I read the guy's post below about not wanting to eat beans for 10 years so he could afford a roadster, and I realize this might be a rude question, but how much would you recommend someone makes before buying a roadster? If you're willing, how much do you make?

 

Rule of thumb I have always used is "never by a car that is more that half your annual income".

 

And I'd say make that 50% of your net income, but thats just me. Even at that I think you'd be stretching it with annual maint and insurance costs even if you included that in your 50%. I can't imagine putting out 6 figures a year on car payments.... OUCH!

 

You could possible swing it if your income is atleast $35k a year and you put atleast half down... But it would be really tight if you have a high rent/mogage payments also, and pretty much impossible if you have credit card debts and another car payment... Now if your young and live with your parents then you could probably do it on less of a income since you probably don't pay rent. But do you really want to live with mom and dad for the next 5 years while you pay off your car?!?

If you don't want to feel any financial burdon then I would say you would need to make atleast around $80k a year.

So it really depends on the financial situation your in... If you make $40k a year and pretty much debt free and have low rent/morage payments then you probably do it as long as you put a good down payment.

 

It isn't so much a question of how much you make, it's more a question of how much you are already comitted to spending. You can make $100k/yr but if you already have obligations over that then you can't afford a Hyundai let alone a Z. There is also the question of your priorities. If owning a high performance sports car is really important to you then you will cut out other things to make it fit into your budget. This brings us back to the qeustion is it worth eating beans for? My answer was NO. But is it worth quitting smoking, drinking alcohol and dating high maintenance women, then I say YES.

 

Thanks for the thoughts...I'm 24 and make pretty good money, but I'm realizing a house and investments are important to me as well....thus I think I'm going to go with a used ('04 probably) Z coupe.