To want a Porsche?

[NaMaStayInBed1]

This is a bit deep so please be kind!

I grew up in a council house in the 80s/90s with the housewife Mum and manual low paid worker Dad, all good. In secondary school, I went to a school at the other side of town where most parents owned their house. As I got to 14/15 I began to feel inferior and poor, my school trousers had holes in the crotch whilst my friends wore Tammy Girl. I went on to have a child at 18 and threw myself into being a Mum and fighting the stereotype of a teen Mum, would go to many baby groups. Because of my age, I again felt inferior and I was a size 20 so lacked confidence. I later went to Uni and have a fantastic career and have lost weight and feel good. Still don't own my home but live in a lovely area, we may buy but mortgage rates and economic instability have put us off - rent is cheap and we dont have to worry about unexpected repairs.

I currently drive an Audi, and previously a Merc. I'm looking at my next car and want to step up in prestige so for a long time have said it would be a Porsche family car.

I heard someone say the other day on TV "stop spending money on things you don't need to impress people you don't like" and it has made me question my motives!

TLDR: My career and car make me feel like I can hold my head up high. Things that need me feel inferior: growing up in a council house at school with mostly fanilies who owned their homes, being a teen Mum, being obese. I am very proud of my career and now want a Porsche to replace my Audi. I have always felt that people have looked down on me/had an inferiority complex and things like this grow my confidence.

YABU: you probably don't really want a Porsche, you are just trying to impress people

YANBU: A Porsche is a sign of doing well and will make you feel good to reach a new goal

Get it if you want it, and you can afford it. Why the hell not.

I’m currently trying to persuade my DH not to buy a Porsche. We can comfortably afford it, but I don’t associate with what I feel to be the flashy, try hard image.

OP please consider your DC and their future/your legacy when you decide how you spend (car) or invest (house) your money.

I am a multimillionaire. I am 15 Million.
I have a lovely house all paid for and a few other homes all paid for.
I wouldn't dream of getting a porche for many reasons.

1. it will get stolen!
2. if 1) doesn't happen you will be targeted until it does.
3. it's wasted money, it only depreciates in value
4. expensive upkeep
5. you would be so scared to get a little scratch on it, it would cause added stress to your life.

I use cars that I'm not precious about.
I don't care if my car gets a scratch or is dirty. I'm not cheap either. I go on high end holidays and my kids are in a private school.
I enjoy my life with day to day things and spend my money there.

Oh, I also grew up in a poor area and my dad worked in a factory.
We never had amazing things but I never felt we were poor because we were literally surrounded by poverty so that was my norm.

Be smart, save up for a house. Who cares what people think, they don't live your life.

You need to be congratulated for the huge amount of work you've put in to get where you are.
However, it's clear you have insecurities and buying a porsche won't change that.
If you can commit to financing a luxury car, because I'm assuming that's how you'll purchase it, then you can surely commit to a mortgage and bettering your housing situation.
You need to do some self work too, to fight those demons you've got around feeling inferior because of your past and that need to get external validations by showing off things.

Whilst I appreciate a nice car and would normally say ‘go for it!’. I wouldn’t buy a flash car before buying a house. Flash car and still renting is a bit fur coat and no knickers isn’t it?

You don’t need to justify your background and being overweight, if you want a nice car, buy it. But if you’re putting it on finance and not buying it outright it will massively impact on your borrowing ability if you did want to get a mortgage in the future. Mortgage lenders hate big monthly car payments.

You're renting and you want to buy a Porsche? YABVU.

I don't think anyone would be impressed by your porsche. We have a couple on our street of semis and they don't inspire awe or wonder. In fact we were put off getting one when these families got their cars. I think buying a house in your situation is more pertinent. That I think would be more impressive to me if I knew you (not that there is anything wrong with renting, but house over car always).

You already have an expensive car so I don't think the upgrade would make enough of a difference to your life to be worth it.

With the caveat that it's completely personal choice what people spend their money on, bear in mind that, in terms of impressing others, there are vast numbers of people who aren't interested in cars at all and just see them as a means of getting from A-B, so you are never going to make a universal impression whatever car you have.

I had a Porsche in the 1990s, kept it 3 months and then returned it (company car).

Every boy racer tried to beat me off the lights and no one would ever let me out of side streets and I was constantly being cut up.

I got so fed up I switched to an MX-5. The difference in how other road users treated me was astonishing. I’m now on my 3rd. I am constantly being let out of side streets and I’ve even had people pull over to let me past. Totally different experience

Daft to prioritise a car over property - cars depreciate, property does not.
And while you can pick up some Porsches fairly cheap, insurance, parts, and servicing are £££.

