thought this was another ranga thread

Eh, overrated.

You're basically paying extra for the marquee.

Honestly, if you can afford the up-front cost and the increased maintenance, 6+ year old BMWs are surprisingly affordable, lots of fun to drive, and a lot more reliable than most luxury cars (I'm looking at you Range Rovers & Jaguars). The real protip to owning one is to find yourself a good mechanic and NOT go to the dealer. I know a reputable mechanic in my area who will charge half of what a dealer wants for brakes.

http://img.gawkerassets.com/img/18pakg6q535z3jpg/original.jpg

http://img.gawkerassets.com/img/18pakg6q535z3jpg/original.jpg

Meh, I don't really find them that great. The older that I get the more I noticed how little a super nice car matters. If you're spending massive amounts of time driving per day, then it may be worth it. Otherwise, the maintenance and price isn't really worth it.

I own a 1996 Cadillac. The only problem I have with it is the lack of a heated steering wheel.

But hey, for ~3.6k you can't expect miracles. Plus plates/insurance/repairs are ultra cheap when you outright own a car. If I wreck it or it needs major repairs I'll just dump it and upgrade to a newer version. Or if I sell it, I'll still get most of my money back out of it since older cars tend not to depreciate unless you devastate it in some way.

the point of a car should be to get you from point A to point B -- not to show off

the point of your life should be to insure your genetic line continues -- not to have fun

Well, that's not good since I am childfree

It really depends what you're looking for. Luxury and Sport cars can have very different operating costs; a Lexus does not really have comparable maintenance requirements to a BMW/Porsche/Mercedes. Personally, if you're looking for a sports car, I'd recommend the first two (vs Mercedes). I daily drive a 911TT & Boxster and the running costs are fairly reasonable. The two things I'd call out here are that tires are much more expensive (and require more frequent replacement), and that regular maintenance tends to be on shorter mileage intervals. In general, expect all consumables -- I mentioned tires above, but things like oil are also worth calling out here -- to be at a premium. In terms of ballpark costs, a service where not much happens (e.g. filters, oil, etc) will probably cost you a few hundred -- and a more expensive service (e.g. cv joints, brakes, etc), a few thousand.

The biggest question you should be asking yourself is whether or not you can afford it, maintenance and all.

If money is not an issue then by all means, take one for a test drive to see if you like it. An expensive car is very much a status symbol as it can be a pleasure to drive. The term luxury car is too broad however, to try to justify "is it worth it". Purchasers of an E-class vs purchasers of a 911 are very different people.

i like my 97 lincoln mark viii, not exactly a "super luxury car" but you can pick one up inexpensive and they're pretty quick, comfy, and enjoyable

Just make sure your bed is of equal quality for the pussy you need to handle when you get that Porsche. That's all that matters yo.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wXw6znXPfy4

Audi TT here costs almost the same price of an Audi r8 in america. Heh

both these points are correct though

Just try to avoid luxury sports cars older than 5 years old, people will always tend to abuse these cars far more than often. And even though its designed to handle that kind of stress, the chances of some part breaking is still pretty high.

If anything vhalin probably has some good experience when it comes to this topic because he recently switched from a EVO to Audi S5 or RS5

lexus/acura/cadillac or youre gonna spend more than the value of the car in maintaining it

also holy shit audis suck ass dont buy them

Luxury cars are great to have especially for those extra things that come with it and you will always know that you are getting the most recent and best technology. Some things to know though: make sure you can respect the car and can afford it. Making sure you are able to afford it isn't just looking at the price tag but looking into the future. Insurance on luxury cars are more expensive then on other cars; also repairing the car and getting parts will be more expensive. As a BMW or Audi "owner" you have to think that each year you will put in at least $2000-$3000 on the car for it stay well maintained (that is without the weekly fill up of your choice of gas (preferably premium)). You can change the oil on any car if wanted and on a luxury car you can buy some ramps and change it yourself. If you can trust yourself enough to do the oil changes than you should be fine. Now if looking to buy a car I would choose either (from the brands that you listed) Audi and BMW. They are both expensive to maintain but if you can maintain the car very well and can afford it then it could run you for at least 200,000 miles.

