Back when I was in college I made foolish decisions (I'm sure I wasn't alone), ended up buying an Audi TT. I was barely able to afford it. My entire paycheck went into car payments, gas, and insurance. It was fun for a while, but then it got old pretty quickly. I wanted to just sell the car, but I knew I would still be making payments on it due to depreciation. Just my luck, I got t-boned and the car was totalled. I collected almost the full value of the car and paid off the finance company. Long story short, I told myself I would never ever put myself in that situation. It's not the best feeling.
At my previous job, there was a guy at a junior level position who came from Zimbabwe who was making less than $100k and was driving around in a decently optioned Audi A8L. Not sure what his financial situation was, but I can tell more than half of his paycheck was going towards car payments. Reminded me of my college days.
Luckily I'm doing well now and I have my priorities straight. M3 was approved by the wife too.
