wait till you get a career, then get an FD.

 

That's exactly how I got mine. Kid got in way too deep and could'nt afford to diagnose/fix some problems, and I winded up getting a hell of a deal.

 

And what happens if your uncle throws you out on your ***? What happens if you loose your job, you didn't mention anything about the comment I made about your overtime dissapearing. It's not that your being dense, it's that you don't like the answers anyones giving you. Look at it from all angles And it'll look like you can't afford it. Do you have a daily driver? Something reliable? What happens when your FD breaks down and you can't get to work to pay for this INCREDIBLY EXPENSIVE TOY? These cars are not DD's they're freakin toys! Anyone who thinks different id lying.

Here's what you do, you want to test yourself to see if you can afford this, here's what you do. Think about how much this car is going to cost a month. I'm going to say $800/month. Outrageous - nope, Note =$350, INS = $200 and toys = $250. How much do you guys spend on your FD's a month?? I spend ~$500 on my FC right now a month. So - here's what you do. Every month you take $800 IN CASH down to your bank and deposit it into your FD account. I have one for my FC, I call it my Mad Money Account becuase it makes me MAD everytime I have to take money out of it for anything that isn't for the FC which hasn't happened yet... right now there is 10 months worth of budgeted spending in there. So every month you go down to the bank with cash & deposit it. This will do two things, prove to yourself that you actually can afford it, and after about 1.5 years of being disciplined you can go buy a SECOND car for CASH, keep the FC as a backup and save yourself 4 ******* years of car payments and probably about $2500 in interest that you might as well burn or give to the bank.

Second good thing about that is if you're a little light for say 3 months, nothing bad will come of it becuase it's not like you have a loan to pay, it';s not like you'll be forced to drive around in a car with no insurance becuase you can't afford it, it's not like yo uwon't be able to not fix the car when it breaks.

Choice is yours

 

I like the points everyone is making. I will take from them and apply a few more points that may or may not be obvious.
- Save whatever amount it will cost a month for the car (includ. gas)
$350 car
$150-350 insurance
$250 gas (this is 91-93 octane with about 800 miles @ 10-13mpg [average])
$100 maintenance/mods (you say u wont but you will have to)
lets say this is high but youd rather be high and get your car faster or have some extra to have some more fun!

Save for a few months and during the process you can look around for cars and great deals. For instance:
I paid $6000 for my FD in basic running condition with minor body damage and a fresh rebuild (20k miles on engine) (new hood and dings on driver door)
I installed a new door handle, new coils, new coolant lines, new wires/plugs, etc etc after I bought it.
If you keep looking around and be patient (very very hard, I know I was in your situation less than a year ago and made a bad decision on a FC financially, but luckily it is cheaper than a FD)

Not to mention I created one of the best links of my life with a great RX-7 guy. He has so many parts he is just giving me now because I share such a passion with RX-7's and rotary engines. I get to play with his 3 rotor single turbo FD every weekend (650rwhp @ 17psi / pump gas). If you wait you will be rewarded and find your dream machine and have plenty of money to spare!

Don't be surprised when you find a FD with a good price tag to be ripped off. BE VERY CAUTIOUS when buying a car with such high engine failure in stock trim. I love my car but I had no idea what it would cost me even with everyones warning.

I put so many new parts on myself and still spend over 40/h a month on just maintenance.

Be sure to include your maintenance items with the purchase price. Don't take someones word for oil change intervals and spark plugs and coolant lines etc etc.

Be ready to replace fuel lines, fuel filter, coolant lines, coolant, oil, oil filter, spark plugs, wires, coils, vacuum lines (!!!!), air filter, coolant caps, battery (yes they get tired in these high heat engine bays). I may have forgot something but thats just the start.

Be ready to spend some money on a new radiator, this cannot be stressed enough. The stock radiator is not very good. I live in a relatively warm climate and see temperatures around 95C (200F roughly) at idle. Under load I can climb into the high 100C's (215-235F roughly). I would also advice installing a boost gauge and some sort of temperature gauge. (With fan mod, and downpipe @ 90F outside)

I've spent many hours working on my car but I bought a used car for much lower than blue book. I was expecting this. You may or may not have to do this kind of stuff. Be very skeptical when purchasing but be sure to look around for awhile. Ebay may be a bad place but check it out! I have seen INSANE deals on Ebay. I've seen perfect condition FD's with bad information selling for half blue book. If you can look for these deals. I've seen them first hand. (Example: Reman with 3k miles in 94 touring fd, new interior, new turbos, new tires, $10,000, perfect condition upon delivery)

Take your time. It will pay off insane amounts.

