Buying a car can be a thrilling experience. You get to play around with a new vehicle and if it’s new, you drive home with the satisfaction that the driver seat is free from anyone’s farts but your own. It’s often reported that the average price of a new car in America is expensive and is getting only more pricey. That gets me thinking, what’s the most expensive car you’ve ever purchased?
Admittedly, my fleet has grown to such a size that I keep a note on my phone about my vehicles and their current status. Many people wonder how on Earth I’ve achieved keeping so many vehicles running and driving. A part of my secret is the fact that I live in one of the cheapest apartments in my area. I also share expenses with my wife, freeing up money for vehicular shenanigans.
The other part of it is the fact that I almost always buy a vehicle at the bottom of its depreciation curve. I don’t shop on Bring a Trailer, Cars & Bids, or any of the specialty online car markets. No, I search the bottom of the barrel on Facebook and buy cars with tons of miles, rust, or a mechanical issue here or there. It’s telling that the nicest car I’ve purchased used was the Bishop’s 178,000-mile 2007 BMW 530xi wagon.
New cars are a different story. I’ve been lucky enough to purchase four vehicles in my life thus far. The two motorcycles were a 2023 Royal Enfield Classic 350 purchased for $5,850 and a 2024 CFMoto Papio SS for $4,500. The two cars were a 2012 Smart Fortwo Passion Coupe and a 2016 Smart Fortwo Edition #1. The 2012 Smart stickered for $16,200 new and after financing, I paid about $19,200 total for the car. The 2016 Smart was about $17,000 and change when it was new, and I got a stellar 0 percent financing deal on that one.
So, I’ve spent $36,000-ish on two Smart Fortwos, which basically means I got one real car out of the other end. I still have both of those cars today and I plan to take them to the grave with me, so I think it’s money well spent.
Here’s where I turn things to you. Are you one of the Americans to have spent over $48,000 on a new car? Have you gone all of your life never spending more than $10,000 on a ride?
2022 Model Y at $53k ($60k after taxes). Paid cash, as I have all my cars. Only buy a new car once every 10+ years.
Most expensive I’ve ever bought is a new 2008 Mazdaspeed 3, it was about $25,000. It was in the showroom and had to talk the dealership into taking it out to let me test drive it. I really enjoyed it, drove it to 10 years/150,000 miles and traded it in on a 2013 Focus ST.
This is kinda cheating, but I’ll go with my 2024 Jeep 4xe. Sticker price was $59,120.
It’s a bit of a sneaky though, as I leased it. With the rebates and incentives, I ended up effectively at 47,079 Out the door, with 0 down and 549 a month. So definitely the highest sticker price, even if I didn’t exactly pay that amount.
As far as the most expensive I’ve BOUGHT, that would be somewhere around $27K for a used 2 year old Pacifica.
How’d you go about converting the lease into a loan? Any early termination penalties? I’ve looked at that hypothetical with the Ioniq 5, since it still qualifies for the $7,500 federal tax credit through the lease loophole.
I havent done that and likely wont, I’m leasing it.
I can buy it out any time, but Stellantis is a bit more forgiving and streamlined than most if you want to buy it out or sell/trade it before lease end.
Basically, at this point, if I wanted to buy it out, I would have to get a loan for 47,079 plus sales tax and a 395 dispo fee.
So basically I call my credit union, get a loan for 50Kish (whatever that math works out at) and mail Stellantis Financial the check.
If I do that at the end of the lease, my residual is 35400. I’m really not interested in that, because if I’m right, I should be able to order the next-gen J70 Wrangler right about the time my lease is up.
Funny you should mention $10k, that was the sweet spot for me, you could find nice older cars with lower miles for this money. The most expensive car I have ever bought was my 1999 Maxima SE with 5 speed, it was 3-4 years old and 39,000 miles at the time, and gave me no trouble for about ten more years.
My IS300 was $10k even, a steal with only 60,000 miles at the time. A Porsche 924S for 10.5K, that is it for me expensive cars. I couldn’t imagine spending the national average on a new car, though maybe would on a classic car.
I would be hard pressed to find a car as nice as my IS still is these days.
Edit: I would be hard pressed to find a car as nice as the IS for $10,000 or anywhere near that
My ex-wife insisted we buy a new BMW X5 a year or two after they first came out. I don’t remember what it cost but it was at least 48k with options and such added on. She kept it in the divorce and I kept my base model Wrangler that was my daily driver at the time. Every car purchased since then has been considerably cheaper both to purchase and maintain.
Most expensive in absolute dollars is my current Sierra 1500, even with the great price via GM’s preferred pricing plan in Canada.
The least expensive new car was also the most expensive to my finances was a 95 Cavalier.
It was the bare bones version, but the young and dumb me wasn’t good at budgeting
being freshly on my own and put me in a really tight spot for the 3 year lease.
well my current daily is a Lexus GS300 that someone in 1998 handed over 98+K AUD for,
fopr comparision the last house I rented sold at the same time for 94K
fast forward 24 years and I got the car for 7K and the house sold for 800K
decent bargin I think.
2004 Mustang Mach 1 – $5000. If we are being a bit a bit looser with the definition it would be the 2004 V6 Mustang for $6500 my parents bought me in high school in 2011.
This is purely the initial purchase price, and does not include the plethora of optional or not things done following the purchase. I have owned I believe 11 cars in total.