What everyone else said. Would add, once you get the Porsche you'll presumably be looking for even more prestige again, and on and on. The Porsche won't solve the problem any more than the Merc did.

You've done brilliantly for yourself. Invest a few hundred pounds in a meeting with a financial adviser and think about next steps.

If you can afford it, and any ongoing repairs, go for it. My BIL has 2 Porsches, and a brand new VW Camper Van. He likes vehicles, doesn't live in a huge house by any means but earns well and spends his money on what he enjoys, which is cars.

Life is short, honestly we spend so much time analysing why we should and shouldn't do things. Sod it, just do it. If it's not for you then sell on.

Recently retired and we've bought an expensive car, over £40k. I've always had a good job but inexpensive cars. I've always owned my own house and for decades had a second property abroad.
I'd be prioritising saving for a house and putting money in my pension rather than a car that's going to depreciate in value ... just because its financially unsound.

DH has had two Porsches. They are absolute money pits - cost a fortune to run and fix when they inevitably go wrong. I was secretly relived when his first one got stolen. Personally, I think they aren’t as impressive as an Audi or Merc, far too flash and ‘try hard’.

This is quite said and the very definition of “all fur coat and no knickers”.

Do you still have dependent children? Having a Porsche when you don’t have a secure roof over your heads is ridiculous.

I realise this is judgemental, but if I see someone with a fancy car and a rented house, I'm not impressed by the car - I just think, there's someone who doesn't know how to manage their money properly.

I originally voted YANBU then I saw you didn't own your own house yet so I voted YABU. Stop chasing these expensive cars (with high payments that are stopping you saving for a mortgage), buy a decent (condition, not fancy branded) older car outright, save the money every month in an ISA or LISA if eligible, and get that house deposit built up! Then talk Porsches once your housing is secure.

Expensive cars aren't a wise financial move as they go down in value. Do you want to actually have money or just look like you do to people who won't notice or care much?

Do you invest for the future/have an emergency fund? I wouldn't do it even if I owned a house unless I had a high net worth. You'll get an initial dopamine hit and then your happiness level will be back to where it was.

Sorry if that sound harsh. You should be very proud of what you've accomplished.

If you have to put it on a credit agreement, then no. If you have the money to buy it outright, then why not put that as a deposit to buy a home and provide security for you and your DC?

Porsches and other former luxury car brands don’t do the “look at me, I’ve made it” thing the way they used to, as so many people on decent incomes just lease them.

Waste of money. Materialistic things are meaningless.

Buying a Porsche will definitely affect the way people will think of you, but probably not in the way you think or want them to. I certainly know what my gut reaction would be.

There's a cliche about drug dealers driving BMWs and living with their mums. But it's a cliche because there's some truth in it: drug dealers aren't known for making "sensible" life choices.
A fancy car is a lot of money to shell out, particularly if you replace it every few years, instead of keeping it for its whole useful life.
But this is your life - if owning a posh car makes you happy and means more to you than better financial security, in the same way that owning a rescue donkey and half a dozen dogs makes other people happy, then it's not for others to say that choice is not valid, if it is an informed one, and you understand the financial risks.

Get one by all means, but just remember a Porche is what people drive until they can afford an Aston Martin.

I’m not sure this will get the response from people who see you driving it that you are hoping for. My first thought was that a Porsche family car (I assume you are talking about the Cayenne?) is simply not that nice and having one is a bit flashy and WAG like. I’d be far more likely to admire a top range Audi or Mercedes even if they do cost less.

Add in that you don’t even have a house with a mortgage, far less a paid off property, I’m afraid I’d be thinking ‘all fur coat and no knickers’ like the previous poster.

If buying a Porsche is what you want, then they’re easily accessible so just do it!

But be aware nobody else is really noticing or caring much either way.

It kinda feels like you’re overplaying your hand a bit here, thinking everyone is noticing you and how well or not you’re doing..?

As a humble reminder, you’re the main character ONLY in your own story.
For friends and fam close to you, you’re a support act or various ranking at best.
For everyone else your name doesn’t even feature in the credits. They’ve got no idea who you are, let alone what car you drive 😆

So just do you.

eta people worth absolute fortunes earning more in cash reserves interest that you earn in a year, might be sitting next to you at the traffic lights in a 10 year old vw golf. They don’t all drive Rolls Royce’s y’know 🤣🤣