 

Ebay has FAR too many "FAKE" cars...

 

Yeah man, really think this through. I dont want to see another FD owner go broke. Theres no many of them out there. Going broke over a stupid car.

FD's will ALWAYS be around, theres always someone selling them, whether its broken or not. And good thing about it is the longer you wait, it will only get cheaper.

Better to really think this now and save yourself than to already get into the pit and have a hard time getting out. Remember, its not like you can freeze time and pay off the bills when you can. When bills come, they come hard and when you are in major debt, it will seem like they never stop coming and people fall on their face.

Take your time man. I know what you're going through. I want to get a porsche and a viper to complete my ultimate car collection but i cant, i have a mortgage and im working on buying a piece of property (strip club lol) so my money cant go to more toys just yet. I can wait because im still young as you are too. Dont rush in having fun because DEBT can sneak up on you and THATS NOT FUN.

Any questions you may have, you can always IM me or PM me. Ill be happy to help you.

 

You are too young to listen to the wisdom being offered here, and your desire to own the car is preventing you from seeing reason. Maybe you have to go off and make your own mistakes.

 

So are FD's really so unreliable? Even with preventive maintenance? I can turn my own wrenches. I'm pretty mechanically inclined. And like I said, I wouldn't really have anything other than car payment, phone bill, and insurance. That would come to about 40% of my income. That leaves plenty for parts (spark plugs, wires, hoses, etc.) and considering I get OEM parts from NAPA at dealer cost+no tax (my other uncle has a shop and is in caboots with NAPA). And if I run into anything I can't handle, I take it to his shop and use his equipment. Plus, I have two DD's (my FC and my GF's truck.) and I live really close to work, so I could walk if absolutely neccessary. I'm seriously considering everyone's advice, BELIEVE me! I'm hearing you. Thank you all so much and I'm sorry if I'm pissing you off, lol. Not trying to. I guess I didn't know FD's were so unreliable.

BTW, 1QWIK7, thanks. And everyone else too.

 

No you're not listening. You're coming up with all these excuses and reasons and trying to justify this. Let me be blunt.... Let me be an ******* for a minute - YOU CAN"T, & YOU SHOULDN"T BUY A TOY IT'S A ******* TOY NOT A NECCESSITY

I own an FC, I would never consider it a daily driver. I know plenty of people personally who own FC's - NONE of them consider them a daily driver. Your girlfrieds truck is not YOUR daily driver for two reasons - 1) It's not yours, 2) It's hers.

40% of you income eh? You miss one day of work becuase your car is busted, you just lost 20% of your income that week.

You live with your uncle, he could throw you out at anytime. Then where would you be? Can you afford to sustain yourself and two rotary's? I HIGHLY doubt it.

What if you loose your job? You stand to loose your car if you finance it. Are you really certain that this job of yours is secure?

IT'S A TOY!!!!!!

You could break up with your girl tomorrow, then where's your reliable transporttation?

You say you can walk to work becuase you live close enough. Here's a suggestion - talk the FC off the road and start putting the $300/month that the FC is costing you to drive towards the FD Account that I mentioned. (Why is everyone in this thread quoting me, or paraphrasing me BUT you? AntiSUV & I said the same thing, you're not listening to us becuase we are telling you what you don't want to hear.) That's over $1100 a month if you're diciplined. You can afford an FD in CASH very quickly at that rate.

The bigger point to mention here is if you infact can live for so cheaply- then please tell me where all your money has gone in the past? Seriously think about where all your money is.

