Tonylmiller

Save up until you can pay cash. In the meantime, drive a Corolla.

alanhang

congratulations on beating the cancer.

Waytofastvette2006

If you can't pay cash for it you shouldn't be buying it. Especially something frivolous like a New Corvette

sprtplt

GM does not want that! That makes for the 65 year-old plus demographic.

*Trip*

I dont believe in car payments either, but it is so american to borrow for things you really cant afford.....so if you get a loan......save at least half cash, then you wont ever be upside down on the loan......all that being said, 100k household is doable, but not comfortably(especially if kids are planned)....and you never know when there is a job loss, medical issue, etc,,, that can change your income quickly and put you in a bad space....thats how people end up bankrupt.....you never plan on the bad chit happening.....

QUAKEJAKE

Don't mean to be blunt but if you have to think this out than probably not. The main concern is how secure your job and level of income is.

QUAKEJAKE

If I followed this rule of thumb I would not have anything except for a slightly larger bank account and a storage shed for a house.

stano

Didn't read all the posts, but factor in insurance and fuel into those monthly costs. Why drive a car that you may not enjoy because you can hardly afford to drive it? You asked

SlickShoes

I work with a lot of old guys who spent the majority of their lives squirreling away money, driving Corollas, bulk grocery shopping, missing out on the best years of their lives in order to pad their ability to live "care-free" by the time they hit 55 or 60. Always investing, investing, investing.

Strangely enough, most of them now have no desire to spend it. There's a couple millionaires in my office in their late 50's and 60's. Most of them are developing ailments, worrying about their health, etc. They're still in the mindset of driving that Corolla. They've lived with it so long, it's what they know now and it's their standard. One of them actually did go buy a vette about 3 years ago. A new C6. It has about 4,000 miles on it now.

No thanks. By the definitions presented in this thread, I live way, way above my means. I don't owe anybody anything though, and have enough in the bank to purchase a C7 outright. But, I guess I'm a financial delinquent nonetheless. Go figure.

OP, the car isn't going to kill you. It's not going to impact your quality of life in any real measurable amount. One good point I did read above by one guy was that every grand he spends now costs him several grand in retirement money. I can appreciate that. So with that said, are you willing to enjoy the freedom now at the possible expense of not enjoying it later?

Personally, I accept that risk. You're sacrificing either way. Either you sacrifice now for options later, or you sacrifice some of the later years to enjoy the now. In my peanut brain, I'd rather tear up a race track, hit some winding canyons, and take long road trips in a car that gets my blood pumping while I'm still young enough to not have to worry about the pressure at which it pumps, lol. I want to experience my favorite past time before it hurts to get in and out of it, before it's too loud for me, before it's too much for my old bones, muscles, vision, and reflexes to handle.

I'd rather live from 30 to 60 in the fullest sense possible and approach my twilight nearing zero than live 30 to 60 as if I were worth zero and make feeble, futile attempts to do so in the twilight thereafter. But that's just me. Flame away.

Never-Enough

That half is better served in the bank for a rainy day or investments vs a down payment on a car.

Buy cash don't finance is great, but does not apply to 99% of the population for homes & cars. The two biggest things most people will ever buy. That does not always mean they can't afford it b/c they financed it.

However, as I already said, buying a car that cost what you make in a year is DUMB.

SlickShoes

It's not a linear scale. The thought that a year's salary spent on a car is dumb, is in itself, kinda dumb. Or in this case, perhaps 80% thereof.

If I make a grand a month on a minimum wage salary, and I finance a 10,000 dollar for 60 months, with say, a month's wage down, we're at 9,000. With a normal interest rate, the car plus insurance might cost me $200 a month. That car, with a full term warranty, is less a liability in getting me reliably and efficiently to my $1,000/mo job than buying a 2,000 dollar car and hoping it doesn't break down and leave me stranded, and subsequently fired. With that reliable car, you can pick up pizza delivery for an extra grand a month on top of whatever that other job is. I wouldn't trust a $2k car with that task.

If that $1k is all you make in the first place (say you're a youngster or disabled), spending $200 on that car isn't going to put you in a different social class, if you know what I mean.

On the flip side of that, if I made 1.2 million per year, I'd have no problem buying a 1.2 million dollar car. At $100k a month income, I'm dropping $20k a month on my 5-year car note. Guess I'm going to have a hard time making ends meet with that other $80k every month.

