadsters are going for $1m+ ($CAD).

 

[MJ DeMarco]

Exotic car ownership is an experience I wouldn't trade, and certainly don't regret.

IMO, if you can pay cash for it and have absolutely nothing change about your life, business, or otherwise, you can afford it. And yes, some of the cars hold their value. My Lamborghini Diablo only lost $15,000 in value after 2.5 years of ownership.

There was some surprising statistic about the average net worth of new Lamborghini or Ferrari buyer.

Has to be the median, not the mean.

One billionaire buyer would skew the mean (average) hard to the upside. If it's "mean", that means it is worse then $2M and the median would be like $1M. Personally speaking, I think a $2M - $5M net worth is far too low to own a $500K car. Not so much 10, 15 years ago, but today, yes.

I personally find it funny when the gurus use their $350K Lambo as a credibility item, except that it is parked in front of their $350K house.

 

[biophase]

I also once had a guy in a store parking lot say out of loud to his friends so I could hear it "I wish I had a rich father!". I yelled back "This is my car and I bought it."

Recently I was with someone and a young man drove by in a shiny Lamborghini. The person says to me "That man must be very educated." I didn't say anything but I was thinking "You don't know at all what his story is. He could of borrowed it from his rich uncle or maybe he's renting it or whatever."

You have no clue that you have the same mindset as the "guy in a store parking lot" LOL

 

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[biophase]

My mindset was actually totally the opposite. The guy in the parking lot most likely is still leading his hum drum life. I on the other hand actually succeded and proved him and lots of "smart" people wrong. Very wrong.

You don’t get it.

Someone saw you in a nice car and assumed that you’re rich father bought it for you.

When your friend mentioned somebody who had a nice car must be smart, the first two things you were thinking were that maybe he borrowed it from a relative or is renting it.

Tell me how that is different from the other person thinking you’re rich father bought the car for you?

How come your first thought wasn’t yes he probably is smart and probably worked hard and bought that car for himself?

 

[biophase]

For me I bought them at various stages of my life. My first Ferrari was when I hit a certain goal in my business. It was probably a borderline splurge for me.

I used goals like these to motivate me in business. So yeah it was probably a bad spend ROI wise, but it was ultimately a good spend in terms of business and happiness.

My last exotic I remember debating because it was 1-3% of my net worth at the time which in hindsight now was easily affordable, but I was still going back and forth on it.

I think the ultimate choice comes from within. Deep down inside you’ll know if you should be buying the car.

I don’t think cash or loan says much now since the rates are so low people with cash would get a loan anyway.

 

[biophase]

Exotic car ownership is an experience I wouldn't trade, and certainly don't regret.

I don't think it ever gets out of your system until you own at least one!

Cars and really expensive non-practical things cannot be logically argued. It just depends on who you are and what you like. I had never ever been in a Louis V store until a month ago. And honestly I just don't get it. A hangbag for $5k? But the same people in there would say to me. A car for $250k and it's 20 years old and you can't even drive it? I don't get it.

The ironic thing now is that I still like supercars, but I have no desire to drive them at all. I would totally get a collection of 10 supercars and just look at them in my garage.

In the old days, I'd buy a Mclaren that had 30k miles on it because I could put on 10k miles and not care. But now I look for the one with 2k miles on it because I'll probably put 500 miles in 5 years on it.

 

[Private Witt]

Once my company breaches a 25 million valuation, I'm gonna start to build a fleet of Hyundai Tucsons for my teams. I have one now and love that car. As for self no need for Lambo but I will buy a dope a$$ Jeep Wrangler and a bunch of motorcycles.

 

[Guest-5ty5s4]

I just wanted to chime in and say that there are all sorts of wealthy people with all sorts of different ideas and takes. Some of them would finance flashy stuff immediately and others would drive rusty pickup trucks no matter how rich they are. It’s really all up to your personal preferences, if you truly have the means.

