Buy the car! Enjoy it, the girlfriend should understand and it will all workout in the end. Your to young to worry about this now. Besides, you buy the car now it should be paid off before you get married - that equals one less payment.

Greg,
You seem to be the target on this thread??? 35 single, having fun there is nothing wrong with that. I got married at 35, met the women that made my heart beat the right way. They are all jeleous because you have time, and money for toys, while they all have a "honey-do-list".

 

Everyone of us on this list who has an S2000 loves his or her car, myself included.

None of the cars love us. That is a fact, MacGyver's "Michelle" excepted perhaps.

Many of us on the list are in wonderful, loving relationships. There is no comparison between the value of a wonderful relationship and the experience of S2000 ownership. Think about it a second.

The decision of whether or not to buy a car, any car, is just not that big a deal. You spend your money or you save it or you invest it. In the end, you're not discussing anything worth discussing.

Finding and nurturing and treasuring a loving relationship is an experience without equal during any person's lifetime.

Good luck with your car. If you wanted to get encouragement about whether or not to do it, just ask a bunch of folks who have already made the plunge.

For my part, I stick with my first post.

Set your priorities. Go for them.

If your FIRST PRIORITY is really an S2000, so be it.

Barry--the contrarian...

 

Greg is the easy type going guy. That's why we pick on him.

 

The question is when the car is 2-3 years old and full of dings & scratches (from the outside elements, apartment parking lots, and the tolls of daily driving it) will you still be as excited about the car? If not, they just get a Miata (and add some aftermarket stuff to hop it up a little if you want) and save some serious cash.

I'm 29 now, but right out of college I decided to get a new 95 Civic EX instead of going too crazy with my newfound cash. (I really wanted the 1.6L DOHC that, at that time, was only in the top of the line Del Sol but that's another story!) Some 6+ years later I'm still happy with that decision -- other than wish I could've got that 1.6L DOHC in my Civic! Well I found a nice gal, then bought a house in 1997 (with a 2-car garage), married in 99, then bought my S2000 in 2000. I've still got the Civic as a daily drive and to haul stuff (it's the biggest car we have) so I only drive the S2000 when the weather is nice. I personally wouldn't have it any other way!

 

I have an amazingly similar story to STL's.

After graduating University, I made the hard choice of forgoing the sports car that I wanted and instead purchased a 1996 Civic EX 4 door (silver 5 speed). I paid $16,000 for the car and to be honest it was a tough pill to swallow since I could have paid just a little more for a Miata or a Prelude VTEC.

Time passed, I worked very hard, my responsibilities increased, my free time decreased, and late last year I had a sort of an epiphany. I am now 28 years old. I own my own house in Southern California. I don't have any credit card debt, I have made a huge dent in my student loan payments, and I now find myself making good money. I have been investing a little bit (what I could while paying off the car, student loans, and credit cards) and had even bought a used sport bike to tide me over until I could afford the sports car that I had been dreaming of.

Along the way I became romantically involved with the most incredible woman in the world. She and I had been good friends since undergrad and the relationship just bloomed. I made a very wise choice and asked her to marry me late last year. I am very excited to say that we will be wed in June 2002 in Laguna Beach. (Before you guys jump on me about the long engagement, I should tell you that we both come from loving but humble families. She and I are paying for the wedding ourselves and we did not want to go one penny in debt for doing so).

The story gets more complicated. My fiance makes good money as well and she had no debt to speak of (othe than her leased Integra and a small student loan). The issue is that we both intend to go for our MBA's the August after we are married. Try factoring that cost into your budget.

So... here we are making very good money, and putting away an absurd amount of our take home (after maxing the 401K's) every month. We budgeted saving more than $30K in 16 months for the wedding and we still had a ton left over that we were putting into savings.

My fiance, aware of what a car nut I am, broached the subject one day. We came to a consensus that we are only young once. It isn't that far off that we will have kids, grad school loans, a larger mortgage, etc., etc. and you know what? We may not be able to drive that sports car then.

So when the lease was about up on her Integra, we got her a new CRV EX (all the space we need with the reliabilty, drving manners, and value of a Honda) and a silver/red S2K for me.

Was this the most prudent financial decision? Hell No!!!! Don't kid yourself. Was this the right decision for us? Absolutely. Now we go to work everyday and work hard knowing that we are saving for our future and that we have done something nice for ourselves that we can feel good about every single day.

I work in corporate finance for Citigroup and my fiance is a financial planner for high-net worth individuals. Accordingly, we are both very conservative when it comes to money matters. However, we realized that if you spend all of your time planning for the future, you will not be able to enjoy the things that you have already attained.

The moral of this long-winded diatribe. Find a balance. Decide if you want to marry this girl and then you guys together decide what is most important to you in the long, medium and short terms. Maybe you buy a 4 year old Miata and drive that for a couple of years while socking away some money for the down payment on your first house. Maybe you just buy the S2K and take the challenges as they come. I think that if you can find someway to ensure that you are being financially prudent, while enjoying life you will remove the stress of finances and enjoy the rewards that much more.

Good luck.

PS - I will muddy the waters more by saying that you won't be disappointed in the S2K if you decide to spend the money that way. Amazing car.

 

Yup, but the much lower insurance cost of the Civic (especially during those sub-25 years) saved you some $ in the long run. I paid my Civic off easily within 2 years.

Right on brother, my wife and I paid for our own wedding as well. I still don't know what total cost was and I asked my wife to not add it up because I don't want to see that big figure! I did insist on putting some money down on the S2000 before the wedding, but after she finally saw a S2000 in person she got excited about the purchase too!

EXACTLY!! My wife and I were both thinking of trading our paid-off cars in on new cars, but instead we kept those as daily drivers and got the S2000 instead!

 

I had similar reservations as you... I wanted to have a new one and bought mine 2 weeks ago. I HAVE NOT REGRETTED IT ONE BIT!! I love this car!!

 

You are right Barry. I am going to Zymoil my Girlfriend right now.

 

[QUOTE]Originally posted by Bieg
[B]You are right Barry.

 

It's hard not to echo all these posts, But it comes down to what you really want.
I'm 27 bought my S2K last year and am glad I did. Granted it wasn't the smartest move, I could have used the money for much better things...Like making more money But when all is said and done, I find a way to get what I want, as they come. Have a plan for the future and stick with it. Best of luck!