twin sister? do you have a copy of her id so that if you get pulled over, she gets the ticket?

 

I did the same as the original poster as well. Owned nice cars, and found them to be a money pit (As any car is).

To add to his point though, the more OEM equipment your car has, the less you get to have fun installing your own stuff. Part of the reason I went with a tC is because I like pulling the car apart and putting stuff in it. Sure, you can do that with a nice car, but what's the point of putting in a navigation system in a car that's already got one?

Anyways, just my .02

 

i don't care what anyone says

i would much rather drive a 335i than my current car

 

Well only problem I find with the tC is the noise/rattles/squeaks and the tremendous amount of body roll.

 

Ditto much

Hmmm I am seriously thinking that our cars are better than so many that are under 30k nowadays


...even if every white tc I see driving is usually some hot white chick growl..
Does that mean ill get hot white girls?...nope
Just means they will think I am a homo...nothing wrong with that but...you know...the being straight and all

 

Really well put.

 

Hey why not she's silver woah! like yr car's color hehe

But naw I meant my dad's 911 and future 3 twin turbo diesel

 

We are fraternal. I never got a ticket.

 

nice write up! I learned a thing or two, and agree with them.

Exactly - which is also why you see SO MANY 3-series BMWs and C-Class MB's... instead of getting a reliable car with as many luxury features as you want (by going with, say, a fully loaded Mazda or Honda) people want the "name" which they think actually means something... so scrape up what little money they have, then go out and get a 3-series or C-Class since that's all that's available at their price point. BMW and MB know this...

Neither are really representative of what BMW or MB is at all (I don't even consider them true BMW's or MBs), but whatever, as long as people think they're the shiz, the Germans keep making more money

 

actually, to some credit, some cars don't lose as much values as others. car and drivers long-term porsche cayenne s lost 19% of its value over its 40k long term test, while their cadillac srx lost 40% of its value over 40k. kinda scary.

 

I'm in my 30 and I love my tC. ...and its paid for.
After a slew of new Camrys over the years, a new Celica and a very brief romp with a used Corolla the next logical step up was Lexus (IS was my pref. but ES was also on the bill) but when I saw and test drove the tC I loved it. It brought me back to the Celica GTS I had back in 1990 but it had all the style of the new Lex's + its got room in the back which my wife thought was important (...future kiddos).
Being the type of guy with multiple project cars/trucks/bikes in various states of "running" I can never resist modding my dailys and the tC was the perfect reliable platform that left me with cash to burn. My belief is "If it ain't fun, it aint worth drivin." and "as is, is never good enough" ...it makes the commute to work so worth it.

...my in-law's 05 Benz and 06 Caddy are always in the shop. the Benz has already had a new tranny and electric and I swear I spend more time putting panels and trim pieces back on my neighbors G35 coupe than working on anything I own.

[edit] I disagree with your title tho ... "cheaper cars rule" ... Toyota happens to make a quality product at a damn good price. I can think of many cars in the same price range and lower that most certainly with out a doubt do not rule. lol.

 

While I drool over a 335I sedan, there's no reason for me to get one. My car is my commuter, not a family car.

My wife has a Lexus SUV and had a G35 Coupe before that. When it all boils down, there's nothing special about either.

The best thing about a premium brand? The service. When I take my car to toyota, I'm screwed, I have to be picked up and dropped off. She takes her car for an oil change and they have a car waiting for her and she just brings it back when her car's ready.

However that convenience isn't worth 3x the cost of my Scion for me.

I constantly kick myself for buying the lexus. We should have gone with one of the cheaper cars we were looking at. Every time I look at my savings balance, I see the "hole" that's sitting in my garage.

Your perspective changes when you get closer to 30 and have kids I guess...

 

i agree with this posting... but after seeing my parents work their butt off for me for the past 22 years of my life... i think they deserve a Lexus, Mercedes, or some other top of the line car... even if its costly to me, they still deserve it.

me personally, I'd invest my leftover money... it's the smartest route to take, rich people didn't get rich overnight lol.

 

What about not buying a brand new car? For instance, I've considered selling my tC and going for the more luxurious car. BMW 3 series, Saab 9-3, Lexus IS, Audi A4... All cars that I've seen great deals on with relatively low miles, etc. etc. If they hold their value more over the next few years, is this not a good trade? Aren't Lexus, BMW, etc. known for reliability? Are the maintenance costs truly that much more?

