$700 a month for 3 years..what would you do? [Archive]

Romain

01-04-2006, 10:29 PM

What would you do? Opinions/Input/Criticizm WANTED:

Hey guys. Hows everybody doin? :)
Im going to be getting $700 a month for the next 3 years or so :woot: . I was set on using it to get an apartment and move out of my moms house BUT after those 3 years are up i know i wont be able to financialy keep the apartment anymore. I was also set on buying a new/very slightly used 2nd. Subaru Impreza WRX or 1st. WRX STi either 2004/2005 because i thought im never going to have this opportunity again in my life so why not go ahead, make a dream come true, and do it. Seeing as how getting a new car i wouldnt have to worry about buying one again moving into my adult age and then i have a car which is reliable and a huge +.
I know i can afford a car payment with insurance and gas with the $700 plus working 2 jobs i would have enough money for whatever else i needed in daily living/savings.
I dont have any big expenses like college tuition, car payments, housing, loans or anything like that.
Im almost positive i would be able to pay off the car before or around the time the money stops.

Romain

01-05-2006, 12:30 AM

13 views no ones got an opinion on this?

softpain

01-05-2006, 12:39 AM

Hummm...I'm doing fine and you?:)

MaxxxRacer

01-05-2006, 01:00 AM

Well if you dont plan on goign to college, then I guess the WRX, but even still, the money saved on the Eclipse would be good for the 1st and last months rent on a first apartment.

You could put the money into a IRA and get money on it for those 3 years and then pull it out and have made some money doing nothing.

But if you dont care about saving money for the future the WRX is a sweet as ride. The one plux to the WRX is that you can actually put shiet in the back seat, where as the Eclipse has absolutely no room in the back and a small ass trunk.

Romain

01-05-2006, 01:13 AM

Soulburner

01-05-2006, 09:19 AM

Are there any other options?

Romain

01-05-2006, 10:03 AM

Are there any other options?

Car wise? Not really. EVO 8 maybe but iv done my research for awhile and chose the STi. Option wise not really either

MaxxxRacer

01-05-2006, 11:28 AM

Personaly i like the evo better, but thats just me. It handles the road better. the STi is better for offroading, which, I assume, you will NEVER do.

ZX7891

01-05-2006, 11:33 AM

the STI feels better for daily driving compared to the evo...gas mileage the evo wins by a little

[XC] leviathan18

01-05-2006, 12:18 PM

Rukee

01-05-2006, 12:49 PM

I`d do a $2,500 beater and pocket the 700/mo!!
But I hate car payments with a passion.

dutchman.pt

01-05-2006, 02:02 PM

Why don't you buy a BMW series 3?
Way more cool.

Holst

01-05-2006, 02:03 PM

dutchman.pt

01-05-2006, 02:16 PM

Seems like a crazy waste of money to me.

I would save as much as possible then stat my own buisiness or something.

If somebody gave me $25200 the last thing I would do is buy one expensive luxury item.

Remember that cars depreciate massively, the car that cost you $25000 will be worth LOADS less in 3 years time!!

It's a question of options.
A nice car it's a very good thing to have.
A own business it's also good off course.

--

If you want a very nice 2 seats for $35000 you have the BMW 2005 Z4 2.5i Roadster.
But if you don't mind buying a used car you can aim for a used Porsche Boxster.

Anarki

01-05-2006, 03:57 PM

My 2p...

Getting a car on monthly payments is killer, your paying for something that is losing money every month, and you have to take into account service bills, parts, etc.

However you'll have a very nice car to show for it!

ingentingmendeg

01-05-2006, 04:22 PM

GSX, nice awd car :)

Dissolved

01-05-2006, 04:43 PM

buy a used 02 wrx and spend the extra 2-5k in mods.

thats what i would do at least.

freecableguy

01-05-2006, 04:53 PM

I pay almost $1K/month on an SUV i like...do what works for you.

