Let’s be honest, anyone enjoying the (perceived) freedom and higher income that come with the first job out of college may be tempted to buy a spritzy new car. Young military officers seem particularly vulnerable to this. For a mechanical engineer like me, the temptation may be trebled, as by nature we like engines and acceleration, and perhaps what we lack in sartorial style we think we can make up for with steel.
However, in this post we’ll cover five considerations about what type of car to get in the early stages of your career.
Appealing right? Just. Back. Away
Reason 1: You have better things to do with money than try to impress people that don’t care
Let’s get the economics of buying new cars versus used out of the way at the outset. First off, someone has to buy new cars, if we expect them to keep being manufactured. However, this person can be someone other than yourself, at least when you are young and trying to get out of debt, start a family, buy a house, start a company, build wealth, or whatever other initial objectives you have set. Others would do a better job than I of stating the metrics, and I want to trip past these to the other reasons specific to engineers, so here are some referenced observations:
Financial Samurai would say to spend no more than 1/10 of your annual gross income on a car. A nifty table of “recommended cars by income”.
Dave Ramsey recommends that the sum of all your equipment with motors should be less than half of your annual income. Hard to get ahead if you are just throwing money at depreciation.
Can buying new cars cost you millions? Run the numbers for yourself.
Reason 2: So you like cars? Why not own more of them?
Appreciation for driving, working on, and owning vehicles, especially classics, is a common appeal for many engineers. Infernal combustion equipment of whatever types (automobiles, motorcycles, snowmobiles, jetboats, airplanes, chainsaws, etc.) seems to trigger some latent desire to understand and harness that power, especially the noisy types. 70% of conversations between engineers in public spaces such as parking lots goes like this:
Engineer #1: Hey, that’s a nice [Nova/Hudson/Challenger/Cobra/Jeepster Commando]
Engineer #2: Oh yes, it’s fun.
Engineer #1: My dad and I had an old [1960s][1970s][1980s][X] we were always working on that this reminds me of, good times. Is that a [number of cylinders]?
[Engaging conversation between strangers ensues]
You are more likely to be able to cycle through ownership of a number of vehicles if you allow yourself to buy used, even a bit on the decrepit side perhaps. There’s plenty of time to be concerned about appearances when you are older and wealthier – give yourself a chance when you are young to own a few vehicles that are “interesting” – they’ll offer you a better memory stockpile.
Reason 3: Collision-related peace of mind
Some years ago I was driving my old pickup truck in Minneapolis along a scenic riverfront jogging path. As I pulled up at a stop sign with a car in front, I noted a similarly scenic jogger running to the right, and glanced in my rear view mirror. The person behind me was intently focused on the path; I might have suggested the brake pedal. I braced myself a bit, and absorbed the hit with a shrug. We both pull over, my truck has some minor gash in the bumper, he has some mess to his front end that I don’t have to deal with. That’s happened to me several times over the years, and I’ve never really had to care all that much about the damage, since to my older rugged cars, it hasn’t done much more than scar them, and what’s one more.
These days with cell phones, texting, and the latest incarnation of Kandy Krush or Pokémon Go, it seems even more common that the standard sequence is ‘approach stop sign – stop – check rearview mirror – brace for impact’. It’s great having a vehicle you don’t have to worry about. Tree falls on it? Break a window because you lost your keys? Dog barfs in it? Much less to be concerned about when the damage isn’t to the 2016 Audi R8. This peace of mind isn’t a tangible entry in a spreadsheet, but valuable nonetheless, when you have other aspects of your career that deserve focus.
2017 update: my twenty year old Honda CRV got rear ended on the interstate by some guy who decided to fall asleep and decided to ram me from behind doing 90+ mph. My old car: technically totaled, but took the insurance check and bought it back for $500, still runs fine. His poor Mustang was totaled sadly, don’t see that getting repaired. Felt bad for the guy but hey, if you get sleepy, pull over and take a nap. He could have easily been killed.
Reason 4: How you relate to cars affects how you relate to people in the industry
Engineers live in a certain world populated by flannel shirts, machinists, mechanics, electricians, Carhartts, cement mixing truck drivers, and other blue collar appurtenances. Let’s say you have to run over to a site on the weekend in your personal vehicle to look over a design issue that is causing problems during construction. Imagine two scenarios:
#1: You run over there in your BMW M5.
The client thinks: I’m paying these guys too much.
The workers think: this kid is either spoiled or broke, and hasn’t spent a day out of the office. Good luck telling us what to do.
Your boss thinks: I’m paying you too much.
#2: You run over there in your $4000 2002 F150 with some dents and rust spots.
The client thinks: They came to work.
The workers think: we can relate to you, let’s sort these issues out.
Your boss thinks: I’m not paying you enough.
This isn’t Wall Street. Ties get caught in rotating machinery. Heels get stuck in grating. Glitzy cars turn off the people you need to interact with. How are you seen?
Like someone keeping it simple
Reason 5: The more challenging, the more you’ll learn
You can look at vehicles as a way to try and pick up mates, get from A-Z, impress your neighbors, sleep in for ski trips, earn extra money on the weekend racing for pink slips, or many other uses, some more appropriate than others. But for engineers, cars take on a special meaning, as your vehicle is in essence a “living laboratory” of many of the principles you will be learning and applying in your practice. Consider some of the aspects one should understand in engineering that you may need to apply to operate, maintain, or modify your vehicle:
Reynolds number, combustion, torque/power curves, electrical circuits, refrigeration cycles, pumps, turbochargers, elastic and inelastic deformation, heat transfer, electrochemistry, power transmission and losses, digital/analog signals, Otto and Diesel cycles, electric motors, corrosion (!), bearings and lubrication, emissions, etc.
New vehicle: problem comes up. Who wants to risk tearing into something new that might void a warranty claim? Take it to the shop, fixed, returned. Mechanic explains something that you don’t remember. Lessons learned: few.
Having an older vehicle: it’s cheap, so why not take a shot at fixing it? Ensuring you will need to troubleshoot, experiment, diagnose, develop solutions, understand principles, deal with frustrations, make mistakes, accomplish, and be satisfied with your efforts, regardless of the outcome.
For those requiring maximum reliability, by all means, buy something fresher and economical that is appropriate for your income. The desperation of trying to jerry-rig things on the road to get home may not appear to everyone, but to an engineer, they should relish the opportunity to MacGyver from time to time. I am no top notch mechanic, although I appreciate people that are; would say that of the things I attempt to fix, about 70% come to some sort of workable solution, and the other 30%, well, you live with it or get it fixed by a professional. But the amount you can learn by being willing to dive into an older vehicle and it tackle yourself should be viewed as an opportunity, not a burden.
In Summary: Young engineers don’t deserve new cars
…because they can be a curse. You deserve something that keeps you financially on the right path, gives you rich experiences, provides you peace of mind from incidents, lets you relate better to people, and gives you opportunities to learn and feel pride in accomplishment. Choose wisely.
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