[COmtbiker12]

I'll be getting my license in....32 days from now.(not that I'm counting ) and will be getting a car soon. I've got about $3000 for a down payment and am wanting something that has a 5spd tranny, has good gas mileage and isnt too too pricey but yet is fairly speedy as well. So far I'm looking into, Imprezas(2.5RS, Outback Sport, normal imprezas), Neons, possibly a new Sentra, Mazda3 4 door, and also Jettas and Golfs. My mom's calling the insurance companies this week to try and get more information on which would be cheaper for me to drive and all that good stuff. Any input on those cars? Right now I'm leaning towards the Sentra and Mazda3 if I can get the financing worked out right because it would be a brand new car, the mazda has 149hp i think and has a base price of about 13600. Any suggestions on what i should do here?

 

[Toshi]

get a used car. also realize that you'll be killed on insurance if you're listed as a primary driver on anything remotely fast.

 

[COmtbiker12]

that's why im not allowed to look into eclipses or wrx type things. lol. i probably will go used since we're gonna finance the car and probably wont be getting full coverage on it. also it needs to have decent headroom since i'm 6'2". I'd like the car to be atleast a mid to late 90s model though.

 

[chicodude]

Wait.....wait .....wait. You telling me for your first car you want car payments? Dude, you don't want car payments this early in life. 3,000 alone will get you a decent car.


Man, I wish I was you. I got my license 3 weeks ago, and i still get to walk to school 'cause my parents cant afford to buy me a car, so i get to.............

 

[JohnnyBoyDH]

Either go for a decent used car (best way to go). Or out of those I would go for the Mazda 3 Sport. It is a good value for what you get. Don't forget to factor in the insurance, gas budget and maintenance costs. These can make a big difference. Also try and put it under your parents name if you can and list yourself as an occasional driver....cheaper insurance that way until you get older.

 

[blue]

Buy an Outback!

But yeah, at this stage in life, don't get payments, they're a pain in the ass. Buy something used and reliable but not old enough to die on you...

 

[The Kadvang]

Wait.....wait .....wait. You telling me for your first car you want car payments? Dude, you don't want car payments this early in life. 3,000 alone will get you a decent car.


Man, I wish I was you. I got my license 3 weeks ago, and i still get to walk to school 'cause my parents cant afford to buy me a car, so i get to.............

Seriously. I don't get a car until my parents get a new one, then I can have the old one. Well, I could buy a car instead of a new DH bike, but where would the fun be in that?

 

[chicodude]

yea, thats the decision im faced with now. Either save up and get a car, or walk to school the rest of the year, and get a downhill bike.



I wish I was rich...........

 

[COmtbiker12]

Wait.....wait .....wait. You telling me for your first car you want car payments? Dude, you don't want car payments this early in life. 3,000 alone will get you a decent car.


Man, I wish I was you. I got my license 3 weeks ago, and i still get to walk to school 'cause my parents cant afford to buy me a car, so i get to.............

see....if it werent for my mom i'd just go buy a 88 Audi GT Coupe for like 2K on ebay or something but my mom is a big worry wart and wants me to drive something "safe" that's not a piece of sh1t and is decent and all that. My stepbrother is a lazy 20 year old who gets his insurance paid for by my stepdad, so my mom said that since he gets his paid for then she'll pay for mine too.

Hopefully I can get a Suby but I dunno if that will happen. Suby's take priority over all the other cars I had listed.

 

[Repack]

Buy something SLOW! To ech other comments, don't finance. Buy. I have yet to find a first-time buyer have things work out. Fender-benders, dings, etc will leave you with sky-high premiums are a destroyed cart. Buy and old Shaggin' Wagon, put some spinner hub caps on it, and be happy. Financing a car will always end up costing you more than you think it will. Get a few years of driving under you belt first. The people I know who bought "kinda fast" cars got "kinda pulled over" a whole bunch.
Just my .02

 

[Ouisie]

that's why im not allowed to look into eclipses or wrx type things. lol. i probably will go used since we're gonna finance the car and probably wont be getting full coverage on it. also it needs to have decent headroom since i'm 6'2". I'd like the car to be atleast a mid to late 90s model though.

Most companies will not let you finance a car without full coverage. Only way to go with minimal insurance is a used paid for car. Unfortunately insurance for guys at your age is VERY expensive, girls too if they get 4 tickets in the first month they have there license. My daughter is still taking care of those. I refuse.

 

[Curb Hucker]

stay away from pickups and heavy SUVs if you have to pay for gas. Dont buy a jetta unless youre a hot college girl

 

[COmtbiker12]

Buy something SLOW! To ech other comments, don't finance. Buy. I have yet to find a first-time buyer have things work out. Fender-benders, dings, etc will leave you with sky-high premiums are a destroyed cart. Buy and old Shaggin' Wagon, put some spinner hub caps on it, and be happy. Financing a car will always end up costing you more than you think it will. Get a few years of driving under you belt first. The people I know who bought "kinda fast" cars got "kinda pulled over" a whole bunch.
Just my .02

I already have a car that I'm inheritting from my dad. It's a 87 Mazda 626LX but my mom thinks its not worth the trouble to get the repairs needed to make it even safe to drive and wants me to get something decent. I mean, the money for the down payment is money she's put aside over the years for it not my own. I'd be perfectly happy driving the car except at the moment the front ball earings are completely fried and need to get replaced and from what I've heard that could be a serious problem in cars. I dunno.