Make sure you know what you want before buying a luxury car (or any car). BMWs have their series EX. 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7 and then crossovers which is the X series. 3s are the most common on the road because they are less expensive. They only make sedan 3s now but you can find coupes and verts for an earlier year. I would go for a 3 if looking for a BMW at a younger age if you don't have children and, if you do then get the sedan for much more room. Audi have there cars too but they are quite more complex to understand. I have heard that the A4s and A6s are nice vehicles.

Look for low mileage. The reason for stressing on mileage is because with these types of cars you will and should get Premium grade gas. Premium gas has higher octane and other necessary stuff in it allowing the engine to stay younger for a longer time.

I hope this helps! If you have any other questions you can add me on steam.

Here are some forums:
BMW: E46 are 3 series from 1999 to 2005 and E90 are 3 series from 2006-2011 the Es are chassis numbers
http://www.e90post.com/forums/
http://forum.e46fanatics.com/
AUDI: First forum is A4 and S4 and the second is A6 and S6
http://www.audizine.com/forum/forumdisplay.php/97-B8-A4
http://forums.audiworld.com/forumdisplay.php?f=58

I had a BMW X3 and it was awful. The only good thing was it was still under warranty, though service on a BMW still sucks ass. If you're out of warranty you better be loaded or willing to drive it off a cliff. If something goes wrong with the computer say goodbye to your wallet...even with the warranty, labor costs on a BMW will rape you. There was nothing at all impressive about it...in fact it drove worse than my old ass Saturn VUE i used to own 10 years ago.

I have a Lexus IS250 now and love it. I test drove a ton of cars in the same class (both luxury and standard), and the only car that i feel was as good was a higher end Subaru impreza. Oddly enough, the impreza cost more than the used fully loaded AWD 2011 IS250 i bought...even after i extended the warranty. To me this purchase was justified since i actually did my research, and it met everything i was looking for. It wasn't just to have a luxury car.

Honestly if my Saturn VUE had literally not been falling apart i would still be driving that. Best advice is test drive and find what fits your needs. While luxury cars are nice on the eyes, don't buy something just for show or because you think it's cool. I could kick my own ass for buying that X3 because i bought it for all the wrong reasons, and it ended up backfiring horribly.

Acura, Lexus, and maybe Infiniti to a certain extent has the best reliability rating for luxury cars. But certain models, especially the basic ones uses engines from their mainstream companies. For example, the engine from an Acura TL is the exact same one from a Honda Accord. So in a sense all you're really doing is paying a huge premium for a better looking Honda and a nicer interior

source:
http://www.autoblog.com/2013/10/28/consumer-reports-auto-reliability-japan/

I used to be working for BMW and they ahve shit reliability, audi is not as bad but its pretty bad.
Lexus doesnt cost too much to repair plus it rarelly break
Infinity has one of the best price/performance/look for the money (In my opinion) good reliability
Mercedes has bad reliability
Porche isn't too bad

Honestly no reason to buy a "luxury" car anyway unless you get hard when people look at your car,
Id rather have full loaded honda or or toyota. Or an old rare japanese car.

Another thing to stress here is that a sports/luxury car should be just that; a luxury.

Cars, generally, are a rapidly depreciating asset -- particularly expensive ones. To that end, you shouldn't be spending money you don't yet have on them, i.e. financing. Wait until you have enough money to straight up buy it, or don't. It's not worth losing out to depreciation AND interest charges.

The only real exception to this is:
(a) You already have the equivalent capital, in hand, invested.
(b) You can borrow its equivalent at a particularly low interest rate (e.g. 2%).
This depends on (a) sustaining a higher rate of return than (b).

I own a Cadillac and before that, I owned an Acura. To me, driving something like a Honda Civic feels like I'm more in a toy than a vehicle. The ride quality is a lot better in luxury cars and the engines actually have adequate power to them. It's all just preference, honestly, so I'd say drive em for yourself and make a decision. Just go to a used car dealership and ask to drive all the cars you're interested in. They won't say no.