exactly what i did - paid for my $14k car ($16.7k after taxes etc). my car is just a weekend toy. after 19 months now, im at like 16,500 miles or something like that. and i know that it is totally mine. i can go over the mileage a year, i can do whatever i want to it (altho i keep it stock mostly lol) , if it gets dented i dont have to worry about the dealer trying to screw me over on repairs, if it gets scratched, big deal, i dont gotta worry about the dealer saying i need a new paintjob then charging me thru the nose for it.

 

i wish I could buy my car outright to use as a toy , well nowadays i hardly put any miles on it , down from like 25k a year to like 10k

 

^^^ like, i justify it like this: i dont drive often so i'll definitely be putting less than 10k miles a year on it. that way, since i love the xB so much, i paid for it entirely in cash so i can keep it as my car. i dont wany anything fancy with navigation, huge rims, etc etc etc. i want reliable. if these cars can do 100k miles easy, and i drive less than 10k miles a year, i can keep this thing for a decade and i'll be fine with it. that's how i justified buying it.

my other option at the same time was to get a brand new 3 series and pay for that in cash as well but i was like what the hell - 1) it's too expensive (about triple the cost of the box-the way i spec'd it), i gotta park it on the street sometimes in nyc and if my brand new beemer gets scratched, i'd have a ____ fit...... etc etc etc. in my case (and obviously for other people it'll differ), it worked out as a good buy for me.

 

must be nice. one day i shall be financially inclined , one day