To wonder how people can afford a 50K car?

[tryingtobemarrypoppins2]

Being stuck for 7 hours on the motorway I got rather bored and started playing the which car is the most expensive game (sad I know!). But there were LOADS over 50k on the road.

How does anyone afford one!?? Luxury yes, do I want one? YES!! But how on earth does anyone afford one??

My Dad loves cars, really loves them and so he has now owned 3 or 4 Ferraris and he drives a porsche for everyday. He gets a new Ferrari every 5 or 6 years I suppose.

They are loaded though as they have their own company and I am all for him enjoying his semi retirement.

To redeem himself though they do loads of charity stuff and he has taken out children at the local hospice who also love cars.

Quite simple - you earn enough money in the first place to make it an effortless purchase.

50K is not particularly a lot of money for a car. Around here Bentleys, large Mercedes, Range Rovers etc are pretty average. Mclaren SLRs are much rarer.

I wonder the same at £250k houses though!

Company cars are massively punitively taxed nowadays you know. Anyone driving a car that costs over £25k which has big CO2 emissions - which most of them still do - is NOT doing it because of a company car scheme. There is no cash incentive now - they are doing it presumably because they are wealthy and they like big cars.

I'm always in a dilemma with badge snobbery - it's one of those things where you're damned if you do and damned if you don't ...

hmc - would absolutely love an R8!! You have the same initials as me.. perhaps we could swap husbands cars!!

I am with geordiminx, hmc... I would love and R8 too!

And have you seen the new R8 Spyder? phwoaaaarrrrr.... better than a man imo!

Perhaps I should make introductions to my dh - he would love a passenger who delights in the car as much as he does, rather than one who complains "OOh isn't it low, what a pain to get in it; I'm not as young as I used to be"

ha HMC my mother is constantly annoyed with the expensive cars. Too low, too small, can't get in or in the case of the Jag doesn't want to drive it.

Anyway the parents are very wealthy, loads of land, long driveway and all that so it's not ridiculous (as LBB has suggested). Plus has just got some citizen award for service to the community, is highly educated and civilised... and has an understated Jag. (are they even 50k? I don't know). I want to counteract the idea that all people who drive nice cars are flash/crass.

Anyway I wish I was defending my choices, I have a 7 year old Saab.

Answers to the OP question, because we work hard, have above average income and so therefore can afford to buy it. Not sure where you live but in our area our expensive car is quite normal.
The reason as to why we have it has already been brought up too, it has the space that we need and we do a lot of miles and want to do them in comfort not squashed up in the back of a small car.
We are not flash, do not buy designer clothes, sell drugs, need to show off we are a normal middle class family with practical needs

whoops 4 year old Saab, not that old.

We earn enough and save anough to pay for it outright. We're lucky, granted, but as PickUpYourPants said, we don't spend much on anything else apart from the mortgage so it's a sensible decision for us.

stressheaderic pmsl @ "shit the bed"!

She runs her own company. Her car costs probably represent 1/50 of her monthly income, probably less.

For as long as we have a mortgage we will not be sinking anything more than 10k into a car. I believe it is more prudent to pay of our debts first and swallow my pride and drive an ageing, slightly scruffy car.

I have a Porsche 911. We are both ex-sportsbikes riders and have always been into performance vehicles and have done long trips in Asia and the odd track day. We couldn't afford a car in Singapore -- they cost three times as much. So, when we had to come back to the UK with our baby we sold our bikes, pooled our resources (I paid next to no tax there) and bought a second hand 911.

We used to always have cheap (but expensive to run) knackered classics, Lotuses, Jeeps, that sort of thing.

I'd never buy a brand new car. Who wants to buy into hefty depreciation? We researched where to buy and what to look for and got a fantastic deal (height of the credit crunch, Porsche and Astons were going cheap). It has low mileage, it's actually fairly economical (much more than many non sports cars) it can fit maxi-cosi seats.

It's not about looking rich. Actually the Porsche's image is bad. The car of successful estate agents, owners-of-a-chain-of-hair-salons. I love it for its racing heritage, for it's plainness (boring, non-luxurious interior) and it's incredible driving. It drives like a pussycat at under 5k revs and is incredibly planted and you feel that you are actually driving on the road, not wafting above it. So it is focused, responsive, amazing brakes. It's not about going fast I have a baby its about the steering, braking, acceleration.

Also, we only use the car to visit my inlaws who live in the middle of the country (no trains or buses) and the occasional supermarket trip (people have a go when they see me park in P&C and then scratch their heads when I get my DD out and do a back wrap in the Didymos) Every daily trip in London I take trains and buses.

We're both journalists, we don't earn alot, but in Singapore where I worked I didn't pay mcuh tax so I managed to save a bit. I think it's easy to see a posh or rare car and make all sorts of assumptions. There are people with Audi R8s who live in council housing, and people with knackered Land Rovers who are stinking rich. I know a man who has to pay for his Aston on finance because he couldn't afford it by the time it was built.