Comparison of $ spent on daily drivers/family cars vs PT car, race car, hobby car
 

So I was pondering this idea the other day and thought it would be interesting to discuss/poll.

I used to spend way too much (IMO) on my daily driver as a proportion of my income/assets. Chalk it up to immaturity and insecurity. :lol:

Now I feel like I have it more figured out (for me anyway).... less money invested in daily driver type cars (think: maximum depreciation) and more in the Camaro (depreciation maybe, but less :D).

And it feels good to not have a loan on any of our cars. (These cars are not fancy BTW -- the TOTAL value of our 3 daily drivers are probably less than $10k). :D

I spent way too much $$ on my daily drivers as a proportion of my income. Chalk it up to total addiction and stupidity

Poverty is owning a race car, I guess I don't mind poverty

I've always owned my cars out right

I used to enjoy buying nicer daily drivers as part of my prior career required it. In addition I also had a company issued vehicle which was a nice perk. Funny thing though, as spendable income went up my daily driver car choices changed to a long term asset and the extra money was spent on hobby related vehicles. Sometimes street bikes, sometimes dirt bikes and camping trailers. Now collector type muscle cars.

A main financial advantage is that we have always paid for everything in full up front other than our mortgage. The biggest shift with our maturity is that we keep our daily drivers until they fall apart. Prior two vehicles ended up being 11 years old and 9 years old before we upgraded. And currently my truck is a 2004 and my wifes Surburban is a 2001. We don't plan on selling them anytime soon.

Same here. Huge shift for me switching from BMW this or that every year or 2 to now driving these things til they just completely bite the bullet.

We joke about the lowest mileage car in our "fleet" has 125k on it. :lol: Highest is 342k.

:P :P :P it was me!

i spend more on my dd...
but thats cause my dd is a 96 blue oval car with 160k thats always breaking! and im too broke to spend any money on the camaro

This Poll is lame...


:D

Im currently fairly evenly split as Im making payments on Daily drivers. I look at it as 3 car payments or really 2. I have 3 vehicles, Ford Fusion (eco driver), Jeep Wrangler (wifes fun car), and the Maverick (my fun car). Both the upgrades on the Mav and the Fusion payment equal the Jeep payment. So I feel in balance. Soon the fusion will be paid off and we'll drive it till I get tired of fixing it.

def more on toys. My DD's are old but reliable and some are given to be and I fix them for cheap.
97 GP - 205k reliable and runs. bought at 64k for my college car. figure at this point the resale is crap and better to drive the wheels off

87 325is - free, but needed engine work. fixed and runs good. DD/ toy - will eventually become track car.

96 Passat TDI - did motor replacement and guy didnt pay. I drive car now and get 40 MPG which is awesome.

I shuffle the cars to keep them current and the fluids fresh. If one is out of commission, I go to the next one.

78 T/A, 74 T/A and 56 olds are all fun toys

So ghey I can't belive your not stabbing an LS in your car. :lol:

My WRX has long since been paid for...my commute costs $500/month so that's definitely more than I set aside for my Camaro!

This poll is lame....

Actually -- it's SKEWED...by who is responding and what they choose to drive... because there's no way I could piss away enough on the PT/Track car as I have on DD cars... :rofl:

Recently ordered tow rigs DEFINITELY count towards track $! :yes:

Don't try to set me up for for the sin you're about to commit by putting an LS in your next project.

That's big. Our move saves us about $350/mo collectively on commute costs. And we only moved 15 miles from where we were!

Hey keep driving the way you did at Infineon and you'll catch up. :rofl:

I'm hovering around an 8 to 1 ratio in favor of my Nova. My $1000 94 Ranger is still going strong after 297k, and I have a little more than $8000 total in the Nova.

:cheers:

I like to buy the nicest car I can, pay it off ASAP if I can't pay cash for it and then drive it into the ground. My last truck I had for 12 years and I plan on having my current one for at least that long.

I'm not sure what the ratio ends up being between my DD and PT car, but if you where to break it down by dollars spent per mile....we're all upside down in our PT cars.

I'm thinking SB2 with just a little more power than you.

I think about this all the time. And seriously guys, I consider myself a damn fool at times when I add all the money up mentally I've spent on my hobby. :censored: :censored: But, I'm addicted and it's a sickness I tell you!! :pushbutto :pushbutto

I agree. I bought my daily driver BMW new in 2001 and still have it. It still looks and drives great even compared to new models. When it becomes no longer cost effective to fix or drives like crap, I'll replace it. What I spend on hobby cars is another story, but I don't try to rationalize that.

Was it REALLY necessary to say that. You sound like my wife. lol. She's actually pretty supportive.... most of the time. :_paranoid

Sorry man that's just the way I break things down. I suppose you could look at it like amusement park rides. Some require more tickets than others and the reason being is...they're worth it!

