Car Advice (poll fixed)

Spending that much of your income on a vehicle is justified, imo. However, reading that you do not have a house, I strongly suggest you purchase asap. A car is a luxury and aslong as it provides comfortable transportation it will suffice. Let's be real, who needs a car that goes fast and impresses the ladies? On the other hand, who needs a house? Everyone needs the latter and realistically no one needs the former. Houses, especially with a dead market as is with the present, can potentially earn you money in the longrun, thus leading to a better vehicle. Cars are terrible investments because: 1) they are mechanical and are prone to failure. Even when covered by a warranty, the warranty will inevitably run out and you will be faced with potentially paying for repairs on a sports vehicle. 2) Cars depreciate in value. The value of a vehicle is constantly lowering as a result of use, thus making it propitious to invest elsewhere, i.e a home. Once you have established your living situation, then you can look towards a car.

Another thing is you should wait and see exactly how much you can earn and gauge it from there. Prospectives and potentials are nothing but mere projections that can quickly become fruitless. This will leave you with vehicle payments with less income than you had projected. That's just what I would do; but hey, I am only nineteen years old.

For God's sake: spend your money on clothing, booze, wimmenz! Sensible investments!

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On a slightly more serious note: go with the beater. Consider your vehicle insurance - insuring a beater is considerably cheaper than insuring a sports car. Add to that the inevitable speeding tickets and increased cost of gas as you chauffeur all your friends around, and you'll be eating Ramen noodles in no time.

Ahhh yes. I completely forgot about the higher insurance rates. And even if you do not chauffer your friends around, the sports car's appeal will cause you to (for lack of a better term) "rip it". Not only that, even in normal driving, sports cars tend to have worse fuel economy than regular vehicles. Good points Thomas.

Why do people consider cars as investments? They are not!

Depends on how you define investment, a car can be considered one.

BTW you get all bent on me saying cars are an investment, but you're on a forum about clothes which are rationalized as an investment.

+1 on the first point, and +11111111111 on the second.

You know you want the car and if you do not satisfy yourself, the want will only fester before you spontaneously purchase a car. Better to research the car now and make an informed decision.

While I would advise against a sportscar, there are many sport sedans out there that are refined but put a hurt to many "flashy" sportscars. I'm not sure what your pricepoint is but you have Chrysler 300 SRT, BMW M5, Audi RS6, Mercedes G55 AMG, etc.

Spare us the guessing game and spill the beans on which car!

If I'm reading you correctly, you are looking at a car priced under $10,000 - what models are you considering? Also, given that you are in Western Canada, it might be wise to hang onto your beater for rain and snow; unless you get something with AWD.

I think his figures are only to deliniate his points. They are not fact based or actual.

Get the house. Ladies love a man who can provide