ward,
I'm going to have to agree w/ you here. I'd much rather buy a nice house(appreciating asset) and pay for it w/ cash than to buy a nice car(depreciating asset) and be eating it financially trying to look GQ for the ladies. And if shiznit hits the fan at least you can sell your house for more than what you paid for it and have a lil more cash on the side to help you recover. There's always a solid second hand car market out there as well, though some can't cope w/ the thought it makes more financial sense than buying a new car(most, new BMW's costs almos tas much as second hand ones. Saying it the other way around would have been more appropriate, sorry.) Either way, weather it be a 1 series or a 3 series, new or second hand, I'll be looking forward to trading up to a BMW.