:captain:

Yeah we are rolling on two 2004 vehicles for daily use. 152k on my truck, and 75k on the minivan. Run them till they drop, then milk a little more.

I never have owned a new car, and I kinda doubt I ever will. As a result, my ratio is probably an even split.

Current DD is a 2006 Ford Pickup with the much-maligned 6.0l diesel. My plan is to keep this truck for a very very long time. I haven't had any problems with it, but if I do, I won't hesitate to yank that 6.0l and put in a Cummins. If that happens, I'll be keeping the darn thing forever.

I'm getting to the point where I'd rather do a "budget" LS swap and Vintage Air kit in a nice driver quality resto (pickup, coupe, convertible, whatever) than buy a new or new/used car. With efficiency and comfort being so darned easy to put into old cars these days, I'm left asking myself, why not...?

i quit keeping track along time ago. daily driver 96 z28 with 350thousand on the clock still going strong. toys 69z28 i have owned since i was 15 now i,m 48 first car.2nd toy 69ss camaro was my dads bought it about a year before he passed away. in other words they are not cars anymore they are my kids lol. and will never be sold as long as i,m alive.

I used to keep my spending pretty low on my daily drivers..

As I get into my mid Fifties and my health is not that great, I am stepping it up on all my cars..

Kinda evenly split between a 2009 370Z, a 2008 GMC Sierra, and the 1971 Z/28.

I drove my last Truck to 201K miles, and was going to go forever, but I decided to spend the money.

No loans, and bought with low miles. 370z with 6K miles, and the truck I am buying this week with 21K miles...

The Z/28 needs more work and it will be the one that gets more money than all of them, and will not be worth what I spend on it...But it is a Toy...:cheers:

Then we're getting real close.... :rolleyes:

I bought a new truck after graduating from college that has now been paid off for several years. However, we bought my wife a new Chevy Impala couple years ago and only have less than a year and it will be paid off. Talk about freeing up some money for other things. :unibrow: We're not buying a new vehicle for awhile again, tired of car payments.

I have a company car, so I get to spend all of my money on the Camaro! :D

The wifes car does not count...right :lol:

Tonight's incident skewed my response to your silly little poll...........

http://sieg.smugmug.com/Cars/69-Cama...IMAG2660-L.jpg

http://www.desmonorthwest.com/forums...smiley-027.gif

The hobby car is definitely the big money pit. I've put two grand into the daily driver, and much to my surprise it is just about as fast as the Camaro, while being less than half the price. Even so, I think I need to sell it before I get carried away :_paranoid

Matt

Sell the camaro? Probably a good idea :P



I cant imagine daily driving ANYTHING but a truck, and I cant imagine just arbitrarily trading a truck in. Trucks are meant to be driven until they will drive no more, and then pushed a little further.

Lame, :lol:

Sorry I get a new car every 2 years, but it's a company car so that doesn't count :P but they do charge me a few bucks twice a month so it's not free. Wife's car is payed for and it only has 50K on it so it will be with us for a looooog time to come! We bought it used two years old for almost 50% less then a new at the time, my wife always wants to buy new, but when she saw how much a new Commander was compared to one with 18k on and they looked almost the same she was good to go.

Oh and Lame :lateral:

Definitely on the DD's. I usually get the Mrs a new one every 2-3 years. Keeps her happy and off my back when I spend money on my toys. My DD is a 2006 Honda Civic Si and it won't be changing anytime soon, lol!

Sell the Camaro? It is already loud, tempermemtal, and less than ideal, not to mention impractical, for regular use. Why would I want to sell it? The Mustang on the other hand, that I might need to sell before I make it just like the Camaro.

Matt

Ouch! give us the run down on what happened here, carb leak? wire burn? or did your wife just plain get mad at you for spending to much on that damn Camaro again? :rofl:

More on PT car or driver? Hell I could have bought another house with the money I'll have into my PT Cadillac :willy:

https://lateral-g.net/forums/show...&postcount=256

Carb leak that ignited and somehow was fed oil, should know more tonight.
Definitely some burnt wires too! :D

She's not mad but it sure isn't helping matters with her two plus year desire to get a new car.

That blows! Don't give up!! :thumbsup: :thumbsup:

My daily driver is a 2005 Mazda Tribute worth about 6K. I have 17 times that amount into the camaro.

I don't plan on buying another daily driver until this one completely dies.

my racer is my daily driver, over 10,000 miles this year :thumbsup:

Daily for sure for now. 2011 cts-v (upgrade from our 2012 boss 302) and a 2010 very modified SS Camaro. Only one that isn't is the TBSS.