Income/Vehicle

My income/age are

  • I am under 35, and make $0-30K

    Votes: 1 1.3%
  • I am under 35, and make $30-50k

    Votes: 0 0.0%
  • I am under 35, and make $50-90k

    Votes: 11 14.1%
  • I am under 35, and make $90k+

    Votes: 13 16.7%
  • I am over 35, and make $0-30K

    Votes: 1 1.3%
  • I am over 35, and make $30-50k

    Votes: 6 7.7%
  • I am over 35, and make $50-90k

    Votes: 21 26.9%
  • I am over 35, and make $90k+

    Votes: 25 32.1%

  • Total voters
    78
Fun poll. We would gladly pay more for a higher end vehicle if we liked it and it had reliability and reasonable cost of ownership.

We own cars for 10+ years. Based on past history (2006 325i) and some research, we ruled out German cars. Great driving vehicles, but built for the 3 to 5 year lease market. This may have changed in 10 years, but I didn't want to spend more time arguing with BMW and the dealership over failures due to terrible engineering ($1000 turn signal replacements, broken head bolts, etc.). So we looked at products from Japan and I liked the Subaru Forrester. Still do, but my spouse instantly liked the CX 5 for it's driving feel. And so did I.

The higher end Japanese offerings didn't offer much more for the additional cost and the CX 5 is now our everyday vehicle.

For us it's about "utility" - the best return on your money. What we don't spend on the car we can spend elsewhere.
 
Interesting thread, and lots of differing opinions. I don't think having more money should make one inherently more willing to spend money where it doesn't need to be spent. What makes a luxury car a money pit at one income level still makes it a money pit at a higher income level, in my opinion. I like my CX-5 because it handles well, gets decent mileage, and isn't expensive to maintain. As a daily people mover, it works perfectly.

I won't lie though, I would definitely be buying another car or two if my income suddenly doubled. I would love to add a Tacoma (easier to haul around gear for hobbies and for home projects) and an air-cooled 911 to the garage but I can't say I would replace my CX-5 with a Lexus or BMW.
 
I won't lie though, I would definitely be buying another car or two if my income suddenly doubled. I would love to add a Tacoma (easier to haul around gear for hobbies and for home projects) and an air-cooled 911 to the garage but I can't say I would replace my CX-5 with a Lexus or BMW.

I don't think Lexus or BMW can do what the CX-5 does for that price.

Income is ≠ to what we choose to drive. I.e. - plenty of people that probably shouldn't (financially) drive a M-car have them and on the flip side I have friends that could get M6s drive a Ford Focus.

I acknowledge that cars are not sound investments, one should be able to calculate the loss/depreciation of this purchase and determine what they can afford to get/lose(depreciation) in the transaction.


I typed this up on my Smartphone using Tapatalk [emoji12]
 
Disagree with your last statement, if you grew up poor and earn 250K USD you will most likely drive a 3 or 4 year old Camry. Its just how your life experiences have been. Besides there are people who invest ferociously and for them Cars are a money pit. The Land Rover depreciates faster than a falling meteor here in the USA. They are not very reliable - so the depreciation hit in the first 2 years alone equals a new CX-5. Atleast the Touring Trim.
Plus there are people who consider their carbon footprint as more important than luxury or appearance. If Toyota did not go down the Mirai BS putting money back into energy companies I would have bought the Hybrid Rav4 for 3K more than my CX-5.

Get the Land Rover and also a CX-5 to drive when its in the shop.
 
Disagree with your last statement, if you grew up poor and earn 250K USD you will most likely drive a 3 or 4 year old Camry. Its just how your life experiences have been..

I concur... my wife and I both had humble upbringings. We both have senior level IT positions and IMO do very well for ourselves. Our mission is to retire early... I could care less about impressing others with flashy objects.
 
For us, we both work in the software industry and make very good money, especially for where we live as the cost of living is quite low and we have an awesome quality of life.
We could quite easily afford a much more expensive house and a much more expensive vehicle.
However we chose the CX5 because of the overall value for our money, mind you this time we did spring for a GT with Tech/iActive but it wasnt a crazy amount.

The way I look at it is, the more money we save on things like this = more money in our retirement funds and our daughters education (shes only 8 months old).

I feel the CX5 and most of Mazda's products these days are well ahead of most other manufacturers for what you get for your money and honestly we could go buy a premium brand and pay more for the same, but why?
 
I feel the CX5 and most of Mazda's products these days are well ahead of most other manufacturers for what you get for your money and honestly we could go buy a premium brand and pay more for the same, but why?

Actually I did a comparison with Toyota as well. CX-5 is more value for money.
Any toyota sold has a invisible $2500 reliability charge just for the brand. so they can get away with ugly and old design like their boring cruise control arms, releasing Rav4 Hybrid with an old technology and charging a premium.
Ford / Mazda and Hyundai give more value for money. Of these 3 Mazda is the sexiest.
 
Actually I did a comparison with Toyota as well. CX-5 is more value for money.
Any toyota sold has a invisible $2500 reliability charge just for the brand. so they can get away with ugly and old design like their boring cruise control arms, releasing Rav4 Hybrid with an old technology and charging a premium.
Ford / Mazda and Hyundai give more value for money. Of these 3 Mazda is the sexiest.

We did the exact same thing before we bought the CX5 a few weeks back.

We took out the Rav4 SE and loved it but when we went back to talk numbers they were trying to screw us over and tell us the numbers on the Toyota website are not correct (when using the online calculator) and it was off by a few thousand dollars etc etc. So we told them to shove it.
Then we moved to the CX5 and Rogue. Took both home for extended test drives and both were nice but the Rogue was just lacking so much in some areas and only had a couple of extras that set it apart from the CX5. Once again got talking numbers and they were not giving us a good deal. In dealing with Mazda, I dealt with the Sales Manager and it was a no BS deal, he worked hard for our business and in the end got the best deal and also a much nicer product.

Its too bad too for Toyota because my wife was sold on the Rav4 before we even test drove anything else. Its a great product too and hold their value but they just seemed like they didnt need our business and it was fine if we walked, their loss.
 
For us, we both work in the software industry and make very good money, especially for where we live as the cost of living is quite low and we have an awesome quality of life.
We could quite easily afford a much more expensive house and a much more expensive vehicle.
However we chose the CX5 because of the overall value for our money, mind you this time we did spring for a GT with Tech/iActive but it wasnt a crazy amount.

The way I look at it is, the more money we save on things like this = more money in our retirement funds and our daughters education (shes only 8 months old).

I feel the CX5 and most of Mazda's products these days are well ahead of most other manufacturers for what you get for your money and honestly we could go buy a premium brand and pay more for the same, but why?

I agree 100%. The same scenario, minus the child, applies to my wife and I. The only reason I didn't spring for the GT with Tech/iActive is the fact that I'm 6'7". I needed to forego the sunroof so my head wasn't resting against the top of the car. I'm quite happy with the 2016.5 Touring since they added a lot of features for that trim, and the no sunroof is great. My wife is going to be getting a 2017 Miata RF, but that'll be her first new car since I gave her my 2007 Mazda3.

Our goal is to retire around 50-52, so investments are key. Plus, we like to travel, dine out, attend concerts, and do other things that build memories.
 
According to this poll, at least 1/3 of us shouldn't be driving CX-5s (rofl)

I enjoy this car for road trips
 
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