This kind of reminds me about a friend's response to a question of how he could afford his home (he bought it 20 years ago) at the time on his salary. He said " If I could have afforded it, I just would have gone up the street to look for a bigger place". nobody buys an affordable car- our culture requires some level of status to be displayed that a $13k hyundai won't do.

I don't follow my own rules to a T, myself, but I often put 1/3 to 2/3rds down payment and this makes cars easy to sell regardless of depreciation.

 

I'm sorry man but i'm 23, have lived on my own for 4 years. I work full-time and go to school full-time. I want an X just as bad as the next person, and could use my already paid for 07' Civic w/ 9,000 miles on it as a downpayment. But why would you want this car when you can move out and get your own place? Having your own place is such a better feeling.

And how are some of you guys ok with paying $600 a month for a car? I mean hell thats ridiculous. I would never fork that kind of money over for a car payment. Save some money then get into payments instead of turning yourselves upside down before you drive the car off the lot.

 

Not sure if you can hear me from way up there, but, everyone is in a different situation and we're all at liberty to decide what's worth spending our money on.

 

Hi, new here and would like some advice/opinions, I plan to purchase new X by late December and will probably have 17k on hand and would just like to know is it a good idea to use it all as a Down payment? I will be a full time student in January 2009 and probably get a Full time job. I don't really plan to invest too much aftermarket mods into it until I get stable with school/work.

Thanks in advance!

 

If there are any 2008's left, I would put down enough to qualify for the 0% 60 months and put the rest in a high yielding interest account or invest it.

Why put so much down?

 

I don't want to worry about paying a high monthly, I suppose + Insurance rape. I don't know if there's another way around that, I'm new to buying cars!

 

I wounder if i will be able to get it. I love the 10 in Red. I never have not gotten approved for any thing i want but i am a marine. See we are not so affected by the economy right now we can't loose are jobs and we don't get pay cuts we make salary. Hmm i wanted to get a IX in a couple of years but for 0% i might have to go look at the 10 again soon

 

Man if u don't want to pay alot a evo is not for u trust me. Get a good DD for now and keep saving for a couple of years and buy a used one when u get a good job that pays good. Evo are not cheap cars. They are $$$$ to insur,gas,maintain, and if u mod more $$$$ plus the car note on it = more $$$$.

 

I didn't check your numbers, but this is about the income range Mitsubishi was targeting. I think the early literature showed they were shooting for the BMW/G35/350Z demographic with household incomes of $75k-105k.

Of course, this type of car clearly appeals to buyers well below that range, which results in threads like these If anything, I think it shows they've failed in moving its image upscale. Not that it bothers me. I love mine.

 

You must use NET when computing the car loan since it's after-tax money that's paying for it.

There are a few flaws with this calculation.

1) You are assuming that people pay $2044/month in mortgage/rent. You must subtract the actual cost of rent from this value:

x =7,300*.28 = $2044 minus what you actually pay for rent.
So for a person that only pays $1200/month in rent for example will have a difference in their pockets of:

Difference in house payment = (2044 - 1200) = 844.

He can subtract this from the car note, therefore making him eligible, since it would pay off the car and he'd still have money left over for other things. If he pays MORE than $2044 for rent, then there in WAY over their head!

2) When computing GROSS, you must consider that 30% taxrate doesn't take into affect 401k deductions (loans,etc), medical insurance, dental insurance, life insurance, and flexible spending. So it's actually more than 30%, more like 40% depending on 401k deductions.

 

Invest it in what with the economy in shambles? He might as well pay it off faster and save more money in the long term. Unless he's able to find an investment that can guarantee him a higher interest rate than his own car loan interest, he's losing money. If you have the cash to pay off a car, then do it. You'll end up paying sticker as opposed to several thousand dollars more over a loan term.

-M

 

I'm pretty sure he can find a safe investment that returns over 0%.

 

Aye, but I wasn't speaking of 0% financing. 99.9% of you didn't have that option when the car was first put on the lots.. And even then, there are conditions like putting enough money down on it to justify the 0%. The banks would rather NOT have any of their money out in the cold for the 60 months where they get NO return.

 

Well I got my credit score today. 708, but I have a balance on my credit card that I already paid off, but hasn't gone through yet, so my score is probably a little higher.

In August my score was 670. I had my heart & soul devoted to buying this car in November, but after reading all this and talking to some financial guys who are my customers I think I'll just hold off until my score reaches 750.

The longer it takes, the more money I'll have saved with which I can either put a larger down payment or just buy some immediate mods. I completely understand what you guys are saying regarding this being a bad choice, but honestly it's all I really want. If I had a choice in the hours I work I would get a part time job at Abercrombie or something LOL and live my life a lot more with friends and girls. Since that's not an option, I work all the time and go to school full time, so this car is my reward to myself. I don't know if some of you can relate, but when you can count the number or Sat & Friday nights you've taken off in the past 1.5 years on your right hand plus becoming a ghost to you friends, it's nice to have something to look forward to, and this car just happened to be that thing.

 

just cause you have no debt does not mean you qualify depending on your high credit they still can turn you down