I really need some advise. I have a base cobalt right now and i'm 20 years old. It's on a smartbuy and I have 2 years left on it. My payments on my car are real low right now and i'm considering buying the car at the end or trading it in for a ss/sc at the end of the lease. But i've been getting estimates to how much the ss/sc will run me a month and it would be like 400 bucks plus insurnace, i don't think i will be able to afford that since i'll still be in college and won't have a good job by then. Do you think I should just keep my base cobalt, do you think the 2.2 engine will last a long time? Also at the end of my smartbuy there is a baloon payment, can i refinace that payment or do i have to pay it in full? I figure if I buy the base cobalt now and drive for like 6 or 7 years, by then i'll be financially stable and could buy a really nice car and use the cobalt as a winter car.

 

Seeing as the cobalts have essentially a "better" but the same engine as the cavaliers did, the cavs can run around 250k miles, so if you wanna be financially stable enough to buy a ss/sc when you can, buy the ls in full, then later on get the ss/sc, its a good car, you just gotta take care of it

 

the eco should last you a long time if you take care of it

id just wait and keep the ls

 

Keep the LS, graduate, get a good job, get the SS/SC.

 

I know people personally that have 150,000+ on vehicles with the Ecotec engine (2002 Grand Am SE, 2000 Saturn L-Series) So it has the potential of lasting a long time.

I would keep the car you have now and wait till you can really afford the SS/SC

 

i agree with the others, keep the car for now... yes, you can refinance the payments at the end, that shouldn't be a problem at all... also, once the car is paid off, you will have something that you can trade in if you still want the ss/sc... that will make your payments lower...

 

You can refinace it. Your 2.2 will last you those 6-7 years and longer as long as you keep up on taking care of it.

 

awesome thanks guys, now when i go to refinance my baloon payment how many years do you think they will do it for?

 

they'll do it the same way as if you bought the car... you can agree to terms, 24, 36, 48 etc... the more you spread it out, the more it will cost due to higher percentage rate... since the payment will most likely be a lot lower, you can probably do it for less months.. whatis the baloon payment?

 

Here's what I did. Go to school and finish, and while you're at school, hook up with a nice girl that's very smart and motivated and get a ring on her finger. It will be hard to buy that ring with a ss/sc in the parking lot.

When you finish school, move in with her and push to get your money consolidated while she's still poor (joint checking, joint bills etc.) If she's smart like mine is, then she will find a kickass job about 12-18 months after she graduates college. Get her into a new car, but a cheap one that seems better than it is, for example a new dodge stratus (i know, yuk). Your car will be 4 to 6 years old by this time, so you can act jealous of her new car until you guilt her into letting you trade in the base-balt for whatever sport compact happens to be kickin ass at the time.

It worked for me, it can work for you. I have no problem riding her coattails for the rest of my life, and after you get that new car in 5 years, you won't either!

 

I think it's $7,800.

 

Haha thats awesome, whats your gf's job?

 

for a 48 month period, will probably be about 170 a month... for 36 months will be around 228, for 24 months will be around 300 and change...

 

alright thanks, i'm gonna try to put like 2 thousand down so i only have to like finance 5800. Thanks for your help

 

She works for Target Corporate here in MN doing some sort of import thing. She basically gets millions of dollars of merchandise through US customs every day. Sounds bland but she makes more than any other 23 year old that I know personally. She's going to start her MBA fall of 07 too. Can you say stay at home dad?