The worst mistake to make is thinking that just because someone can do something, they automatically should or will do it.

There are plenty of reasons not to buy a super car even if you’re a billionaire. Everyone has a different perspective.

 

[Mathuin]

GOLD! - MINDSET - What Color Ferrari Should I Buy? (I Have Twenty Bucks)

I have twenty bucks … what color Ferrari do I buy when I succeed? (Image @biophase) Ridiculous statement, often equivalent to a ridiculous question quite often found here at the forum. The poker-face for the WANTREPRENEUR are the hypothetical questions about things that are months, perhaps...

www.thefastlaneforum.com

 

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[Deleted85763]

I love fast and exotic cars. Exotic cars mostly have a better driving performance than other cars. So buy an exotic supercar as soon as you can afford it. And do drive it into town. Wherer people see it, but anywhere, where are great roads. Because driving them is moch more fun than being seen in them.
Btw. Get cars in bad visual shape. The worse they look, the more driving fun you have!
dont buy them as a status symbol. You ll have much more fun having them as drive machines!

I once had a luxury car. I couldn't believe how nice people treated me. Some tried to even befriend me, solely because of the car. Now when I ride my bicycle home from the supermarket with groceries, something no one does where I currently live, sometimes I have gotten gasps from people, mostly older women, with the sentiment "Our community is starting to become a ghetto!". Hey lady, maybe you should try it. And your husband. You'll enjoy your lives like you never knew you could!

 

[Ing]

Panamera is great for us big guys.
I8 is imo nonsense. 3zyl emergency generator, 2 e- motors and a sound generator suggesting a V8. And so uncomfortable and small. No.
Sometimes I borrow such cars and make a test round. I have a round with curvy roads and than a highspeed part. High speed of a car allways interests me at that moment. (And 310 km/h legal!) But when the round is over, I never yearn back to that.
So when I had the money I would not buy a supercar because I can afford it.

And an I8 video for you

 

[Deleted85763]

Hey guys,

interested in hearing your opinion, particularly from guys who own or have owned exotic cars in the past.

What is a good rule of thumb when buying your first super car? Should you lease, finance or just pay in cash? Obviously MJ and some other guys who I follow say that you should only buy an exotic car if you can actually afford it. There's a lot of conflict with "affordability" from these guys. One said, if you can buy 10 of them in cash, then you can afford one. While another said that 20-25% of your cash flow should go into your fun fund and if the price fits within that percentage, then go for it.

I think it makes a lot more sense to lease a regular car, like a brand new Mercedes-Benz, BMW or Audi as these drop in value a lot when driving and getting some miles on them. Especially the new R8, so it would make more sense to lease a brand new one. Or just buy a used model from 2015-2019 that's got a high mileage because they've already lost a lot of value afterwards.

Ferraris and Lamborghinis on the other hand, hold their values extremely well. McLarens not so much, but they're still awesome cars. Some Porsches do it too, like the 911 Turbo or GT3. For context, I'm looking for either the Lamborghini Huracan or the Audi R8 V10(post 2015 models).

Or should you make so much money that the price becomes irrelevant?

The best time? NEVER! Cars have so many negtaives that I won't even get into it other to stay they are "boxes of metal on wheels" that take up a lot of space. Buy a bicycle and have FREEDOM and health.

 

[ljean]

I like exotic cars but for me the negatives far outweigh any positives. Aside from the expenses, maintaining them is a pita, its only a matter of time before my careless kids scratch the paint while in the garage, you're never comfortable parking it in public, you cant use it anywhere near its full potential on public roads, it attracts attention from idiots & cops, the stiff suspensions are uncomfortable for longer drives, they are small and typically cant even fit a set of golf clubs, i could go on and on...

 

[Ing]

I love fast and exotic cars. Exotic cars mostly have a better driving performance than other cars. So buy an exotic supercar as soon as you can afford it. And don’t drive it into town. Wherer people see it, but anywhere, where are great roads. Because driving them is moch more fun than being seen in them.
Btw. Get cars in bad visual shape. The worse they look, the more driving fun you have!
dont buy them as a status symbol. You ll have much more fun having them as drive machines!