The fact that you haven't commented on any suggestions that I have made, or anyone else that is saying flatout you are too young and don't make enought money to afford this TOY - this SILLY EXPENSIVE TOY - only reinforces my original notion that you cannot infact afford it. Take it from someone who does this for a living, take it from someone who at the tender age of 28 bought a house with his wife becuase of a little help and a shitload of planning, take it from someone who charges lots of money to plan other peoples finances. I met with a client today who with his wife make a combined 205,000 before taxes. That's alot of freakin money, he can't afford an FD, he can barely afford enough to save up to buy a Honda in 3 years (I'm not joking) He's been a client for a few years, I told him basically what I'm telling you, start keeping track of your money, MOST people don't know where they spend thier own money. It's cash and it goes REAL fast on stupid ****. If you really think that you can save 60% of your $1500/mo take home, than ******* do it and every week like clock work take $240 or whatever it is and deposit it. I bet you can't.

Not to mention you stand to ruin your credit, loose your toy, and be out on your *** becuase you are impatient. Credit is ruining alot of peoples lives because of some ingrained notion that you can buy something that you can't afford becuase of financing. That's ridiculous.

 

If you get an FD for less than 20K on some sort of rebuilt motor that has "MORE" than 2000mi, expect to spend 2000 in the first 3-4 mo, then after that, just the regular $100~300 ever month or so on Gas, Oils, Filters...

If you have any form of credit history, capital one auto finance can get you a somewhat decent rate on a used car. But without any downpayment, you can be paying 400+ easily/mo for car payments... So if you bring in $800/mo dedicated for a car (payments and maintenance NOT insurance or living expenses) and have about 2-3k in savings, you can do just fine with an FD.

 

I'm on dissability and have a FD I don't drive it much and the motors blown but it will be fixed soon...

 

Yeah. You are making very good points. To answer the question about where all my money was before, well, I didn't have any. I've been playing "Which state do I live in" for about 3 years now, and I've finally gotten settled in a home, with a good job, LOADED with benefits. I'm gonna have to get another car anyways, and since most newer cars will cost more than an FD, I'm having trouble justifying it, especially considering I'd have to pay full coverage insurance until its over 10 years old. Apparently I've been looking at FD's all wrong.

 

I'm going to ask a question I'm surprised hasn't been asked already - does your uncle know about all of this? I don't know how he is, but if my family found out that I was using the opportunity to save money and get started for myself financially to instead buy a freakin' car, they'd kick me out on the street so fast I wouldn't have time to pack.

If you buy the car, and from the sound of it, you probably will, sell the FC for a meaty down payment and factor the cost of a reliable beater car into the purchase price of the FD. I'm not trying to bust your ***** or anything, but if you can't part with the FC, you can't make the kinds of sacrifices you need to with an FD.

 

I'll outline my experience briefly and my suggestions. I'm not going to tell you what you can/can't afford since that would be pretentious.

I bought my FD when I was single, comfortably paying rent and expenses, making a solid salary and putting extra savings away. I had to a squeeze a few of my fun expenses to make room for the FD and it's maintenance and insurance, but it was cool since my FD would be an activity in itself. I bought it on a loan since I didn't have $15k laying around. I bought it as a second car, for weekend driving only, so it wouldn't sap me from maintenance, gas, and depreciation.

Within a year I met my wife and bought a house. Having bought the FD and spent my extra cash on it, the house, the wedding, and everything else related to 'growing up' have sucked up a lot of my money. I'm now faced with substantial medical costs each year that I hadn't ever had before. Not having bought the FD in cash (it will be paid off this year) has been an uncomfortable burden at times. My wife is cool about it, (she has a horse, nuff said) but our debt could be better and we could be moving to a bigger/closer house if it were smaller. I don't regret the purchase, but even being careful, I underestimated the impact.

Just remember, gas prices go up, commutes can get a lot longer, job security changes, you might need to pay rent or want to buy a house, engines can go pop, and life plans change quickly. Don't buy one until you're sure it won't cramp you with your current plans or your future. You'll enjoy it a lot more that way.

Dave

 

Well said.


People don't plan to fail............

 

Well, to answer your question- yes he knows, and he's more than cool with it. He's really laid back. He makes plenty of money (I believe in the neigborhood of about $80,000/year) and he lives alone. His wife left him and his kids are all over 25 and live in different states. He asked me and my brother if we'd like to move in with him. I mentioned the FD thing and he said as long as I can make my payments, he has no problem with it. He even offered to pay my insurance, but I don't know about that. I don't want to take advantage at all. He just likes to give money to people and I've seen people (my cousins namely) take advantage of that. He's given out $1,000 here, $3,000 there. But on the plus side, he has saved for years and is sitting on more than enough for himself, so he gets joy out of giving, even if he's being taken advantage of. I asked him for money one time ($300) only because I needed it for an apartment. When I didn't get the place, I returned the money, so he trusts me. BTW, he offered this to my brother and I about 2 months ago.

