This is something I need help with, the part of me that loves cars always fights w/ the part of me that loves money. I make about 100k a year, and live on about 20k a year (in LA which is no easy feat), I drive a boring sensible 2002 car that will probably go forever and is very cheap to own. I'm not married and have no kids, and I LOVE cars, I REALLY want to have one nice vehicle, newer cars aren't overly interesting, and within a few years the body styles change so drastically something new looks like it's 10 years old in a few years....I'd rather spend 20-30k on a nice classic that I can enjoy, but I always think about how much more it will cost in repairs, gas, etc. What do I do??
Despite the feel of the blog and much of the forum it's actually ok to spend money on things you enjoy. If MMM has convinced himself that the peak of human enjoyment is found while digging in the ground with a stick or winter walks that's fine but this world is full of more badass experiences than you can shake a stick at and I plan to try as many as I can. Go spend a bit of money on a car. Maybe keep both for a while and see if you enjoy wrenching. Overall it won't mean shit to your finances but could mean a great deal to you personally.
Thank you for making me laugh and realizing that it's okay. I'm trying to find the balance between having a comfortable retirement and not completely depriving myself of everything at age 33. I'm pretty good at being frugal without feeling and looking poor (unlike MMM I'm unmarried so I prefer not to look like I'm broke since I'm not going to just tell a random girl I'm seeing what my net worth is).
I just don't see a car as simple a ridiculous thing we should never use unless we have to, I really see beauty in them see it as a quantifiable example of my personality and how hard I work. Which is why I could never drive a Scion or Honda minivan.
When I was in high school I owned a 1972 Westfalia Campmobile and it was the best vehicle I've ever owned, I could actually work on it since it was so simple, it was unique, fun to drive, it had everything (including the kitchen sink) a 1700cc Porshe pancake w/ twin Weber carbs, I loved it, everyone loved it. Of course I wrecked it like a moron, but ever since then I've always bought reliable cheap used cars because it was just transportation and I felt like it was stupid to spend so much on a new car since they're all ugly and in three years everyone can tell it's "last years model".
Anyway thank you for the advice, now I just need my current car to have a catastrophic failure so I can justify getting rid of it since it will probably run forever otherwise!