Car Advice

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Tyler,

I respect your choices, please respect mine.

I want to enjoy the things I buy, when possible.

You will not be pleased with this, but I also own a fair amount of original art. Some of it is quite expensive, but no one will know this but me. It brings me untold happiness to see them daily - striclty because of their beauty. (Two are oils, which cannot be properly reproduced).

I don't strive to get everything in life at rock-bottom prices. However, I do look for relative value. I think looking at good cars that are 3-4 years old already falls into the category of relative value.

If I die tomorrow, it will not matter if I saved money on something.

As I said, to each his own.

To the rest: Hmmm - Honda? I'll check it out!
 
Laing_Lies:

My point was about being fiscally responsible, but I suppose just waiting to purchase a home doesn't necessarily indicate that you are fiscally responsible. Regardless, yes if you have money you are going to purchase "better things", the

problem is that many of the things people think are "better" are really the same things you can get for half the price. Toyota/Lexus (Infinity/Nissan etc) are just classic cases of price differentiation. They are getting you to fork over more money

for a product that is almost identical to one that is much cheaper. BMW is just a luxury brand selling a product that is no better than much cheaper rivals.

SCHB:

Yeah I've heard that before, yet any objective metric I know of to judge cars shows that BMWs are actually worse than say Hondas (They are less reliable for example). If you have anything that shows in an objective manner what makes BMWs

something to appreciate above and beyond their status then I'd be interested in reading it.

Janet:

Why would I respect something that I think is silly? I'm not trying to get on your case though, its your life and you can do whatever you like. So, I respect your right to do as you please, just not what you do. Its not like fiscal irresponsibility is uncommon in Orange County (Of course I could be wrong about you fiscally, but financing a car while purchasing expensive art work doesn't smell of fiscal responsibility).
 
tyler, I am glad you asked that question. This is not a political forum, so I will be brief. German fully acknowledge their war crime, and have paid compensation. Furthermore, they educate their young so that the history won't be repeated. You should look up the Sophie Scholl story. It is one of the most courages story in human history, and she was voted multiple times by German youth as the greatest German of all time for her action against the Nazi. Japanese in contrast, still worship mass murders as gods. Their PM goes to that temple every year to pay respect to a bunch of mass murders. To this day, Japanese government still refuse to acknowledge and pay compensation for their war crimes. The infamous sex slave is a case in point. VW, BMW, and MBenz all paid compensation to Jewish slaves, did any Japanese company do that for Korean and Chinese slaves?

Do you see the difference between Japan and Germany? Furthermore, Nazi tried to hide their effort from the general population because they know German people wouldn't put up with it. So they invented words like final solution etc to cover it up. Most of the German at that time thought Jewish were shipped to some distant Africa colonies. (My grandfather was in Germany at that time studying submarine, and he believed that story as well) But japanese published the infamous beheading contest in China on the front page of their newspaper. The whole nation cheered these mass murders on while they raped and beheaded their victims.

Anyway, like I said, I hope you don't judge people simply based on what they buy
 
Tyler:

Personally, I do agree with you to some point. For example, I really would like an S-Class. And, without trying to be arrogant, I can actually afford one along with my home. However, my practical side won't allow me to do that. Instead, I'm still driving my Honda Accord. I will compromise, however, and perhaps will be purchasing an E-class after my landscaping is done.

Like I've stated, different priorities for different people. And, if someone pays more for the basically the same item just because of a name... then that's fine. If it makes the person feel better, then that's the bottom line. After all, it is their money they're spending.

Janet:

I'm trying to collect art, also. In fact, I'm going to be taking a trip to Europe after the new year to look for some oils.
 
Oh, and Tyler.... as far as Janet financing cars, while using her money to pay for artwork....

That's actually probably more of a "fiscal[ly] responsible" thing than you'd think. Good art... hell, even bad art, goes up in value.

Being fiscally responsible also involves knowing how to/where to spend your money.
 
Laing_lies, you are absolutely right. One of my PP watch went up almost 100%. Most of my wife's luxury handbags can be sold at or above the original price on the second hand market. So sometimes, luxury goods in fact are not as expensive as people think.
 
Like I said bimmers are just as reliable as Hondas. Anyone who says different either has never owned one or knows of someone who had a bad experience. And again I will take a honda in the twistys all day long.
 