 

[Wouter]

''Expensive stuff means more when we’re poor.

And so we work to buy more.

But as we make more, the expensive stuff becomes cheaper and common.

So in an attempt to get more, we remove what made it magical to begin with—scarcity & relative cost.

Enjoy stuff while it’s special, because it wont last.''

- Alex Hormozi

 

[Antifragile]

Please share more about your business!

 

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[K1 Lambo]

One of my friends had the 911 GT3. Within a month of buying it, he bought a Works Mini Cooper. The 911 stayed in his garage 95% of the time whilst he drove the mini.

Another friend had the Bentley Continental GT and ended up buying a Jaguar, again within a month, so he could leave the Bentley at home. It attracted too much attention and no one would let him out in traffic.

Me, I drive a Honda - great car.

Hondas are great family cars.

 

[Cameraman]

Hondas are great family cars.

It also goes like stink when you put your foot down. I'm not sure it really fits the bill as a family car though.

 

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[mdot]

sometimes I have gotten gasps from people, mostly older women, with the sentiment "Our community is starting to become a ghetto!"

In fact the things people told others about me who then told me were things like "Oh, he must be able to afford a stable of those kinds of cars" or "He's got butlers to do his shopping".

I also once had a guy in a store parking lot say out of loud to his friends so I could hear it "I wish I had a rich father!".

Do these conversation actually happen to you? Do you live in the rudest community on earth? I can't think of a single circumstance in my life where someone has exclaimed such a thing out loud to me.

 

[Kokaka]

Hey guys,

interested in hearing your opinion, particularly from guys who own or have owned exotic cars in the past.

What is a good rule of thumb when buying your first super car? Should you lease, finance or just pay in cash? Obviously MJ and some other guys who I follow say that you should only buy an exotic car if you can actually afford it. There's a lot of conflict with "affordability" from these guys. One said, if you can buy 10 of them in cash, then you can afford one. While another said that 20-25% of your cash flow should go into your fun fund and if the price fits within that percentage, then go for it.

I think it makes a lot more sense to lease a regular car, like a brand new Mercedes-Benz, BMW or Audi as these drop in value a lot when driving and getting some miles on them. Especially the new R8, so it would make more sense to lease a brand new one. Or just buy a used model from 2015-2019 that's got a high mileage because they've already lost a lot of value afterwards.

Ferraris and Lamborghinis on the other hand, hold their values extremely well. McLarens not so much, but they're still awesome cars. Some Porsches do it too, like the 911 Turbo or GT3. For context, I'm looking for either the Lamborghini Huracan or the Audi R8 V10(post 2015 models).

Or should you make so much money that the price becomes irrelevant?

I have been thinking about this alot latley since Im a petrolhead. Got a Porsche Panamera and am already thinking of getting an i8.
I have come to the conclusion that if you ask when or if you can afford it, you cant.
I think when you get to the point where you can pick up a car like you pick up groceries. You can afford it.

 

[Kokaka]

Agree. Would you say that if you can buy ten models of the same car in cash, would you say you can afford it then? So if a Huracan costs $200,000-$250,000 then your income needs to be around $2.5 million each year? I think that's probably a good rule of thumb.

I think that should probably be a good rule of thumb.
I mean, if you can afford 10, would yoy question yourself if you bought one?
Even if you can afford 3 maybe. By that point you have your house, travels etc so you wouldnt really question yourself.
If you question yourself, there are probably something more important to put the money in. If not, go for it. We work to get our toys.

Like for me. I just knew I could get the Panamera. I new I could afford it but I didnt number crunch it. If I did. Its probably 10% of this years cashflow and when I bought it, probably 20%

Edit: Been thinking abit more. I feel safe to buy one at 20% cashflow so if I where to give a number. It would probably it. But then again, When Im up at that level of money, everything I wanted is already payd for so I dont know at that level

 

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[K1 Lambo]

Hey guys,

interested in hearing your opinion, particularly from guys who own or have owned exotic cars in the past.