Romain

01-05-2006, 05:31 PM

Id rather not buy a used 02; hate the bugeyem, would have more miles on it and the tranny isnt as good (plus its a 5spd compared to a 6spd). Like the EVO, but i need something more comfortable all around. Love the looks of the Suby better, beefy sound, reliability. It'll be moded but slowly im not in a rush on that stuff. BMW 3 series? There nice but i live in Upstate NY..snow? Uh, yeah it can get pretty bad i really want AWD.
Used STi's im looking at are around 27,28k either 2004 or 2005 model.
Dont care if its a 4 door. If i mod it enough i can push the seats back and install seatbelt clips or harnesses or just take out the whole backseat..not a 4 seater anymore.
More input!

Vapor

01-05-2006, 05:38 PM

25k ain't gonna pay for a 27k car....especially if you get a loan (seeing as the 25k won't be immediately available, you'll need to).

So I say get the Eclipse and keep the rest for rainy-day funds.

fatfreepork

01-05-2006, 07:02 PM

ive seen a lot of comparission STI vs EVO 8 and the evo kicks the STi is faster in track... road and it has better 4x4 is even faster than a lambo murcielago in track record.

the split differential is pretty amazin you can make a turn so fast that all the traction of the car is just in 1 wheel and imo is more beatiful but that is just me

im assuming you're referencing the top gear episode, that one was a mitsubishi evo mr fq400 which has 124 horsepower more than the basic stock evo.

my dad has the sti and it feels a lot more upscale than the evo but the evo is faster in all regards.

Soulburner

01-06-2006, 12:59 AM

Car wise? Not really. EVO 8 maybe but iv done my research for awhile and chose the STi. Option wise not really either
Personally I say buy an LS1 F-Body but i'm biased of course...then take the extra money and put it into some sweet mods. Smoke any EVO you come across in both looks and performance.

gundamit

01-06-2006, 05:53 AM

I`d do a $2,500 beater and pocket the 700/mo!!
But I hate car payments with a passion. Amen brother.

ChongL

01-07-2006, 11:08 AM

Personally I say buy an LS1 F-Body but i'm biased of course...then take the extra money and put it into some sweet mods. Smoke any EVO you come across in both looks and performance.

I would say the EVO...but I'm biased too :D ..take the money for some mods and smoke the LS1 in both looks and performance. I think it goes either way though...both cool cars.

But I don't think you should put that money down on a car that will keep depreciating like other people are saying. It would be nice to flaunt...but look at how much money you're wasting...just my $0.02

joshuajames

01-07-2006, 12:23 PM

save up or look on ebay for a toyota supra. 1994 or greater. or come back to reality put your money in the bank.

Vapor

01-07-2006, 01:33 PM

save up or look on ebay for a toyota supra. 1994 or greater. or come back to reality put your money in the bank.Yay, a Supra....good for stupid-high power levels that only lead to high trap speeds, high quarter mile times, and an ass-end that swings around faster than a pole dancer's. And if you don't have that much power it's too damn heavy to even compete with an STi, EVO or LS1. Yes, there's a good medium, but that's out of the price range for sure.

Back to my original point, that $700 a month is only good for paying for ~$450 a month toward the car (at most).....the rest goes to the loan, gas, repairs, etc. Keep the car well within your budget, don't push it.....you don't want to be wishing you never had the $700/month two years into the ownership of the car.

Romain

01-09-2006, 01:47 AM

My cousin is a manager at a Subaru, Mercedes, Mitusibshi Dealership in Pennslyvania and i think im going to take a trip down there and look at them. When i think about it, i really want the STi for the more money i would pay its worth it. But it would be nice to not spend ALL of that money on it. Im thinking of buying an 05' WRX and using the rest for mods and whatever else..

Kemble

01-11-2006, 01:04 AM

Used & good condition stick shift escort !!!

