Do a lot of middle class people drive luxury cars?

Question

Lexus, Mercedes-Benz, Acura, etc.

Answer 1

Job Lowe brings up a good point, even if it is mildly plagarized. We are (myself included) are defined by the things we own.

Nonetheless, being in the car business, you should balance between the car you want and the car you can afford to own. Keep in mind the cost of ownership (gas, insurance, maintenance) in addition to the cost of the vehicle. I see a lot of people who owe a lot more money on a car than the car is worth ("upside down").

Owning a vehicle has costs too, for example, a BMW will probably cost $40k after taxes, title, and license. But it costs $100 for an oil change (every 10,000 miles) and a set of brakes can run you $800. Compared to a regular sedan, an oil change will cost you $30 (every 5,000 miles) and a set of brakes will probably cost $300.

Answer 2

Smart middle class people drive luxury cars. The dummys buy brand new overpriced entry level cars. The key is buying used. You can either buy a brand new 2007 Honda Accord V6 (not really entry level though) for $27,000 or you can buy a used Certified 2001-2004 Lexus LS430 from the dealership for about the same price. Pricing will all depend on mileage, condition, etc.,but for the most part, these luxury cars are looked after very well by their first owners. If you are middle class and have the mentality that you have to have a brand new car, you will never get anywhere and your money won't go very far. Many luxury cars that cost a fortune when new depreciate big time in a couple of years. A prime expample is the 2003 Infinity Q45. This car retailed for around $55,000 and in a short 4 years goes for around $20,000. The same is the case with Acura, BMW, Lexus, Mercedes, and all other luxury brands.

Answer 3

Yes and there is a very interesting set of research behind why. In The Overspent American, Juliet B. Schor ties overspending in the middle class to a poorly defined reference set.

During the 50's, American expanded into the suburbs and people strived to keep up with the Joneses. It was a compeltely different world. People knew their neighbors well and had a pretty good feel for what they had in their home. If your neighbor got a color TV, you didn't want to be left behind. Today we don't know our neighbors. We have no idea what is in their homes. Our reference set has become tied to two primary categories (and both are typically above our income level).

Middle class people tend to orient toward those within their occupational world who are a tier higher in the corporate culture. They also orient toward people they see on TV (an entire subset of late Gen Xers grew up influenced by bad acting, writing and depcition of reality as a bunch of kids working in a coffee shop and other entry level jobs were able to afford a loft apartment in a major metropolitian market - Friends helped drive consumer debt in ways no one could have predicted or intended).

While the subject is actually a lot more facinating than I can cram into this response the answer is definatively, YES. Middle class people buy luxury liabilities (including cars) that they think are assets. They buy a little more than they can afford, they are paying mad interest to finance it and those who choose to invest (like me :-) ) reap the financial benefits.

Do yourself a favor. Read the book. It will change the way you look at everything, it may end up changing your life.

Answer 4

Define luxury. I drove a 1987 Plymouth Caravelle for a little over a year, and I thought that was pretty plush. And I drive have driven everything up to Dodge Vipers of cliants cars. What is you're classification of Luxury and middle class, and on average, yes. We do.

Answer 5

yea i gues they do, though less so in australia....her Beemers and merc's are MUCH more expensive...BMW 3-series start at AUD $51K, which is about U.S $40,250...so thats pretty big price hike for us, and those models are the low-powered, base under-equiped models. same with audi and MB, though lexus's are better equipped

i think far too many people drive cars they never need...its all about competition, buying new cars when they're 'old' ones are only 2-3 years old...people just pushing themselves further into the money trap.
australian's are more in favour of higher-specd Holdens (GM) Fords, honda's, mazda's & toyota's. and trust me, middle-class australians make up a very large percentage of the nation.

Answer 6

Yep...lots of middle class people drive Acuras, BMW's, Mercedes, etc. Though not probably anything above $45K.

Answer 7

Not really! Middle class people go for a price sorting and drive cars less expensive, but not too bad on the roads!

Answer 8

im definate middle class and both my parents drive BMW's. So to answer your question. I'd say that yes a lot of middl class people drive luxury cars

Answer 9

I'm middle class and my mom has a 2003 lincoln and my dad a 2005 jaguar. I have a stang . . . and trust me we r def middle class.