I'm looking to get a 2025 340i, but even with 20% down I'm still looking at around $1k per month. It's wild how much the car industry has changed in such a short time. Also, I live in CA so my insurance will triple from $70 to $210 per month if I do end up getting one. I've done the math and TCO for a new one is roughly $15k per year, which I can afford, but I would be giving up so much it's really hard to justify. They said rates would go down in March, then May, then it just didn't happen. Rates have finally come down this month, but the banks won't lower rates for several weeks if not months and even then, it's only saving like $200-$300 over the life of the loan. If housing in CA wasn't so expensive I would have been able to get one already.
My 96 Integra was lowered by more than 2 inches, and it put a significant strain on my suspension. The 17's barely fit inside the wheel well when dropped. I replaced a ton of cv joints, axles and tie rods as a result of it being lowered over the 16 years I had it. The car looked great but now I have a 13 G37 with some aftermarket 18's. I don't have any plans to drop it, maybe add some sway bars, and that's it for the suspension.
One thing you forgot to mention for car guys is insurance. If its not the car payments thayll kill you its the insurance in any v8 or higher or turbo car. It gets even worse if its a german car where the parts arent common, the insurance will be almost the price of the car.
I ride a bicycle and not paying a single insurance bill, car payment or gas payment since 2011 has been liberating. All my friends make fun of me but they are $20k in debt and have four credit cards!! I only have a$500 credit card I barely use only for emergencies. Get a bicycle people!! I have an orbea Alma M Pro its deadly fast and sexy as hell. Bikes for life!
I too have been feeling the urge to pay off my car and student loans early. Thankfully I’m not in a tight situation, but just because I was fortunate to find a good-paying job doesn’t mean I should ride the comfort wave. Stacking up a sizable emergency fund and making my money work for me is far more valuable and the points made in this video are absolutely spot on. The idea of paying off my car super early and getting back that $640 monthly payment is freeing beyond belief. How I’m doing it: I started off the year by diversifying and was able to stack aside what I would consider a 6 month emergency fund (although I’ve not run the numbers). I’m now gearing up for a mass payment to knock out the rest of my principal as making recurring extra payments adds too much to my mental load imho. I’d rather take 1 shot and be free afterwards and be hurting a little bit thereafter than to keep having to think about it for another 6-12 months. I’ll make the money back. Not the time.
I didn’t have car finance for decades; I was happy to pay cash for cars costing less than $10000, and focus on owning my own home outright. Now I’m mortgage free, and I just financed a 5 year old Golf R. Even in my privileged position ($120k+ pa salary and no kids or mortgage or card debt) my car payment is less than 10% of my weekly take home pay. It’s nice to have a nice car, but debt can eat away at your soul and your sanity if you let it
Not sure somebody already mentioned this. I didn't go through all the comments but they make an aftermarket one that's made out of stainless steel. It goes up directly underneath the broken factory one so you don't have to drop the tanks to put it on put the nut on done
I love my Beamer. I think the 3 series is the most stable one of all the models. I also am a big believer that wear and tear will come quicker if you are always pushing your car to the limit non stop. There are people who buy a Beamer, continuously launch the car at every red light, every single day. Then 8 months later complain about parts breaking. Drive your vehicle nicely, and it will last longer. Of course have fun with it in a safe manner, but schedule these speed runs rather than impulsively doing it everyday.
Thanks for the video, took me two minutes to get mine done after seeing this! My tip is don’t put your screw driver in where you shower, put it on the side if you can and just release one side, then rotate the socket off and on . Love your work man, thanks from 🇦🇺
The absolute best mod I’ve made on my f30 335 was kw v3 coilovers. I bought the car with lowering springs and everytime I hit a pot hole or a bump, the car felt like it was going to break. With the KW’s, I don’t dodge things in the road anymore and and it’s so much more comfortable to drive. If I want to stiffen it up, it only takes the turn of 4 dials. Perfect set up. Great video.
What if you have money to buy the car in cash but don’t feel the need to put all that capital into a depreciating asset? Doesn’t it at that point make more sense to finance it?
Exhaust wise, it makes a huge difference if you have a turbocharged car or an na/supercharged car. Turbos do a lot of muffling right at the exhaust manifold which lowers drone a lot.
You finance Japanese cars best if you buy them used as the original owner eats the MSRP and depreciation costs. BMWs are the ultimate leasing machines, suprised many folks actually finance and keep these until past warranty. Better to lease Germans and pay a portion of it, and if you really love the car and it’s still covered under warranty negotiate a buy out. Dealers will be begging you to take that old German car off their lots. They are fun as hell to drive but overengineered to the point where their sticker price is merely the cover or entry fee. The real payments are in maintenance and fixes and insurance. People don’t get that the cheapest thing about these luxury cars is the sticker price lol😂
Yea, loud exhaust is cool, but only for weekend car. I learnt my lesson few times so far and then I said never again. Impossible to speak inside, long trips are awful etc etc
Alcantara also pills like crazy on a steering wheel. Aftermarket steering wheel? Absolutely. Alcantara? Nope. Never again. Also, now that I'm an Old Man (just turned 40 (!)), I tend to agree with all of these. Like, I want my exhaust to sound GOOD, not just loud. And really, not that loud at all, esp. from inside the car. And the OEM+ genre of mods is something that I've started to really gravitate towards as well. That said, there are still some aftermarket things I like having on my car. But they're subtle, not in your face ridiculous. Nice video.
My grandpa gave me his 2016 Mazda three, and I took over the loan for it. Idk how he still had a loan for it at the time it was 6-7 years old. I’m certain he took out one of those very long loans after the lease. I just paid it off, 700. The original balance was $5,911. I am now only worried about a personal loan, and a BT on a Citi card at 0%, and a BT at1.99% paying off in 2-3 months. I love being debt free, I figure July or August 2025 I’ll be back to being debt free. Saving BANK! 5:55
I'm still running run flats on my 2003 Z4 but seriously consider changing to regular tires run flats are great on smooth surface but can be rough riding on other surface tire repair kit and small compressor is what I will use instead of spare
tanks sm. ik i could of figured this out on my own but my pea brain... busted iut the red lenses to have diy clears (left one was broken not by me so just make it look the same why not) got pulled over that day for white taillights. when in park they look red and when u lock car and stuff so i didnt know. gonna buy some red bulbs and replace them so its not shining white in the back drop it will match red when i break. thanks
Serendipitously happened to have a CR2032 lying around and needed this done. Thank You Kindly Sir! Also need a CR2450 for my F30, been struggling to find one though...
Always have had used cars paid cash. I only have a small mortgage as debt. Now I have the car I’ve always wanted (wrx) with a 2 year car lease 510$/months which is not killing my finance and I saved the money from selling my used car. I don’t feel like dumping a 40k cash on a car depreciating. Of course in the long run leassing is costing me more than if I had bought it, but for me the stress free of leassing is worth the price . I don’t have to try and bargain when selling ( which I hate) . 2 year lease means no maintenance like new summer tires , brakes. Finally the car being leased dissuades me from tuning and modding it which is a good thing haha
To everybody who want bmw as a first car - don't. I just have my bmw 640d from my sister for around a 2-3 year and yeah , it's gwt you financially uncomfortable with it, even with (in my mind) best n57d30 engine causing no problem, but other parts is insane price
The whole car payment obsession in America hides the real problem. People are clueless about the total cost of ownership. Usually the depreciation is super high on newer cars. If you buy a new car every few years you lose much more from depreciation compared to interest. If you calculate the TCO of owning a new car for 2-3 years before trading it in vs driving it for 15 years the difference is absolutely massive. Now if you have super high interest that obviously is huge as well.