Put the rest in a Roth IRA. The best time to save for retirement is 18yrs old. !!!!! I'm 27 and started saving since I was 19. and I have more money in my retirement account than my parents put together :) Plus by the time I retire at 55 I'll have just over 2 million EVEN if I stop putting money in when I hit 30 yrs old. Compound intrest is a sweet thing :)

Then you can buy any car u want, pick up the young 20 year olds, take them to bermuda and have the time of your life. :)

Nosfer@tu

01-11-2006, 01:52 AM

I would not buy a car if it meant I had to live at my moms.

I would save the money or buy a appartment. Thing about the future and not about how cool it would be to have a car...

Skyline GT-R

01-11-2006, 02:49 AM

I don't know what a STi costs in the states but over here in Belgium it's a lot more then the $25.2k you have atm (or will have the next 3 years). For $25.2k that's about €20.8k you can only buy a VW Golf in belgium :s Belgian taxes sucks (21% :s)

Just checks prices:
06 WRX STi: €42k or $50k

Ooh and BTW there are awd BMW's ;) The all new BMW 325Xi is an AWD BMW 3 serie ;)

Daveb2012

01-11-2006, 03:41 AM

Why don't you buy a BMW series 3?
Way more cool.

I agree this is what I would get, BUT i wouldnt get a new car if I were you. You claim after 3 years of money being handed to you, that you wouldnt be able to be financially independent after that?? maybe you should think about that and plan for the future. invest some of the money or most of it and buy a beater.

amd4me

01-11-2006, 11:13 PM

Personaly i like the evo better, but thats just me. It handles the road better. the STi is better for offroading, which, I assume, you will NEVER do.
I have also heard this quite a bit.
I was reading the other day that you have to be REAL nice to the evo for the first 2000 miles or so or they start burning oil and go down hill from there.

Romain

01-21-2006, 12:35 PM

Iv made up my mind guys to just go down to my cousins dealership in Pennslyvania and get a 2005 WRX. The insurance on an STi even on my parents account would be really close to what the monthly payment would be. Im not too dissapointed im still going to have an amazing car and i can always trade it in for whatever Subaru comes out with next :) My good friend that owned a 02 WRX and knows ALOT about them practically convinved me too..im glad he did.

OmegaMerc

01-22-2006, 01:04 AM

Good choice, saw this thread late, would get the suba over the mitsu any day.

Celeron Gamer

02-05-2006, 11:45 AM

A Sport sedan, think about it. 1/4 Miling with your wife, and kids...

But then again, no.

Romain

02-05-2006, 08:29 PM

A Sport sedan, think about it. 1/4 Miling with your wife, and kids...

But then again, no.

Huh? Can you find me a 2dr with AWD and a Turbo?

[XC] leviathan18

02-05-2006, 08:49 PM

yes yes i can nissan skyline :D and the audi tt quattro

guess2098

02-05-2006, 09:27 PM

well.... STi is not bad but the i will take EVO cause it looks better!

or save more money like 2~3 years for M6.... i am saving $$ for it...

isp

02-05-2006, 09:33 PM

How old are you? (sorry if I missed it...)

You're going to wish you invested the cash in something relatively safe and just let it compound. You should be saving this money man, cuz one day you're going to need it a lot more than the wrx. Sounds to me like this car is just going to be a money pit, and is this going to be your only car also?

Stewie007

02-05-2006, 09:39 PM

What is this going to do to A) Your bank account, B) Your expenses, C) Your life.

Don't let car payments force you to use up all your time to attempt to afford it. If you've gotta squeeze and stress yourself out to get a 'spensive car, then you're out of your league.

f00t

02-06-2006, 07:08 PM

Huh? Can you find me a 2dr with AWD and a Turbo?

what about a mid 90's talon tsi

Romain

02-06-2006, 08:07 PM

what about a mid 90's talon tsi

Already gone through the 2g GSX stage already..

Celeron Gamer

02-06-2006, 11:08 PM

Huh? Can you find me a 2dr with AWD and a Turbo?

