Cheap car or car loan?

I have $13k cash and I'm a software engineer. I feel like I could find another job in a few months pretty reliably if I ever lost my current one (which I don't like very much)

There's a MK3 Supra near me with low miles for $8k, maybe I could haggle down to $6k and get that

I could pay of a $15k loan in 4-5 years pretty comfortably.

> are you also factoring in long-term financial situation

not sure what you mean by this. this is my first big financial decision of my life and I'm very nervous about it

I'm a little bit conservative about loans, but I would suggest something you could pay off in 3 years. I did a $10k loan on a $14k car over 3 years when I was 21, and that was about right for my situation. IIRC I was making $55k/yr or so at the time, but living a frugal lifestyle.

What I mean about long-term planning is thinking about retirement, if you're going to want to buy a house, raise a family, or whatever else.

Cheap 90s sports car then. Even if something major goes out, you should have enough set aside to pay for it. Like I say keep 5 grand minimum in a separate savings account

Finance a reliable DD like the BRZ, and pick up a shitbox to mess with later if you have the means for it. 90s sports cars are approaching 30. 30 years is when you can't count on a car to always get you to work or whatever time sensitive demands you have when you need them to. That's not a bad thing if it's a second car.

the thing is, none of the modern cars really excite me. I mean for $15k I could get maybe a BRZ or a Mustang GT. maybe if I wanted 4 doors I could get a Mazda 3.

But the thought of owning something special like an old Supra or an old M3 seems really exciting. Am I dumb for considering this? I will need it to be at least somewhat reliable, as it will be my daily.

Can you do your own work to keep it running? You can save easily thousands of dollars that way, making an older car much more viable.

I'm not sure, probably not. I'll be living in apartments for the next few years and most of them don't have garages, or the few that do have very small ones, or "shared" ones that you couldn't realistically do work in. Not to mention I've never worked on cars in my life. I feel like I could figure it out but I would fuck up some things in the process, if that makes sense.

Don't just think about the money.

Can you afford the 3-4 days downtime if that shit box breaks down? Is waiting for the AAA towing going to cost your job? Got someone you trust to fix your car or got a garage and 20hrs of free time to wrench on it? Got access to parts in walking distance?

Yeah, you'll definitely fuck things up in the process. Not only would you be looking at the capital to purchase tools, but you'll also probably have to deal with doing something dumb that costs a few hundred surprise bux to fix. That's the route I chose, and I don't regret it.

But I also started early, had a 20 year old car rather than a 30 year old car, and was able to get to work without it if need be. I mean, a 90s car is a great kind of thing to learn to wrench on for fun, but it's also a good way to learn that old cars are sometimes just one inconvenient problem after the next.

i went for a new elantra sport with the 6mt. having some peace of mind with a killer warranty for a dd is the main driver for me. it's not a sports car by any measure, but the car is pretty decent to drive, has a independent rear suspension, and plenty of passing power. it does good on gas, approx 33 mpg average in shitty traffic, and has android auto for spotify, maps, and voice controls. it comes with nice heated leather seats and good visibility.

i paid just over $20k OTD.

>Not to mention I've never worked on cars in my life
Don't start with a 90s sports car then if you want to avoid hating and stressing out about the car you were formerly in love with. Something will happen, and it will inconvenience you if it's your only car. It could be minor as hell, but still mean it's undriveable that day.
Test drive some of those modern cars that don't excite you. Don't make a judgement call before you do, and don't fucking ask Veeky Forums "what you're in for" before you test drive a BRZ. If you can reach 70-80% satisfaction with the idea of living with one of those, get it. Learn to drive well without the worry of immediate maintenance needs, then mod it after you're accustomed to your wants.
Get a 90s sports car somewhere along the way if you have a second parking space though. Shit's fun. More fun to actually try dailying them as long as you've got your dead solid backup in place when life throws bullshit at you.

what made you go with the elantra over the mazda3? also why buy new instead of used?