What is a good rule of thumb when buying your first super car? Should you lease, finance or just pay in cash? Obviously MJ and some other guys who I follow say that you should only buy an exotic car if you can actually afford it. There's a lot of conflict with "affordability" from these guys. One said, if you can buy 10 of them in cash, then you can afford one. While another said that 20-25% of your cash flow should go into your fun fund and if the price fits within that percentage, then go for it.

I think it makes a lot more sense to lease a regular car, like a brand new Mercedes-Benz, BMW or Audi as these drop in value a lot when driving and getting some miles on them. Especially the new R8, so it would make more sense to lease a brand new one. Or just buy a used model from 2015-2019 that's got a high mileage because they've already lost a lot of value afterwards.

Ferraris and Lamborghinis on the other hand, hold their values extremely well. McLarens not so much, but they're still awesome cars. Some Porsches do it too, like the 911 Turbo or GT3. For context, I'm looking for either the Lamborghini Huracan or the Audi R8 V10(post 2015 models).

Or should you make so much money that the price becomes irrelevant?

 

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[Cameraman]

One of my friends had the 911 GT3. Within a month of buying it, he bought a Works Mini Cooper. The 911 stayed in his garage 95% of the time whilst he drove the mini.

Another friend had the Bentley Continental GT and ended up buying a Jaguar, again within a month, so he could leave the Bentley at home. It attracted too much attention and no one would let him out in traffic.

Me, I drive a Honda - great car.

 

[K1 Lambo]

I'm going to be the devils advocate here but buy it when YOU want. No one can answer this question for you and there is no "right" or "wrong" answer. Many called me stupid when I bought my lambo this year, but few understand what motivates me in life and what makes me happy in life. That's why this is a personal question. FYI, I recently sold it and made about $60k after putting on 12,000 KMs. Not one day went by without a smile on my face and that's all that matters in my opinion. Before I would go to bed, I would sneak my head through the garage entry door and I would smile even more before heading to sleep. I love cars. So the answer for me is, whenever I WANT.

If you can do it, and if you want to do it, then go do it! Don't wait for that "perfect" moment, because believe me, it will never come.

There's no point in working and delaying gratification, especially when you're an entrepreneur and you HAVE the wealth. The difference between $5m and $10m is 2x. Which one builds a bigger grave? NONE. Again, everyone differs with their opinion and everyone is entitled to their own decisions in life. But for me, I don't believe in delaying gratification when I can afford what I want right now. It doesn't make sense to me to postpone that so I can invest and make a few hundred thousand more. Then what? That cycle will keep repeating until one day I either get hit by a drunk driver, I get a sickness, or I just don't wake up.

By the way, the supercar market is on fire. Most people are buying high, and selling even higher. SVJs are going for $900k+. SVJ roadsters are going for $1m+ ($CAD).

Yes exactly, that's my point man. Thank you. For a lot of guys out there(and some girls too), cars are a huge motivator to work harder and to make your dreams a reality. Like what's the point of making money over and over again and then buy a Rolls Royce when you're 60 years old with a receding hairline because you just wanted to be in this never ending loop of making more money when you could've bought one 30 years back. Love your mentality man. Some of us just don't want to drive a Camry everyday. And let's be honest here, owning a nice car definitely has a lot of benefits. You're in the spot light almost all the time, which is kind of fun.

SVJs by the way are great investments now. Can't say so much about the SVs which go between $380-500k, whereas the SVJs are between $800k-1m+, these cars will definitely increase in value because it's most likely the last naturally aspirated V12 from Lamborghini. Lamborghini have done a really good job with their cars in the past 5-7 years, particularly with the Urus, which is their most popular car.