Maybe the Eclipse GSX you listed above? It's pretty hard to find one within price range of course:)

ciento44

02-07-2006, 11:18 AM

Huh? Can you find me a 2dr with AWD and a Turbo?

Toyota Celica AllTrac ST165, or even better, ST185 ( 1990-1993)

ST185 will run you $6k for a pretty damn nice example, and there is a HUGE aftermarket support for them. They can get pretty damn quick, either on road, track, or drag strip.

I wish i had seen this thread before.... You could have gotten the ST185, and then spent another $15k on it in aftermarket, and had your fun toasting WRXs, and most American Iron, for that matter.

Soulburner

02-08-2006, 01:01 AM

Do you really HAVE to have AWD? Are you needing an off-road vehicle or something or do you drive in a lot of snow and ice?

If not you'll be better off with RWD...

uOpt

02-08-2006, 09:43 AM

In my opinion, older cars are the better buy and blowing the money on other fun stuff is the better option.

Older cars require that you got a good feel about whether a car is good when you inspect it before buying and it requires that you have enough skills or experience to tell whether some random noises are harmless and which suggested maintainance to skip and which not. You might not be able to do that on your first car but long-term you save a ton of money.

ciento44

02-08-2006, 03:08 PM

^Complete agreement. Also, most older cars are simpler, so you can actually do most of the work on them with minimal knowledge, and a little will.

Unfortunately, it's also a double edged sword, because then even when something TINY goes wrong, you'll be bugged as hell whenever you drive the thing.

To any casual driver, my car would seem tight as hell, and drive pretty much like new. And it really does, but there's a couple things that don't really matter at all, that just bug the hell out of me.

Plus, most older cars, if you're into modifying, have more tried and true methods.

uOpt

02-09-2006, 09:37 AM

^Complete agreement. Also, most older cars are simpler, so you can actually do most of the work on them with minimal knowledge, and a little will.

That is not what I mean.

I don't actually repair anything myself anymore, other than non-dirty jobs on the interior or body.

What I mean is you need the knowledge to know when you actually have to take it to have it repaired, and when you do, how much of a repair is needed.

Many people who dislike getting "old cars" are those who think there is nothing wrong with a repair bill of $2000 for a car that drove fine and didn't even make unusual noises. Right. No surprise a new car with warranty works out better for them. But that doesn't change the fact that they drive substancially more expensive than I do.

Plus I drive a lot of miles. On an old car that doesn't matter much for resell value, I lose maybe 1000 dollars from doing the miles. If I want to go to Toronto to have Greek dinner I just turn the wheel towards north and go. None of that "tradeoff" rubbish. Buying a new car and reselling it after 2 years you may ninja dollars if you drove a lot of miles. Not to mention leasing...

Romain

02-09-2006, 03:08 PM

That is not what I mean.

I don't actually repair anything myself anymore, other than non-dirty jobs on the interior or body.

What I mean is you need the knowledge to know when you actually have to take it to have it repaired, and when you do, how much of a repair is needed.

Many people who dislike getting "old cars" are those who think there is nothing wrong with a repair bill of $2000 for a car that drove fine and didn't even make unusual noises. Right. No surprise a new car with warranty works out better for them. But that doesn't change the fact that they drive substancially more expensive than I do.

Plus I drive a lot of miles. On an old car that doesn't matter much for resell value, I lose maybe 1000 dollars from doing the miles. If I want to go to Toronto to have Greek dinner I just turn the wheel towards north and go. None of that "tradeoff" rubbish. Buying a new car and reselling it after 2 years you may ninja dollars if you drove a lot of miles. Not to mention leasing...

Have you ever owned a Eclipse before? There problem magnets. The 4G63 is a total beast with forged iron internals but the whole problem lies in the transmission and transfer case. I wouldnt want to buy a car like that (like my friend did, found out there was a huge crack in the case and his car was out of commison for eternity) and run into something like that. My brother owns a n Eclipse and he's had his fair share of problems. I dont drive alot of miles all the time but occasionally i do.

