Some good advice in this thread.

As a side note:
6K - 9K will buy a very nice car out right with no monthly payments to worry about.

 

^ Wisdom.

I read in a previous post someone suggested an Evo 8, that's not bad advice either if you want to stay with AWD + Turbo and get the "joys" of Mitsu ownership. Find one with patience that can go for a super low price. But definitely keep a couple grand just sitting around.

Think about life like this, if you are in an accident and injured you'll need your deductible + max out of pocket for medical inusrance ~= $4500. (that's about what it is for me as a guess). Try to keep that amount of cash available to yourself No Matter What. Just to be in the driver's seat and in the car. The last thing you'd ever want if you were sitting in the hospital on long term recovery is a bill collector.

I also give props to his advice on the Speed3 or WRX. Loved my subaru and the Speed3's are suprisingly fast and nice.

After I sold that GMC Sonoma I was talking about on page 1, the day after graduation I bought one of the first Scion tC's in the state where I live. Payment was $318/mo insurance was like $115/mo and I worked 32-38hrs a week in a shop. Life was wasn't stressful with that payment. Best part when I moved on to my STi I carried 0 negative equity. I also only put like $500 down on buying it, so if you put $8k down on a new Scion (18-19k I think) You'd be financing like $11k and will be a head of the equity curve in just a few years.

 

This.
Having an already paid car is an awesome feeling.

 

Word of advice from someone who went through beaucoup debt in college, stay the fark out of debt!

I'll give you a run down of my situation (the RA has the same maintenance schedule as the Evo).

~16-18k miles a year, ~5 oil changes a year. $30 ea (DIY) = $150 a year.
The 15k service (dealer) was $250. At 30k, I had every fluid, including the TC-SST fluid+filter changed out, that came out to be $1200. I'll average it out to $750 a year.
Gas, 18k/24mpg avg*$3.75 = $2800 a year.
Wiper blades/car wax/car wash/air fresheners (I stink!), misc fluids, etc, round up to about $200 a year.
New brake pads & fluid. $200.
All-season tires + winter tires + winter rims (you may or may not want to skip this) = 1200+600= $1800, so I'll say $600 a year.
Insurance, Geico, 29 yr old, clean record, $2200/yr.

So... let's add this up: $575 a year before car payments. Add in the car payment and it's ~$1100 a month, cash (after tax).

You're making $17.5 a year after tax, that's 1400/mo. Even if you don't put as much into maintenance as I do, you're still looking at like 40-50% of your monthly income into your car. How much money do you figure you'll have left for food, paying for whatever destination you drive to, movies, girls, lifestyle?

If I were u, I would get a cheap reliable car that's 100% paid for and spend the rest on ***** rather than ramen.

Now, the other thing you'll have to ask yourself is, why are you getting this car? Is it because you enjoy the speed or is it for show? If it's for show, save that crap for later on when you're ballin. If it's for speed, get a car all paid for, a small trailer, and buy a tag kart and rent some track time. You can't put a price on legally going ***** out 2.5G's out of a corner. (The latter of which you'll never achieve in a road car)

 

Insurance is going to kill you! I can't even imagine what kind of quotes you must be getting for the car. Just get a beater while in school, save up, and then get what you want once you graduate. Insurance will still probably be high for you. I don't see how some of the younger Evo owners are willing to pay $200-300 a month in insurance. Imagine putting that into a 401k or Roth IRA and accumulating 15k-20k once you graduate for a nice down payment or head start on your retirement fund. The money saved could also help you with a downpayment on a condo/house in the future.

 

Assuming he puts in his $250 a month in insurance money into a cookie jar for 3 years in college then socks away that $9000 into a savings account with an average yield of 8.5%. By the time he's ready to retire, it'll be over a QUARTER EFFIN MILLION DOLLARS.

Long term > Short term every time.

 

I took out a 30k loan at 23 with a 730 credit score and no history beyond rental payments. I did not (and do not) have a credit card, only debit. Really depends on the bank.

 

Depends all you can do is try

 

Do you seriously know of any banks that are actually offering 8.5% on a savings account these days??

Just about everything I've found is under 1%, which is pretty pathetic..

http://www.money-rates.com/savings.htm

 

My citibank savings account is at 0.4% or something. But the previous poster mentioned socking it away in a retirement account.

My retirement # was averaging about 14% before the meltdown and about 8% afterwards. So the 8.5% isn't too unrealistic if you make the right picks.

 

Except retirement at like 60 is probably going to be like the year 2050 for him and then the question is, would it be even worth it to take his 250k and buy a 2012 Evo X?

Given the inflation of a car from 50 years ago (lets say 1965 Ford Mustang, since it's still a production car today)...the Mustang then was like $3200 loaded. The Mustang in today's world (loaded GT) is like $32k.

It's stupid logic and not accurate, but given that as the only thing to work on, it means an Evo GSR if still made in 50years would be more then $250k and closer to $330k...and he would be 60 and still unable to just buy the Evo out-right.


Imagine if he puts this money aside and starts saving. In two years he's tragically hit by car and killed (or Battle Los Angeles happens) and we all die. He'll never get to enjoy owning an Evo.




Despite playing devil's advocate, I do think you should just spend the money on something cheap, new and super reliable, and use the reliability and low cost to pack the cash away until you're working a full time job rather than part time.

 

Wow, you're painting a real bleak picture for this kid! At the rate Mitsubishi's going, in 2050, he'll be buying at least a new Evo XIII.

 

^^ ROTFLMFAO!! you my friend are the God of advice giving

 

Stay out of debt. It's OK to drive a beater until you can actually afford the car you want.

Sure, all the old folks in this thread might sound like old folks, but we're sharing free wisdom with you. Learn from our experience without having to learn the hard way yourself.

 

Not an accurate thing to say... banks are not giving money away to someone with little credit history nowadays... 4 months is too little history. Not saying it's not possible but I know this because a year after I started building my credit the bank wouldn't still give me a loan and what I did was hit up my credit union, they owned me with a 7% APR though but I wanted the car and they were willing to give me the money

Try a credit union like most people here's recommended...

You're 21... I started buying cars at the age of 17, I'm 25 now and I've had 7 cars... two of which I bought cash... they were beaters, but were paid in full cash... There's nothing like NOT having a monthly car note; It's literally freedom... for the bank owns you until you don't owe them a penny.

If I could go back in time, back to where I was your age, I'd do exactly as ShackleMeNot said... but then again, you only learn by experience these things yourself

Plus, on an Evo or a RA or any little gas guzzler like these, you're going to spend most of your extra cash on gas... yes, like around $300/400 a month if not more assuming you drive the average 10/12k miles a year

Man... If I had $10/12k cash at the age of 21 and knew all I know today about investing... I'd be rich by now! Before you make up your mind, watch this vid:

http://www.daveramsey.com/media/flas...ee/player.html