I'm not in disagreement with the first post. Actually, it is reassuring to hear and encouraging to me, since I am just starting to live life on my own and make my own ends. It is also a great experience for me to "upgrade" my car, learn about it, and get new excitement from it. Rattles are the main thing that have made me look at trading.

 

No European car is known for reliability. They might be built really well at the start, but so many things start going wrong within a short time. In fact, quality might not even be up to par (if you buy that 3-series, since they're not real BMWs).

And yea, maintenance costs will be higher because everything will be "high performance" parts.

 

I never owned BMW because my friends always had problems with theirs (MAJOR problems)... but i can tell you mercedes is pretty much garbage. Audi, on the other hand, i've had the best luck with.

I've had an S4 and a TT-R (still have the TT-R, but will be selling it soon) so i can speak 1st hand about these cars. Yes, the reliability is pretty good, but the devil is in the details.

The problem about owning a luxury car is now you are operating on a different level. Everything becomes much more expensive, if for no other reason than the fact that you are forced to do most of the work or get most of the parts from the dealer. Even if you can get your own parts, finding somebody reliable enough to do the work for a reasonable price is nearly impossible. This is absolutely the case with german cars... you might have better luck with lexus, because they are much closer to toyota, obviously, in their parts, etc.

Luckily i bought these cars new, so i always had complete warranty coverage. After my experiences, i would never buy a german car without complete warranty coverage, unless you are relatives with a german auto specialist or something.

I had 2 problems when i owned my S4... a clutch switch went out, and then the sunroof switch and control broke. These are minor problems. Back when i owned the S4 (2002 - 2004), Audi used to put the totals that a customer would pay (had the car not been under warranty) on the reciept when you picked up your car from service. They have since stopped doing this (or at least the dealer in Newport Beach stopped doing this). There is a good reason for that. For these 2 relatively minor problems, the repairs would have cost over $2700. Most of the cost is labor. Audi techs charge about $80-90/hr for work - but the parts aren't cheap either. (For Porche? try $150/hr. Thats why an oil change on the boxter cost $450.)

That is simply retarded. As far as rattles go, yes the fit an finish of Audi is probably the best i've seen... but again, the level you are operating at becomes a problem. A tiny squeek in an Audi becomes a major problem. It's like someone coughing in the library when you are trying to study. Whereas a rattle in the TC is like someone coughing on the subway... you see my point? One is inherently quieter than the other, but it is no less annoying when something goes wrong. And something ALWAYS goes wrong. Search audiworld.com's forums for 'squeek' or 'rattle'. You will quickly understand. http://www.audiworld.com/

I had rattles in my S4 that were just as "noticeable" as they are in my TC. In fact, in reality they were more noticeable in the S4, because they are so much more apparent. Nobody has mentioned rattle noises when riding in my TC, but somebody always mentioned the squeek i had in my S4. Go figure. I spent countless hours with silica spray in my damn S4 trying to isolate squeeks and chassis-flex noises.

Of course i'm not saying the TC is better because the road/engine noise covers up its flaws... that's retarded... but what i am saying is that buying a $50k car is not going to solve your problems -- it is the relative nature of the problem that will change, only it will cost you a hell of a lot more.

 

Very good perspective... Thank you!

 

service depends on the dealership, my scion came with a lifetime loaner car program. whenever i drop my tc off at my dealership, i get a loaner car free of charge, just gotta bring it back with the same amount of gas i got it with. maybe loaner cars are standard for lexus dealers and optional for toyota scion dealers?

 

Exactly correct... it depends on the dealer. At Audi of Newport Beach, I practically had to beg them for a loaner many times, and it was always a BS rental, not even an Audi!

So hear i am dropping off my $50k car for service, and driving away in a Saturn. WTF???

At Lexus of Wesminster, however, i leave in the same type of car i came in, plus they have sandwiches and donuts, etc.

It is 100% dealer-related... there are no nationwide guidelines that the manufacturers force dealers to follow.

 

I think one other issuse is in terms of exess capability. Before the tC I had an WRX STi which I loved dearly but I came to realize I was paying for all the high performance 100% of the time but only using it something like 1% of the time. Think of all the people who buy a huge SUV because they need to tow a boat once or twice a month but now must drag around all that exess power, weight and sh!tty aerodynamics on their daily commute. ( Or better yet buy a 3 ton SUV to carry thier 50lb. child ) Thats why I've resigned myself to renting a truck if/ when I need, and owning an efficient car for everything else. And anyway the tC is fast enough to make me smile, and with the mods I've done I still feel cool driving it.