New speakers or new car?


ever notice it’s easier to spend $50,000 on speakers than $50,000 on a new car? Why is that. Is it because my living room is not big enough for a car?

Seriously, I need a new car. So maybe I need to come to terms with that and somehow find a way for it to be easier to spend a lot of money on a new car. Maybe it’s because a speaker doesn’t come with annual recurring costs like insurance and all the gasoline or electricity you gotta put into it.

Or maybe I just do both.

emergingsoul

A car is a necessity, for which a guy can get on a payment plan. Many dudes won't have 40k cash sitting around on them.

Some of these guys seem to be just incapable of doing the math on a electric car like a Tesla...If he was some commuter and got 10 years out of it, 10 years of cash savings from not paying for gas can cut the price of a new car in half or might make a used car free.

But, speaking of audio..i have refused to sell things to dudes who've show up at my house to buy an audiophile item or two in the past....and from some small talk i determine what he does for a living and that he got some cash advance on his credit card to to come up with the cash...(Go pay for your roof or siding repair in that dilapidated house of yours dude. I saw a picture of it on your facebook profile. Git outta here.)

The latter is bit of a mental illness..

It is idiotic to pay for a car or speakers on credit, this is insane thinking!

As others have mentioned it is wise to look for a gently used several year old car and pocket the savings compared to new. Let someone else pay the steep depreciation from the first couple of years.

Luxury cars depreciate quickly. Electric vehicles as well. Combine those both and it can make for some amazing deals. 

No need for another car but I like trying new things. Right now I'm looking at the BMW iX M60 which sold for around $120k with options in 2023. Now they can be had for half that, maybe less if you shop wisely. It's an ugly SUV but 0-60 in 3.2 seconds, quarter mile in 11.5 seconds, those are faster than my beloved Porsche 911 Turbo. There's also the BMW i4 M50 which is similarly fast (500+ horsepower) but in a more attractive traditional sedan look. Those were around $75k and can be had for almost half that price in excellent shape. And from what I've read the electric BMW models are very reliable, more so than their gas models.

My point being there are some amazing deals to be had on great cars if you shop smart and get a 2-4 year old example with reasonable miles. 

I always say my stereo takes me to places that a car could never reach.

Our cars are 6 and 8 years old.  Now that we are retired we only drive a few thousand miles yearly.  Hopefully we drive them into the great beyond 

@emergingsoul 

I was fortunate to spend much less than $50k on my Apogee speakers, which may perform as well as some $50k speakers.

I was also fortunate enough to buy a $50k Hyundai Ioniq 6 for only $40k after the manufacturer's multiple rebates (in 2024).  It comes with free maintenance for 10 yrs. and free charging for 2 yrs., so it was not hard for me to buy it and sell my 27-year old Camry.  It even has a listenable "premium" sound system, but the best thing is that the car is quiet enough to listen to even classical harp while driving on the freeway.