I pulled a 9k loan for mine back in february from USAA. Very easy to get approved and my credit score is only like 720 with not a whole lot of history. I daily mine, but its already showing its issues. I'm the third owner of the car and it has 42k miles on it now. I bought it with 38k miles. First owner had it from 94-01 and put 18k miles on it, so from 01 to 11 there was another 20k. I could tell the car had sat for a long time which is worse than going out and dogging on it. The issues are starting to arise now that its being driven daily. Seals arent doing too well. FD's are tempermental so be careful. If you get a loan and your payment is $400 a month there's no way you will afford it unless you make $3k+ a month with no house payment. I make about $2800 a month with 800 going to the house, and my payments are only $220 with $30 a month insurance and i'm still finding it difficult to order the things quickly when i need them without needing to save so i can continue to dd it.

renting a house with friends makes owning an FD and making payments and still being able to afford it much more do-able. I make roughly 1500/mo, my payments are 110 every other week, insurance combined for my daily and the fd is roughly 120/mo and I pay about 450/mo for rent and utilities (parents pay for the cell, student loans for school). That leaves me ~700/mo to do whatever I want in my free time, video games, movies, books, alcohol, going out, whatever. Its all about prioritizing.
That said the cost of living in NE is pretty low compared to a lot of other places.

Cool. Unfortunately I didn't make it to the CU this weekend -- maybe tomorrow before work. But I got a quote from all state for an FD and a Corolla for $126/mo.

I saw those guys, looks promising. Have you heard anything about them first-hand?

Sounds like a lot of you guys have had good luck with USAA.

That's encouraging! :)


No matter what, it sounds like I'll need to save for a fairly sizable downpayment. Although my credit score is 691 with two agencies, I just found out this morning that Experian scored me at 573! :eek: That ain't good. I'll post back with my CU's opinion after I speak with them, and maybe talk to JJ Best and USAA, too.

Despite my apparently shitty credit, I make about 4700/mo after taxes. I pay about 750 for rent in a shared house and I don't really have any other financial responsibilities. Perhaps it would be a good idea to get a secured card and start using it for retail purchases.

^ Then why not just buy it in cash? I make about the same per month, bought mine for 12k and I just paid it all at once, would hate to pay interest on an 18 yr old car if you can afford to pay it off right away.

Yes it was who I went through, payment was $180/mo with no pre-payment penalty, they overnight all paperwork to you and you do the same on their dime. You do need to provide them with a lot of paperwork but it is simple.

110 for an fd and corolla? Unless you have some serious citatiOns and are 21 that seems awfully high. I had an fd and an fc at the same time for around $62 a month. Progressive insurance.

my insurance on the fd is $26 a month. but through USAA cause im military

Yeah, that is a possibility. Of course I wouldn't be building any credit that way. I guess either way I'm going to have to be more patient. [Edit: Also, I forgot I have student loans that are going to start needing payments in the next few months, but they're not too bad :sad:]

Ya? I'm 25 and the $126 and the allstate quote was based on the assumption that I have one stop sign situation on record (will have to check to be sure). :icon_tdow

I have quite of bit student loan myself, a mortgage, and crap load of other bills. It took me a few months to save up, but I was able to take my time to shop for the right one.

I'm 29 and my insurance is about $135 a month with the FD/Mazda3/MX-6, full coverage except the 6, and that's with my girlfriend in the policy. We have AAA insurance tho, not sure if that matter.

Am I to understand that you have full coverage on three cars for $135?? I didn't know such a thing was possible! :icon_tup:

Full coverage for the FD and Mazda3, liability for the MX-6, and yes $135 a month for everything with 2 drivers. I have house insurance with them too so that might help a little, but I do have 10 speeding ticket in my record (from 01-07) :lol:

Sounds about right, mine with Geico would be right around $125/month, that's full coverage for a 2000 saturn sc2, 1987 TII, and liability on a 93 FD (just a quote, I'd never just get liability).

My insurance is going up, me and the wife, no accidents, no tickets, 3 cars the rex and corolla are full coverage, mustang is liability only and sits most of the time, both over 25, live in a house. Pissed me off when I saw the email this morning as my 6 months is up in Sept.

Called up my insurance company, asked them why it was going up. They told me because the area we live in is high risk, so I talked to an agent to see if they could do anything. My rate is now $75 cheaper than the last 6 months, I am not complaining to much about that, it is only $10 or so each bill but anything is better than going up.

Auto loan from my local credit union is pending...cross your fingers for me! :fingersx:...

Any news?

not really, i see it all the time and the sad part is that people generally sell the car AFTER they sink another $3-4k into it.

it boggles me that people still think it is a good idea to take a loan out on a used car that is of this age and mileage, they ALL have problems no matter how well they are cared for. some people make it work, some people are lucky and find a car in decent mechanical condition but MOST find out that the car is modified and unsafe or has underlying issues that were covered up under sale.

if you plan on buying one of these cars, and the seller won't let you drive the car hard then walk away because they are hiding something.

<---took out a loan and is making it work. motor rebuild and a single turbo later...

It's not really about being a "good idea." Buying a sports car probably isn't a "good" idea 99% of the time for 99% of people -- it's fun and it's unnecessary -- it's a luxury.

I know this journey is going to be expensive. Will it be worth it? I don't know yet, but I'm the only person that can/will be able to answer that question, and I think the answer will be yes.

I'll take your advise about driving it hard. I'm also going to have a mechanic (probably won't be lucky enough to find a rotary mechanic in whatever area I find the car) to give it a look before purchasing.

Ricks Rotary and Rotary Extreme are both local to the Bay Area. So is Ivan.
Socal has Racing Beat and Mazdatrix(I think)
I'm on the other side of your mountain, so if you find something local I can help you look at it.

mdavis,

As Karack said, don't take a loan out for something like this.

Get good grades and finish college. Don't get distracted by cars and girls.

The only thing worth going into debt for at age 18 is your college degree.


Barban,

Rick's Rotary will rape you. For instance Rick charges $128 to swap a fuel pump (which I can do in 12 minutes), and he will royally ream you out like you wouldn't believe on everything else.

That's good to know, and a very kind offer. If I find an FD to look at in the area, I'll ask you to come along :icon_tup:

Good advise indeed for a high school/college student, but I'm 25 and work full-time in Silicon Valley. ;)

+1 on Rick's Rototary doing you dirty. few years ago he was going to charge me around $8,000 for a rebuild and that wasnt including labor... I drove my FD there (3hr drive) with no problems and in less then 5min he comes back to me and says that i need a rebuild and i didnt even hear him turn my car on. he said something like "i can tell your engine is bad by the first click of stating the car..." so then i drove another 3hrs back home with no problems and drove the car for over a year with still no problems until one of the coolent hose some how popped off and my engine over heated and we all know what happens to a over heated 13b engine...

If I were you, which I'm not, I'd save me a couple thousand bucks, and get a FD. I bought my Rx7 when I was 19 four years ago, Now at 23, we are still living happily ever after :lol:

you should go to college, graduate with $100,000 debt to pay off while you work some shitty minimum wage job that you never needed a college degree for or look for jobs with soaring %25 unemployment rate instead man, sounds like a way more fun time then a FD


just get a personal loan and buy what you want, the world economy will collapse before that shit is even paid for regardless so you might as well do it