<prompt> Human: So, this post is a in hindsight what was the smart decision.background: I previously worked for a company that supplied me with a company vehicle and that was that. Left previous company for a 25 pay increase, so I had to get a new vehicle, as the new company supplies you with a car allowance of 500month to use on a vehicle you choose. I am a huge car guy, all my own maintenance, performance, not much for leatherACcomfort, all that. I could find very little on a responsible way to use the car allowance leasebuy, usednew, etc during my research. The company pays for insurance, gas, and scheduled maintenance. I ended up financing a 2011 Subaru that the wife could also enjoy on the weekends as a sporty car while not personally having to pay for the above average insurance or less mpg for a sports car! That being said, my payments are 280 a month, which pockets me 220 as bonus income. Sometimes I fire it up and wonder if it was a financially savvy move, or if something more conservative like a lease on a boring automatic would have been worth sacrificing my smiles per gallon scientific measurement, or a cheap clunker that I could pay 4-6k for and just run it into the ground and do my own maintenance on. I tend to value my ownmy wifes enjoyment over something that is just a point a-b car its a 45 minute drive tofrom work, thats a lot of wasted time if you arent enjoying it!. Can someone explain what the most efficient way to use a car allowance is? It seems others in the office are split between my type buy something fun and leasing older crowd, less activedont care about vroom vroom as much?.Thanks!  <response>: Well you could reinvest that extra back into the payments and send in 500 a month until its paid off, then pocket that 500 each month afterwards. 