I wanna thank everyone for their input on everything. Someone IM'ed me a little bit ago (forgot their SN or XS name) but he gave me some good insight i wanna give another thanks to. Im leavning this Saturday morning to my cousins dealership and hope to come back with a W. I'll post pics when i get back if anyone is interested :D but it seems like everyone thinks i shouldnt get it :slapass: :slapass:

f00t

02-10-2006, 12:59 AM

yes, pics. huray

uOpt

02-10-2006, 06:17 AM

Have you ever owned a Eclipse before?

No. I should probably mention that what I describe and works for me for 18 years now only works if you buy a known-good car. Extensive study of user experiences is required. If there's a car that eats up a transmission every two years it's not going to work.

Just ike Sony notebooks :)

Diverge

02-10-2006, 01:00 PM

Well, when ever you modify cars, or anything for that matter... and push things to limits, stuff will break. I know, I've done my fair share of modifications to my '86 SVO Mustang (2.3L Turbo)... and dumped lots of money into it in the process, and have blow up and rebuilt my motor a couple times as well (woops, too much boost...#@#$@#). Turbo cars can be lots of fun, and addicting... and you'll always have the urge to make them faster, turning up boost, bigger turbos, bigger injecters, fuel pumps, cams, 3" exhaust, hi-flo cats, ect.

But you will never get the money that you put into it back. If I could go back in time i would have kept my SVO all stock, that is where it holds it value. So if you intend on modifying your new car, which you probably will if your into OCing PC's, then don't expect too much for it if you do go to trade it in. I wish I saved all the money I spent on cars (SVO and Vette), and invested it in a house or something.

mr-white

02-11-2006, 03:29 AM

am i the only one who thinks getting a scooby would be foolish ? i'd live at home saving the money and use it as a deposit for my own apartment. Bigger deposit less repayments.

MW

JasonDTM

02-11-2006, 04:33 PM

If you do go ahead and get the WRX or STi.... and looking for mods, I reccomend Cobb for exaust and other misc bits... cobb's exausts are a work of art... a form follows function exaust that looks and sounds great (Only hear it on my uncles 2003 Bug-eye 2.5RS, quiet until 4000rpm then it livens up and roars, oh and its not abnoxious..

eddy

02-12-2006, 09:08 AM

Why not a Lexus IS? A red one.

Romain

02-12-2006, 01:35 PM

Why not a Lexus IS? A red one.

AWD, nope. Turbo, nope.

eddy

02-12-2006, 04:26 PM

AWD, nope. Turbo, nope.
Yeh but the Impreza and Eclipse look like crap. Just my opinion though.

AWD? As in all wheel drive? The IS250 has a AWD model. Oh wait it's automatic.

Andrew LB

02-12-2006, 07:42 PM

I'm a big fan of the Evolution after a weekend at the track where i got to spend some time behind the wheel of my friends 350whp Evo. The thing moved.

It was quite an amazing car to drive on a track. Almost as much fun as my buddies 350whp WRX with a big turbo, full exhaust (test pipe for the track... SOOOO Loud!), new IC, fully adjustable suspension, etc.

Here I am in the S turn just before pit row at Spring Mountain Raceway.

http://www.kalionzes.com/photography/saturday/images/_mg_6901_jpg.jpg

hixie

02-13-2006, 05:33 AM

I would get a Z350, but thats just cause my friend drives the JGTC Motul Z350.
Actually the road version is quite slow, and not much fun.
The NSX tops my fun car chart, you have to love it when you come to a 90 degree bend, turn the steering wheel to around 1-2 o'clock give the gas pedal a little nudge and the car turns into the corner. Above 6000RPM its not that much fun, the VTEC comes in and you can see the fuel guage slowly get lower and lower :(