I work in Iraq/Afghanistan, but am often in Dubai, UAE. I've been renting cars, sometimes for even a month at a time, for me and coworkers. Rentals are ok, but it was about $1200/mo for a BMW 320i, or $600-800 for a Corolla -- and the big problem is we often need to leave the car somewhere other than the main rental depot for a few weeks at a time, which is expensive.
I was planning to get a BMW 335i Coupe, which would be USD 62k loaded from a local dealer, or USD 45k with military/contractor discount out of Germany.
Financing costs are 3.5%-4.25%, insurance costs about the same as US, and gas is about USD 1/gal.
335i seemed like it had a rather small trunk, so then I was looking at a 2004 Cayenne Turbo used ($60-80k), or a 2007 BMW M5 ($80k), and then I thought about depreciation -- people are going to be driving this 100-150 miles/day roundtrip on a highway fairly often, and 200-400 miles each way on some trips, or even 800 miles each way to Muscat. The true cost of a new $80k 0km car driven like that often for a year comes rather high.
I was driving back and passed Al Tayer, the local lincoln/mercury/ford/jag/land rover dealer, and went into the pre-owned cars section. Inside was a ceramic white 2005 LS Sport with some decent options (sunroof, parking, some other stuff, but not dvd/thx). 500km on it, from moving it between dealerships. I'd rented LSes often from Hertz in the US, and drove them 130-140mph fairly frequently on I-5, so they seem like a perfect highway car. Then we got to price -- apparently they're even less popular in UAE than they were in the US, and all his other used cars were Maseratis, Navigators, Land Rovers, etc., and just wanted it gone. So, "how much do you want to pay" ("I was thining $15-20k for a 2005, maybe $25k for Ultimate 06"), he countered with AED 90k, then I brought up depreciation of lincoln (in 1-2 years, I figure it will be worth $10-15k, vs. a BMW which could go from $50k to $35-40k..not taking into account the excessive miles I'll put on it) and tried to use the true cost to own argument, AED 85k "final offer", then I suggested AED 80k, and got it. Since USD 1 = AED 3.6710, I got the car for USD 21792.43.
I take delivery in a couple days -- asked him to contact me if he finds any more 2003+ LS Sport or Ultimate, since they seem like perfect livery vehicles too if you want something less stodgy than a Town Car for Dubai traffic (a full-time 12-16/hr/day 7 day/week driver is about USD 1000/mo). And the cooled seats will be really nice in 50C heat (another strike against the Porsche or the 3-series)
I'm probably going to get cat-back/intake, tints, remove 120kph alarm, remote start, bumpers/skirts (maybe), chrome grille, upgraded 240A alternator, angel eyes/hids, and probably switch to 18" with runflats/tpms once I need to swap tires the first time, so I can put an extra battery, comms equipment, and upgraded audio/car computer/navigation in the trunk. I'll use it like a portable office, with an inkjet printer, scanner, 3G cellphone, satphone, 802.11 WAP, etc. -- probably I can fit all of the office equipment into a removable rack behind one of the rear seats, and put a solenoid on the 40% side.
With the savings, a Zenith Air CH-801 light aircraft! (http://www.zenithair.com/stolch801/index1.html), and maybe a toyota hilux.
I was planning to get a BMW 335i Coupe, which would be USD 62k loaded from a local dealer, or USD 45k with military/contractor discount out of Germany.
Financing costs are 3.5%-4.25%, insurance costs about the same as US, and gas is about USD 1/gal.
335i seemed like it had a rather small trunk, so then I was looking at a 2004 Cayenne Turbo used ($60-80k), or a 2007 BMW M5 ($80k), and then I thought about depreciation -- people are going to be driving this 100-150 miles/day roundtrip on a highway fairly often, and 200-400 miles each way on some trips, or even 800 miles each way to Muscat. The true cost of a new $80k 0km car driven like that often for a year comes rather high.
I was driving back and passed Al Tayer, the local lincoln/mercury/ford/jag/land rover dealer, and went into the pre-owned cars section. Inside was a ceramic white 2005 LS Sport with some decent options (sunroof, parking, some other stuff, but not dvd/thx). 500km on it, from moving it between dealerships. I'd rented LSes often from Hertz in the US, and drove them 130-140mph fairly frequently on I-5, so they seem like a perfect highway car. Then we got to price -- apparently they're even less popular in UAE than they were in the US, and all his other used cars were Maseratis, Navigators, Land Rovers, etc., and just wanted it gone. So, "how much do you want to pay" ("I was thining $15-20k for a 2005, maybe $25k for Ultimate 06"), he countered with AED 90k, then I brought up depreciation of lincoln (in 1-2 years, I figure it will be worth $10-15k, vs. a BMW which could go from $50k to $35-40k..not taking into account the excessive miles I'll put on it) and tried to use the true cost to own argument, AED 85k "final offer", then I suggested AED 80k, and got it. Since USD 1 = AED 3.6710, I got the car for USD 21792.43.
I take delivery in a couple days -- asked him to contact me if he finds any more 2003+ LS Sport or Ultimate, since they seem like perfect livery vehicles too if you want something less stodgy than a Town Car for Dubai traffic (a full-time 12-16/hr/day 7 day/week driver is about USD 1000/mo). And the cooled seats will be really nice in 50C heat (another strike against the Porsche or the 3-series)
I'm probably going to get cat-back/intake, tints, remove 120kph alarm, remote start, bumpers/skirts (maybe), chrome grille, upgraded 240A alternator, angel eyes/hids, and probably switch to 18" with runflats/tpms once I need to swap tires the first time, so I can put an extra battery, comms equipment, and upgraded audio/car computer/navigation in the trunk. I'll use it like a portable office, with an inkjet printer, scanner, 3G cellphone, satphone, 802.11 WAP, etc. -- probably I can fit all of the office equipment into a removable rack behind one of the rear seats, and put a solenoid on the 40% side.
With the savings, a Zenith Air CH-801 light aircraft! (http://www.zenithair.com/stolch801/index1.html), and maybe a toyota hilux.
