If you get teh GTO you will feel good now, but when interest rates climb back up and when the housing prices start to climb you will be kicking yourself in the ___ big time. I have been in my house for 4 years now and love it. I have a 15 year note so I only have 11 years left and it's mine. If I wanted to, I could get an equity loan on my home now and get any car up to around $60K-ish, but I'm not. I don't need anything but my XB.

Supress that urge for more HP now and live with the tC/house for a while. You won't regret it.

 

if your planning on college, and yourlike me(parents cant help for college...they just dont have it) youd be surprised how mcuh it can cost.....like 6 grand easy a semester, thats at a small college, and with a lot of scholorship money....


id say just stick it in an account with interest, let it earn moneyn ow...if your power hungry, start building up the tc...its fun, i am doing it right now..

GTO's are nice.. i looked at one, did the math, could afford the payments....but realized it would kill me.....

think ahead....i'm 18 as well, so i know the feeling...but ya gotta look at the future, its always there

 

^^^^^^ go with that. or invest.. cant never go wrong

 

Thanks for all the advice SL.

Just to let you guys know of my situation, I do not rent out on a apartment and I do not plan on buying a townhouse right now. I'm still living with my parents and trying to save like most have suggested here. Considering that I do not pay rent and trying to save money and also getting a promotion at work, it boosted my income. So it's tempting to upscale to a nicer car at my age with all the influences of my friends of the same age here. I definitely will take on all advise suggested here and keep my tC.

Someone here mentioned a good point on an idea of joining the military and building interest on money saved. The opportunity in that situation is great but, I think it's a bad time to be in the military right now when deployed soldiers are dying.

Anyway, thanks again and MERRY CHRISTMAS!

 

Then your are in the best possible situation to save money and invest. To start building a lifetime nestegg. Use your advantages wisely

 

I love the GTO as well (of course, it seems most of the naysayers here don't realize that its not a GM vehicle and that its actually a Holden Monaro (australian!) ), but I think it just isn't the best use of your money right now.

If you decide to do "nothing," then I highly suggest some type of high interest-bearing investment.

 

Don't do either.

You're young ( listen to the older guys )...Keep the tC and build your credit.

$30K ain't much, and if you go with a higher car payment or a house you will find yourself, MARRIED TO YOUR JOB!!!

You got your whole life ahead of you, don't make stupid decisions now. Save money and see where life takes you.

In a few years you may not want to live in IL anymore ( I'm originally from there ). If you get yourself into a house and or a larger car payment, you may find yourself stuck when you have other doors open up.

 

man I make more then $30k and I can barely afford the tC as it is.
GTO ain't just the sticker price... owning cars cost heaps of money. especially preformance cars.

 

30K isn't a lot in the long run, but it's great when you're 18. I would say put it towards college. If your college is being paid some other way, get a decent apartment. The tC is definitely a keeper though.

 

I don't think I mentioned joining the military...but it's not a bad thing...I'm in the Army (and have been for about 14 years)...with what is all going on today with the Middle East and all, I wouldn't recommend joing the Army or Marines...stick to the Air Force! those Kats know how to live! and the odds of you having to dodge bullets and IEDs are next to nothing...

...oh, and stay at home as long as you can ! ya can't beat that "rent"!

 

wishful thinking!

take the house... it'll build ya equity for that car you want down the road...

 

I got into the same situration this...But mine was I got a better job making almost 3x than I did when I brought '06 Scion xA. I wanted better car with larger payment. So in November; I traded in my xA for '07 tC and I'm paying extra 178.00 bucks a month which also adds negative amonth left on the xA.

I love my tC alot more than the xA. Now, I have to wait to buy a house or even try to move into apartment on my own without a roommate.

 

I dont mean to be discouraging. But 30K/year is not a very big figure. I assume you're still living with your parents and donot have to pay rent or anything, then 30K/ year might seem to be a huge amount of money for someone 18. Just wait till you stop living with parents and start paying rent, school tuitions, bills etc, I doubt 30K/ year will be enough to cover all your expenses.

It's not important to have a nice car. What you want is a reliable car that gets you from point A to point B. There's more important things in life than just a nice car. But it's good to have a nice car and a tC is a nice car, especially for someone 18. If you take good care of it, it can last 14 years or so (My dad's still driving his 89 Camry). In the meantime, you can start saving your money toward buying a house, townhouse, condo, condom watever (real estate stuffs). An average price for a house in OC is about 600K. Man, thats 10 times harder than buying a car. Trust me when I say this because sadly I still cant buy a house in OC.

Ive been thru the time when I was 18 just like you. The only difference was I made a lot less than 30K/year hehe (I was a janitor cleaning bathrooms in hospital) and I drove an old 78 Toyota Van ( I dont know whats the model). Just like you, I did want this and that, but never could afford it. Because of my background, I really appreciate the money that I make and I always try to make good use of it. BTW, I'm only 25 years old

Anyways, just think about what I and others on SL have said. Good luck and have fun with your tC.

 

U should juss stay with ur TC and get the condo..then later get any car u want.

 

i make about 40k a year and i drive a tc. start saving for a house.