thanks for the responses...

yea.. the insurance and maintenance is going to be a killer i think... ouch

i'd say to go for it. get some rent money from your gf.

hahaha i would if i could... but she's still in school for the next couple of years... so she's not going to be making any money for a while

I'm in the same boat too.... I'm gonna grad soon and I can see a few jobs that want me in on it and I think I will have reliable income.

But I also own a C36 AMG so I'll be rollin' in that. But you see, the point of this post is not to tell you how I ball about in a cheap AMG but it is to say you can get away with exquisite style and very low running cost if you gave some well-aged cars some thoughts.

The more expensive / European it was, the smaller % of the money you pay today.

take, for example. 1999 C230K versus 1999 Civic coupe. yes the C230 is still more $$$ but the matter of the fact is more % is gone from the C230K and thus it's only "ripe" to buy it now instead of getting "raped" when it was new.
Mercedes parts are reasonably priced too if you don't park it up a tree or something (i.e. mech parts are pretty well priced from dealer, body parts are NOT) so there are always 2 sides to the coin. Last time I checked BMW has cheap-o parts through Worldpac so they shouldn't be that expensive to maintain either.

To drive an old beat up car is a shame but to drive an old classic car is a choice.:evil

think about it. Stylin' and saving up at the same time. I'd do that.

Also yes are you sure your girlfriend is going to be reliable 20 years down the road? I can vouch for a Toyota being reliable in 20 years more so than any woman I've come across. :rofl: :rofl: :rofl:

my only concern about older bmws and mercs is the reliability issue... The more complicated the car was, the more things that could go wrong...

but yea, i'm definitely going to be considering the used road for the best value...

although i inquired at the bank as to whether or not it would be likely that I would be eligible to have a line of credit opened after my current one turns into a loan...

they weren't able to give me a solid answer till they run numbers through their program, but said somethign about me needing to have a less than 40% debt to service ratio? I.e. my monthly debt owing has to be less than 40% of my gross income...

but then that's where the big chunk of student loans may be a problem and my rent and things...

so i'm not really sure how this is going to turn out at the moment

Sportbike = sport, speed, pride, hobby, responsibility. I will never
forget the memory and the fun a sportbike can bring me. Never
count how quick I can go or how fast it can launch. All I know is,
it's just stupidly fast that I always have to keep my eyes wide
open, you need every inch of your muscle to control the beast
under your crotch. You will never need that kind of concentration
in a car, NEVER. It's pretty much like Richard Hammond in a F1.

For bimmer or mercedes, own it once in your life time is good
enough. Have fun with it and move on to something else.

Few years down the road, you will probably change your
mentiality. A car will eventually become a daily commuter. An
object that carries you back to forth home and work.

You only live once, and tomorrow's not even a guarantee.

On the contrary, You should always live within your means.

Find which on of these applies to your personality best and use it as a frame to see your decisions with.

totally agree, i don't even want my next car to be manual no more, so i can have my daily coffee and donut while driving instead of scrambling to shift gear + drink coffee at the same time :lol

^yeah been there done that.

Maybe a second car then I can take it as being MT..... primary transport give me the D so I can eat McDix, talk on my phone and maybe masterbate......

Werd.

I think it occurred to me yesterday when I was traveling down west king edward inbetween granville and oak going about ~70 and someone came blowing out of a neighbourhood going 80. If I was going maybe a km or 2 faster, I would have been hit on the driver side door and in no doubt in my mind i would have been killed.

I'm almost 21, have the next 3 years of school payed for, and make a good amount of money each month.

My bro's are always telling me to just save and buy a house, just keep working, dont party. I'm too young for that stuff. I'll worry about buying a house when im in my late 20's if im married or what not.

I've read on several sites that it will be priced around 30-35k.

HAHAHA that's rite get a bike! u can easily fly a BMW with a bike,
so bike + cheaper car would be my best choice

xD

Bump from the dead.

I guess now that people have had a few years since their last post, how are your experience so far? If you have the chance, will you do things differently?

I'm in a dilemma right now too. The difference is that I'm not in any debt. Like many other ppl here, I'm getting closer to my 30s and would like to have some last ditch "fun" before I bid my youth farewell.

What do you guys think?

If you can do it, go for it. Unless you're willing to wait for your mid life crisis

Think about your future.. If buying a more 'fun' care now won't screw you over when it comes time to buy a place, I say go for it.

Then again, there are a good number of cars that are both very fun, and very practical.

^

I think the important thing is about planning. I was in this dilemma when I got my E93, I thought if I save all that money, I could get an AM a few years down the road, maybe in my early 30s. Then I went to test drive both Civic and E93, as soon as I got behind the wheels on the bimmer, I was sold.

I told myself, if I can afford it, why not? In my early 30s, I will be in a stage of starting my family with new baby, home mortgage... etc... I would probably not see a chance of having a nicer car until 40s...

And to have a nice car like that and knowing I will be cruising at 30km/hr on a car capable of doing 200+? not a chance.

So, I went with the E93 and it has been 2 years now, love every minute of the car. I have been putting some money to invest with my cousin in the states on US real estate since I'm a renter (comparing to most of my friend who have to pay over 2K on mortgage every month, they got no money to invest other than their own residence) and we have been doing some nice cash flow with the low price in US. And you know what? when I'm done with my E93 lease in a bit over 9month, I will still be getting an AM Vantage as that car in US is dirt cheap used.

