I really want a Scion XB, Automatic Blue Peal I'm saving up money for a downpayment while building my credit history. I got my first credit cards recently, a secured credit card with BOA in August followed by a Cap 1 unsecured card in sept. My goal is to get a Scion with no co-signer if possible and get the lowest rate possible.
My question is how much should I save up and put down. I'm saving about 400 a month now and I have about $1000 saved up thus far.
I'm calculating tax, title, lic, fees into my loan as well. I'm nervous about taking on such a huge amount of debt for a long time

I would put down as much as you can afford. the more you put down the less you owe. I ended up putting 4K down and my payment is only 205 a month. whatever you don't fall into the trap of doing a 6 year loan. even though the payment will be less a month, you end up paying more to interest. good luck with your purchase. :D

Even with a limited credit history, you should be able to get the best Scion rate available as long as the little credit that you do have, is all good. Since Scion bases its financing almost solely on your score, not necessarily the amount of credit that you have, using your credit cards for a few months may be enough to get your score high enough. Use your credit card frequently but make sure that you only spend an amount that you are able to pay off every month. And like violent b said, the more you can put down, the lower the payment will be. You can use the payment estimator on www.Scion.com to get an idea of what your payment will be depending on the amount down, interest rate, price of vehicle, etc. You sound like you are being smart about this so I'm sure you'll be fine, good luck

Thanks for the input, I like the option of a low monthly payment. 200 a month I can afford and I can pay more monthly if I want to.

LIke the other guys said, put down as much as possible. A good target is around 20% down if you can. Try not to get into a 6 year loan if possible, because it will cost more in interest and will take longer before you have enough equity to trade. A lease can be a good way to keep the payment low, but a lease is not the best way for everyone. See what best fits your situation. If you plan on customizing the car at all, then don't lease, because the accessories do not affect the residual and, unless they are removable, you don't get the goods back at the lease end. Whenever possible, pay extra over your monthly payment. This will lower the principle, thus allowing you to pay less over the life of the loand because you will save on the amount of interest.
Good Luck, and enjoy the car when you get one.

put down as much as possible 8)

I only put 1000 down since I needed the a new car at very short notice. My payments are 308 a month, 72 months. eek. I'm doing double payments though since i have two jobs, heh.

Its a crapshoot. You could put down 20% or whatever for 6 years, and pay more interest, BUT If you have a low payment you can always pay more and your principal will be lower which is great! Honestly, how many of you plan on keeping the Scion you own for 6 years? Most likely not alot........ so go for 72 months, make bigger payments with your smaller 72 month loan and when you sell it, you'll be better off.

Is a 5 year loan bad or good? I would never go for a 6 year loan, my goal is to pay the car off asap.
I could see myself with my scion for 5 or 6 years especially since it will be my new first car purchase ever and I tend to keep my cars until they break down.

RIP $200 1.5L Geo Spectrum you never got me any good gas mileage. Tranny died then replaced that and the timing belt broke on my birthday one year.

current car. 1900 240sx, Damn you for electrical drain and forcing me to drive without a radio and getting crappy gas mileage. I paid 2k for it and i never should have bought the POS but I must say it does run ok for the most part.

I'm gun shy about buying used after my last 2 used car purchases. Scion Xb will be all mine to drive and run up mileage and I'll be able to maintain it without worrying about it's past history.

Is a car is gas mileage over 25 mpg city too much to ask for??

taxes ..they are with you for life , don't pay interest on them . same true for license and any doc/dealer fees .
every grand about $20 bucks on monthly payment .
do this :
decide on about you want to finance .
then : .56 X
amt. fin . X
years X
% rate =
int. on amt. fin *
take amount financed + amount of interest *
now divide that number by the monthes financed , that should equal your monthly , give or take $ 5 .00 . ( don't forget cost of insurance . in what you plan to pay/month)
MAIN THING : get and KEEP good credit . (the world runs on it )
scionoflouisville.com has pretty good page..shows vehicle , accessory ,and finance rates . and you can link scion.com from there .
zinc

current car. 1900 240sx,

They made the 240sx in 1900? Whoa.

: P I kid, I kid!

I would do a 5 year term with as much down as you can. Also look into insurance, I ran into a current problem of seeming like I might get stuck with $300 a month insurance while my car payment would only be $200 :doh: It sucks to be 20 :tap:

whatever you don't fall into the trap of doing a 6 year loan. even though the payment will be less a month, you end up paying more to interest. good luck with your purchase. :D

:doh: :doh: :doh: :doh: :doh: :doh: :doh: :doh: thats what i did, oh well live and learn

I'm still saving up money as I had to move out on my own. I hope to buy an XB within the year.

I'm still saving up money as I had to move out on my own. I hope to buy an XB within the year.
I feel your pain man. I'm about to move out on my own, plus payments on my neon, car insurance, and finishing off 4 more months of payments on my wrecked 01 mitsu mirage. Sometime this fall I'm going to trade off the neon for either an xA or xB. I want to put 20% down, but I don't know how much of that is realistic or not.

I'm thinking on doing the 72 month plan with 1k down and a 5.1% apr. Low payments are a plus, 248. I'll pay on the interest and add extra money when I can.

Like everyone said-------Put down as much as possible.

for every 1000 you put down... you are taking about 20 bucks off your monthly payment

what i did is... put 1000 down... took the 6 year plan... and im making double payments

I'm only able to put about 1k down right now. I'll save up for a few months and try to put 2k down.

i agot an auto tcm xb. put down 3000 but i had to have my dad cosign cause my credit sucks. financed it over 4 years and paying 314 a month. without my dad my rate was 10% with cosign it dropped to 4.1%

www.bankrate.com calculators auto put in the amount of the vehicle delivered (tax tag taitle and if the dealer has fees add them also) then subtract the amount down in 1k increments. take the payments $xxx.xx per month times the # of payments and subtract your financed amount. this is the intrest you paid on the loan. figure the scion rates (posted on the web or 5.99% over 700 beacon then add 1 pt for every 25 points under 700 just to get and idea. Adjust the down payment from 1k to 5k in the 1k increments and llok at the payments vs the intrest. this will help you determine what is to your advantage. More money down vs the intrest it cost you. Good Luck

Put down as much as possible , because the more you put down the less your payment are , I. E . I put 6500.00 down and my payments are around 200.oo a month for 5 yrs. so it aint that bad Either way youll get better monthly payment deal the more you put down :eyebrow:

Go see a dealer. They can punch in your expected APR and you can give them a few down payment #'s. From that they can tell you monthly payments and also how much you would pay in interest. I did that and when i told the guy i wanted 5 year loan and put down $3K, he told me id pay just under $800 in intrest over those 5 years( 7.9% )...BAM! I was sold and drove off the lot. Oh and if you have a parent that can co-sign do it. Your APR will go down to around 4% and make it worth it.