If you have to ask the question....you can't. You either know if you can or can't. If have to ask can I afford to put a clutch in it or can I afford insurance or tires, etc.....then you CAN'T. You don't have to have unlimited money to own a lambo, I don't, but you should not have to budget for an unforseen expense.

Also, I don't care about or believe any of the other number you gave except the 3000 per month and the answer is you can't afford it at 3k per month. I was driving a Geo Tracker when I made 3k per month. Now I drive a 04 G, in addition to other vehicles, and never wondered if I could afford it. I waited until I knew I could. You just know.

Let me put it this way...

My income has been climbing upward the past couple of years. It's variable, but I should make $200 - $300K this year. (BTW...ZERO debt...ZERO wife)

I wouldn't order new on this income, but I'm thinking it's reasonable to go with a used Lambo in the $130K-$160K range.

I am asking because I'm coming recently from the $75K income range. I was born into a middle class family (please don't hold that against me.) However I rejected the middle class "borrow and spend" cabal ever since early high school. That has paid off.

An exotic car, esp. Lamborghini, is one of my main dreams of ownership (tattooed lambo bull has been on my left arm since college). I have bled and will bleed more money into cars than any other area of my life. That's who I am. I figure with depreciation and maintenance I am looking at a $15K-$20K loss per year average at most. That doesn't seem terribly out of proportion on a $250K income, right?

Matt

It makes very little sense to me to buy a car such as a lamborghini on a salary like yours. Look into other options that will still be a lot of fun but fit inside your price range better. You could be making 3x your current income and I still wouldn't suggest stepping into a car that will cost so much to maintain.

You will probably die owing someone and someone owing you.
BUY the car and don't look back.
I have 9 cars
Eric

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The AMMOMAN

$3000/mth and you want to get a Lambo? You're crazy imo.

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2008 GT2
2008 Cayenne S
2006 Duramax
2005 Denali XL

I am sorry, but the last few posts left me a bit baffled.

How much do you think someone should earn to be able to afford a Lambo (Gallardo)?

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1934 - 1938 - 1982 - 2006

Sorry,Make that 10 cars

eBay Motors: Ferrari (item 250222095503 end time Mar-24-08 16:21:02 PDT)

Wish me luck.
Eric

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The AMMOMAN

Hi guys--I'm new to the forum. I am not a forum noob though, and I did research out this topic before I started a thread just like it of my own.

I am doing well financially but not quite ready to buy a used Gallardo. My question was at what point financially do you stop being concerned about the cost of ownership.

After having read this entire thread, the answer is pretty clear. It depends upon your own personal situation, and how much it means to own one. A Gallardo is my dream car at this point (having owned several very nice but more affordable cars), and I'm going to make it happen.

Still, if any of you read this and care to share your general experience, I'm all ears. I'd still like to know from some of you who own multiple Lambos what income level you'd consider too low to own a Gallardo, if you had to estimate. There are obviously millionaires on this forum, and non-millionaires, both of whom own Lambos.

After having owned a Mitubishi EVO VIII for 3 years for instance, I would tell ANYONE who makes under $60K/year to not bother buying one and expect to own it comfortably. Insurance, maintenance costs, tires, oil changes, etc wouldn't make it very reasonable even though plenty of people DO own Evo's while making well under that amount. See where I'm going with this?

Just running the numbers, a used G at $100K seems easily within reach on $250K/year, all other things being equal. IE, reasonable mortgage & monthly bills that aren't out of line with that kind of income.

Anyway, awesome forum and I can't wait until the day I post to tell all of you I've bought my first Lambo. Until then I'll soak up the knowledge here. Cheers.

Yes, there are so many variables and I think you're thinking about it correctly. I couldn't afford a Lamborghini for a long time because I was rolling every dime into building my business. I know what it's like to sit on the sidelines and wait for the day when I could buy my car. Like you, I read the forums and everything I could about car ownership before I bought my LP.

You have to look at car ownership rather broadly and simply total every dollar you spend from the day you buy the car until the day you sell it and subtract what you get for it the day you sell it from that total. In the case of exotics and hyper cars, miles are a bigger factor than your average car. Some cars hold their value well and others don't for a variety of reasons. You also have to factor in the cost of money. It's not simply a matter of the interest rate, but what that same dollar would do if spent on an appreciating asset. Some people don't finance their cars in a down stock market because of the cost of borrowing is more than the interest earned on that money and others finance no matter what their financial situation. It depends on your available cash too.

As for income level, it's really up to you. Assuming you have the cash to buy the car without financing, and you can afford the depreciation and expenses, I'd think you could own one with a lot less income because you wouldn't have the interest expense with monthly payments. It also depends on how many miles you expect to drive. I know some exotic owners who can afford to buy cars, but can't afford to drive them because of the depreciation cost per mile. They are so worried about driving their cars that they keep them in the garage and put less than 100 miles on the car per year. I bought mine to drive it and I knew it would cost me something to do just that and I'm willing to pay it.

AutoWeek puts out occasional car reviews where they publish the true cost of ownership for various specific models and it's a good template to use for your analysis. If you look at their template, you will notice that the true cost per mile is really high. This is realistic. When you total the numbers, you may be shocked by how expensive it really is, but for me, I think it's worth it. It's a lot like owning a boat and there are no hard rules.

As for net worth, I think the forum has the whole range. You will see some posts on another forum about a guy buying a car with nine credit cards, and others have giant car collections. Both are around to talk about Lamborghinis and income or ownership status shouldn't matter.

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Owner- 2008 LP640 Roadster, full carbon package, OC exhaust, e-gear.

Daily drive- 07 Lexus LS460L

Good luck So which cars are that?

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