I think as long as you have a good plan on how to leverage your expenses (get a car now, house down the road, invest on something as a way to save downpayment for house) get the bimmer... comparing to the CR-V and Civic I went through during my college years, it's day/night apart.

I'm 25 now and I just read my prev post (so I was 22 back then) and my prediction is perfectly sound at this point....

Still rocking that C36 it's like duracell it just goes on and on and on and on.....contrary to what people believe about Mercedes these days old Mercs really don't die.

The F20C AE86 also built because I was young. But I'm slowly adding parts to make it "livable" not go faster like how I was thinking back in 3 years time.

Added to the stable is the Nissan Cube after many other "less mature" choices of the past (EG4 Civic LSi, Galant VR4, Lancer EVO1, etc etc) and just in mid-20s I already find that yes maybe a fully automatic car with TRC ABS VDC is just what u need when u go to and from work using your own wheels. No cars don't get you chicks so the more "enjoyable" it is the better. But not necessarily the flashier the better. Hence more and more middle age men are driving like EG hatch and Miata NA NB because they are just the pinnacle of "driving pleasure on a budget". With the fuel prices at avg 115 there is no doubt that, like many Asian countries that exercise heavy fuel taxes, people are realizing that driving a 4L V8 to carry a 160lb guy to and from work makes little to no sense at all....

Who said you need a Bimmer to go to and from pharmacy because working as a pharmacist was boring must think again. What you need is a Merc or a Jag, coz you really shouldn't have to think "clutch in shift, clutch out, take the apex, accelerate when steering is straight, ease on the super touchy brakes at the light because the road is slightly damp" when you have already spent 8 hours thinking about "the prescription says this but...if I give this dosage to this dude is he going to OD and die?" and stuff. What's probably ideal in OP's situation is probably buy a rather new Civic for DD coz a Civic is just socially acceptable and financially acceptable and then a Bimmer or a P-car for the enjoyment since making 90K a year you really shouldn't have any problem affording both things.

That said, I wonder what the OP has done and how has his experience been so far?

Wow, I never thought I'd see this thread bumped again, but here is the update on what happened...

So I did actually try to look for a cheaper, more practical used car in the 10-12k range, and it turned out more difficult than expected (maybe because i'm picky)... in the end, i had one day where I decided f*ck it, life is short, i'm going to buy something fun... so I called up richmond subaru one morning, went in to test drive the 2010 WRX at 10am, and signed the papers at 10:30am... Totally a spur of the moment thing I know...

I ended up signing a 2 year lease on the car to give myself the option of keeping it, vs returning it at the end if I didn't like it anymore. The lease rates and the residual value were really good, so it seemed like a good idea at the time.

It's been over a year since I bought the car, and the novelty is wearing off. The car is really fun, and having that power is definitely a bonus, however I'm finding that I'm paying so much for insurance and gas that it's getting sort of silly when I don't always use that power for daily driving. When the lease is up, the logical thing to do is to give up the car and get something more practical, now that this part is out of my system. In a way i'm glad I got it all out of my system and bought a fun car while i'm young, so at least when im driving something more practical down the road im not going to be wondering what it would've been like.

That being said, who knows? Maybe i'll have another spur of the moment and buy an STI next time. Although I know I shouldn't and save up more money for a house/marriage and all those other things :(

^ What's more interesting to most RS members is how did it go with your gf did you get married? It's been 3 years you know :P

Or like the other post said "never count on a woman"?

wtf pat you're only a year older than me?! no wai....

Werd. How r u & ur girl? Or is she still ur girl?

Just get a daily driver and a project car instead of the the STI or whatever your going to get. You will agree that when you graduated that it was an awesome sense of accomplishment. When you start a project car and see it through I bet it will bring up the same sort of feelings. You can build something decently fast for 10k, or retarded fast for 20k. If you like cars that is....

Ya and you were gonna call me Uncle Pat....:rofl:

As for the gf, we are still together and just had our 4 year anniversary... we have not gotten married yet...

I read back my post from 2 years ago, and at the time I thought we would probably get married when she graduated (3 years ago at that time, so 1 year from now)... but after talking to her about it, I am pushing it a bit further back to maybe about 1-2 years after she graduates... She seems to be ok with that, and this way it'll allow her to at least start her residency and make some money so she can help with wedding costs and all that... i'm still very blah about wedding costs... I think it's a total ripoff to spend like 30k on a big party... We are under the agreement that we're going to try to keep the costs to as little as possible (i'm hoping around 15k)... we just don't see the point of spending so much on a wedding...

In terms of a project car, that would be really sweet actually... I had a couple friends come visit with a couple modified supras that were awesome... but I don't have much mechanical know-how to work on the car myself, so it seems like a bit of a futile effort... no time, no space, no tools, no knowledge of cars...

So that's what's happened since this thread originated... and yes, i'm still hanging around revscene... hahaha

^Very cool that this thread has been bumped from the dead and you can sort of have a glimpse of how your life has changed in the past couple of years. Good call on the WRX as well.

I purchased a 2007 STI last year and have not looked back or regretted it one bit. I am 23 at the moment and will probably not have the patience (or the physique for that matter) to deal with this car's brutal ride quality in my mid-50's which is why I went ahead and purchased it now.

:thumbsup: