<p>tetrishead: I concur.</p>
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Anything they make below $50,000 is something I'd be comfortable calling garbage, though.
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<p>Exactly.</p>
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Yes and no. The LS used to be a Camry ripoff. Today it's a Camry ripoff with some nice added features
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<p>I have never been a lexus fan. I would prefer Mercedes to Lexus any day, but BMW is my favorite of the three. The LS used to be a Campry ripoff even when camrys sucked. Todays toyotas are very nice (even the corolla, imagine that.) and I can't see paying the extra money for Lexus. I can park my own car.</p>
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Mercedes doesn't not make wonderful vehicles. They have mystique, but that's about it. Reliability is in the trash.
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I could not disagree more, and Mercedes is my least favorite of the four major Germans (Porsche, VW->Audi, BMW). Generally, yes, they are overrated. Audi is underrated, BMW and Porsche are about right (although I consider the only true Porsches to be the GT2, GT3 RS and Carrera GT). The S Class does what it does incredibly well, and AMG is amazing. They do what anyone car enthusiast would do if he had money and a Merc: take big cars that can't handle, make suspension adjustments, biturbo and retune engines so the thing practically has more torque than heavy trucks.</p>
<p>And, despite my love for the R8 and certain Aston Martin offerings, if I had a choice to only have one car for everything and price was not a concern I'd get a C65 AMG. If that car was a woman I'd marry it. And you're right about reliability, the last decade has been horrible for Mercedes. They're doing better with newer models, but as you would expect, the sub-50k area cars are still pieces of junk.
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I have never been a lexus fan. I would prefer Mercedes to Lexus any day, but BMW is my favorite of the three. The LS used to be a Campry ripoff even when camrys sucked. Todays toyotas are very nice (even the corolla, imagine that.) and I can't see paying the extra money for Lexus. I can park my own car.
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I've never been a Lexus fan because they are antithetical to everything I believe: stick is the only way to drive anything other than a minivan or truck, handling and weight matter, room for engine modifications matter, a strong aftermarket matters. Lexus cars are boring, completely pedestrian, and as a result of their suspension tuning they are completely devoid of any road feedback. But they've gotten very, very good at being boring and completely pedestrian, and the changes in ride between the LS and the Camry are significant--as are the differences in the interior.</p>
<p>The part that confused me is when you said " the work is interesting"
How so?o0</p>
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I was initially lured in by the mustang v6 premium conv. price tag of only 26K - you have admit that that's a fairly low price-tag for such a beast.
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<p>Is it? I don't know. I got mine below cost due to family connections, so you don't want to know how much I paid for it. Regardless though, I wouldn't call a v6 mustang a "beast."</p>
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If I'm going to own a car for at least 4-5 years, it seems silly to make anything less than a 33K investment but I may change my mind.
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<p>Really? I don't get this mindset at all. You just like throwing money down the tubes? Why not purchase a slightly used Mustang and save a lot of money? Just about everything would be identical including the body style and engine.</p>
<p>It seems that most of the reason to spend this money is for "prestige" but most people don't know the differences between various cars anyways. One of my buddies recently bought a used Lexus suv with low miles. It is very nice, and you can't even tell it is used. </p>
<p>BTW, you mentioned you will be making 75k..what part of the country will you be living in?</p>
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stick is the only way to drive anything other than a minivan or truck
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<p>Agreed. Thats why america sucks. Everyone drives automatics. Outside of the US everyone drives manuaos, even some countries use buses with manuals. What do you think about these quasi standard transmissions, switching from automatic to "manual", where the manual up one or down. They just don't do it for me. Even being a motorcycle person the shifting style is not appealing to me. I hate the lack of clutch.</p>
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If I'm going to own a car for at least 4-5 years, it seems silly to make anything less than a 33K investment but I may change my mind.
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<p>That doesn't make since to me. Its not much of an investment if the value is going to depreciate so much. Why not pick based on what you want, not this whole investment mindset. Your car should last you at least 4-5 years. Reliability is great these days. I drive a 1990 and it still runs great and it's more of a beast than any phony Pony. If you intend to only keep the car for 4-5 years then buying used probably would be your best bet.</p>
<p>don't make the same mistake I did when I was young. Buy a new car that has a bumper to bumper warranty. A used car without a bumper to bumper warranty is going to be extremely prone to mechanical and electrical trouble which costs a pretty penny regardless of what type of car it is. I say the smartest investment is in a brand new car, not a used car.</p>
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A used car without a bumper to bumper warranty is going to be extremely prone to mechanical and electrical trouble which costs a pretty penny regardless of what type of car it is.
