I JUST bought my first Porsche. Boxster. I am 36.
I took out a loan to buy it. But kept the amount of my purchase WELL within a discretionary spending limit - as for me this is a third/fun car. Basically, the car could blow up, be stolen, disappear, etc - and I would be bummed out, but not financially ruined.
I suspect you may be somewhat younger than me. When I was in college, my dream car was actually not a Porsche, but a twin turbo Mazda RX7...in the late 90s those, along with the supras, were the *hot* import cars.... I had a big poster of a red twin turbo RX7 and had it above my desk - as motivation to keep studying and stay focused on school. as sad and superfiical as it may seem - having a somewhat cool car has always been a priority of mine and if that is what it took to keep me focused on my education so be it.
Knowing that good grades = good job = good car helped get me through UCSD and USD Law school (law review too)
I now have a "respectable" job, and have been able to drive a "fun" car for most of my adult life. Superficial or not - it makes ME happy.
The only thing I might have done differently if I had to do it over again, would have been to set aside a "fun car fund" sooner, and put away more money so that when I DID getg my Porsche, I would have been able to buy a newer/lower mileage one.
oh well - I guess I'll just have to pay off this one and then use whatever equity I have to fund the NEXT one.
having now had a Porsche I can surely say this will NOT be my last one.
I have driven a lot of different sports cars, and I have to say the boxster is one FUN car. I wanted something fun that handled well. For the money, there isn't much out there that has the same combination of class, luxury, and pure FUN in a top down package.
I love my car.