I might have exaggerated (didn't actually look it up) but it was real scary expensive at the time.
Thankfully it didn't last long, so I didn't have to sell my house.

If my memory serves me correctly, Jim's a retired engineer whose wife has a car buying addiction

I'm not old enough to retire, & she just bought a car. And both kids are in graduate school.

After thinking about it, I bet the $3k was total, not per month. It was just scary at the time.