 

[chicodude]

see....if it werent for my mom i'd just go buy a 88 Audi GT Coupe for like 2K on ebay or something but my mom is a big worry wart and wants me to drive something "safe" that's not a piece of sh1t and is decent and all that. My stepbrother is a lazy 20 year old who gets his insurance paid for by my stepdad, so my mom said that since he gets his paid for then she'll pay for mine too.

Hopefully I can get a Suby but I dunno if that will happen. Suby's take priority over all the other cars I had listed.

so i see you dont pay your insurance either. when i do drive my own car that I bought, its gonna be 1600 a year for min. coverage :mumble:

 

[jace]

Dont buy a jetta unless youre a hot college girl

 

[Repack]

I work with a 17yo who drives a Mazda 6. Its been a money pit. He's far more responsible than 99% of the 17yo's I know, but has still managed to rack up a few speeding tickets and had 1 or 2 minor fender benders.
Its easy to think of something as tangible as ball joints and bearings, but much harder to forsee how increased premiums and deductables add up. I got my first car in 1997 when I was 18. It was a '85 Olds Cutless Supreme. BIG pimpin! Like you, I inherited it. But from my grandmother. The beautiful thing about cars like that is that you can drive them into the ground. Not saying abuse it, but when something breaks on a beater, its easy to look the other way.
Here's where I cut to the chase. 2nd car was a Volvo 240 wagon. (I still miss it.) Then ~4 years ago I financed a used Pathfinder. I went over all the numbers with my parents, figured everything out..... I'm still happy that I bought it, but it has cost more than I thought. It has had bullet proof reliability, but buying a car will ALWAYS be more expensive than you plan on.
The first 2 cars I owned cost a combined total of $2,000 and lasted me ~5 years. See my point? Its very easy to set you sights on something and then figure out all the reasons you should get it. Finding the reasons not to is much harder.
As Dr. Phil says, "You don't even know what you don't know!" (Please don't take this as preaching b/c at 25 I'm still a member of that club.)

 

[COmtbiker12]

Thanks for the advice, that makes a lot of sense. I'm still nto sure what I'll do since a lot of it is up to my parents at the moment. We'll see what happens.

 

[ghettogt76]

Yeah, get something slow for your first car, it'll be cheaper. Get an older Yoter truck, 79-95, they are easy as hell to work on, cheap, plentiful and last forever. Most are sticks too. Just make sure you get one with a 22R or 22RE.

 

[Shmoe]

I have a cheap ass 92 jetta and trust me, im no hot collage girl. The car is fine for me, i put a roofrack on it and pay too much for insurance. If it gets smashed up it wont be the end of the world, just get somthing cheap and good on gas if your still in school as it will get beat up. Dont finace, waste of time.

 

[Sandwich]

Here's a tip-

Buy an old VW Rabbit. I'd bet that no insurance company would ever give two sh.ts about that car, but you'll end up with one of the quickest and nimblest little rides on the road. You should be able to pick one up for less than $3000.

I just bought an Audi Quattro for 6750. Coupe Gt's run less, and they are NOT bad cars, but they are FWD. A 5000 quattro or 4000 wouldn't be a bad car. Stay away from more than 4 cyl, turbo, and probably RWD for your first car. Also, although it is somewhat fraudulent, if you have a good insurance company you can list your mother as the primary driver and pay WAY less. Just an Idea.

 

[Sandwich]

just to tard it up a little more, check out www.rallyclassified.com . There are a TON of cars in Colorado, all of which would be sweet and aren't far from your price range.

 

[COmtbiker12]

FWD is fine with since I live in Colorado and would rather not have RWD so that I can get some performance from driving in snow and what not. I've thought of doing that insurance thing but of course being the good sumaritan that my mom is immediately said it was fraud, lol. I'm just gonna go with the flow and see what my parents decide, if I can I'll try to get a Suby or something used that is similar in price and performance. I'd definitely love to have a GT Coupe but of course parents always go "if something breaks its gonna cost a sh1t load to fix it" so of course they wont let me get one.

 

[chicodude]

boo hoo

 

[blue]

Chico's got a point

Buy something old, reliable, and for around 2 grand. You're going to injure it the first year you drive it anyways (On my old Accord I've successfully torn the front bumper off and smashed in a rear brake light from backing into a pole). And, when something does break, and your car makes weird noises, nobody looks at you funny cause its a piece of sh!t anyways

I'm going to wait another year (I'm 17 and had the car for a year) before I start looking into what I really think is practical for me, a Subie Outback. I want it now, but I know that I really should get some more experience before I move up to something I'll feel really bad about if I break it.

 

[COmtbiker12]

Trust me I am just fine driving something that is a nice little beater which I pretty much will be inheriting anyways, my mom is the one that wants to spend all this money on a nice car like this. Just the other day we were looking through ads and I was looking at like a 95 neon that was like 3000 and suddenly she points out a 02 suby outback sport thats like 10500 so I mean its not like im limiting my options to only newer cars, its that my mom wants me to get one so i'm just going along with it, if that makes sense.

 

[Curb Hucker]

http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&category=31854&item=2489060155&rd=1

get an old G-wagon and keep it gangsta

i think im going to pick up an old G in a year or so