You should definitely check out the Lexus Performance Driving School ( https://lexusperformancedrivingschool.com/ ), it’s about a grand for a full day of seat time. IS500 on the autocross track, RC-F on skidpad and LC500's on the main road course. This is my 3rd year going, been to COTA and Road Atlanta.

Here’s mine.  ‘24 ultrasonic blue bespoke.  These have maybe 3-4 years left since the interior redesign just happened.  Better hurry.

Came here to say this. With a third of her income spent on a car, her other likely large expense is housing. She’s living with her parents for free? Well that expense is gone. After housing and car payment everything else is minor, mostly discretionary and adjustable.  Delete Uber Eats and learn to cook.

I have a ‘22 Chevy Bolt and a ‘24 Lexus LC500 convertible. To say that they’re at opposite ends of the price / quality / technology scale would be an understatement.

I think Lexus reduced the ES hybrid gas tank size in either 2018 or 2019 from 17 gallons down to 12? I’ve also considered getting one of those (last year with the big tank) for the unreal highway range (like 700-800 miles on a tank) but I’m thinking the drivetrain power will be disappointing vs the V8 in the LS.

Hell yes this. I recently traded in a ‘21 LC500 in Nightfall Mica for a ‘24 LC500 in Ultrasonic Blue (new color for ‘24) mainly to improve the color of blue. The darker blue ‘21 looked amazing in perfect light and black most of the time. Yes, this cost me tens of thousands in depreciation.  But it’s worth it.

I often feel sorry for these guys because their livelihoods depend on having unreliable cars that make for great stories but horrible ownership experiences.

I went down the same path as you, but for me it was an ‘07 Lexus LS460 at age 35.

Also, investigators can tell whether or not he pulled the trigger.

I’ve owned 3 cars on this list: S2000, NSX and FJ Cruiser.

There’s a big difference between poor build quality and problems due to abuse and lack of maintenance over tens of thousands of miles

He’s just the most visible example. “Buy heavily depreciated former expensive luxury car then complain about what’s broken, spend two months fixing it myself just to break even” has launched a multitude of Youtube careers.

I don’t see where this article paints Tesla’s depreciation as an inherently bad thing

There are other luxury / exotic cars that don’t depreciate at the same rates, the question is how are the ones that depreciate rapidly different. Most often it’s a lack of reliability combined with expensive replacement parts.

According to this data, Tesla models lose value twice as fast as Alfa Romeo and three times as fast as Maserati. This massive depreciation drop is mostly tied to Elon’s decision to constantly cut prices on new models, forcing an ever-widening gap for pre-owned cars.

Paid $25K for my ‘22 Bolt EV with 8K miles. It costs 3 cents a mile to drive when I charge it at home. Over 200 miles of range, no range anxiety for city driving.

ID verification, they said. Ran it for both me and the wife, even though I was the only one paying them. Strangely, several of the forms said “credit application”.

I wouldn’t say that they’re lying about prices, MSRP is easy enough to find independently if the dealer won’t provide it.

Have we finally found something that Jalopnik hates more than Elon?  Lawyers?

I thought these smart financial types knew about how powerful leveraging debt is