how much have you paid for a car and what would you pay for a car?

[LivingAlmostLarge]

Toying with replacing our minivan with a subaru ascent. I'm not sure if we'll do it. I'm debating between a used and new ascent. I am pretty sold on used but then I feel like I should wait another year to get a 2020 instead of a used 2019 since people say not to buy a new model car the first year. So a used 2019 would not be something to buy.

That being said the most we've spent on a car was my Sienna minivan $28k. This is probably why it's hard for me to justify a Tesla. I know the model 3 can be had for $40k but my thinking is that's why it's not ubiquitous? $40k is a lot for a car. But what are most people really spending?

[Jluke]

Car 23-25k or so (new)
Large SUV 40k (new)
compact SUV 22k or so (used)

[corn18]

We just paid $67k for a new BMW X3.

[disneysteve]

I think the most we ever paid was about 26K for a Sienna. My current car, a Camry, was 16K.

I may be shopping for a car next year and I'll be looking to spend no more than 20K. I've already done some browsing online and there are plenty available in the 18-20K range.

[Singuy]

Paid 28k for a Volkswagen SUV, has 14k miles CPO.
Paid 40k for a Jaguar XF, 9k miles
Paid 53k(after Tax credit) for a Tesla Mode 3 Long Rang with Full Self Driving

So far I have 18k miles on the Tesla. I charge the car to 90%(for longevity of the battery) once every 4 days. When I first purchased the car a 1.3 years ago, I would get 278miles@90%. Today it's charging to 281 miles@ 90%(Tesla updated the car and made the battery more efficient via cooling and increased charged miles). Next update will give me even more range via better regen braking and another 5% increase in power(which makes this a total of 10% since I bought the car..which means 30bhp for FREE).

So I have spent 0 dollars on gas(have solar) and 0 dollars on maintenance. I have saved 2k on gas and 400 on oil changes (200 dollars/oil change for luxury performance sedans and 3 dollars for premium gas).

Model Y is suppose to come out a bit sooner than anticipated, volume production summer of 2020 so there's that if you want a CUV type car.

Honestly if I were to buy a new car under 50k, it's going backwards buying any combustion engine. The 2018 Volkswagen 3 row SUV we just bought is just years behind a Tesla. All that auto start stop nonsense plus 8 short gears to save gas while using a 4 cylinder turbo that barely gives you any acceleration..just terrible. My Tesla doesn't need any of that while accelerating to 60 in under 5 seconds while being powered by sunlight. And when I need to "gas up", just plug it in overnight, takes 5 seconds vs finding the local gas station. No more fumes, no more wait time, no more stressing out whose gas is cheaper, and no more spilled gas on my hand. I know I sound like a fanboy but can't be more happy with the purchase.

[kork13]

Most I've spent on a car was about $28k, a new 2012 VW Golf TDI. I shouldn't have bought it new, but I was young, single, and flush from an overseas assignment. Otherwise, most of our cars have been around $15k-20k, mix of used & new. For $40k-$50k, it would be a tough sell for me, but if I had the money readily available & it wouldn't hurt other financial priorities, .... I could probably talk myself into it eventually.

It helps that my brother-in-law owns a Tesla Model 3, and I got the chance to take it for a spin back in August....and it really was quite impressive. Very fun to drive, great integration, all the power, speed, and acceleration that you could ask for, and very comfortable. But it does definitely takes some getting used to, between the silent drive, non-existent dash console, all of the automation features, and most especially, the fairly strong regenerative braking, which will force you to drive a little differently... I like doing long drives for short vacations, so the range would be a concern for me, but the growing network of charging stations would mitigate that risk. But yeah -- if I had the cash available, I think I would eventually go for it.

[riverwed070707]

My cars have gotten cheaper over the years. I spent $16k on a used 2006 crv in 2012. Sold the CRV when I was in major debt pay off mode shortly after college and got an 01 civic with a manual transmission. Currently drive an 07 CRV i got last year for $8000 I don't care too much about what my vehicle looks like, and I'm certain I've not spent more in maintenance, gas, registration, etc than I would have on a newer vehicle over the years. Gets me from place to place, seats are heated for winter, versatile enough to haul some lumber or supplies to set up for a party. It only has 110k miles and I anticipate driving it another 5+ years. Eventually I'd like to replace it with a hybrid I think but auto technology is changing so much I could change my mind before the time comes.

[cypher1]

Most expensive ever spent just over $13K for a used 2010 CRV in 2017. While I understand others are willing to buy brand new cars, that's a decision I never found appealing nor could I ever justify.

[Fishindude77]

Around $40K for my current pickup. Probably going to replace next spring and $50k wouldn't surprise me.

[LivingAlmostLarge]

Around $40K for my current pickup. Probably going to replace next spring and $50k wouldn't surprise me.

What sort of pickup costs $50k? Inflation? Or just really expensive?

[disneysteve]

What sort of pickup costs $50k? Inflation? Or just really expensive?

https://cars.usnews.com/cars-trucks/...-on-the-market

15 most expensive pick ups. 10 of the 15 are over 50K and #11 is very close.

[kork13]

What sort of pickup costs $50k? Inflation? Or just really expensive?

Yeah, trucks are ludicrously expensive. They're also the single class of vehicle that kept the American auto makers alive through the last recession, and are their top sellers year in & year out. Thus, they also use them to secure their strongest profits. And our red blooded Americans lap it up. Probably 25-30% of cars on the road are trucks.

[LivingAlmostLarge]

um wow. Is that for work though?

[msomnipotent]

Our newest was $53,000, but it came out to about $41,000 with the employee discount. I would do it again. All of us love the new car and we got used to the higher-end bells and whistles pretty darn quickly. Just my 2 cents, but I got rid of our Outback to get our new car and I would never buy a Subaru again.

[LivingAlmostLarge]

Our newest was $53,000, but it came out to about $41,000 with the employee discount. I would do it again. All of us love the new car and we got used to the higher-end bells and whistles pretty darn quickly. Just my 2 cents, but I got rid of our Outback to get our new car and I would never buy a Subaru again.

what did you buy? A truck?