Regarding luxury goods, one of the most hated example is the Rolex watch. But when I was doing cave diving as a part of my research in Mexico, seeing these green illuminated dots on my Sea Dweller made me calm at night in these dark caves.
 
>>But when I was doing cave diving as a part of my research in Mexico, seeing these green illuminated dots on my Sea Dweller made me calm at night in these dark caves.

More, please. That sounds like an interesting story!
 
Tyler said: "Yeah I've heard that before, yet any objective metric I know of to judge cars shows that BMWs are actually worse than say Hondas (They are less reliable for example). If you have anything that shows in an objective manner what makes BMWs something to appreciate above and beyond their status then I'd be interested in reading it."

Well my first two cars were Hondas, and my third was an entry level Acura. (I had company car domestics in between) They are more reliable than BMWs. I would love for you to list three of the "any" objective metrics in which BMWs are worse than Hondas, and we can go from there.

SCHB
 
Laing_Lies:

Even if you want to consider artwork an investment of sorts (I don't), taking out a loan so you can purchase another investment makes little sense.

Janet:

Maybe you did. But then you most likely paid more for the car than you would if you purchased it or had a more standard interest rate. But like I said I don't know your situation, it at the very least smells fishy.

tourbillon:

And how many of them can't be resold at all?
 
tourbillion --- At some point, don't we have to put that behind us, though? It's been over 60 years, and probably most if not all of the players have long since left this earth. I am a white American and my wife is Chinese --- I guess we both could find a reason to be pissed off at Japan for the past. But then maybe Japan could be pissed at Americans for some of the things we did (H-Bomb anyone)? Or Chinese at Americans? Or Americans at British. Iraqi's might have a couple of issues with Americans right now. Point is, name a race or empire that has NOT committed some not so nice acts on another. Well, maybe Canada? But it's a big stretch to link an Accord built in Ohio in 2007 back to WWII Japan atrocities. And I have a hard time buying that all Japanese are still worshiping mass-murders like God's. I keep thinking of that opening sequence to "Bowling for Columbine" (the Michael Moore thing about gun violence).....I remember it saying that during the previous year there were something like 14,000 gun murders in the US, while the same year there were only 38(!) gun murders in Japan. It struck me at the time (and still does) that they seemed to have gotten over their violent ways of the past.
 
>>Even if you want to consider artwork an investment of sorts (I don't), taking out a loan so you can purchase another investment makes little sense.

{Thinking Tyler is not familiar with the Yen carry trade.}
 
haha, Eva

It is not all that interesting actually. Some people like cave diving, I personally hated it. For extended range cave diving, you usually have a base camp somewhere in the cave system to allow you to go through the whole system. We also had a base camp because we were gathering some samples. At night, it is very dark, so dark in fact I sometime see lights. I could not go to sleep at first, then I looked my watch, seeing the green dot on the second hand moving calmed me down, and I slept like a baby. For the rest of the trip, I always looked at my Rolex at night, and told myself a pleasant story about the wonderful time I had with my wife in some luxurious European/American city, and it calmed me down. Sounds weak I know, but I am glad I am not doing that any more
 
Anyone know what a Basquiat original could be purchased for in 83, 93 and now 2007? I tried calling Eli Broad but he was already asleep. Let me see what I can find on Christies or Sothebys.
 
Tyler -

Haven't you heard of leveraging? People take out loans to invest in things that they think will provide greater returns all the time. I don't think most people have the liquid to pay for everything they own, so it's smarter to allocate most of your money towards the things that will require the greatest interest rates.

For example, I have over $150K of student loans. I could easily pay the balance off. However, I'm paying it monthly right now as though it's being stretched out over 30 years. Why? Because it's locked in at 2.9%. So, I'd rather use that $150K towards the downpayment on my house since my 30-yr fixed interest rate for my house is a lot higher than 2.9%.

Anyway, I guess the bottom line is that you're not going to be the best person for me to ask about whether I should get a BMW 5-series or a Mercedes E-class.
 
The cost on the 6 cyl block brand new is less than $2500 and the 8 cyl is $4500. The job on the headgasket which is probably the problem is less than $2500 and would include the waterpump which probably caused the problem. Either that or the fan shredded and impaled the radiator. Lots of heat and use can do that to a bimmer fan or a Honda fan.
 
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