Hi after getting some thoughts on possibly being able to afford one of my favorite cars I came searching for a huge base of information and knowledge on the subject. This forum is it!

Right now I drive a 1991 Honda Civic hatch with a 2000 Civic EX engine with 15,000 miles on. CA car so it has no midwest rust (I am from Indiana). It has no AC, no power steering, and tranny is failing.

My other car is a 1996 BMW 328i with 160,000 miles and I am trying to sell for $4000, would be happy to take $3500 for it.

I have $5000 in liquid cash in the bank. (really need to put all of this in a mutual fund in an IRA)

Nearly $1000 in stocks (those bills will be working for me until at least 2020).

Work for around $900 a month.

I hustle shoes and clothes on ebay for extra cash.

Anyway, I got bills that look like $300 a month (rent, phone, car insurance, gas, internet) not including food. Food is looking like $300 (just a guess right there). These are not exaggerations, I am a very frugal person. I am also 22 years old.

Knowing a little about my financial situation, what do you think about me getting an S2K for my daily driver, after selling my BMW I will have $8-$9k. But that is just a predicted estimate, because for instance by the end of next week I will have nearly $500 in profit from my ebay listings. And my forecast for March is around $1000-1,500 on ebay profits.

I don't want to blow all my cash on a car. But I will def not blow so much of it that I won't have at least a few grand of investment money for my ebay stuff. You only live once and I have never had such an excellent car.

Anyway, thx for any of your input and I am enjoying learning about the S2k on the s2ki forums!

 

My first reaction is that you cannot afford this car.

I'm not going to go into specific numbers about what you make, and what stuff costs, because I'm sure other posters will do that.

In a more general sense though, "You only live once" is just an excuse that fools use to justify poor decisions to themselves. Put it in a different perspective: If you only live once, you should probably make as wise a choice as possible when you can. Dumping all your savings to barely get into the bottom end of a car is not the route that most would classify as wise.

Then again, I'm just some guy on the internet, so take it for what it's worth.

 

Ya I may need to grow my business more and focus on that instead of purchasing a car.

I mean my Civic, if it had a new or used good condition tranny I wouldn't even be considering another car.

My goal is to quit my day job and do ebay + my own web business full time.

But to me I think an S2000 is obtainable within a year or more depending on my own success.

For now, I might look into a Prelude. Going to need things like keyless entry, AC, manual, a well maintained car, and reliability.

 

Get some quotes on insurance and price out maintenance items on the S (particularly tires and alignments). There's much more to it than just paying for the car.

I'd suggest going with something that has lower insurance and maintenance costs for the time being -- especially if you're thinking of quitting your day job and running your own business.

 

Whatever you do buy your S2K with cash. Not having a day job and a steady stream of income is no way to be when you have a car payment. The Repo man is an SOB.

Also there is the issue of car insurance to consider. I assume you are male, 22 years old? That's about the highest insurance bracket on an S2000 right now. For full coverage you could be paying $150-$250 a month, especially if you have a less than perfect driving record and it also depends on where you live. In a major metro area it will be higher. Not having full coverage on a car like an S2000 is plain stupid. Why? It's an easy car to wreck especially while learning to drive it and pushing your limits. Second: it's a high theft target for parts and it's easy to break into with it's convertible roof.

I've been in your shoes before. In 1999 I wanted a 1997+ Honda Prelude BB6 more than anything. But I was just starting college. Sure I had the means to make payments on one in college because I had some decent scholarships and loans to cover school but if I had bought the car when I wanted it I'd have come out of school with $20-$25K in debt instead of the $4,500 I came out with. Once I had all my other debts paid off and a decent job I could easily afford rent and a $400/month car payment on a brand new Prelude.

You do only live once. BUT, it's the decisions and the timing of those decisions you make in life that allow you to enjoy life to the fullest.

Too many guys your age jump into things too fast. I'm 30 years old so I've been through the sh!t and I learned as I went.

Bottom line: Get your career path established before going into any kind of debt, but I would highly recommend you stay out of debt other than the kind that makes you money in the long run (mortgage on an appreciating asset like a house).

It sounds like you are still not sure what direction you want to go. Going into business for yourself can make you wealthy or broke and in most cases it's the latter.

 

Judging only from what you've told us, I'd say if you can pay cash then ok; if not, then don't.

 

 

 

$300 a month for all bills including rent? geeze I wish I could live like that. If you've never had a car payment then it's a bit of a PITA if you're not financially sound. If you have to finance some of the amount...make it as small as possible and pay it off asap. Maybe make the payments out of your steady income and accumulate a payoff amount on the side?

As to taking money out of savings...definitely a no in my book. Just read an interesting article about saving money. I'll see if I can find the link

 

Were you pointing out that I made the mistake of financing a car back in 2001? Yes I made that mistake 9 years ago. I bought my S2000 with cash and can't believe I spent $4,600 in interest financing a car. Learn from mistakes.