>62k
>software engineer

holy shit, where did you fuck up?

damn really sounds like i should just go the car loan route. which sucks because I hate debt and nothing modern really seems cool to me.

thanks for the advice though.

honestly i took the first job i was offered out of college and kind of regret it. my GPA was not great, it was a 3.0x, but i still feel like i could have done better. im applying to other jobs now but not really getting anything back. not sure what's going wrong.

the mazda 3 felt a little short on power. the hatchback has very poor rear visibility, and the sedan wasn't to my liking visually. to get comparable interior features and technology would have driven up the price a lot more as well compared to hyundai. the car felt composed, and did well with the power it had, but it paled in comparison to the torque you feel when the boost comes on in the elantra.

i bought the hyundai new because that's their gotcha on their warranty. also, the sport model got major refreshes with the 17 model year.

I guess you could get two shitboxes if you want to go the shitbox route. It just so happens I picked up a BRZ for about $16k the other year in part because even though I like working on cars from time to time I'm just too busy with other things at the point in time and nowadays for me a $16k car is something I can pay off in a matter of months if I want to.

It's an easy car to complain about, but I still have fun in it. Now to decide if that's "fun enough" or whether it's worth it to spend more for something categorically better next time around.

>nothing modern really seems cool to me
Yeah, I know the feeling. It feels like settling when you first go look at them, but give them a shot. Actually driving a car gives you an absurdly different perspective than just reading about it on the internet and getting varied opinions from people with widely differing tastes.

>applying to other jobs now but not really getting anything back

no shit, you barely have any work experience, and leaving a job ~1 year looks super shitty on a resume. Do something at your current job, and apply after 3 years.

Spending 15-20k on a brz or mazda 3? Thats fucking retarded. You can get a new 370z for 20k, and rape like a grape ape

>new 370z for $20k

surely you must be trolling

busriders on Veeky Forums think you can get a car $10k under sticker

OP, You're going to have to keep your job for at least two years in my opinion.

Then move to another one with a better salary.

In the mean time, I would advise you to get a used 90s car and play with that.

your choices:
>mk3 supra
>300zx
>rx7
>Some subaru or evo

Just find the right one, don't buy new yet.

OP, this man is trolling. He listed the four worst possible choices. Watch as he recommends a 3000GT next.

2 cars is the best answer

You can get a decent Lexus for a few thousand that's dead-nuts reliable. Then buy a sports car with no thought to practicality - you can get a C5 Corvette for the $ you're talking about. Most 90s "sports" cars can be made to handle decent cheaply but they will never really be fast.

Get a mid 90s Nissan 240, a Mercedes CLK, or a RX8. Best part of used cars is you own them outright and they're likely better built and more durable than a new 2018 model car that's designed to be chucked once the lease is up or you make the final payment if you bought it.

Civics and the entire Toyota lineup (save for the Supra of old and their version of the BRZ) are IMO the AntiCar for people who don't give a shit about handling nor performance and only want a 4 door transportation appliance, like old people and basic bitches and pot smoking dudebros

i wish someone told me before i accepted this job that apparently i was supposed to have it for multiple years, i might have looked longer

i just dont see the point in having 2 cars, i doubt i'd be able to use the "fun" car very much except on the weekends

are any of those reliably enough to be a DD though?

2 cars means if is off the road a while you can just use the other. Depending on your situation it might not be very expensive. I kept two cars on the road for a few years when I was in school and it worked out well, particularly because I was in the habit of letting my friends use the shittier one when I didn't need it myself. One time I told them they could take it on a road trip if they put in the time and effort to get it pass inspection. Fun project ensued :D

And don't worry about the job thing. I quit my first software job after 3 days because the corporate atmosphere was insufferable. It took several months to wander into a new one, but I had savings to live on and eventually I got a tip about a better gig. Not the sixfigs right out of school befitting of my degree, but it fit better for my lifestyle.

240s were reliable enough when I was your age. Good luck finding one these days that isn't clapped out.