BMadden

These threads pop up on CF from time to time and they're always entertaining, but the bottom line is this: THERE IS NO RIGHT ANSWER.

Everyone's financial situation and outlook on life is totally different and you can't let someone in a discussion thread tell dictate whether or not you should buy a car. At the end of the day only you can decide what's financially feasible and best for your particular situation because as you've seen on here if you ask a question like this you're going to get 100 different answers.

I know this doesn't help answer your question, but I just had to get it off my chest.

dahogan

Just because you can make the payments, doesnt mean in the long run you can afford it.

BeaZt

Take some of your 60k head to border buy a few keys of cocaine, bring them back..break them down double it up and your profit. NO Risk No Reward...C7 payment issue solved.....true story....lol

VtVette

One other thing to consider I believe the OP mentioned he is in Wisconsin? Would you have to store the car for the winter? That was the real deal breaker for me when I lived in Vermont. I could drive the Vette about 7 months a year max. That coupled with the deplorable condition of the roads made it much harder to justify buying anything newer than my C4 (mind you this was years ago before C5's were so cheap).

We moved to Nevada last year where there is no snow so, no need to store a car in the winter. That makes it much more palatable to spend more money on a sports car.

This is a very personal decision. It's all about how you view and value the buying power of the money you earn.

My mother dropped dead suddenly at 64 a few years ago of an Aortic Dissection. She was making a sandwich for lunch and was gone before she hit the floor. She was in perfect health. Her brother died at 54 the same way but we could not perform an autopsy to find the cause. Also had a great grandmother who passed at 49 in similar fashion. Back then they called it a "Massive cardiac episode" but who the hell knows? This is believed to be a genetic defect for which my sisters and I will receive yearly screenings but it comes on very suddenly and often results in instant death. My attitude has always been ultra conservative and invest, invest, invest but I have to admit my mother's passing has put things in a new light. Our time here is short (and can be cut shorter without notice) so, you do have to do what feels right for you with a reasonable amount of responsibility.

NFexec

^^ This! With emphasis on reasonable amount of responsibility. Unless one is single, we bear responsibility for sharing risks and rewards with a SO, family, etc. To the OP - keep that in mind when you move on your plan.

Doug

Joe_Planet

You only live once, so blow that cash baby!!!
The answer is YES you can afford that car.

Personally I have some savings, but still do not compromise on my lifestyle.
What is the point of having 100k in the bank.. so you can look at your statement?
People that say if you cant pay for it in cash dont buy it have their own opinion... which is stupid lol. A car has equity, its not like charging up 50k on a credit card, that money you will never get back. A car you can sell and get most of your money back (less depreciation, etc)
Bottom line is dont ask on the internet for approval, make up your own mind

Garrett W

Lol, I was living down the road from you in Dana Point. The rent I pay in Corpus Christi, TX is less than a 4th of what I was paying in CA

K-Spaz

When I was younger, I always laughed at the people who made 10x as much money as I did, giving advise about how I should spend x% of my income on life and save 50% of what I make and so forth. When I was 17 my boss told me this, my response was, hey dumba__, 1/4 of what I make goes to gasoline to get back and forth to work. Wt_ do you think I make? It was a good thing his wife had truckloads of old money cause he sure as hell wasn't gonna make any otherwise.. Brains of a rock..

With the fact that GM is offering 0% for 72 months right now on Vettes, I should think that almost anyone can afford one, brand new (2013). I'd forgo the idea of a 2014 though if I had any question of afford-ability. Just due to the fact that the interest rate will be higher, and the discounts will be non-existent. The OP can get a brand new 2013 for the money he's talking about for a used car. Get a GM card if you don't have one, wait for a top-off offer, use the 0%, and go for it. If you have a nice garage and take care of the car, you won't loose your shirt owning it. It's not like the money is gone, it's just tied up for a while.

I also tend to agree with the folks who say live for today. Not so much to stop all savings for retirement, but, find a balance between living now, and living then.

As a side note to the OP... If you have a credit card with a balance, you should not be buying a Corvette... Jmho. You are too close to living check to check.

Jet Streaming

It will be higher than $500 I pay that on my minivan with a $30K loan with good credit @ 60 months.