ok, so i'm a 19 year old mechanic in training, making roughly 15grand a year(), and in about a year i can get the 09 ss/tc, plus i work at a chevy dealer so theres employee discount, plus im buddies with a salesman, plus gm employee insurance. i drive a 95 sunfire that idles at 2000 rpm(ya a little high). a guy i work with is offering my his 08 g5/gt for 17000, but i cant afford it w/o the aprents help, and with where i live insurance is a killer...should i just suck it up, get the g5/gt and pay thru my ass for insurance, wait a year or 2, get the ss/tc, pay thru ass for insurance, or keep the sunfire until it dies and pray i can afford something when it does.

I KNOW IM ON A COBALT FOURM SO EVERYONES PROLLY GONNA SAY GET THE BALT BUT HONEST OPINION PEOPLE PLEASE

 

stick with the sunfire and wait until your in a position to afford a new car.
if i were you i would put down $500/month in savings for a new car... if thats feasable? if not put what u can and go from there

 

shoot, $500 is what i'm paying every month for my cobalt...although i'm like 2-3 months ahead on my payments lol...but basically what tREBs said don't do unless you are sure you can afford it.

 

dude don't work just to pay for a car, been there and i'm still payn for it. i got a good job i bought an evo, paid 525 a month, not thinking of moving out, **** hit the fan had to move out, tradded the evo to lower my monthly payment and now i'm paying 325 a month for a cobalt with NO options, not even abs. keep what you got till its dead. something will always come along.

if your a trainee making 15K a year your getting fucked, hands down thats bull ****. what is that like 8 an hour? thats ruff, just drive a pos and save up, think about the down the road, movin out and doing your own thing is way better then driving a fast car.

 

Get a new job.

 

x2 just save if you can. you don't want financial issues if they can be avoided. save as much as you can. it may seem likea waste to just have that money sitting around, but in the future you'll be damn glad you did.

 

id wait.. i shoulda

 

xINFINITY......i was in the EXACT same situation as u and i chose to get the ss s/c. After paying high insurance, the payment, and the premium gas i wish i woulda just drove my car until it died(like everyone i knew told me to do) but i didnt.....i love my car to death but i hate paying for it

 

I'll probably be the only one to say this, but a little advice that my parents actually gave me...

Its only money. You don't have enough of it and you never will, so spend it and have some fun in life. You can't take it with you when you go, so why spend your entire life saving it? My parents saved for years and years and lived a boring life. Mid life came around and they realized that life is too short to worry about money so now they spend it (So they bought Harleys and cruise the country).

If you plan on living at home for a couple years and don't have any other major bills, I say save a decent chunk for a down payment and go for it. A better job will come around and the payments will be a breeze. Funny thing about this life is that no matter how bad things seem to be, if you work hard it always seems to work out. I worked my ass off for 3 years at $8 hour when i was in high school, got noticed by some corporate folk, and now make 40k a year while I'm still a full time college student (though I still work my ass off...). Work hard and stay out of trouble... it'll all come around.

One of my favorite quotes: "Worrying is like a rocking chair, it gives you something to do, but it gets you nowhere. "

 

That's why most people save money. So when they are older they have it to do stuff with. Once they retire, they can actually travel the world instead of plant gardens.

 

wait until you get a better paying job and keep the sunfire man. you're still young and will have plenty of chances to upgrade later. play it smart.

 

x2. I was driving around a base model cobalt until I could afford a 2.0 cobalt. And when I say afford, I don't mean, I can pay the payments, I just can't put gas in it or do anything with my friends. I waited until I could make the payments, and still have fun.

 

Do NOT buy a new car or almost new!!! Although you won't listen to what we have to say, take it from someone that got bit by the new car bug before I could afford it when I was making about what you are making. It took 6 years to dig myself out of that debt hole, 6 years AFTER I sold the car! Now I make about 8 times what you are making right now, can easily afford payments, and I still had to CAREFULLY consider purchasing a new vehicle.

400-500 a month in car payments + cost of premium gas at approx 20-25mpg (depending on how hard you drive it which will be hard) + cost of insurance (at your age probably going to be another 400 a month) + tires every 6-8 months at $800-$1000 a set, etc etc etc..

Can you afford $1000 a month for a car making $15 grand a year? Believe me you WILL regret buying it.. but again, you will do what you want to and learn the hard lessons yourself (like I had to).

 

With my experience dude, Im actually in the same boat as you (kinda). Im 20 and I drive a 2006Pontiac Pursuit Gt. I pay for it every month.. Its actually rather cheap. Fully loaded and my payment is only 290$, but thats because its a lease. Insurance is a real killer though and all honesty getting the Cobalt SS/tc... is quite the jump from 140hp to 260hp... Wait a couple years, and then buy it. I hope to be trading my G5Gt in back to Gm and getting the Cobalt SS/tc.. within a few months. After im done my 1st year of welding.

 

I'm only 24. I have my degree under my belt and I am doing GM advertising. If you want to spend your money anywhere...spend it there. I love turning wrenches and that is something I have become very talented at, but you don't want to do it forever. Go to college and the cars will come within a few years.

And what is up with these mechanics that have broken cars...seriously?

 

techs either have a pos or a new car that they don't have to keep up on

 

When I worked in Retail computer repair, the last thing I wanted to do when I got home was fix my computer if it broke. I imagine its the same for grease monkeys .

 

screw that wait for the TC or somehting better!!!

 

buddy, the car went thru my dad, my sister, my bro, and now finally me, i tried keeping it in shape, like when i got it i put in some cahs, new front pads, rotors, calipers, new air intake hose, needed tires, had to clean the iac, new muffler, door hinge, and theres some other stuff, but i finally said screw it and just stopped, got tired of throwing thousands into a dying car

 

agreed, im only 18 and im back in school in the fall. sacrifices are going to be made (sell my G35 )
but i fugure 4-5 years of batttling through school and coming out with a solid job is much better then working a labour job trying to pay off a car and getting nowhere...

 

When I was your age (now 31) I had a beautiful almost brand new 1997 z28. Yea I looked pretty driving it but I could never afford to do what i wanted w/ it ontop of barely affording to put gas in it...and gas wasnt even an issue back then. My DD is almost paid off but im not sure if i want another 4-6 years in car payments. If you can afford it go for it but working for a car even at your age sucks big time....buy what you can afford.

 

how about fix the damn sunfire

 

^^^x infinity^^^
you're a mechanic. its a j-body. you should be able to fix it dirt cheap. no matter how much you have to spend on repairs, its peanuts compared to a new car.
wait and save so you can buy something thats worth the $.

 

dude, sick of fixing it, and yea its a j-body and parts are cheap, but first time i brought it into my chevy shop, i dropped almost 800 into it, and its a big **** off when youre trying to save up for a car and only spending money on a broken hunk of junk thats only worth 1000 if that, and trust me, ive already put 2000+ into repairs, working at the shop before chevy, a lot of money on the car there