The CLK would be, idk about the others' reliability since nobody leaves those stock. Most Benzes are good to go right out of the box so they aren't modded, you can get an AMG if you want to be sideways 95% of the time when you drive. I have close to 300000 miles on my 1992 190E 2.6, original motor and transmission

I DD my '92 Benz, no sweat whatsoever. They are still modern enough to be dependable while not being so cutting edge everything is chip and sensor based so you can learn about cars and work on a lot of things by yourself if need be. Since its not a BMW you get reliability. That's how you see a shitload of 30/40 year old Benzes out on the streets while the only BMWs you see comparably that old are driven by old men with OCD who keep them in a bubble or they are thrashed to shit driven by some punk kid or sitting in a junkyard rusting out and parted off.

No it isn't! 2 cars means effectively doubling your car costs as you have 2 cars to keep in gas, 2 cars to insure, 2X the oil changes/consumables like filters, spark plugs, and tires plus the potential hassle of finding enough spaces for both cars. Not all of us have a 30 acre plowed field next to our frontier homes there, Cletus

Car loan. You'll need it for your credit history when you try to buy a house.

Depends how much insurance costs and how many miles you put on them. In the US, insurance can be a fraction of what it used to be just by crossing over a state line.

>spark plugs
Even when you needed to put in new ones every year they were still the cost of a big mac with cheese.

Gay. Last time I bought a car loan it took hours and I got all these letters in the mail afterward about how my loan was rejected because the last time I bought a car loan was too long ago.

Fuck that noise.

Ladies and gentlemen, the typical "buy a used car, don't let the jews win" poster.

You spread the miles and usage across two cars. Multi-car discounts reduce the impact on your insurance.

If the Jews don't want to give me a deal then what use do I have for them? I paid for it out of pocket instead.

>2x the gas and maintenance
>when each car is going to be driven half as much
You must be some kind of fucking genius.

Literally unless you live in CA you're not going to be making more than ~63k at an entry level software engineer job, that's pretty much the standard going rate

>cherry picking the worst gen civic

bro

Where do you work/what do you do? I just got a SE job for 63k right out of school and honestly i really like it where I work. I don't know what pay raises are going to look like but I know I'll be able to be a SE II in a year or two and get bumped up at least 10k. Planning on buying a house in 2-3 years. I also don't live in a big city so it's not super expensive to live here.

I make 45k and can pay a 20k loan in a year? Granted I manage my money well and living expenses are low where I live

OP don't forget you can get a 5 year loan and refinance in a year or two and pay it off early. 5 years gives you a lot of options and lessens the immediate money burden per month.

Find other jews. I hope to fuck you didn't pay out of pocket for something newish. If it was sub $10k, whatever, but my god is the advice to pay out of pocket for a $20k+ car retarded. I mean, unless your credit score is godawful.

>hatch civics

The only good looking ones are sedans and coupes.

Get preapproved for a loan from a credit union that has competitive apr.
And use the money you want to buy whatever the fuck you want. Sit on the loan until you find something you really like.

Last time I found another Jew I helped design a plan to shut down his barely million dollar operation he was trying to pawn off on his friends and family because he got Jewed in to sitting on a whole bunch of MBS shlock and was completely upside-down on it. I can take out a loan from my own family if I really need to.

I didn't say spark plugs were expensive, just that you got twice as many to worry about with 2 cars

literally the starting salary anywhere except the bay area, which let's be honest, is not worth moving there for work

Why do you worry about spark plugs? Do you drive some old shitty V6 abomination where you have to take the engine out to change the spark plugs?

Meh, for the

>Implying all cars have identical reliability and MPG

Not at all, I am just OCD about maintenance and getting max performance out of my cars so to me two cars is double the anxiety and fussing over.

How often do you take the spark plugs out and regap them?

Every 6 months

What do you drive? It's been quite a while since I've even sanded the electrodes clean.

