jman888

Seriously how do you afford this stuff especcially you s600 and s65 owners. your car payment would be as much as the house im in's morgage (almolst)

what do you do and do you guys have equally aweme houses or just lack of proportion. (like people in the ghetto(where im from) with new infiniti's and 745's and escalades who get evicted from there home...

carsnob

I live in a home depot shed but drive a nice car.

jman888

nah i doubt that. you'd have nowhere to put your 911 without somebody stealing it.

it makes me mad though when people have 26k homes and lease 51k cars. then need payday loans and welfare . wtf

AsianML

Bah, that's nothing until you've seen folks at cash registers paying for groceries with food stamps (or an equivalent of it) and walking out to their new Escalade or Navigator.

jman888

i think food stamps should put assets into consideration. if they already dont

trumpet1

With stereo systems worth more than their house!!!

love2skiutah

Real Estate Developer.

My 3 car payments are 3 times my house payment!! lol.. I'm just in love with Mercedes, I guess...

JRAMGV8

+1

Doctodd33

i went to school and studied hard

MB Fanatic

Hotel Developer

trumpet1

I'm a dentist but that requires me to be (at no additional salary) a psychologist, psychiatrist, mind-reader, a banker, an insurance agent, a mechanic, an accountant, computer specialist, real estate guru, a lawyer and a bunch of other specializations that I didn't sign up for. I graduated in 1989, so it took me almost 20 years before I could afford a nice car like the 600.

dadesidon

my family is in real estate

cjf_moraga

I manufacture pixels... Feature film visual effects/animation business director

04S430

Only an S550, I am retired.

nantucketsleigh

The vast majority of those who can afford it don't own one.

duc&tlrsammy

Short term leases.

WSH

Well said

Indeed, most guys w/money aren't car guys....

And most smarter guys who've had money for a few yrs tend to be low-profile guys...

Suspect majority of buyers of any luxury good are "aspirational".....

Smarter guys who have serious money (and lacking need/desire to advertise) often will lavishly spend money on stuff that interests them....yet often can be rather frugal re: discretionary stuff that offers no interest....the elegance of spending money on one's own terms....

cmcjo

Very very true. Just about everyone I know who can afford an entire fleet of new cars, wont spend it on cars. In fact they wont spend it on anything.

momentos_s

I have a simple S320 CDI, because in my country the S65 AMG (full equiped) costs 460.215 $.

I wish I was in the US. I would buy the S65 AMG. That's for sure.

PS: We own a supermarket.

MBZFAN55

....with plans fully in place to take it with them when they depart this world.

WSH

Indeed....

In my case, one of my primary discretionary expenses is my addiction to exploring/enjoying new cars every 3-6 mos....but I typically drive only one car daily while it's in my (often) one-car (max two-car) fleet....but manage to drive some 15K mis/yr.....prob 2K mis/yr are boring daily urban commuting miles....but 13K mis/yr are wkend entertainment miles on fast fwys and interesting mtn twisties in early AM when not interrupted by traffic (don't know of place on planet w/better roads and weather than SF/LA to enjoy this habit).....IMO, my car entertainment budget is worth every penny.....an immensely pleasurable, yet time-efficient, form of wkend relaxation

trumpet1

How much is your average loss on each trade? Or do you have a great relationship with your dealer? I just don't see how you're doing this.

I bet your neighbors give you a lot of flack! I know I never hear the end of it everytime I bring a new car home. I've bought over 30 cars in the past 15 years and everyone finally just got used to me getting a new car every year and they finally stop haggling me about it. However, the culminating losses have put a stop to that.

WSH

Costs really vary....have driven some cars for a mth or so (and 2-3K mis) post-launch (like S550 and 997TT) and had near-zero deprec....new Ferrari 599/430 are essentially free cars for driving 6mos (and 5K mis or so) for repeat buyers (who get them@MSRP in major mkts)....but cars like CL63....or 600/65 tend to be a bit more expensive, given the steep deprec curves

Net, net, doubt my car habit is any more expensive than those of guys who are golf nuts/travel nuts, etc etc; or those who endure a divorce....but am a single workaholic, so car costs are a fairly trivial lifestyle/entertainment cost....

Interestingly, many of my car nut colleagues are also relatively young guys in financial industry; guys who also left NYC for SF/LA to more fully enjoy their cars.....and who get similar cars about as frequently (seems like we're all CL63 addicts now after our sabbaticals w/599, 997TT, etc)....

One of advantages of a jaded place like SF/SiliconValley is that many are accustomed to seeing new CL63/S65, etc being casually used as commuter cars (in fact, for first 6mos post-599 launch, would consistently see more new 599s in daily commute traffic in SF than seen on a sunny wkend PM in BeverlyHills)....pkg attendants at key office bldgs, restaurants, etc are all fairly jaded re: the cars they routinely see parked....and most of the owners of these cars tend to be a small, familiar group of car nuts (e.g., have 4-5 close friends/colleagues in SF who drive CL63, many on their second-third copy now)....often tech/financial guys in their 20s-30s-40s.....the car culture of a region w/a dynamic tech/financial economy and perf car-friendly weather/roads....really appreciate the SF/LA car culture b/c, as a youngster in car-unfriendly Manhattan, would puzzle my elders w/my car addiction....would commute around Manhattan in a new CL55, as my much wealthier, 30-something, non-car-interested bosses would commute via train (and have some POS SUV as a family wkend car).....quickly learned life's too short to ever drive an uninteresting car on boring roads....or for a car nut to not be amidst SF/LA weather/topography

naijaman

Wife and I own a graphic and web design firm.

See my signature.

AustinGuy

Austin Texas!

Heaven on earth. I guess, that's why it seems like 1/2 of CA is moving down here