[deemo319]

Originally Posted by Chalermchai Wongwaiwit

It’s true what you say that all my cars are alike. I just feel the two back seats are more practical whenever I need to take more passengers, even though I drive alone most of the time. All the cars are for my wife and me. Our only son is going to college at U of California.

The Audi A7 I keep parked at my vacation house in LA and used only every 3-4 months when we visit. (I went to school in the US when I was young and still feel the attachment).

The BMW 740i is 6 years old and I am waiting to trade it in for the new 7.

The Mercedes S class is for my wife. Sometimes she is chauffer driven. (It is normal in Thailand for people to have chauffer). I hate this car. It’s like driving a boat.

Primarily I switch between the Porsche Panamera Turbo and the i8. But now my i8 is still in the garage.

I prefer the i8 because Bangkok traffic is probably the worst in the world, and the i8 is more civilized. When I get stuck in traffic, I just go into eMode and feel “green” for not adding to the already bad air pollution. The Panamera is used when I know I will travel more on the highways. The Panamera is actually hard to drive in slower traffic. The i8 is like driving a golf cart in the slow traffic.

You asked why I don’t go for other exotic cars?

In Thailand, import tax for cars is almost 300% !!!. The Panamera was US$ 550,000. The BMW 7 was locally assembled and cost US$230,000. The S class was locally assembled with small diesel hybrid engine and cost US$ 250,000. The i8 got away with less than 100% for being hybrid and small 1,500 cc engine and costs a relatively cheap $300,000 from unauthorized dealership. (US$ 380,000 from authorized BMW dealership).

Other exotic cars such as the Mclaren, Ferrari or Aston Martin have to pay regular import tax and go for above US$ 600,000!!!! That’s why I chose the i8. At $300,000 it is considered a bargain.

You’d think the car prices I mentioned are unrealistic because you’d think Thailand is still a relatively poor country. However we Thais are used to the car prices. And here you either have the money or you don’t.

Crazy isn’t it?

Pretty much.

[shivaswrath]

My dealer has discounted a 2015 i8 in white to $132xxx without negotiations...amazing to see what the price will be in March. They have 4 2015 i8s!

[Hitz101]

Originally Posted by shivaswrath

My dealer has discounted a 2015 i8 in white to $132xxx without negotiations...amazing to see what the price will be in March. They have 4 2015 i8s!

Damn...I just paid 132 + 9k for taxes for my 2014 in white with 900 miles on it. Maybe I should have just got a new 2015. Oh well.

[ian_i3S_iX]

Originally Posted by Hitz101

Damn...I just paid 132 + 9k for taxes for my 2014 in white with 900 miles on it. Maybe I should have just got a new 2015. Oh well.

Best advice you've bought the car just cancel those Autotrader searches with reminders of what you could have paid and sleep at night.

I could have bought a 400 mile 2015 i8 for $30000 (£20k) less than what I've ordered - but took the advise of another owner who is on his second i8 get exactly what you want you'll only regret it if you don't.

[shivaswrath]

Originally Posted by Hitz101

Damn...I just paid 132 + 9k for taxes for my 2014 in white with 900 miles on it. Maybe I should have just got a new 2015. Oh well.

Yeah I wasn't posting to make others regret, just stating that at Flemington BMW there are 4 i8s from 2015 that they are clearly eager to get off the lots. I don't even know how that works when you have to offload an exotic car from a previous year!

The fact that 2016s have laser headlights and other "enhancements" to me means hat the potential buyer for this league of a car would skip the 2015 for the 2016.

[Aye-eight]

Originally Posted by ian_i3_rex

Best advice you've bought the car just cancel those Autotrader searches with reminders of what you could have paid and sleep at night.

I could have bought a 400 mile 2015 i8 for $30000 (£20k) less than what I've ordered - but took the advise of another owner who is on his second i8 get exactly what you want you'll only regret it if you don't.

Right on. Perfect timing only exists in hindsight.

I could have picked up a '56 300 SL Gullwing for next to nothing in the early 70s. Now they're worth around a million. Coulda shoulda woulda.

Learn to live with the choices you make and enjoy them. And don't let others give you a million reasons why they could have been better.

My view, anyway.

[YWGT3]

Originally Posted by Aye-eight

Right on. Perfect timing only exists in hindsight.

I could have picked up a '56 300 SL Gullwing for next to nothing in the early 70s. Now they're worth around a million. Coulda shoulda woulda.

Learn to live with the choices you make and enjoy them. And don't let others give you a million reasons why they could have been better.

My view, anyway.

Couldn't agree with you more. Hard to trade the amount of pleasure driving my cars, especially the i8, in favor of worrying about the perfect timing of a purchase or the amount of depreciation sustained. Learned that owning an F car. Looking back, I spent too much unnecessary time fretting about maintaining low miles and preserving its pristine condition, for the sake of its trade in value. This attitude basically robbed me of all the enjoyment of car ownership. For me, other than for classic car investment, car ownership is for: utilitarian needs, sheer driving pleasure or a combination thereof. In retrospect, I've been fortunate enough to have spent the last 9 months experiencing the sheer driving enjoyment of an i8, BMW's revolutionary concept sports car that's been brought into production.

[Carac]

Just going to point out that getting a good deal and enjoying a purchase aren't mutually exclusive.

Given the option, which would most choose?

A)Paying MSRP or to $10k-50k over sticker, enjoying the car, losing WAAAAAAY more than you expected when you decide to trade/sell thanks to the market

B)Paying $10k-15k off sticker, enjoying the car now, not losing any more than a normal BMW when you go to sell it

[Louv]

Color me shocked.
BMW NA has reported that over 600 i8s were sold in December! That's 3 times a "normal" month.

