Manny, the short answer is "No", a poor man simply cannot afford a Lambo. However, you are far from poor. You may not be a richest guy in the world, but you have a decent income, own your home outright, and sizeable savings and investments.
First up, I recommend you go talk to a reputable and friendly official dealer on a day when they're not busy. I can't say what prices and costs are like in Canada - you'll have to research that yourself, but here's my basic thinking in UK prices:
A decent car from a reputable dealer: GBP 82k. I'm using a particular car as an example here - a 2003 with big service, new clutch and front respray just done, and should require no further expenditure for at least a year.
Depreciation in the UK appears to run at about 10% or so per year, plus dealer margin when you sell, which is a further 10% or so. Figure this in - the really cost of ownership is depreciation and running costs, not the purchase price.
If I understand things right in year 2 you'll need a small service, at GBP 1k. Then a big service in year 3 for GBP 2.5k. If anything goes horribly wrong you can either afford to fix it, and swallow the cost, or sell up if you really have to.
Then there's tax and insurance - get an insurance quote for costing purposes. For me that's another GBP 1K insurance, plus road tax of ... what is the UK road tax on these things now?
When you have all the numbers, put them together in a 3 (or more) year plan, and assess your situation. Can you afford it without risking stuff you don't want to (like your home or investments)? My guess is it will be close. Don't count on getting pay raises to cover things in the future (cos as soon as you do they don't come through - like the one time I planned against a next pay rise). Consider worst case scenarios: if this happened, what would I do and would that be financially sound.
With that much cash in hand, you could probably get a loan at a reasonable rate for something like 25% of the purchase price for an early model and pay cash for the rest. You might consider borrowing against your home for the extra cash if you get a better interest rate that way, but remember you shouldn't risk your home - look at the worst case scenarios: if it's stolen or wrecked make sure you have good quality insurance that will pay up and cover the loan. If it goes horribly wrong and you can't afford it any longer then consider whether you will be able sell it for enough to pay off the loan.
As I understand thing here in the UK, most Lambo purchases are financed - they pay a third cash, and finance the rest over a few years, during which time another third is paid off. At the end of the finance period you have the option to pay for the remaining third and keep the car, or let the finance company sell the car, take their third and give you the remainder.
So for me, my hypothetical financial plan looks like:
Year 1:
82K on purchase of good early model Gallardo
1.5k insurance, tax, etc
Est value at end of year: 66k
Year 2:
1.5k insurance, tax, etc
1K small service
Est value at end of year: 59k
Year 3:
1.5k insurance, tax, etc
2.5K big service
Est value at end of year: 53k
and so on. So after 3 years, if I sold it then I'd be looking at a total cost of 37k for 3 years of ownership - 12-13k pa. OK there's quite alot of assumptions in there, but that's unavoidable. At least it gives me some kind of guideline idea, which is especially important to people with tight budgets or using financing (I'm not).
Hope this is helpful and good luck anyone who is not a multi-millionaire going down the Lambo purchase avenue