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<p>First of all, many warranties are transferable. Also, dealerships often offer warranties and in many states there is an implied warranty anyways.</p>
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I say the smartest investment is in a brand new car, not a used car.
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<p>LMAO @ that. When you drive a car off the lot it's value drops by thousands of dollars, which alone will generally be greater than all of the maintenance you will ever need done to the car (within 3-5 yrs).</p>
<p>From what i hear, although actuaries make good money, their work is very boring and antisocial.</p>
<p>Often times, the highest paying jobs pay so well because not many people want to do them, rather than there being a low supply of quality talent that can perform the job well. However, I'm sure there are certain people that find being an actuary quite enjoyable and rewarding.</p>
<p>Still, I find the OP's stated starting salary to be a bit on the high side.</p>
<p><a href="http://actuarialgrads.com/UofIwhybecome.htm%5B/url%5D">http://actuarialgrads.com/UofIwhybecome.htm</a></p>
<p><a href="http://www.dwsimpson.com/salary.html%5B/url%5D">http://www.dwsimpson.com/salary.html</a></p>
<p>vectorwega - that's assuming the used car is purchased through a dealership with a warranty. a 2002 model BMW (shown earlier in the thread) is pushing 7 years old and will have absolutely no warranty, extremely high maintenance costs (minimized with purchasing a new car.)</p>
<p>I have gone both ways and found that new cars are the better way to go. Implied warranties only cover power train usually and expire in a very short period. A long term bumper to bumper warranty is necessary IMO to avoid unforeseen repairs which can easily be a staggering economic investment, especially on a sports car.</p>
<p>Instead of worrying about what car to buy, why dont you start planning how you will put that money away for your retirement.</p>
<p>There are many different actuarial areas. Property and casualty, health insurance, investment analysis, enterprise risk management, etc...</p>
<p>The latter two involve very sophisticated quantitative modeling. The company I'll be working for hired wall-street PHD physicists to help out the department. Lately however, they even hired a NASA rocket scientist to help with the statistical stochastic modeling techniques.</p>
<p>I will say that IMO health is sort of boring but it involves a lot of consulting oriented work so some people love it. Benefit consulting is dreadfully boring but I won't be in these areas. </p>
<p>The people who I met at my company make 1) damn good money 2) love their job and 3) drive really nice cars. The gal who took me out to a restaurant for a breakfast interview drove this Audi but she's ditching it for a Volkswagen Eos which costs almost 30 G. And get this - she's the same age as me and a relatively new hire. Haha.</p>
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a 2002 model BMW (shown earlier in the thread) is pushing 7 years old and will have absolutely no warranty, extremely high maintenance costs (minimized with purchasing a new car.)
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<p>I advised the thread starter to purchase a low mileage used car..i meant one that is around a year old...not a 2002 model (which in the case of the Mustang would have a much different body style than the current model he is interested in).</p>
<p>In reality, the best financial decision would be to buy a complete beater...ie sub $1,000 car. However, I didn't advise that because I'm assuming based on the threadstarter's comments and his salary that he is interested in something "nicer". I know people with six figure incomes that have purchased used cars for under $10,000 and have no major issues with them (and certainly, nothing from a #s standpoint that would justify paying an additional $16k for a car).</p>
<p>However, to assert that purchasing a new car is a better investment is absurd, and is only the case in very unlikely scenarios. I'm sure you're the type of person that buys gap insurance from the dealer too right? Car dealers must love you.</p>
<p>NOTE: DO not comment if you're not a working individual/college senior with regard to this post. </p>
<p>Uri and Calcruzer,</p>
<p>I'm interested in what areas you are working in. I think I read somewhere that Calcruzer was a banker but I'm not sure. Let me know when you get a chance a little bit about your background. What do you think are the advantages of a possibly part time MBA in the future from Yale (since I live fairly close by).</p>
<p>Also is anyone really psst. off that UConn lost in the tournament lately or is it just me here.</p>
<p>Not a big conn fan here. But I am really happy that Davidson and Kansas St. both won. Happy that Duke lost. My bracket is looking pretty good.</p>
<p>I had UCONN losing to Western Kentucky in round 2, so I'm quite happy to see them out already.</p>
<p>Lexus makes the worst cars ever. They put you to sleep. When I ride in my mom's ES, I feel like I'm going to throw up. Toyota just makes really quite cars that make you feel so detached from the driving experience. </p>
<p>Mercedes has gone down in quality, but their design has really picked up in the last few years. </p>
<p>I'd keep looking if you don't like/are unsure of that car.</p>