I agree with these thoughts, but only in the context of helping a person to make the decision about when to sell a car and purchase a replacement. I think that calculating costs of a car based on plans that may or may not come to fruition doesn't completely make sense.I think you may be calculating your "per day" costs incorrectly.
You are only factoring in the time span of the loan. You need to consider how long you anticipate owning the car?
I bought my car as a long-term possession, and given my age (48), there is a good chance I'll own it until I depart from this earth; in other words 20-40 years from now.
There is no reason I shouldn't have my car that long. It isn't my DD, and I take the maintenance to religious levels, so it should be looking/driving/running well 20 years from now, no problem!
So, I would suggest you calculate your "per day" costs not by the time span of the loan, but on the anticipated span of ownership. When you do that, your "per day" costs drop way, way down.
^^^^^^^Without a toy budget, Im less motivated to work hard, earn promotions, complete my graduate degree, and otherwise do all those things in life that arent fun.
The OP and many of the posters in the thread. I'm not planning to try to track my Mustang/car costs, but it's interesting to me anyway.Jeeeesus......who cares?