How can you afford the cost of a new SUV?

[DuraYuk]

You guys missed the Harley reference.
Have GM trucks been elevated to status symbol?
The pricing would have it seem so.

Absolutely they have. Base tahoes? They are reasonable. Base yukon ? Reasonable. But once the options start piling on they reach really high. But they are also really on their own. The wagoner is questionable in terms of resale and reliability. The expedition looks basic with questionable reliability and resale. The gm full size are hard to beat by just about any suv in terms of reliability resale space and efficiency. It's a recipe gm has to get right!

 

[mountie]

I have been told, the Toyota Tundra is around the best full-sized truck. ( I have been told)

 

[sdsuburb06]

When I worked in an F&I office years ago at a dealership, after really learning the ropes I was truly amazed how many lending institutions analyzed borrowers repayment capabilities, I was down right shocked at how out of touch people were with their own finances and not knowing or understanding what they could afford. Terms offered by some institutions were scary - 130% loan to value and now there are institutions offering 10 year loans on brand new titled vehicles. I know it doesn't apply to the majority, but it was really something to see the lengths some people would go to just to get into an expensive depreciating asset that didn't do anything but cost them money they couldnt afford to pay (using home equity loans, maxing out multiple credit cards for down payment money to reduce the loan amount the bank would approve them for). I got out of that business as it just wasn't something for me. If you truly can afford it great, but that experience really opened my eyes to the wants outweighing the needs.

 

[mountie]

First car I ever bought was a 1970 Pontiac GTO. I was making pretty good money ( Union Commercial Painter ).... I paid off the 2-year loan in half the time. Saved a TON of money avoiding the interest $$.

 

[sdsuburb06]

What were the specs on that 70 GTO? Favorite car of mine all time is the 70 gto

 

[mountie]

What were the specs on that 70 GTO? Favorite car of mine all time is the 70 gto

400 engine, optional factory performance suspension, ( but later I installed TRW 'firm' coil springs ), factory 8 track tape player. i had the auto transmission built, .... wonderful car !!

 

[Jocko PDX]

400 engine, optional factory performance suspension, ( but later I installed TRW 'firm' coil springs ), factory 8 track tape player. i had the auto transmission built, .... wonderful car !!

that is one sexy car! I love old american muscle cars. My fav is the 65 mustang. To me the muscle cars are an art form

 

[SNWMBL]

Great topic, just finished reading all the replies.

IMO, true affordability means your home is paid off, you have ZERO debt, retirement accounts are maxed, you can pay cash for the vehicle and it doesn’t affect your budget at all. If you have to make a payment and sacrifice in other areas then you can’t really afford it. I don’t know anyone in life though that buys only clothes from the thrift store, all their food from Walmart, doesn’t subscribe to any kind of TV streaming services ect so everyone to some extent is not being as smart with their money as they could be.

Having said that, we have a suburban on order and by my own definition we can’t afford it. By the time it gets here we will have 40k to put down and will be financing the remaining 30k for 3 years and should have it paid off in 2. My wife has been driving a used 2003 Honda Pilot that we bought in 2015 for $5,500 when she was pregnant with our first child. That was to replace the $1,000 Chevy Cobalt she drove all thru college. The Pilot has 226k miles on it and we now have 2 kids ages 4 and 7. If we waited to pay the house off, then waited to save up all the cash needed, we would be buying a new car when the kids were about out of school and it wouldn’t even be needed at that point. My wife works hard and is not materialistic at all, I want her to enjoy a new car, we will have it for the next 14 years until our youngest is out of the house. I also got the 3.0 and wanted a new diesel before our stupid liberal government makes everything electric.

We budget every month and track our expenses, we make decent money, and I am in the category of life is a balance. Like others have posted, I have seen too many people retire only to die a couple years later. My wife and I started 529’s for both kids when they were born, but I do not believe in fully funding college for kids, just my opinion but I think it produces lazy and entitled workers. I don’t want my children to struggle(hence the 529’s) but they will work during the summers to fund the remainder of their educations. I don’t max retirement but I have a good chunk saved so far (38 years old) and should have a good nest egg by 60 when I plan to leave my current job.

Like posted multiple times, only you can make the decision for yourself.

 

[mrrairai]

Great topic, just finished reading all the replies.

IMO, true affordability means your home is paid off, you have ZERO debt, retirement accounts are maxed, you can pay cash for the vehicle and it doesn’t affect your budget at all. If you have to make a payment and sacrifice in other areas then you can’t really afford it. I don’t know anyone in life though that buys only clothes from the thrift store, all their food from Walmart, doesn’t subscribe to any kind of TV streaming services ect so everyone to some extent is not being as smart with their money as they could be.

Having said that, we have a suburban on order and by my own definition we can’t afford it. By the time it gets here we will have 40k to put down and will be financing the remaining 30k for 3 years and should have it paid off in 2. My wife has been driving a used 2003 Honda Pilot that we bought in 2015 for $5,500 when she was pregnant with our first child. That was to replace the $1,000 Chevy Cobalt she drove all thru college. The Pilot has 226k miles on it and we now have 2 kids ages 4 and 7. If we waited to pay the house off, then waited to save up all the cash needed, we would be buying a new car when the kids were about out of school and it wouldn’t even be needed at that point. My wife works hard and is not materialistic at all, I want her to enjoy a new car, we will have it for the next 14 years until our youngest is out of the house. I also got the 3.0 and wanted a new diesel before our stupid liberal government makes everything electric.

We budget every month and track our expenses, we make decent money, and I am in the category of life is a balance. Like others have posted, I have seen too many people retire only to die a couple years later. My wife and I started 529’s for both kids when they were born, but I do not believe in fully funding college for kids, just my opinion but I think it produces lazy and entitled workers. I don’t want my children to struggle(hence the 529’s) but they will work during the summers to fund the remainder of their educations. I don’t max retirement but I have a good chunk saved so far (38 years old) and should have a good nest egg by 60 when I plan to leave my current job.

Like posted multiple times, only you can make the decision for yourself.

Great post but you had to make it political. LOL.

 

[SNWMBL]

I do want to ad that we originally had no intention of buying new. For the last 2 years we looked for a used 2017-2020 Suburban, wanted an LT with less than 60k miles. Every single one we found up here was around $45k. I just couldn’t get myself to pay nearly $50k for a used vehicle with no warranty when we could get a brand new one with the diesel for $25k more. Used prices are still stupid high.