When the Lamborghini Urus is in stock at a official dealer(which is rare for now), they sell out like crazy. We don't have any official Lamborghini dealers here in Norway(there is one that tries very hard, wish that he becomes one since he's a good dude), but even in dealers from other countries like Poland where you got one official dealer in Warsaw, they're out of stock too. Lamborghini do an extremely good job with the supply and demand equation.

How did you buy your cars? All in cash, finance or lease?

 

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[K1 Lambo]

Exotic car ownership is an experience I wouldn't trade, and certainly don't regret.

IMO, if you can pay cash for it and have absolutely nothing change about your life, business, or otherwise, you can afford it. And yes, some of the cars hold their value. My Lamborghini Diablo only lost $15,000 in value after 2.5 years of ownership.



Has to be the median, not the mean.

One billionaire buyer would skew the mean (average) hard to the upside. If it's "mean", that means it is worse then $2M and the median would be like $1M. Personally speaking, I think a $2M - $5M net worth is far too low to own a $500K car. Not so much 10, 15 years ago, but today, yes.

I personally find it funny when the gurus use their $350K Lambo as a credibility item, except that it is parked in front of their $350K house.

Yeah man, life is all about experiences, not just making more money. You can always make more money, but you can't make more time and being young. Do you remember how much you paid for it back in the late nineties/early 2000s?

Funny enough, Lamborghini Diablo was actually the first supercar I saw when I was about 2 years old. It's still a breathtaking car. Was your Diablo the same color as this one?

 

[Antifragile]

I don't think it ever gets out of your system until you own at least one!

Cars and really expensive non-practical things cannot be logically argued. It just depends on who you are and what you like. I had never ever been in a Louis V store until a month ago. And honestly I just don't get it. A hangbag for $5k? But the same people in there would say to me. A car for $250k and it's 20 years old and you can't even drive it? I don't get it.

The ironic thing now is that I still like supercars, but I have no desire to drive them at all. I would totally get a collection of 10 supercars and just look at them in my garage.

In the old days, I'd buy a Mclaren that had 30k miles on it because I could put on 10k miles and not care. But now I look for the one with 2k miles on it because I'll probably put 500 miles in 5 years on it.

I get this. I spent more on my race bike than people spend on cars. And if I had. 9 figure net worth, I’d have a garage like you say, full of cars that I want to look at and seldom drive. A bit like art.

I’ll gladly race those cars in Vegas, every time. Just can’t imagine driving them on regular streets or get stuck in traffic lol.

 

[Devampre]

I haven't bought an exotic car, but I have bought a car I didn't need at one point.

I didn't really want the car in retrospect. I just wanted to feel cool lol.

Turns out that it costs $0 to actually feel "cool."

 

[fastlaner_1992]

Hey guys,

interested in hearing your opinion, particularly from guys who own or have owned exotic cars in the past.

What is a good rule of thumb when buying your first super car? Should you lease, finance or just pay in cash? Obviously MJ and some other guys who I follow say that you should only buy an exotic car if you can actually afford it. There's a lot of conflict with "affordability" from these guys. One said, if you can buy 10 of them in cash, then you can afford one. While another said that 20-25% of your cash flow should go into your fun fund and if the price fits within that percentage, then go for it.

I think it makes a lot more sense to lease a regular car, like a brand new Mercedes-Benz, BMW or Audi as these drop in value a lot when driving and getting some miles on them. Especially the new R8, so it would make more sense to lease a brand new one. Or just buy a used model from 2015-2019 that's got a high mileage because they've already lost a lot of value afterwards.

Ferraris and Lamborghinis on the other hand, hold their values extremely well. McLarens not so much, but they're still awesome cars. Some Porsches do it too, like the 911 Turbo or GT3. For context, I'm looking for either the Lamborghini Huracan or the Audi R8 V10(post 2015 models).

Or should you make so much money that the price becomes irrelevant?

When you can buy it in cash and pay for it with passive income

 

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