[IntricateDetail]

Hey all,

I'm fairly new here. Been lurking around the 5th Gen forums, these forums, and the Corvette forums for a while now. Was also on the Mustang forums back when I was looking at getting a '15 Mustang. Glad I held off because this new Camaro did everything I wanted it to. Fixed that horrible interior, added much needed and much appreciated tech, made the car sleeker and more aggressive in the front, and provided more power with a significantly improved automatic transmission (yea, I love my autos. :P)

That being said...not to start a flame war...but do all of you really have the $45k to drop on a new car every 2-3 years, or are you just ok with having a car payment? Reason I ask is that I was raised that you buy cash or you don't buy at all. Only exception was for the house and you do everything you can, putting all your extra pennies into the principal to pay it off in 10-15 years, and not 30.

For me, I'd love to get into a new Camaro, and can definitely afford the payment, but don't have the $45k in a non-savings related account to drop on a car. Plus, I feel like an automobile is not a good investment, so it wouldn't make sense to do that anyway, unless the house was already paid off and I had nothing better to do with my money. But unfortunately, I am still fairly young, am married with two wonderful kids, and don't make $200k a year, yet...so my house is not paid off haha.

So now that you have some background on that...any of you care to explain your thoughts on the matter of why you made the choice to buy and if you are making payments, what is it that you feel justifies the purchase? For instance, the thrill of ownership alone, the fact you know how to budget properly, accepting that you will always have a car payment, etc. Not looking to be swayed...just interested in hearing others' thoughts on the matter.

Cheers!

[Eric SS]

Personally, I lease most of my cars. I'm way to ADD with wanting a new car every few years and I drive probably 10k miles per year. When I have purchased cars in the past, I have a long history of selling it and buying a new one as soon as I pay it off So I just have come to accept the fact that I'll always have a car payment. With a lease, I at least know what I'm paying out every month and there are no big surprises with a mechanical issue out of warranty. We do own another car outright just in case something were to ever happen financially to us. Always keep around something that's paid off just in case.

Plus, with a lease, if at the end I decide I love the car and it's worth buying based on the residual, I have the opportunity to do that and just finance the balance through my credit union. I have done this once in the past. If I decide I don't want to keep it, I give it back and get another car. Another benefit (at least in AZ) is that you only pay tax on the monthly payment whereas with a purchase, you have to pay tax on the entire cost of the vehicle up front.

[IntricateDetail]

Originally Posted by Eric SS

Personally, I lease most of my cars. I'm way to ADD with wanting a new car every few years and I drive probably 10k miles per year. When I have purchased cars in the past, I have a long history of selling it and buying a new one as soon as I pay it off So I just have come to accept the fact that I'll always have a car payment. With a lease, I at least know what I'm paying out every month and there are no big surprises with a mechanical issue out of warranty. We do own another car outright just in case something were to ever happen financially to us. Always keep around something that's paid off just in case.

Thank you for this! Great info, and I was actually going to make the title "Buying / Leasing A 6th Gen Camaro", and then changed it haha. So great to have the first comment from someone who leases. Also, we do the same. My 08 Accord and our 13 Equinox were cash vehicles. Trust me, I wasn't happy about dropping $27k (after taxes, etc) on the Equinox, but it's the "family" car and I wanted something that would last. Got it with 4k miles on it and with the extended warranty (did a lot of back and forth with this, as I have always been taught not to go for it...but felt I got a good deal and it gives the wife and I peace of mind). I just had my 2nd child 10 days ago, so for us, the Equinox is perfect and should last us at least 4-5 years, if not longer. Of course we can always sell and pay the difference on a newer vehicle down the line if we want.

[Marine Corps]

Originally Posted by IntricateDetail

Hey all,

I'm fairly new here. Been lurking around the 5th Gen forums, these forums, and the Corvette forums for a while now. Was also on the Mustang forums back when I was looking at getting a '15 Mustang. Glad I held off because this new Camaro did everything I wanted it to. Fixed that horrible interior, added much needed and much appreciated tech, made the car sleeker and more aggressive in the front, and provided more power with a significantly improved automatic transmission (yea, I love my autos. :P)

That being said...not to start a flame war...but do all of you really have the $45k to drop on a new car every 2-3 years, or are you just ok with having a car payment? Reason I ask is that I was raised that you buy cash or you don't buy at all. Only exception was for the house and you do everything you can, putting all your extra pennies into the principal to pay it off in 10-15 years, and not 30.

For me, I'd love to get into a new Camaro, and can definitely afford the payment, but don't have the $45k in a non-savings related account to drop on a car. Plus, I feel like an automobile is not a good investment, so it wouldn't make sense to do that anyway, unless the house was already paid off and I had nothing better to do with my money. But unfortunately, I am still fairly young, am married with two wonderful kids, and don't make $200k a year, yet...so my house is not paid off haha.

