how old are you guys?
did you lease or buy? how much do you pay per month?

please let me know.. i'm just another poor young bloke that's trying to figure out if i can afford an sc430.

 

I bought, traded in my BMW on it and took out a $25K loan for the balance so I'm not paying too much per month (only $450 a month to own).

I just turned 34

BTW: This is my first Lexus and first Japanese car. I used to be like GermanCarAddict but then I met someone who is a master mechanic for 10+ years for Infinity cars and I was enlightened to see the huge differences between the German cars and the Japanese cars so I now firmly believe in 'never say never'. I was one of those die hard German fans who said I would never own Japanese. I'm glad I was open for change because I love my SC430 and it makes my former convertibe BMW look like a joke! ...and that darn BMW had to go back to the shop 4 times for the same problem (under warranty BUT a pain in the you-know-where)!

 

thanx for the info guys...

you gotta love the interior..... it has that new age feeling to it..
i think lexus got some artist or interior designer to do it

where as the MB interior looks like some engineer put some expensive leather and wood in it to make it look expensive and luxurious..

 

Your question reminds me of the purchase of my first brand-new car, a 1964 Volvo P1800S. It was a $4,000 car and I was just out of college making $128 a week. It wasn't easy, but I wanted that car so bad I had to do it.

One way I look at the cost of things is to calculate how many hours I have to work to buy them. In the case of my P1800, I had to work 1,250 hours or 31.25 weeks to pay for that car. That doesn't include loan interest, insurance, etc etc. If I substituted the cost of an SC430 in that formula to determine how much I had to earn to pay for it in 31.25 weeks, I would have to be making a bit over $100,000 a year. So I guess it depends on your income and what you want to sacrifice if the cost is slightly beyond your reach.

My personal situation in the purchase of my SC430 is probably very different from most of the folks who come to this forum. Part of my lifetime savings included an IRA which I invested in some mutual funds that doubled (and then some) and which I transferred to an interest-bearing savings account IRA just before the market went kablooey. Then I got an interest-deductible loan to buy the car; every month my credit union automatically withdraws the loan payment from my IRA.

Incidentally, I'm 63, not married and have never had any children. I call my SC430 "tuition for the kid I never had".

Good luck. The more I drive my SC, the more I love it.