I'm not sure being a cash buyer is 'being a cheapskate' ?
I say "I'm not sure", what i mean is - "you're an idiot."
Let's say i save for a new £100k 911, (again, when i say save, what i mean is... i'm as awesome as you, and earn over £100k a month and live in my parents spare hoilday home, so i dont really need to save), and a new model comes out.. well darn, i'm now committed, i mean.. i was saving for the OLD model, there's no way my money is any use for the NEW model. Back to the drawing board
You're also assuming it takes people a lifetime to save for a car. The difference between me buying your beloved F-Type R now, and in a years time, is that now i'd be paying £1500 in interest to have it a year earlier. At that price, personally, i'd rather have a free sofa and wait 12 months. And whilst i'm not the youngest kid on the block, i'm confident i can wait 12 months without becoming
that 70yo driving a convertible ferrari. I'm guessing the recent global debt crisis wasn't something that affected, or influenced you to learn from it.
On a serious note - I think people's concerns (or what their concerns should be..) with finance on expensive cars stems from the dangers of over leveraging themselves to pay for things that they possibly can't afford to run, own, maintain, dont have the rainy day fund to cover emergency costs on expensive cars etc etc. The interest cost (as we've already discussed) is calculated as part of the 'total cost to own the car over X time' and can be easily compared against cash purchase. The risk is that finance enables people to obtain things (and is designed to do so) they not only probably can't fully afford, but also at a greater cost to themselves vs cash buyer.. making it an even more bum deal.