FMSavings

[ase]

There is nothing like working a 10 - 8 day, then catching the bus home, to make you seriously consider your priorities.

View poll: My friends all drive Porsches, I must make amendsI am totally biasing this by mentioning my Philosophy of the First Car: there is no point in buying new, because I will drive it off the lot, hit a stationary object,

Comments

[ashcomp]

Gosh, this sounds familiar. Here's a thought--you still expect to be in grad school at some point. You won't want to be dealing with car payments then. . .so you may want to constrain your thoughts to: "What can I afford to buy outright?"

[ase]

Barring a loan from the First National Bank of Dad*, that sort of limits me to the 15-year-old manual transmission Honda Civic market. You know, the cars that come with 150,000 miles on them. I'd like to road trip with equanimity in my first car.

*For the purposes of public discussion, the First National Bank of Dad isn't in a position to hand out 0% family loans.

[countrycousin]

Older cars are less expensive, but finding one with good gas mileage might be difficult these days.

OTOH, energy isn't bad right now and should stay quasi-reasonable while the economy drifts.

You can get along without a car - therefore you can shop for an older car and if something goes wrong and it is in the shop, you can still get around. There is the trade-off of lower initial cost, higher maintenance/repairs, but that is part of the game.

Personally, I'd like to encourage you to learn how to drive manually, but if you don't know now, buy an automatic. Besides, by the time you can afford a new one it will be a hybrid with some sort of automatic. ;-)

So I'd recommend talking to people about dealer reputation and look for a reasonable model 3 to 6 years old. Possibly older if it seems to run OK and the price is good. Or buy a friend's who's upgrading - it probably has problems, but hopefully a friend will tell you, and the devil (problems, not friend) you know is usually easier to deal with.

Good luck.

[ase]

You can get along without a car

Yes, and have been for the last 26 years. Which is why I want to set my bus pass on fire and salt the ashes.

Dealership buying is going to be so fun. I'm making dad come along to be the Obligatory Y Chromosome when dealing with salesmen.

[countrycousin]

Having been the OYC, I have doubts about its efficacy, but I'm sure your dad will do much better. ;-)

[filkferengi]

If you haven't seen this already, there might be some tips you can use here: http://thefourthvine.livejournal.com/112449.html

If nothing else, you might enjoy the snark.