Joe

Well, I'm not so sure about all of that... (Pardon my nit-picky mood!)

If the blithe young thing -expects- routine $2-300 dinners I'd think she was a pretty bratty, superficial young thing! Why is that better than a homemade picnic dinner at the beach?

No valet is EVER getting near my TT! (You should see the way I get leaving my Oldsmobile in the hands of "professionals" at an alignment shop!)

And, actually, all the companies I called quoted me TT insurance rates that were maybe 20-40% cheaper than for a Mustang/Camaro type of car... At least for now...

Okay, sorry... Some good points, overall. Its always good to be conservative.

Joe

You want them mounted and balanced, right?

Hamakua_Boy

I, at one point was irrationally thinking about giving up college and taking what assets I have and going out and buying a TT right away... but then I came around and told myself I would burn out the clutch or kill the trans long before it's time was up (I suck at stick) so this will give me time to perfect my driving skils and it will also allow time to grow between being a signed risk and my insurance costs... I can't wait to move to Florida (NY now). Hang in there. Besides The Fed just raised intrest rates .25% maybe that will cheer you up.
Jason M.
P.S. my friend once came up with the idea that three friends should all buy one nice car and split the cost... we never did it, I wanted a Cerbera, he wanted a Lotus, and our third friend wanted a Viper... go figure.

Curious

Frank, How did you drive a 1983 model for 18 years when it's 1999? Back to college! (nt)

Yves Lateur

Hello Rich

Just go for it when you have saved lets say 2/3 of the TOTAL cost of the car. That is car + insurance + taxes (I'm not sure you will have to pay these in the US) + ...
You can loan or finance the other part. So you don't have high monthly payments on a car.

Second, you can alwaeys sell your car if it is costing you too much. You almost can get your money that you had invested back.

I'm 25 years old and I'm working for 2 years. I've already bought an expensive bike (Triumph) and next summer (2000) I'm ready for my TT. I'm gonna order it in Januari.

Bye Yves

Jim Torongo

Circa 1970 and I'm in the same boat you sit in now. Only the names of the cars have changed. After 29 years two boys in collage and two divorces a house and all the rest I FINALLY got the car and it's called a TT. I don't mean to discourage you but it has taken me all this time to get a really neat car like the TT. I'm sure you can better my performance by a signifiacnt margin. JIM

Denny

Actually, now that I've written that, I'll think that's the vanity plate I'll order.

Tory

First off, your budget ideas are very well planned and I have printed this to keep as a guide. (good post)

This is my first post in a long time to this message board. I have been on the outside reading this for some time and feel like I know people like Denny and Brad Willis as if they were neighbors.

This message string is much closer to my reality and it finally brought me into the fray. I was approached with the decision of buying a house versus buying a TT. The house was the sensible thing and the TT was the extreme. I inevitably chose the house for these reasons:

1. Although it has a back seat, you couldn't live in the TT and moving home with mom and dad isn't always the most responsible way to pay for a sports car.

2. Although the TT is a beautiful auto, 30 grand to a 20 something year old is ALOT of green. In the grand scale, five years out and working as hard as you can will pay off in 30 years more than buying a depreciating automobile that will be basically worthless in 30 years. You figure out the time value of money and it doesn't take a college graduate to tell you that.

3. 20 somethings, IMHO, need to eat some crow before they/we can enjoy the things that our elders have. There is much to be earned and little to be had at our age.

4. Work hard, go buy a classic car for 3000 like I did (67 Firebird 400), fix it up and drive the bazeeses out of it. No house-sized car payments, no house-sized insurance payments, and you come away with knowledge about mechanics and a healthy respect for what it takes to drive a car of such refinement.

I apologize for sounding like my dad (I thought I'd never say that) but now that I know that people on this forum are my age and have real budgeting issues, the interest is definitely becoming real. Thanks again for the post and for listening to my worthless diatribe.

One question for the person who didn't give up on this post yet... Why are long posts unappreciated?

Joe

Thanks...I do try to plan.

In my case, I decided on car rather than house. Despite the fact that it would be an amazing tax advantage, I can't see myself buying a house in CT (at least not in Fairfield County). The way I figure it, I can stretch a little to buy the car now, and enjoy it while I am still "young and limber". For all I know, my next car might NEED to be a Volvo wagon, and by the time I can buy a sports car again I might be 40-50. Its very true: the car will be worth little in ten years.

If you notice the TV commercials, Audi seems to be targetting the car toward people having mid-life crises. Maybe I'm having a "mid-20s" crisis. At one point I looked up this spring and saw that five years had passed, and it scared me. I needed to treat myself. Do you suppose this type of car is always a compensation for something?

Oh, and my only problem with long posts is that I like reading them too much... And I just posted a longish one myself and I have WORK to do!

Rich

Wow, I didn't think there would be quite this much interest in my sad little tale. When it comes down to it I guess it's just a matter of waiting however long it takes to save up enough to make the payments manageable. For those wondering why in god's name a 22 year old wants to make this sort of commitment to a car, allow me to explain. Driving is one thing I get an incredible amount of pleasure from. Yes, I have friends, a great job, a motorcyle (bought myself), and a decent life in general, but conversely my (ex)girlfriend screwed me over recently and even more recently ran up to Duluth to her parents' place to live, along with my son. So I'm looking for a little escapism. Hopefully that will explain my apparent lack of common sense.

I do appreciate the advice from everyone, some of which I am planning on taking to heart.