So now that you have some background on that...any of you care to explain your thoughts on the matter of why you made the choice to buy and if you are making payments, what is it that you feel justifies the purchase? For instance, the thrill of ownership alone, the fact you know how to budget properly, accepting that you will always have a car payment, etc. Not looking to be swayed...just interested in hearing others' thoughts on the matter.

Cheers!

Because you only go around ONCE!

[Eric SS]

Originally Posted by IntricateDetail

Thank you for this! Great info, and I was actually going to make the title "Buying / Leasing A 6th Gen Camaro", and then changed it haha. So great to have the first comment from someone who leases. Also, we do the same. My 08 Accord and our 13 Equinox were cash vehicles. Trust me, I wasn't happy about dropping $27k (after taxes, etc) on the Equinox, but it's the "family" car and I wanted something that would last. Got it with 4k miles on it and with the extended warranty (did a lot of back and forth with this, as I have always been taught not to go for it...but felt I got a good deal and it gives the wife and I peace of mind). I just had my 2nd child 10 days ago, so for us, the Equinox is perfect and should last us at least 4-5 years, if not longer. Of course we can always sell and pay the difference on a newer vehicle down the line if we want.

No problem. And I added some info to my post above. People that are 100% complete anti-lease really don't understand the benefits and have heard the horror stories that used to be around. If you know what you are doing, leasing is a wonderful option. If you don't know what you are doing, you can get screwed. Know the money factor, know the cap cost, and know know the terms, and all else falls into place. And never put money down on a lease to lower your payment. If you turn it in early or wreck the car early and it is a total, that down payment is basically gone. It doesn't do anything for you in the end. You're better putting that money in a savings account and just taking out the difference in payment every month to send to the bank.

[joemosfet]

Yeah, this will be my third new car in 3 years, and I'll probably want the "Next Big Thing" whatever that happens to be.

Thus, for my 2016, I plan on a large down payment and a 2-year loan that I will try to pay off early. Then, when the new comes out, I can use the value in this vehicle as just buy the car outright.

[Eric SS]

Originally Posted by joemosfet

Yeah, this will be my third new car in 3 years, and I'll probably want the "Next Big Thing" whatever that happens to be.

Thus, for my 2016, I plan on a large down payment and a 2-year lease that I will try to pay off early. Then, when the new comes out, I can use the value in this vehicle as just buy the car outright.

Never put a down payment on a lease or pay it off early. See above. All it does is lower your payment. It does nothing at al for what the residual on the car is at the end of the lease. Put that down payment away in one of your accounts

[joemosfet]

Whoops, I meant loan. I'd hit mileage limits with a lease.

[Yam Fam]

Originally Posted by IntricateDetail

Hey all,

I'm fairly new here. Been lurking around the 5th Gen forums, these forums, and the Corvette forums for a while now. Was also on the Mustang forums back when I was looking at getting a '15 Mustang. Glad I held off because this new Camaro did everything I wanted it to. Fixed that horrible interior, added much needed and much appreciated tech, made the car sleeker and more aggressive in the front, and provided more power with a significantly improved automatic transmission (yea, I love my autos. :P)

That being said...not to start a flame war...but do all of you really have the $45k to drop on a new car every 2-3 years, or are you just ok with having a car payment? Reason I ask is that I was raised that you buy cash or you don't buy at all. Only exception was for the house and you do everything you can, putting all your extra pennies into the principal to pay it off in 10-15 years, and not 30.

For me, I'd love to get into a new Camaro, and can definitely afford the payment, but don't have the $45k in a non-savings related account to drop on a car. Plus, I feel like an automobile is not a good investment, so it wouldn't make sense to do that anyway, unless the house was already paid off and I had nothing better to do with my money. But unfortunately, I am still fairly young, am married with two wonderful kids, and don't make $200k a year, yet...so my house is not paid off haha.

So now that you have some background on that...any of you care to explain your thoughts on the matter of why you made the choice to buy and if you are making payments, what is it that you feel justifies the purchase? For instance, the thrill of ownership alone, the fact you know how to budget properly, accepting that you will always have a car payment, etc. Not looking to be swayed...just interested in hearing others' thoughts on the matter.

Cheers!

Because the wife said I can have one. This will be my first car purchase and I'm 41. Been working my a$$ off for years and never had the funds to purchase the car that "I WANT." Always had used cars or rentals. I figure, you work hard and only have one lifetime to experience own your dream car. I always wanted a Camaro and now I can finally afford one. I have half of my down payment saved and it's looking good for a March\April purchase. My wife's car is paid off so we're in a good place financially. We also don't have any kids, which is a plus.

