[dradernh]

TLDR; the higher the original MSRP of a vehicle, the more you'll pay to own it. Bottom line: be ready to walk away once the first >$10K repair raises its ugly head.

That's one way of saying that if you're buying a car that originally cost six times the price of a middle-of-the-line Camry, you can plan on spending at least six times the Camry owner's price for everything. That includes oil changes, tires, tail light lenses, service intervals, etc. For things like transmissions or clutch replacements and major cooling system replacements, the sky is the limit. I've been there, and the sky is always higher than you might have thought it was.

The bottom line is that there are no free lunches, and used highline cars are a terrific way to get rid of any excess money you may have. And a lot more.

This point of view is informed by my past ownership of an M6, a top-of-the-line Jaguar, and, back in the day, a "baby Rolls-Royce", aka Rover 100. As one example, I paid three months San Francisco rent to have the clutch replaced in that Rover. Make no mistake, I thoroughly enjoyed owning, driving, and showing off those cars. At the same time, I've long since sworn off rolling that way; car-wise, I'm just no longer in that bracket.

To me, the practical issue is always this: what percentage of the purchase price are you prepared to allocate for minor/regular maintenance, major/scheduled maintenance, and the "surprises" that come along with the fact that the more expensive the car the more you have of them? That last part is the kicker and the one that bites so many buyers of highline cars that they shouldn't have bought.

My experience is that the "cheaper" the highline car, the higher the percentage of the purchase price you need to have available in reserve to ensure that you can keep driving it. One way to solve this is to buy the car of your dreams and when a major expense arises you simply walk away from the car for whatever you can get for it. That goes on all the time.

The other is to have enough in reserve to ensure that you can keep the car for as long as you wish. That's something that all car enthusiasts should wish for those among us who choose to branch out in search of achieving their automotive dreams. I put it that way because I too would love to own and experience an Aston Martin, along with many other classic marques. Unfortunately, in my case, I'm at an age where that's not going to happen.