I am as you can see turbo'd, but my 3mm headgasket just blew and I'm faced with a few serious decisions. The car is financially draining me and I'm trying to save for an engagement ring at the same time for my girlfriend. I have a friend that is offering to help me change out the headgasket and has a spare 3mm that he said I can use.

The car costs me 7-8 hundred a month between payment (only 3K left on loan), insurance (280/month), and gas (15 mpg on premium gas hurts). I have one year of college left (graduating in May) and this could be a good chance for me to really save money and focus on other things. I will definitely be changing the headgasket so that the car will work.

Here are my options:

1. Part the car out and sell it (would get nearly 20K in cash), buy a cheap beater (for ~$1000) and save all year, and buy an AP2 after I graduate in May and keep it stock.

2. Keep the car as-is, which I LOVE but is killing me financially.

3. Sell the turbo setup for roughly 5K, and go with a used Vortech for 3K.

4. Part the car out, and return to stock, pay the balance of the loan off and save on the $333 payment every month, yet be extremely sad that the car will be slow again (sorry, 200whp is ridiculously slow after you're used to 400 )

I know the smartest choices are 1 and 4, but 2 is what I decided to do when I went turbo because I always wanted a boosted car and I love the shit out of my turbo setup (minus the problems I've had). 3 would be a compromise, but I don't even think a centrigugal charger at 3K would even be worth it after experiencing the power of a turbo. I can make things work financially by keeping it turbo'd but I have very little "extra" money because I have other financial obligations as well.

 

option 4

 

option 4. sacrifice a little now.

 

duude no way! you were always my inspiration to get FI

 

Obviously getting rid of the car payment is the way to go, but for the ring:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cubic_zirconia

Another option, I believe, is to go with a lower level of boost. 250-300whp might be easier to manage for the motor and at the pump.

 

How do you afford all of that and go to college at the same time?

I say option 4 is your best/smartest move. Take care of your priorities now and you can always come back later.

Good luck with your decision

 

I just graduated in engineering, started work, and immediately traded my old beater for my first new car--just what I wanted, a NFR AP2. I'm getting married next week. I am AMAZED at how quickly thousands of dollars have disappeared due to the ring/moving in together/honeymoon. Also, my fiance is in school, so things will be a bit tighter for a while.

One thing I hear over and over is to get the toys first and then get married. That's bad financially, but if you're planning to have kids soon, you'll probably have a hard time justifying spending a lot of money on the car after you're married. And as an example, before marriage you can just go buy a bullet bike, and if you can make the payments, all is well. After marriage, you have to either get permission or risk getting the cold shoulder for a month.

As for smartest, whatever is the cheapest way to make you happy is the smartest decision, IMO. Maybe a motorcycle (cheap on gas and fun) + a trashed volvo for rain/winter = the right answer until you graduate, and then the bike can go and the S can replace it. Maybe just keep the S and reduce the boost/go SC/go stock to cut the maintainence costs. It just depends on what you want and how broke you want to be.

I'm driving a stock AP2 and know what the bill is every month. I wish I had FI, but I know I'd need $6k for a good setup and to plan on spending extra for the other components that I'd break earlier because of the setup (maybe clutch at 50k, etc). I also want to have a 45" TV, a nice couch, and maybe another piece of furniture. And my fiance/wife doesn't care AT ALL how fast my car is.

 

BTW for the ring, I got the diamond on bluenile.com for less than half what it sells for locally. It's a MUCH better stone, too. I did pay a bit more to get my stone set (the local jeweler didn't make anything off the diamond, after all), but I ended up ahead quite a bit.

 

I'm with ace. Not getting married, but got my toy after graduating before I get too many family liabilities. Keeping it stock until I can afford upgrades in the distant future.

And 15 mpg, holy crap, I thought mine was bad. And your insurance, yeesh.

Option 4 or 1.

 

Option 1. Thats what I did. Graduated in May of 06. Bought a ring in july. Bought the S2000 in Dec of 06. Sold the S in June 2007 and bought a house right after that. Got married 6 weeks ago. I bought a cheap Civic for my new DD. 27.5 MPG on HARD city driving. Plus, the wife and I are enjoying the house more than we ever would enjoy the S. And good Lord! that insurance is high!