[jaymsu]

Originally Posted by IntricateDetail

Hey all,

I'm fairly new here. Been lurking around the 5th Gen forums, these forums, and the Corvette forums for a while now. Was also on the Mustang forums back when I was looking at getting a '15 Mustang. Glad I held off because this new Camaro did everything I wanted it to. Fixed that horrible interior, added much needed and much appreciated tech, made the car sleeker and more aggressive in the front, and provided more power with a significantly improved automatic transmission (yea, I love my autos. :P)

That being said...not to start a flame war...but do all of you really have the $45k to drop on a new car every 2-3 years, or are you just ok with having a car payment? Reason I ask is that I was raised that you buy cash or you don't buy at all. Only exception was for the house and you do everything you can, putting all your extra pennies into the principal to pay it off in 10-15 years, and not 30.

For me, I'd love to get into a new Camaro, and can definitely afford the payment, but don't have the $45k in a non-savings related account to drop on a car. Plus, I feel like an automobile is not a good investment, so it wouldn't make sense to do that anyway, unless the house was already paid off and I had nothing better to do with my money. But unfortunately, I am still fairly young, am married with two wonderful kids, and don't make $200k a year, yet...so my house is not paid off haha.

So now that you have some background on that...any of you care to explain your thoughts on the matter of why you made the choice to buy and if you are making payments, what is it that you feel justifies the purchase? For instance, the thrill of ownership alone, the fact you know how to budget properly, accepting that you will always have a car payment, etc. Not looking to be swayed...just interested in hearing others' thoughts on the matter.

Cheers!

First of all, welcome to forum.
I joined this site a few months ago, and it's been great.

Regarding the payment of the car: everyone has different opinion, but I'm more like you - I buy car with cash payment, and I don't buy cars as investment.
I am fortunate enough to make decent income, but at the same time, I don't just go out and spend a lot of money - I always try to find the best value for the money I'm spending.

That being said, Camaro was one of the 'best value' I could find.
I was considering a few other cars, but in the end, it was between ATS-V or Camaro. Comparing Camaro to ATS-V, it had little less room, little less luxury, little less performance maybe, but was much cheaper on same platform, and with V8.
So for me, the reason why I decided to buy Gen6 Camaro was 'great value'.

Can I drop 45k on a car every 2-3 years? Yes. Would I? Hell NO!
I'm not judging anyone who does it, but I don't like wasting money on toys or transportation.

[Bassment]

I don't understand how so many people have such an aversion to monthly payments or leasing. Paying for a car outright in cash is almost never the best option, unless they have really nice cash incentives. But even then, you get an external loan, pay in cash then pay your loan back monthly.

[Imp]

If I had $45k cash hanging around, *not doing anything*, I'd use that as a down payment on a $90k car.

Can I float the full price? Yep. But my $$ is better off used on investments that yield more than the 2-3% interest that I pay on the car loan. Figure a 5 year loan for $45k is ~$800/month for 60 months. So, make 1st payment, and I still have $44,200 to invest. Every month, I usually am making more than 3% return than the loan, so that's $$ in *my* bank. Next month, take another $800 out, but reinvest my interest, rinse, repeat. (All the while ignoring what people have for down payment, or trade-in value on their existing cars to defray the cost of the loan).

At the end of the term of 5 years, I should have about $10k in MY pocket left over through NOT giving the bank the $45k up front, but instead investing it.

To use your words...

So now that you have some background on that...any of you care to explain your thoughts on the matter of why you made the choice to buy and if you are paying one upfront price, what is it that you feel justifies the purchase? For instance, the thrill of ownership alone, the fact you can't budget properly, feeling like you shouldn't have a car payment, etc. Not looking to be swayed...just interested in hearing others' thoughts on the matter.



--kC

[IntricateDetail]

Thank you all for the responses. My wife is certainly on board with me getting one...she is very confident I will look at every option and variable and meticulously go back to the board and check numbers until I am blue in the face...haha. That being said, I think it's more difficult having her on board than having her just tell me to let it go and get a Hyundai Accent. Nothing wrong with that car btw...just not a Camaro. And yes, if I get one it will be the SS, and more than likely the 2SS.

Honestly, if all goes as planned...I will probably hop into one come early spring. I won't put very much down on it though...as I don't like putting a lot down unless I'm just paying cash...and my credit score is pretty phenomenal so I should be able to get a decent %...but who knows?

Just as an FYI, I had a 2012 Infiniti G37xS sedan (modded)...just sold it a few months ago and got the Honda as a daily until I get the next thing. Was a great car, and I loved it. Honestly sold it to get a C6 Corvette...but now I'm thinking it may be the best of both worlds to just get a new Camaro. Have the back seat if I do need it...and still have the power/performance at least "straight line" of a C6 base Vette.

[joemosfet]

Originally Posted by Bassment

I don't understand how so many people have such an aversion to monthly payments

I don't have an aversion to monthly payments, I'm calculating about $1000/month payment. What I have an aversion to is paying interest. And thus, larger down payments and shorter loan terms help prevent me from giving the bank too much vig.