What do you drive?

[tandeetaylor]

Originally posted by Imran Siddiqui
tandee why is Sneak being rude, but Asher, telling Sneak that he can't even do his job right (when he is no where NEAR the business), isn't?

No, not if he is RIGHT. And I don't know that, do I? I already said I don't know anything about cars.

Criticizing someone for not knowing something that has to do with their job is better than attacking someone's arguments because of a personal detail that Asher is certainly not alone in.

[Asher]

SuperSneak, you've proven in the circumcision thread that you're a bigot. You've proven in this thread that you're an idiot, even in your own field.

If you think I'm a spoiled brat, it has nothing to do with anything in this thread. If I was a spoiled brat, shouldn't my parents be paying for my university? Shouldn't my parents buy me a car and pay my insurance? Are you saying I'm a spoiled brat because I live with my parents while attending College since it's FAR cheaper and more convenient for me?

I consider successful a high income, marriage before children, and a secure and stable job with room to grow.

I consider your situation acceptable. Acceptable != successful in my books, are you going to shoot me for having higher standards than you?

[SuperSneak]

Asher...you are NOT right. Just because you say you are, doesn't mean it is true.
I see these vehicles come in all the time. If every vehicle in the market went tits up because of oil changes, that would be one thing...we're talking about a specific problem due to a combination of driving and contamination that is not the norm for all cars.
I've seen lots of cars that have been driven forever without such problems. You saw the research...the Highlander has a specific issue.
But you can't admit that, so you are blind to it.
Weird.

[Asher]

Originally posted by SuperSneak
Asher...you are NOT right. Just because you say you are, doesn't mean it is true.

Hmm. I'm not right? So they sell 2-door Rav4s in Canada? So the 2003 Highlander won't have a center console?

I see these vehicles come in all the time. If every vehicle in the market went tits up because of oil changes, that would be one thing...we're talking about a specific problem due to a combination of driving and contamination that is not the norm for all cars.

Why do you think you're supposed to change the oil in the cars, Sneak? It's not because people love doing it! It's healthier for the engine if you do it. Blaming an engine failure on someone not changing the oil is wrong, you should blame the operator of the vehicle for not taking proper care.

I've seen lots of cars that have been driven forever without such problems. You saw the research...the Highlander has a specific issue.
But you can't admit that, so you are blind to it.
Weird.

Highlander does NOT have a specific issue, it affects nearly all Toyota cars. As the research has clearly shown.

[Verto]

Well, anyone who works or drives a Toyota isn't all there...We all know that Ford is a superior company.

Anyway, I'm looking at buying a car: can anyone tell me how Grand Ams and Mustangs are? I'm looking at a '99 model Grand Am and a '00 Mustang.

[SuperSneak]

Room to grow!?! My boss makes 20k a month! Is that room enough for you? And advancement is very rapid in this industry...something else Google didn't tell you. As for my ability to stop procreation from happening at an inconvenient time, well...sorry...Mother Nature has been winning that battle for a long time.
The maturity to abstain from marrying just because of a pregnancy is what counts...we got married when the time was right, not because of some perceived notion of what was appropriate.
And yes, you being a spoiled brat has everything to do with this thread...look at your first post...boasting about your dad paying cash for a car and supposedly a house...that is so tacky it makes me want to barf! When money actually means something to you, you'll know why.

[Asher]

I greatly respect my dad, he's SUCCESSFUL. Son of a poor carpenter who died while he was in his senior year of high school, he went on to graduate with honors from a world renown university in engineering, got a job with an oil company and has been working with them ever since to the point of being an executive and managing a $5B project. That is successful, Sneak.

Perhaps I shouldn't be so proud of him on here anymore. But he is my role model.

[WhiteElephants]

Re: What do you drive?

Originally posted by JohnT
Paid for the Rodeo in cash. Sweeeeet.

Originally posted by Asher
Oh, and paid for it in cash. Much like the house.

While you may take whatever amount of pride in having bought your vehicles with cash, from a financial standpoint you're both rather foolish. The fact is as you drive your new car off that lot it depreciates in value to the tune of thousands of dollars. In otherwords, you'd purchased something that is worth far less than what you'd paid for it. Hardly a good buy, by any standards.

The house, on the other hand may appreciate in value, though the appreciation in real estate the last 10 (?) years has been unprecidented. I believe you're all familiar with the tech bubble, no? Well all bubbles eventually have to burst and a real estate bubble isn't unheard of. The mere liquidity of capital that you both squandered in your purchases is nothing to joke about, but I digress.

So, in summary, next time you choose to brag about buying such-and-such in cash realize that the only people you're impressing are people much like youreselves with little inkling of the actually value of money.

[Asher]

WhiteElephants: That's a weird way to look at it.

If you finance a car or a house, you pay interest. If you pay up front, you pay zero interest.

If you lease a car or a house, you're paying money for something you will never own and won't be able to sell at all when you're done with it...

[Verto]

I'd rather pay 20,000 cash for the car, rather than pay the sticker price plus interest. Besides, if you pay cash, you can trade it in whenever you need/want to.

[Dr Strangelove]

I drive a 1999 Ford Contour. My wife drives a 1995 Oldsmobile Cutlass station wagon.

[WhiteElephants]

Originally posted by Asher
WhiteElephants: That's a weird way to look at it.

If you finance a car or a house, you pay interest. If you pay up front, you pay zero interest.

If you lease a car or a house, you're paying money for something you will never own and won't be able to sell at all when you're done with it...

Correct, but the money you lose by paying up front prevents you from using that money at all and you have an item that isn't worth what you paid for it ever again, while paying monthly you own a vehicle that is worth far more than you paid for it until your payments catch up with depreciation.

Besides the interest rates on car and home loans are tiny, especially these days. Now I wouldn't suggest habitually using a high interest rate credit card to do all your shopping, but there is in fact an advantage to loans.

What you've choosen to do, unwittingly or not, is to sacrafice the liquidity of your capital -- in other words the opportunity to use your capital to make your capital work for you -- to avoid paying low interest rates on a loan that you may very well have exceed in profit percentage wise by investing it in various avenues.

You sacraficed opportunity and liquidity to purchase something that isn't worth nearly what you paid for it.

You wouldn't buy a candy bar for twenty dollars would you? It isn't worth that much, right? So, why would you pay more for a car than it's worth?

In your situations you've lost capital, liquity, and opportunity to own something that isn't worth what you paid for. Hardly something to brag about.

[Asher]

Originally posted by WhiteElephants
You wouldn't buy a candy bar for twenty dollars would you? It isn't worth that much, right? So, why would you pay more for a car than it's worth?

How do you pay more for a car than it's worth when you buy it at the fleet price?

In your situations you've lost capital, liquity, and opportunity to own something that isn't worth what you paid for. Hardly something to brag about.

You seem to think we're paying more overall to buy it upfront, when it's actually vice versa. At least in my case.

[WhiteElephants]

Originally posted by Verto
I'd rather pay 20,000 cash for the car, rather than pay the sticker price plus interest. Besides, if you pay cash, you can trade it in whenever you need/want to.

Much easier said that done, particularly in a market of such low interest loans. Who want to pay top value for your used car when they can get a new one a low-low interest rates. In other words, not a very liquid asset.

But who am I to stop you from making poor financial decisions?

[Koyaanisqatsi]

My car...you know, what was being discussed before the threadjacking.