I suppose most of them are company cars, which translates as perk of the job, probably most are now leased.

There's lots of money about, people can seemingly afford to lose £10k+ a year in depreciation alone, so if its a not a worry to them why not.

If someone has a passion for something they enthuse about, thats possibly a different thing, like the Porsche you mention, cars that are different and on their own i can understand pushing the boat out for, its their thing and probably no more expensive than any other hobby/pashion over time.

I'd love a Bentley Arnage, but i wouldn't be seen dead in a premiership footballers Bentley., but each to their own.

This would be my chariot if i wanted to spend £22k out, haven't seen another 4.2 engined 70 series in the UK though no doubt someone has one.

www.tradecarview.com/used_car/japan%20car/toyota/l.../

Still got a painted dash, still the same simple wiring and switchgear, still on rear leaf springs and virtually unbreakable, hazard a guess the pump is still mechanical too...DPF whats that.

Still made in troop carrier form.

I guess it's just a question of priorities. I'm sure quite a few people hanker from an early age after a poser's car, and may well choose to put their money there instead of in a mortgage. And having got one, they often change it for another every 2 or 3 years. It's all about appearances.

No accounting for taste ....

I see a number of 'expensive' cars on the roads and wonder who these people are, and how much they must earn. I'm not talking about £10,000-£20000 cars (which I can understand). I thinking of something like £30,000-£50,000.

£30 -50,000 is not 'expensive' these days for a new car driven by the prosperous middle classes. What really puzzles me though is why there are so many second hand low milage £50 - £150,000 cars for sale in the Sunday papers?

"What really puzzles me though is why there are so many second hand low milage £50 - £150,000 cars for sale in the Sunday papers?"

Some of them are people who have gone on the waiting list for a new car, bought it and can now make a profit selling it to someone else who doesn't want to wait.

Some of them are money launderers - make illegal money through fraud, drug dealing etc, use funds to buy a car, then sell it and get nice respectable money for it. One of the many ways of laundering money.

There are great numbers of people on big salaries able to afford very expensive cars. Some peolple inherit big money and can go out and buy almost any car they want.

The vast majority of these cars are on contract hire or lease deals where the punter is funding the depreciation of the car (and some) which then is auctioned off or sold on the forecort after a given period - most company cars are covered by this arrangement.

Many private cars are on some sort of hire purchase deal where the punters are drawn in by low monthly payments and then convince themselves they will save up for the £3-£10K final payment demanded after three years - but in reality hand the car back after funding the depreciation (plus profit) and just exchange it for another similar deal.

Very few people actually own premium cars and an increasing number of people never own their budget cars either.

Edited by SteveLee on 30/07/2014 at 23:19