[ASAP]

Originally Posted by bri1042

This is a difficult question. There are way too many variables, starting with what a person thinks of when they hear "90k". Are they comparing it to what they paid for a car in 2014 (random year chosen as its long enough that inflation has a significant effect). I know a guy who has had a $30k max car cost rule for 25 years and he's constantly pissed off that had can't buy as much car for that as he could 25 years ago. Not, overall, a dumb guy but he comes off as a confused old man yelling at clouds (note, I'm no spring chicken...he's the same age as I am).

Linking that 90k to the 110k doesn't make sense to me. Even with inflation, 20k is a significant amount of money. "Why would anyone buy a 30k Kangaroo when a 50k Badger exists?". Same thing, though I don't really trust Badgers. But, for someone with more resources than I have, maybe that 20k is a lot less significant.

The overall comparison to the Kia you mentioned is, absolutely, the most important point and I don't think it can be dismissed. Value relative to similar objects, along with how willing people are to pay that amount covers a lot of the "basis of value" ground. Your house isn't worth the Z-Estimate on Zillow, it's worth what someone will pay for it compared to other houses that are on the market.

When you run inflation calculators, that 90k is in line with what M3s used to cost at insert-random-year. So it's as worth it was an E90 M3 was in 2009, and it's as stupid of a purchase as that E90 was, too. Until you get to the next item:

The problem isn't the cost based on inflation. It's stagnant wages. The problem might be more of an issue for a median household income buying that Kia than it is for folk who can legitimately afford an M3 (not talking about folk who end up not paying their credit card bills on time to afford their M3 lease).

Also, the Mustang/Corvette problem has to be answered. Performance numbers alone between the American cars and any generation of M3 have made the value of an M3 questionable until you add in the non-performance aspects of the cars, especially in the Fisher Price era of GM interiors. THAT question of value requires a person to actually list what they care about regarding their vehicle choice.

Based on raw inflation numbers, yep, it's probably worth it. Based on wages (again, not necessarily the wage of any particular person on THIS board), even the Kia certainly isn't worth the asking price.

Making it personal for me:

Was the $76k in March of 2021 dollars worth what I paid for my 6MT M3? Yes. It fit my requirements and I paid for it without financial hardship. Do I wish I had bought ANY of the other Manual Transmission new cars that I could have bought that day? Nope.

Long story short: Everyone needs to answer this one for themselves based on today's circumstances, not what they remember from 25 years ago. Don't buy it if it isn't worth it. That's the only power we have in this brand of economy.

The real problem with comparative standpoints is that it opens a very wide gamut of options... which is why I tried to refrain from that. Going back to my example... I saw a 2021 M5 with barely 22k miles the other day for 75K... to me personally, that seems like a no brainer vs a new m3. And that comes back to my point, at 90k, it opens you to a whole host of options NEW and USED... which is why I think the G80 will flood the market this year w lease returns and an upcoming LCI that will really affect pricing (both new and used) (discounts and just resale value).