Although I delight in the ownership of luxury items of different types, I cannot see any justification for buying something new, unless it's the dubious and evanescent experience of being the first to own something. Could this be traced back to our built-in desire to "embrace" virginity?

I have owned at least a dozen new "luxury" cars, and about 15 years ago, I decided that I would no longer be beholden to the bank for car payments. I have broken this rule a couple of years ago in the purchase of a Japanese SUV for business, which has done 30K miles and never seen the dealer for anything but routine maintenance, and of course has never stranded me or my wife, nor has it ever "failed to proceed". But, new European cars (even those with pretty good early fault scores) simply exhibited too many "issues" that spoiled the new ownership experience for me.

I collect Rickenbacker guitars. Some people wait two to three years for one to be built to their order; I wait for a perfect one to pop up at a dealer or on Ebay, and it's mine a few days later. Why wait? Oh, right, it's that "first to own" syndrome.

I remember buying a brand-new house back in '83. We moved in, and each retired to a different bathroom on the second floor to shower prior to going out for a celebratory dinner. When we met on the ground floor to leave, it was awash in an inch of gray water, ruining the new carpets. It seems that the drain had been improperly engineered, and overloaded and backed up.

Two weeks later, my wife decided to use the new spa tub in the master suite. She filled it up, and when she stepped in for a soak, it tore loose from the walls in a shower of tile and grout, and dropped 4 inches to the subflooring. She was terrified--thought it was an earthquake.

Nopr...the plumbers had failed to block it underneath...

There were another half-dozen faults to correct before we happily occupied it for 5 fun years.

My current house is an Eichler design that was built in 1955 by the previous owner, who cared for it religiously and lavished it with updates while keeping the original flavor. It is proven, well-worn, and built to last, and looks only a few years old.

A decade ago, I purchased a Silver Shadow in a moment of curiosity. Following a week at the mechanics' being "recommissioned", it gave five years of daily service with only regular tire, brake pad, and oil changes. This with 284K miles at time of purchase.

If I haven't bored you already, here's my heresy for today:

Why buy a new Jag? These cars have a depreciation rate that is practically second to none other (Saturn, perhaps?). Now, more heresy...I would not hesitate to purchase a well-kept and well-presented used Jag with all service records. Ten year old saloons are going begging right now at 10%-15% of their original MSRPs, and sport models are not faring a whole lot better. In many cases, these cars are well-cared-for, debugged, and reliable, and available for about the down-payment on a new machine.

For me, at least, I can't see paying full ticket for an identical experience. Any arguments for "reliability" seem to be a bit shaky.

Do yourself a favor and buy mint used next time, and pay cash. Life's too short to wrangle with dealers, either for purchase or service.