I'm sorry to hear about that man. Its a good thing the two of you are optimistic about it. I know lots of people that just throw their hands in the air and give up on someone they "love" when it comes to financial problems. My girlfiriend will graduate HS this year and probably go to an art institute for about 2 years, maybe 4, so I'll be alone for a while. At least I'll have my brother (and possibly an FD ) But yeah, my expectations are pretty minimal- I don't have to have the best clothes or the coolest electronics. I don't even have a gaming system, T.V., stereo (both in home and in my FC)! My computer ('05 HP) was a gift bought at a pawn shop for $299.99 (I know that because the price tag is still here lol) but it works just fine for me. The only really GOOD stuff I have is my Korn Signature Ibanez K-7 (worth about $1,700) and my CRATE GT1200H 120watt cabinet (4 12's, slant cab, 120w head, worth about $1,800 new). I put the guitar on layaway at a pawn shop and ended up spending only $360 (STEAL!!!). The CRATE- I walked into Guitar Center one day to make a payment on a Line-6 Spider III and got the CRATE on store credit w/ a 2 year warrantee coming to a whopping $125!

 

I'm gonna go out on a limb and say BUY ONE! (if you can get financed, which being young with little credit and a new $10 bucks an hour job, you probably can't, unless your Uncle cosigns...)

One thing... make sure you're Uncle is cool with this! I grew up with a family who would get LIVID with me if I forgot to call home after getting off work to stop and pick up some milk, so definitely talk to him about it since he is your FREE RENT and other than your new job, is the ONLY POSSIBLE way you could afford one.

First, save up at least $3K, because whatever you get, you'll need to buy parts (as everyone here is saying) and then put in your own wrench time, which you may not have much of with all that overtime you'll be doing. So be realistic about how much TIME you will have to do this.

Also, find out the bus routes and make friends at work so you can get future rides... which you WILL need.

My main point... go for it, live life, LEARN! Nothing ventured nothing gained. You're still young, any mistakes you make, you can recover from and guess what, any FD, even one with a blown engine will sell... so if you buy one, wrench on it and blow the engine 6 months to a year later, you'll still be able to sell it, albeit taking a little loss... so what, people have lost money doing things they didn't even HAVE FUN doing or LEARN FROM.

At least you have advise about buying and wrenching on these forums

One last thing, since I just read your post above, you and your brother should save up together and split the costs of parts and repairs you can't do yourself .. this way, you both get to enjoy the car and hopefully get some putang as well since your GF will be out of the area

 

... Damn man. Thats really pecimistic of you.

Alright, nother update-

WILL be obtaining an additional $100/week (driving van route for dry cleaners)
Have been informed of a job as an electrician apprentice starting at $15-$22/h 40 hours/week.

Look, I'm not EVEN going to say "I know what I'm doing" because in all honesty, I've never financed a car/loan. BUT... I've seen enough people screw up that I know what NOT to do. I make more than enough as is WITHOUT my raise to pay off an FD, and chances are, I'll probably sell the FC to have extra money to use for parts. Not only that, my '82 Nissan 280ZX just resurfaced so I'll have another car to either sell or DD. There's a dude at work that has a V6 Mustang (the new ones) and I believe they cost about $17,000+ interest. He didn't really have credit prior to financing and he makes the same wage I do. He has a kid and an apartment. He has enough to maintain all of these things, so how could I NOT pull of the FD? I'm not a lazy bastard. I work hard, and I especially will to have something like this.

But you know what? I may just go find a Viper to finance, that way I will fail like I'm expected to.

 

Go ahead and get the FD. You've obviously thought long and hard about it. You've heard the arguments against it, and it's clear that you haven't been dissuaded. The next step is to find the right one. While you're looking, start saving. I'd honestly suggest that you should have at least half the cost of the FD stacked away before you even try to finance one, if only to keep any monthly payments down. Hell, keep your expectations nice and high and it might be a few months before you even find one you really like. Keep them REALLY high and you might have time to buy one with cash.

