Prestigious cars or retire early

motorguy

Deleted_User wrote: »

Rather retire and live a comfortable life than show off in a baseline Audi or BMW. If you can have one and retire then well done and good for you. But not if I have to choose one or the other.

Likewise, though as has been said already throughout the thread - its not really as clear cut as nice car, or retire early is it?

motorguy

Heres an observation - theres an awful lot of people out there not driving nice cars, but i guarantee 99.9% of them wont be able to retire early.

John-K_3

Deleted_User wrote: »

Rather retire and live a comfortable life than show off in a baseline Audi or BMW. If you can have one and retire then well done and good for you. But not if I have to choose one or the other.

But where do you get “show off” from?

I really enjoy owning and driving Nice cars, they bring me a lot of pleasure. Not having a nice car while I work for twenty years just so I can retire a few months earlier seems like madness to me.

It’s up there with not having holidays, not having a drink, and not wearing nice clothes.

For me (and many others) it is a compromise too far.

silverwhistle

motorguy wrote: »

Heres an observation - theres an awful lot of people out there not driving nice cars, but i guarantee 99.9% of them wont be able to retire early.

Very true, and as someone who started getting a small pension at 50, I still appreciate that fact even when I read about or meet people far better off than myself.

To me a nice car is one that is reliable and does what is asked of it! In my case that includes driving to the Alps and back fully loaded and dealing with the snowy conditions we recently encountered.. So my 2009 Hyundai with snow tyres on was just fine, although a bigger car would have brought back even more wine and it would have been easier to fit all the ski gear!

My attitude is probably coloured by learning to drive late (at 28), although having had a cheap motorbike meant I passed easily enough. But I appreciated the new ability to jump in the car and go and buy some bags of compost or cement or cases of wine, or going off to play sport without getting even more freezing on the way home! My first car cost (buying to selling) £30 for 10 months plus a few bits like some new alternator brushes so I was happy enough, and since then I've never had or needed a new car.

Those who don't know what to do with their time probably shouldn't retire, but I've never met anyone like that. Like myself the usual attitude is "how did I find time to work?". Either way my house still isn't clean. I do some part-time online teaching, and save a fair bit in foreign exchange costs for my holidays, and although I'd like to do more teaching am not prepared to submit to the poor pay and bureaucracy of FE, and don't want to deny myself the pleasures of an English summer by doing summer schools. If I were obliged to financially I would do, but I'm not burdened by any PCP.

Mind you, I do rather fancy an electric car. Perhaps I'll do one more summer school for the deposit.:D

[Deleted User]

motorguy wrote: »

Heres an observation - theres an awful lot of people out there not driving nice cars, but i guarantee 99.9% of them wont be able to retire early.

So true but every little saving somewhere all adds up to a point where I *might* be able to retire 6 months early. :cool:

[Deleted User]

John-K wrote: »

But where do you get “show off” from?

I really enjoy owning and driving Nice cars, they bring me a lot of pleasure. Not having a nice car while I work for twenty years just so I can retire a few months earlier seems like madness to me.

It’s up there with not having holidays, not having a drink, and not wearing nice clothes.

For me (and many others) it is a compromise too far.

Well if you consider an Audi or a BMW a "nice car" over anything else then that is good for you but I tend to agree with silverwhistle above.

John-K_3

Deleted_User wrote: »

Well if you consider an Audi or a BMW a "nice car" over anything else then that is good for you but I tend to agree with silverwhistle above.

Thats a weird response. I think that they are nicer than some cars, and less Nice than others. The brands are not monolithic either, I think the A3 is not great, and the R8 V10 Plus is phenomenal.

motorguy

John-K wrote: »

But where do you get “show off” from?

I really enjoy owning and driving Nice cars, they bring me a lot of pleasure. Not having a nice car while I work for twenty years just so I can retire a few months earlier seems like madness to me.

Agreed.

Any car i buy is because it impresses me. If it happens to !!!! other people off thats just an added bonus.

motorguy

Deleted_User wrote: »

Well if you consider an Audi or a BMW a "nice car" over anything else then that is good for you but I tend to agree with silverwhistle above.

There are plenty of BMWs, Audis and Mercs that I'd rate as very nice cars. They're not all diesel repmobiles.

John-K_3

motorguy wrote: »

Agreed.

Any car i buy is because it impresses me. If it happens to !!!! other people off thats just an added bonus.

The normal response from neighbours when I take something exotic back to my parents is not to be impressed, it’s a shake of the head and asking me if I’ve got more money than sense.