$7500. And that was for my wife’s truck. The most I have spent on a car for me is about $3500. I hate pointless debt, and I consider a nice vehicle to be pointless debt. Always paid cash for vehicles. Usually got a killer deal because I bought busted garbage, then fixed it with junkyard parts. Or, like my 240sx, I just bought it before they actually became cool. I bought that thing many years ago (16?), running and driving AND including all the parts for a manual trans swap, for $1000.
I typically also find the cheapest car in acceptable condition to my liking, but back in college I bought a used G8 GXP with 22k miles on it, paid $32k. The next highest price I paid for any car was an 02 WS6 T/A, which I paid $8800 for with 98k on it. Past those two literally everything else I’ve had has been acquired for less than $4k. I love buying cars that need my help, and by the time I’m done working on them they end up being way nicer than what I paid for.
That was a good price on the WS6
Yeah, it really was. It was a mint AZ car with T tops and a T56. I made a bit when I sold it, but I very much wish I still had that one.
Most expensive car I’ve ever purchased is our current 2018 Ford Expedition bought used in 2021 for $44k including bumper to bumper warranty from Ford up to 140k miles that has very easily more than paid for itself. $40k is still my budget barrier for when we move on despite making a lot more money than I did in 2021. Probably because food is now twice the price.
Current car was about $10K and has been paid off for a couple years…before that out of all the shitboxes I’ve had the highest was $1200 or under…years and years ago I bought a 70’s Audi wagon for $100 total and after 6 months the junkyard gave me $25
Personally, my 2020 Voyager, purchased last March for 21k with 58k miles on it.
As a family, my wife’s 2018 Forester, purchased new for 24k.
25k is definitely a barrier for us mentally, regardless of inflating car prices.
$25 is my limit now too.
I like to be able to eat now and then.
2022 RAM 1500 Laramie bought new – $60k. Just drove it to Florida and back, very comfy and decent MPG for what it is.
My dad’s a fisherman and he’s always described his affliction for new boats as “two-foot-itis,” meaning whatever boat he currently owns he’s always ogling boats that are just a little bigger.
For a similar reason (not to mention inflation) I’m sure the most common answer to “what’s the most expensive car you’ve ever purchased” is “the car I’m driving right now.”
The most interesting car and life stories are prolly the ones where people counterintuitively traded out of expensive cars into cheap ones.
Cheaper than any new car I’d buy, a lot cheaper than the unit cost to make a new version of said used cars.
2011 Mustang GT – $38,000 out the door Canadian. Includes trade in, taxes etc.
Next would be my old 2002 Protege 5 in 2006, it was ~$13,000.
I bought a 2015 Mazda 6 brand new. I paid $23,950, so it easily beats any other vehicle I have purchased.
In the early 90’s, my father was all hyped that he splurged and dropped $30,000 on a BMW. I know that was 30 years ago, but my mind just cannot accept that $30,000 isn’t expensive for a car. So I’ve never been one to accept ridiculous car payments. I’ve almost always paid cash for my own car and taken on a payment for my wife’s car. With that in mind, my top three go something like this:
Bought a Ferrari 308 in great shape for 20K from a good friend. Around 2010.
Then the boss said, “you can keep it, but you will have to live in the garage.”
The next day I found a big ass rattle snake hiding in the garage. But she denied putting it there.
Took the 308 back. Crap.
Current DD is the most expensive. 2018 Kia Sorento SX AWD. Loaded except for heated rear seats, wood steering wheel (why????), and 360 degree parking camera, which I might have liked. But it was used, had 10,000 miles on it, was a repo and lease vehicle. Flogged the warranty for all it was worth and got everything fixed that wasn’t right. Haven’t driven it much – about 10k a year or less.
Paid about $28,500 for it. Easily the most expensive car I’ve ever bought, but also one of the nicest I’ve owned too, and CarMax offered 21k for it last week.
Fun fact – it has independent 3rd row AC.
My dad had the same year, model, and (I think) trim level. Thank goodness for that Kia warranty because the thing spent almost half its life in the shop with one fault or another. The latest issue was the adaptive headlights that refused to calibrate and end up looking like a lazy eye.
wood wheel on a sorento! crazy
I’m guessing the take rate on that was really low. SXL models had it as standard, but I have seen very few of that trim level.
My 2018 Camaro was CPO in 2019 with 10,000 miles on it and I paid $33k for it. It was still a good deal, but it was expensive, for me at least.
I spent $50k on a used Raptor. Paid cash though and will drive it to 200k miles easy. It was 2 years old and had 23k miles on it. Next most expensive was my wife’s used MDX that I paid half that for.
My newest and most expensive car was a 2016 Mazda CX-5 that was around $26,000 new. Surprisingly our 1993 Ford Ranger’s selling price is $27,000 in 2024 dollars. As the only two new vehicles we’ve ever bought those were the most expensive. OTOH our 97 Saturn SL2 was free after grandma quit driving and shipped it to us.
Our son’s cost champ is a bit more interesting, he spent around $5,000 on a 99 Toyota HiAce which is currently parked in Yokohama running out thex25 year clock
A brand new 2013 Acura TSX sedan. ALMOST got the wagon, but I was tapped out at ~$29.5K. Sadly it had bad leather that wore terribly and I only kept it for a year or two.