Don't do ANYTHING, however, until you KNOW what you're going to be doing to earn cash for the next, say, two to three years. Start saving, then start looking.

 

Oh yeah of course! I wasn't going to go into this without something saved up. This isn't something I was going to do, say, next week. I'm gonna putt around in the FC for a few months (after I get my Centerforce) whilst saving/looking for an FD. I'd like to have about $3,000 + whatever I can get for the FC + whatever I can get for the 280. I'm not going to use them as trades though!!! Hell no!!! I'd be lucky to get $500 trade in because of the ages, that and the fact my 280 is nice and faded/stripped/rusted/sanded. BTW, if anyone is interested (shameless plug ) here's my FC.








Last pic is a little half-assed drift, lol. I suck at it.

 

I'm 18 and own a FD... I bought my FD FOR 20K (Aus currency)... and put in $1500 to get it to driveable standards. Since then, i've put a further 2k on services and replacing things.... I now do everything myself... and I tell you what... my FD is no where near perfect. Not to mention fuel! I daily drive my FD and yet to have any problems (fingers crossed) mechanically... but owning a FD is very big responsibility and the last thing all us FD lovers want to see if another FD gone to waste... so I hope your going to baby your FD if you do get one in the future. I got to know FD's for 11 months before even searching... and I wanted an extra 12 months until I found a good FD for the price. Am I happy with my purchase? Its the best thing i've ever done

Dennis,

 

Im 22 and I have a FD, I Paid for it all in cash and since have put about 6k into it... I can say that im glad i dont have to make loan payments because its no telling when something can go wrong. Next thing you know the repo man is at your door taking your car and your stuck still paying the loan off. Like stated before, its a toy... A very expensive toy at that! Please think it over and make sure you are not setting yourself up for failure in the future just because you wanna look good rolling in a FD! Ive been through a situation like the story stated above, except i didnt take anyone down with me, And i tell you what it took alot of hard work and money to get myself out of that hole... Trust me, you dont wanna go through that

 

rexhvn- Yes I will baby her. I've never really beat the hell out of any car I've driven, though given many chances. The only car I've been even a little hard on is my FC... well, I guess the 280 as well seeing that its the only car I've ever tracked, but I launched it at 3,500rpms (pulled a second and a half quicker E/T than it should- 15.62 @ 87.5mph with only a cone filter and cut off muffler).

Stickman- a little off topic, but is that a hub dyno? What numbers are you putting down?

 

It's not pecimism - it's reality. I cannot believe that this conversation is still going strong though, I think that's what's keeping me intrigued. You've heard from what I can see a 3:1 ratio of don't buy the car to buy the car and from what I can see an overwhelming portion of the ones saying buy it are little immature children who actually edit posts to add - yeah split the cost and maybe you'll get some putang too! Yeah, I think the only advice I wold take from him is..... wait.... there must be something.... how to not get caught smoking a dubbie on break from McDonalds? Nah.

Credit ruins people - PERIOD! Seriously post up how much the car is going to cost in payments, give me the terms and I'll tell you what you could have in the bank at the end of your term. You'll be amazed. & that is the last bit of help I'll be willing to provide. Seriously, someone post up some decent terms that you think a highshooler could get financing a $15,000 car.... PLEASE! I want to try one last time to clobber this kid with some facts and HOPEFULLY one other person will be reading this thread and say.... WOW! IS THAT WHAT THIS LITTLE TOY WILL COST ME OVER 5 YEARS.... HOLLY............ and then a crash as he passes out and his head hits the keyboard.

 

I'm thirty ****** two bitch and make $75K a year and I have no debts. I think maybe you should stop playing daddy and trying to control every situation just because you think you've earned it through your hard work and efforts in life. Other people on these forums have good advice and input, regardless of age, hourly wage or time spent wrenching and driving an rx7.

And your previous post was rather ... immature, arrogant and rude to say the least, so look who's calling the kettle black. Go get some viagra, maybe you'll get some putang and kill that bug thats up your a$$.

Now I really hope he gets his FD and has a great time with it