The Tesla founder’s former partner Grimes admitted Musk didn’t even want to replace a mattress with a hole in it when they lived together – and yet the he continues to fly on a Gulfstream private jet
Despite being luxury car mad – he’s owned everything from a Jaguar E-Type to a submarine car from The Spy Who Loved Me – Musk sold his entire property portfolio to support his vision to live on Mars

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6 eccentric things billionaire Elon Musk spends his money on: from James Bond submarines and McLaren supercars, to private jet travel and his obsession with Diet Coke – but not property

STORYLynn Farah
Oct 30 , 2023

Elon Musk, founder of SpaceX and Tesla, has billions to spend – so what are his passions? Photo: DPA

Millionaires and billionaires

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The Tesla founder’s former partner Grimes admitted Musk didn’t even want to replace a mattress with a hole in it when they lived together – and yet the he continues to fly on a Gulfstream private jet
Despite being luxury car mad – he’s owned everything from a Jaguar E-Type to a submarine car from The Spy Who Loved Me – Musk sold his entire property portfolio to support his vision to live on Mars

Elon Musk, the richest man on Earth according to Forbes, lives in a rented US$50,000 “box home”, sold most of his luxury properties, and once told his former partner Grimes she couldn’t buy a new mattress when she discovered a hole in the one they were sleeping on.

But that doesn’t mean Musk doesn’t splurge at all – quite the contrary. He indulges in hobbies and vices like everyone else – his choices just tend to be a little less conventional than most.

Elon Musk’s ambitions to colonise Mars

Elon Musk has been passionate about humans settling on Mars since he had enough money to try to make his dreams a reality. Photo: Getty Images

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Since his first brush with fame, Musk has been clear that it is his personal mission to colonise Mars, and he created SpaceX with exactly that goal in mind. The billionaire believes humans need a contingency plan should Earth become non-viable, and announced in 2021 that he wants as much of his US$225 billion net worth as possible to go into the project.

Per Insider, Musk said that building a city on Mars would require “just a lot of capital” and that he wanted to “be able to contribute as much as possible”. To illustrate his seriousness about investing his fortune for “the sake of humanity”, Musk said he was eschewing material possessions, including his impressive property portfolio.

The property portfolio that disappeared

Back in 2012, Musk made headlines when he dropped US$17 million on a 20,248 sq ft mansion in Bel Air, California. According to the Los Angeles Times, the home had a two-story library, a study, wine cellar, tennis court, seven bedrooms and 10 bathrooms. At the time, he dropped millions investing in at least five other neighbouring properties, according to Observer.

Then, in May 2020, he had a change of heart, vowing to “own no house” so as not to be seen as materialistic by his critics, and prove his dedication to his companies. According to Sky News, he then sold seven of his homes in California for a combined US$128 million. Musk’s primary home is now a US$50,000 dollar home in Boca Chica, Texas, which he rents from SpaceX.

The James Bond submarine car

The Lotus Esprit submarine car from the JamesBond film The Spy Who Loved Me. Photo: 007.com

It’s no surprise that the Tesla and SpaceX boss has an interest in unusual cars. Per Insider, Musk bought the Lotus Esprit submarine car in 2013. The car is famous for its appearance in the James Bond film The Spy Who Loved Me. According to reports, Musk paid US$920,000 for the car at an auction.

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According to NBC News, the car is in fact a working submarine, but one which reportedly allows the interior to fill with water, requiring the pilot to breath from an oxygen tank. In the film, however, Roger Moore who played Bond, remains completely dry. Musk said in a statement that he was disappointed the vehicle couldn’t actually transform. “What I’m going to do is upgrade it with a Tesla electric power train and try to make it transform for real,” he said.

The most talked about jet in the world

Elon Musk continues to use an expensive private jet – the G650ER – to get around. Photo: Gulfstream

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The billionaire may have done away with his luxury pads, but when it comes to travel, Musk hasn’t resorted to flying economy just yet. Rather, he owns an impressive Gulfstream G650ER worth an estimated US$70 million. According to Insider, the G650 is one of the world’s fastest, largest and longest-range private aircraft.

The ultra-long-haul flagship jet grabbed headlines after Jack Sweeney, a student from Orlando, Florida, began regularly tweeting the whereabouts of the richest man on Earth. Musk enrolled in a free Federal Aviation Administration programme that allows private jet owners to conceal their locations by transmitting alternative identity codes. The hack didn’t work, however, and thanks to Sweeney, the whole world always knows where Musk, or anyone who uses his jet, is – albeit with a 24-hour delay.

Luxury cars

Elon Musk’s cherry red Tesla Roadster is seen during preparations to use it as a mock payload for the launch of a SpaceX Falcon Heavy rocket in 2017. Photo: SpaceX/Flickr

It’s not just the submarine car that caught his attention. Musk clearly has a thing for unusual and rare vehicles. According to Insider, over the years, he has owned a 1920 Ford Model T, a 1967 Series 1 Jaguar E-Type and a McLaren F1 that sells for an impressive US$1 million brand new.

Musk also famously sent his own 2o10 Tesla Roadster – which he used to commute to work in – up into space as part SpaceX’s February 2018 Falcon Heavy test flight. The car continues to orbit the sun.

Spending big on Coke Light

Always one to court controversy, Elon Musk tweeted this photo of his bedside table last November. Photo: @elonmusk/X

It’s no secret that Musk used to live an unhealthy lifestyle. The confessed workaholic, who has previously spoken about clocking between 100-120 hours work a week, relied heavily on caffeine to sustain him. According to Insider, he used to drink at least eight cans of Coke Light a day, as well as several big cups of coffee.

Never in short supply of his favourite beverage, Musk continues to drop money on his habit – but has at least turned to the caffeine-free version. In a social media post in 2022, he shared an image of his bedside table which showed four cans of caffeine-free Diet Coke, two guns and various other bits and pieces.