Tong,
if you were buying a car from me, this is what i would tell you:

put down enough to get to a payment that you are happy with. keep the rest and do what you want with it.

 

Hey thanks all for the responses. I'm going to make enough of a down payment so my monthly payments would be around $250 or less. So I'll have enough for insurance as well. Since I am getting a 2006 Sports Coupe, I bet insurace is going to be crazy!

 

you might be surprised.

you should get a quote on insurance too. that way you will know what you are getting into.

 

My insurance isnt bad at all. Some places give a discount fora new car that lasts for 3 years I think.

 

I dont think insurance is bad. I pay $375 for 6 months. With $100 deductibles. Not bad at all.

 

I gotta move there. Detroit insurance is killing me.

 

Save as much as humanly possible for your down payment and make it as high as you can.

Then, shop online for a loan to pay the balance on the car. Don't finance through the dealer whatever you do. You can still beat Scion / Toyota lending by 1 or 2 % points if you shop online. You can beat their rates by more even if your credit is "iffy".

Get a credit check. That'll give you an idea of how much your loan'll be.

And try not to buy ANY options from the dealer. Except maybe the side impact air bags. Safety is nice. Otherwise, you can get all the parts SOOOOOO much cheaper at other places. other than the dealership.

God bless the internet. And everyone remember to thank Al Gore.

 

You have to remember, if you get accessories installed at the time of purchase the warranty is 36 months/36,000 miles. Make sure you check their warranty. So it might be worth it to get some things now and put most of the money down.

 

tong i totally agree with what most of these people are saying. when you get into the dealership i will show you all the good sites for parts that i used for some of my gear.

now, your dealer can shop around at credit unions to get you a better rate. right now, they going rates aren't that much better than toyota.

 

What are the benefits of doing a zero downpayment? How much do I have to put down so that my payments would be around $200/month? Even if I do a zero down, do I still pay the exact same APR rate and in the long run pay the same as if I made a larger down payment?

 

You can use the payment calculator on the scion.com website to get a rough idea of what your payments would be. According to the calculator, a tC with no accessories, you would need to put down around $6500 to $7000 to get to the $200/month range for a 60 month term. Of course, don't forget about insurance, taxes and the other fees here and there.

I believe the larger the down payment you make, the less overall you pay in the long run.