mmartahus

iTrader: (4)

I have heard car payments should range from 10-20% of ones net income (after taxes).

What income level do you think one could reasonably afford an evoX without altering the rest of their lifestyle and buying habits.

40-50k

50-60k

60-75k

75k+

Keep in mind the additional cost of ownship of one of these vehicles (gas, insurance, maintaince, etc.) And please note any assumptions in your response.

EngRWW33

How about other personal expenses? It all depends on your own personal situation, how much is your rent/house payments? Any kids? Wife? Insurance? Loans? CC debt? Many factors to take into consideration...

smoke4

We are affording it with a household over 75k, but its not incredibly easy. Seems like it should be. But, throw in another vehicle payment, insurance, food, house payment, electric, tv, phone, internet, clothes, doctors visits, baby on the way...it never ends. If you are a single guy renting a place, id say around 50k a year would be reasonable, if you always want to be in debt like us!

mmartahus

iTrader: (4)

Ok, how about assuming, single male, no kids, 1000 per month rent, no CC debt.

smoke4

My guess would be 1000-rent, ~1000-gas/food/entertainment, ~500 insurance/utilities, +700/mo payment (if nothing down), + a buffer 300 ===> 3500/mo take homepay.

mmartahus

iTrader: (4)

^^ actually that works out to 3500 a month take home pay which is like 4500 gross, soo mid 50s-60s income would make the evoX an affordable daily driver.

sound right? anyone else want to share their math?

evoWWrs

iTrader: (10)

you need to find otu what your payment is going to be, its going to be different for everybody, how much you pay, interest rate, loan rate!! plus your driving record, remember and evo is a level 20 insurance, same as a ferrari and lambo!!

35000 on a 6 year loan is 486 a month, not including interest... figure 150 on a PERFECT driving record for insureance... your looking at about 700 easy for one... not includeing service, mod fever... and whatever else your bills are!! only you can tell yourself if you can afford it or not!!

mmartahus

iTrader: (4)

its not the payments im really thinking about, its more what is the cost of ownership of an EvoX for say 4 years, purchase price minus residual + insurance, maintaince, gas. Can I afford an evo X and not have it affect the rest of my quality of life. Right now I own an 09 GTS and that car certainly doesn't strain me financially. I want to know how much more it will cost me to own the evo X instead, if it would strain me financially then that would take away some of the enjoyment.

smoke4

Oh ya, and figure in a new clutch/new tires every year, depending on mileage. So add at least 1000/tires and 600-2000 for clutch depending on if you can install and what parts. Increase gas costs as well for premium, and I cant remember if our 08GTS was full synthetic oil. But oil change at dealership is about 100.00.

cij911

iTrader: (14)

Mike -- It sounds like you are starting out asking some great questions (should I really buy this car or save $$ ). Bottom line a car is generally considered a really bad investment (almost all depreciate), so the cheapest car to get you from point A to B is the best financial advice one can give. My general feedback:

(1) Debt is bad. Leverage is good / ok, but net assets should be positive (meaning if you have debt on a car with a 7% loan, you should have assets working for you making more than 7% after taxes).

(2) You should be maxing your 401K out and saving an additional 10% + of your gross (add this to your cash flow assumptions).

(3) You may want to add a 'slush fund' to cover broken items and/or modifications

Best of luck

bravo-x

There really is no right answer to this one...

It's all about trade-offs, i.e. what else are you willing to go without in order to drive an Evo X?

For me, I am fortunate enough to afford the Evo X without much impact to my lifestyle or long-term financial goals.

However I am older than the typical Evo driver, and if I would have bought the Porsche 911, or M3 that I really wanted, then I would have had to give up a few other big ticket items (yearly vacations, large screen TV, etc).

Just remember that (except in some rare cases) a car is should never be viewed as an investment. Real estate, 401k, stocks, bonds have taken a massive hit recently, but they are the best bet for the long haul.

mmartahus

iTrader: (4)

I do have a 401k that im investing 8% of gross income in monthy (6% of which the company actually matches).

I do have a decent amount in stocks right now (1 years income), it was sitting in high yield savings for a while but I invested almost all of it in stocks close to the market bottom 4 months ago so I feel pretty confident about that money going forward.

I have a 5-7k checking account for emergencies and normal spending.

Beyond all that I only pay rent, food, entertainment, and normal misc. expenses. I am easily affording my lancer, currently its worth about 16k trade in and I owe 10.5k on it at 3.9%

So if I got an EvoX, im looking at 5kish worth of equity and financing about 25k. Would I really need new tires and a clutch every year, shouldnt a clutch last 25k or so daily driving and tires 15k without track days?

RockmanX

iTrader: (78)

yea nothing worse then buying a car that is straining you all thats going to happen is your going to ending up having to sell it. so if your already pinched for cash now or dont have more then 700 left over in play money(money that can be used on anything) then the evo x might not be for you. all you have to do is go to the dealer and if your trading in the lancer do the paperwork and see where your payments fall. if it more then your willing to pay then leave it alone. i have a 03 evo and LOVE IT i wanted a evo x but bought that instead because it made more sense and was cheaper on the wallet every month and i knew i could mod it easily. I also have a gts lancer and was going to trade it in for the 09 ralliart but the dealer wanted to give me 15k for my 08 lancer gts with only 17k miles and i only owe now 9900 on it made more sense for me just to keep it and pay it off. maybe consider the evo 8 or evo 9 like i did.

P.s a clutch should last awhile if you drive like normal person. if you plan on launching alot racing tracking etc prepare to be buying clutches its common sense same with the tires

mmartahus

iTrader: (4)

^^ so whats the consenses on how long the clutch should be good for given daily driving, no track days, and just some nice 2nd/3rd/4rth gear pulls on the onramps whenever i decide to take the highway somewhere.

kimfamilyy

I was going to make a thread about this as well mmartahus. I do not have anyone that has evo around me except one WRX and STI so I was not sure how much it would cost to get evo X and maintain it. I am going to be graduating college this week and moving to California. And my daily commute will be 45 miles to the office and 45 miles back home. Do you guys think it's a good idea to get evo x when I will be driving 90 miles per day?