$300,000. Is any car worth it?

[FC]

Originally Posted by Josh (PA)

For a lot of $300k cars, its 'merely' a cashflow thing too. Can you have that amount of money tied up in an asset for the period of time you want to own it. Depending on what you buy, depreciation is minimal / positive when you sell it (with associated investment risks).

Right. I'd say you need to not care about the impact of that 300k relative to what it could have yielded as an investment.

I've heard even financially conservative people use 2-3% of net worth as ok to use towards a toy/want. Of course, the running costs and level of projected depreciation have to be considered as well.

[FC]

Originally Posted by JST

Interesting comparison between the 911 and the MC20
https://www.caranddriver.com/reviews...ight-compared/

This is preposterous:

Look, numbers aren't everything. But the 911 Turbo S generates some of the most superlative digits we've ever seen. It gets to 30 mph in 0.8 second, hits 60 mph in 2.1 seconds, and dispatches the quarter-mile in 9.9 seconds at 138 mph. It pulls 1.14 g's on the skidpad and outbrakes the MC20 from both 70 and 100 mph. One moment you're stopped; 12.0 seconds later you're doing 150 mph. That sounds like hyperbole, but it's an actual stat.

[IndyMike]

Originally Posted by JST

Interesting comparison between the 911 and the MC20
https://www.caranddriver.com/reviews...ight-compared/

Way OT, but whenever I see the front end of a Maserati I can't help thinking of this.

[lip277]

It's not $300k, but when my E9 is finished - I have been advised to insure it for $200k.
Evidently, there have been several off market (private) sales recently for cars very similar to mine that are in that value range (if not higher).

When I started the work on the car - my path was put a $30k engine into a $10k car - for fun. But then two things happened.
#1 - Rust was found and had to be dealt with. So - I ended up going 'all in' on the restoration.
#2 - The market for these cars just took off like crazy.

So - at the end of the day - I will have a car worth ~$200k in the garage. Will I drive it? Sure... maybe... a few times... LOL
I figure I will keep it for one season (summer 2023) and then stare at it a while and figure out if I want to have an asset of that value put at risk every time I take it out.

I did that same evaluation with the Mustang when I had that car restored, but the math on that car was a bit different. In that one - We put about $80k into a car that was worth $45k. Here, for the E9, I could easily recoup the $$ spent on restoring it if I choose to sell (when complete).

Of course - that assumes the market stays the way it is. You probably have noted that BaT has had a fair number of E9's recently. Most of those cars are of marginal quality - but 'somewhat' nice on the surface. I think the values the market has for these has brought several more to market recently by folks looking to cash in. The truth is the cars on BaT, have mostly been not of the quality to support the 'top dollar' expectations that some of these sellers have. Mine, should I sell - would not have a problem (I think) supporting that value - provide the market (as a whole) doesn't crash in the meantime.

Either way - Dunno yet. The shop down in SF is working on my list of items that I gave them in December (when I went down to drive it). Once the list is checked off - I will go down again and drive it (on an extended basis) to then see where it stands for me taking it back to Seattle.

I look forward to driving it - not looking forward to exposing it to the slings and arrows of driving it. LOL

But this thread is an interesting one to me - and kind of topical.....

[lemming]

Originally Posted by FC

This is preposterous:

Look, numbers aren't everything. But the 911 Turbo S generates some of the most superlative digits we've ever seen. It gets to 30 mph in 0.8 second, hits 60 mph in 2.1 seconds, and dispatches the quarter-mile in 9.9 seconds at 138 mph. It pulls 1.14 g's on the skidpad and outbrakes the MC20 from both 70 and 100 mph. One moment you're stopped; 12.0 seconds later you're doing 150 mph. That sounds like hyperbole, but it's an actual stat.

Yes.

Hence the question, is that car worth the $300,000?

It is amazing. But is it ‘more’ amazing than your M3? Yeah. Dunno.

[Jeff_DML]

Originally Posted by lemming

Yes.

Hence the question, is that car worth the $300,000?

It is amazing. But is it ‘more’ amazing than your M3? Yeah. Dunno.

yeah where can you drive a car that fast? track or lemming on the freeway

[Alan]

Originally Posted by lemming

Yes.

Hence the question, is that car worth the $300,000?

It is amazing. But is it ‘more’ amazing than your M3? Yeah. Dunno.

If this question was in the pub I'd give a real answer but it's public so all I will say is yes it is ...

Man this board could be so much better if a login was required.

[lemming]

Originally Posted by Alan

If this question was in the pub I'd give a real answer but it's public so all I will say is yes it is ...

Man this board could be so much better if a login was required.

Ha ha ha. Point taken.

[SCA]

Originally Posted by IndyMike

Way OT, but whenever I see the front end of a Maserati I can't help thinking of this.

[lemming]

Originally Posted by FC

Right. I'd say you need to not care about the impact of that 300k relative to what it could have yielded as an investment.

I've heard even financially conservative people use 2-3% of net worth as ok to use towards a toy/want. Of course, the running costs and level of projected depreciation have to be considered as well.

Yes —and I didn’t respond directly to Nick’s context but I can to his and your point here. One of the assumptions is that it fits conservative financial guidelines.

It is difficult to know if any car purchase right now is tenable as an investment because it’s so frothy. I think this will not meet that criterion. The homer in me still says yes? It’s a 2 year wait for a 992TT and even now, it’s not guaranteed that it will be hybrid-free. By the time you get your allocation, it’s highly likely the 992.2TT is a hybrid turbo. And it’s not clear that anyone wants this.

So you could argue buying a 992TT now at the market, which is 300,000 is fine. You enjoy it and sell it and sell it for basically what you paid for it.

I think it’s unwieldy though, to act like this isn’t an egregious amount of money for a car. Except for the paragraph above, it’s quite scary as a proposition.