The problem with having a paid off car is you immediately start to imagine what to do with that extra money. The answer is clear as day: buy another car!
I’ve agonized over this idea ever since my BMW M2 Competition was paid off in the middle of last year. Perhaps a front-wheel drive hot hatch to go alongside this rear-wheel drive muscle car? Or, sacrilege notwithstanding, a boring SUV to perform the mundane life tasks.
As I write this at the middle juncture of 2025, I still have only the M2 in the stable. As the kids like to say these days, the math continues to not math. Because whether we include it in the calculations or not, the ability to afford a car is not just the monthly payments. There are all sorts of costs to go along with servitude to the bank.
But even if we concentrate on the price of cars alone, COVID-ere inflation has knocked it up into the stratosphere. New vehicles have gotten rightly expensive, especially the fun ones. My M2 stickered for $64,000 back in October of 2020 (base M2 Competition, DCT gearbox, with the Executive Package.) In 2025 dollars, that’s about $79,0000. Coincidently, that’s roughly the same price I would have to pay for a new BMW M2 specified to my liking.
Five years on, I don’t think I would make the same transaction. $79,000 feels different, you know? No matter how much equivalence we throw at it.
Look at the 2025 Honda Civic Type R – the undisputed king of new hot hatches for sale. I’ve been mulling a purchase of one since the current generation FL5 debuted, and the mulling continues on. Even though I can afford to, I can’t physically imagine spending $53,000 out the door for a Civic. I’m sure – by all accounts – it’s a great driving car, but not for $53,000 of my money.
The inflated purchase price of cars pushes everything else up as well. Going back to the new M2 example: $79,000 means a much higher tax bill to California (compared to $64,000), and on the yearly licensing fee as well. These are “phantom” costs that buyers don’t typically think about beyond the excitement of, “Yay, I am getting a new car!”
Look at insurance: enthusiast cars outside of a Miata and Corvette were never cheap to cover to begin with. Insurance premiums on the M2 have increase 30 percent over the past year, which is insanity considering I hardly ever drive it, and it’s never been in an accident. (Unless Progressive is counting a one-time windshield replacement as an event.) Adding another fun car to that already high insurance bill is simply not feasible.
Then there’s maintenance. Surely even independent repair shops have bumped up their charge, never mind the mainline dealerships. I feel like I’ve struck gold when I purchased year four and year five maintenance on the M2 – back in 2023 - for a princely sum of $899. With wage inflation combined with President Trump’s tariffs on imports (overnight parts of Deutschland), I would not be surprised if the dealer is now losing money on that $899.
BMW cars are not cheap to maintenance as it is. Adding on another car to that, again, is not feasible.
But you are free accuse me of being a peasant! That I don’t have the income level to sustain this automotive passion. I should work harder to up my income, rather than lament the ever-increasing cost of this hobby. You got to pay to play, as the saying goes.
10 years ago me would readily agree with that sentiment. Spending an exorbitant amount of monthly income on cars is just the price of doing business. And I’ve done it: I threw my entire life savings onto a 2015 Porsche 911 GT3. That thing cost me about $2,000 per month to own. No regrets, I had a blast, but being stretched that thinly for cars is not something I care to repeat now that I am in my late 30s.
These days, my financial priorities are to limit stress, and increase buffer. I don’t want to agonize over restaurant menu prices because the car(s) I own takes up so much of my income. It’s annoying enough to move one car for street cleaning every week (thanks a lot, San Francisco) – I don’t want to have to move two.
I can’t fathom spending (a lot of) money to then add more responsibility and stress to my life.
Fun fact: the same 2015 model year of 911 GT3 – a now decade old car – costs more in absolute monetary numbers to buy on the market now than it did back in 2019. And it’s not even the most desirable model of GT3! Inflation is indeed a heck of a drug. I guess the dreams of re-buying that Porsche will remain a dream. Especially with my newfound conservatism towards spending on cars.
Sometimes I wonder if I should have bought the M2 with a stick shift. I literally paid $3,000 (option price of the dual-clutch automatic) to not have it! There are days I miss rowing my own gears with both the hand and feet. A superbly executed heel-toe downshift will never cease to be satisfying for the car enthusiast soul. On a sweepy mountain road, the manual gearbox remains the choice.
But for everything else (there’s MasterCard), the automatic transmission is far better to live with. I think I was heavily influenced by the sublime PDK in the GT3: sharp, quick, and precise when asked, and when I can’t be bothered, plop it in full auto for absolute ease. Hate to admit it (as if there’s some extra honor for owning a manual transmission car as an enthusiast), but that’s what I wanted to continue to have when I made the swap. The DCT in the M2 is as wonderful as the PDK. The only penalty is there’s nothing for the left foot to do.
The solution is simple: buy a second car with a manual transmission! But then we’re back to the beginning of this article, aren’t we?
----------
Date acquired: October 2020
Total mileage: 22,033
Mileage this month: 212
Costs this month: $57.76
MPG this month: 18.9