[MalibuBimmer]

There must have been lots of great deals in December.

[Carac]

Originally Posted by MalibuBimmer

There must have been lots of great deals in December.

Something's going on because the number of cars listed for sale didn't move.

[jhbi8]

It's not the stock market. Get 5 or 6 cars so you can stop worrying about this stuff.

[jcpca356]

Having been around cars for 30+ years, I see there are no shortage of people that are always concerned about how much money other people lose on cars and worry about depreciation so much that it's the most important thing on their minds. I do think about depreciation but don't let it drive me. Cars I've owned (53 to be exact) have almost all invariably depreciated, some more than others.....and I made money on some (like a 356 speedster, 997.1 GT3, heck, even a Gallardo......but I've never let depreciation take over my emotion about cars. If you're worried about it, you should take up another hobby.

These people that obsess over depreciation have a common trait........they try very hard to convince others that they're right. In the meantime, they lose precious time to enjoy cars that they really want. Typically, they wait a few years and by the time they can buy it, something more desirable comes along and they're then worried about depreciation of that car. It's a vicious circle and in the end, they're miserable and are always having to feel like they have to justify their current ownership to the rest of world.

Meanwhile, the rest of us drive what we want and enjoy the hell out of it.

[MKSixer]

Originally Posted by jcpca356

Having been around cars for 30+ years, I see there are no shortage of people that are always concerned about how much money other people lose on cars and worry about depreciation so much that it's the most important thing on their minds. I do think about depreciation but don't let it drive me. Cars I've owned (53 to be exact) have almost all invariably depreciated, some more than others.....and I made money on some (like a 356 speedster, 997.1 GT3, heck, even a Gallardo......but I've never let depreciation take over my emotion about cars. If you're worried about it, you should take up another hobby.

These people that obsess over depreciation have a common trait........they try very hard to convince others that they're right. In the meantime, they lose precious time to enjoy cars that they really want. Typically, they wait a few years and by the time they can buy it, something more desirable comes along and they're then worried about depreciation of that car. It's a vicious circle and in the end, they're miserable and are always having to feel like they have to justify their current ownership to the rest of world.

Meanwhile, the rest of drive what we want and enjoy the hell out of it.

This.

[YWGT3]

Originally Posted by jcpca356

Having been around cars for 30+ years, I see there are no shortage of people that are always concerned about how much money other people lose on cars and worry about depreciation so much that it's the most important thing on their minds. I do think about depreciation but don't let it drive me. Cars I've owned (53 to be exact) have almost all invariably depreciated, some more than others.....and I made money on some (like a 356 speedster, 997.1 GT3, heck, even a Gallardo......but I've never let depreciation take over my emotion about cars. If you're worried about it, you should take up another hobby.

These people that obsess over depreciation have a common trait........they try very hard to convince others that they're right. In the meantime, they lose precious time to enjoy cars that they really want. Typically, they wait a few years and by the time they can buy it, something more desirable comes along and they're then worried about depreciation of that car. It's a vicious circle and in the end, they're miserable and are always having to feel like they have to justify their current ownership to the rest of world.

Meanwhile, the rest of us drive what we want and enjoy the hell out of it.

Agreed. It's unnecessary for the need to be right nor is it necessary to seek validation from others. Keep on enjoying the hell out of your i8 jcpca356! I know I am.

[Carac]

Back to why there was a spike in December. The reported sales were more than all of the new i8s listed for sale on the Internet (which is only a fraction of the cars actually up for sale). The only thing I can think of is that they just pulled the "in-service" trigger on most of the 2014 and 2015 models that have been sitting on lots for the better part of a year and counted them as "sales" to cook the year-end numbers. I would bet that the warranty on any unsold 2014s just started, regardless of sales status.

[ucla95]

Originally Posted by Carac

I would bet that the warranty on any unsold 2014s just started, regardless of sales status.

+1

[Carac]

There are now more than 800 listed on Cars.com, 100 more than last month...even after "selling" 656 in December, which as previously is only 3 short of August, September, October, November sales combined.

I'm still wondering where all those cars came from, considering selling that many would mean BMW sold almost every unsold new i8 in US dealer inventory in the month of December and managed to replace them with an even higher number of cars by January...

Curiosity piqued.

[jhbi8]

Originally Posted by Carac

There are now more than 800 listed on Cars.com, 100 more than last month...even after "selling" 656 in December, which as previously is only 3 short of August, September, October, November sales combined.

I'm still wondering where all those cars came from, considering selling that many would mean BMW sold almost every unsold new i8 in US dealer inventory in the month of December and managed to replace them with an even higher number of cars by January...

Curiosity piqued.

It makes me wonder if those are really 800 unique VINs listed for sale. Could be some number of those listings are generic/placeholder listings for a color combo.

[Mr.SugarSkulls]

And even then, some dealerships *ahemencinitasahem* are STILL marking them up.

I laughed and walked away.

[MKSixer]

Originally Posted by Mr.SugarSkulls

And even then, some dealerships *ahemencinitasahem* are STILL marking them up.

I laughed and walked away.

Nicely played, sir.
Sometimes you wonder if they understand market forces.

[Mr.SugarSkulls]

Originally Posted by MKSixer

Nicely played, sir.
Sometimes you wonder if they understand market forces.

That or they're willfully ignorant.

Ie- I mentioned knowing the 2016s were already out, WITH laser lights so I could start a "low point" as far as trying to get a specific i8 (2015 model) down in the 120k range- and the sales rep scoffed at me and said he's never heard of such a thing.

Ay yi yi.