The Driving Machine
The Driving Machine
The image is mine … since Josh likes BMW’s nd snowboards, I thought that this image of a BMW with matching snowboard would be appropriate 🙂
From Josh’s comments on Ryan’s post, the BMW ‘fetish’ comes as no surprise 🙂 A caviar taste requires a Greek shipping magnate’s bank balance … let’s see as this experiment unfolds how we can help Josh along the way. In the meantime, I think that Josh has a sensible strategy about buying used … read on and you’ll see …
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The vehicle I currently drive is a 2001 Audi A4 1.8T, manual transmission. Ever since I began driving, I’ve always liked Audi’s but preferred BMW’s, unfortunately due to the price of newer BMW’s, I’m driving an Audi and have been enjoying it quit a bit since I bought it in August of 2008.
This car has definitely come in handy with the snow storms this winter and since the backseat drops down, I can easily fit my snowboard in the trunk for impromptu ski trips. Not to mention spending about half as much on gas compared to my last car, a 1995 BMW 5-series V8 which I sold in July for $3700. The proceeds from this sale plus earned money went into my current vehicle and necessary repairs.
I bought my current vehicle in Queens, NY from a New York City police officer for $2600. At the time of purchase the exhaust system was severed at the flex pipe which is right below the exhaust manifold and the clutch was slipping. The main cause for concern is obviously the clutch because the cost to replace it (not that much if you do it yourself, but without a garage and lift, it’s near impossible). I found the car on Craigslist, called the gentlemen on Friday, offered him $2600, and he told me to call him Sunday. If no one had bought it by then, he would consider the offer. Sunday came, I called, went down to Queens and bought the car.
Once I got it home I had the exhaust fixed the next day and the clutch done two weeks later, both repairs together cost $1300, leaving the final cost of the vehicle at $3900. One thing I would like to note about this purchase is, I enjoyed buying a used car with a bad clutch. When buying a used manual transmission, there is always some ware on the clutch but unless it is slipping, you don’t know the extent. Since it was an obvious factor in the value of the vehicle, I was able to negotiate the cost of replacing it into the price of the car. Now that the repairs are completed and the car has 110,000 miles, the value is in the ballpark of $5000.
Selling the car and taking public transportation would not be worth the hassle where I live in rural New York, nor would it fit my lifestyle of ski trips to the Catskills and visiting friends in New Jersey and Connecticut, so losing my wheels is not an option.
The next car I purchase will probably be a new BMW 3-series. I like the dual turbo 335xi or the new M3 (a loaded 335xi or a base model M3 both go for around $55,000), but by the time I get tired of the car I have now, who knows what I’ll be into.
Great work on your car purchases Josh! I’ve tried to tell friends and people I know how to do this all the time. So many people will see someone in an Audi, BMW, or Mercedes and be like “Well, that must be nice, but i’m not loaded like them” or “That must have been a dumb finacial move. They probably have a car payment the size of their mortgage”.
But I tell them, nope, buy used, take your time, look for good deals, pay cash and you’ll be driving a ‘premiere’ brand, European luxury automobile and paying less for it than they have paid with their ford focus payments for 6 years and 12% interest.
And the average person couldn’t tell you the year of your Audi, or BMW, or Mercedes, or whatever. They just see the car and brand and go “ooooh, must be nice….if the man weren’t holding me down, I could drive that too”.
Good job 😉