>implying the fun car will be driven as much as the nice reliable commuter

Oh shit you're gonna wear out the threads on the cylinder heads at that rate!

>Oh shit you're gonna wear out the threads on the cylinder heads at that rate!
You don't know from fun until you launch a plug out and now it sounds like a Harley.

'85 M3

That's fair. How hard is it to take the plugs out on one of those?

What the fuck! You're not even not even getting your money's worth out of your plugs changing them so fast. Either your block has really fucked timing and you never change the oil nor the air filter but you are going to strip those plug threads wicked fast changing the plugs so goddamn much

RE-gap them? If the electrode is that fucked up I just replace with a fresh set. What kind of a penny-pinching brokefag regaps old spark plugs?

The same kind of person who takes them out every 6 months for inspection.

I CHANGE my plugs every 1.5-2 years. Its cheap and easy to do.

Do you even check the gap on your new plugs?

eh, honestly it depends where you live and what industry the software engineering is for. 62 is certainly low for a large city, and poverty for west coast cities, but a smaller city in the south it would be fine. don't worry about it too much. I make $20k more than when I started working 2.5 years ago with an engineering bachelors

>thinking only the electrode wears out in a spark plug.

You sound so cheap you probably wipe your ass on both sides of the toilet paper when you shit

I didn't buy a set of feeler gauges to put up my ass, son.

Yes of course, I gap them to .032 like what my owner's manual for my car says to do, put em in and go from there. I want my car to run correctly and as intended.

>
>i just dont see the point in having 2 cars

You could daily drive a Lambo for a month and it'll get boring. They're both more enjoyable with contrast.

You're splitting the mileage between the 2, dipshit. Same gas, same maintenance just spread over 2 cars.

Insurance is more but nowhere near double. I added a Corvette onto my Suburban's policy, after the mileage adjustments my rates went up $20/month.

>should i make the right choice or be a normie?

s'what I did. Listen to this man OP

If you're making $64k and buying a $15k car, pay cash nigga

He might qualify for a great first time loan rate, which would be good to build his credit.

Don't forget to factor in the $100 for a MLS head gasket.

Buy American

tennessee, full stack web development for a fortune 500 company.

honestly the code isn't too bad, they've let me work on mostly greenfield projects so far which is nice because their legacy codebase is terribad.

the thing I don't like is everyone is much older than me there and I feel really isolated and alone. besides me and one other guy everyone else there is over 30. they're cool people but I guess I just wish I could make more friends my age because I don't have much of a social life.

not to get too personal but ever since I ruined things with my girlfriend and moved out from my apt with my roommate i've been extremely isolated and it's destroying my mental health.

part of the reason I want a special car is just to give me something to feel excited about again. maybe even turn it into a hobby and meet people.

Option 3: Spend 10-15k on something lightly used and reliable yet fun.

I'm in a similar position as you, OP. 24, make 65k, and last year I bought a lightly used (18k miles) car for $23k. I love the car, and don't regret the purchase, but I feel like it would have been better to spend less and save more. My buddy bought a used g35 w/ 60k miles for $12k and has had as little need for maintenance as I have.

TLDR: Don't drop >$15k on a car yet.

Also, because I spent so much, I feel the need to baby it. If I had something cheaper I wouldn't mind trashing it a bit, driving harder, and would worry less overall.

what car did you get?

2013 Chrysler 300c 5.7l v8

Buy the 300zx then if it’s going to make you happy. I did a similar thing recently with a used 1 series, haven’t enjoyed life this much in years. The car somehow managed to pull me out of this weird mid-20s rut I was in. Even if it eventually blows up and I have to get something else more modern, I’ll still get a smile on my face 30 years from now when I think back on my bimmer

Just get what you want my dude, I bought a used 3 series BMW with 30k miles on it and I could not be happier, if I bought something else I didn't want as much i would probably always regret it
Just do think about if you're going to need those 2 extra doors for the near future or if you'll get a second bigger car later on