rodH

iTrader: (2)

dude, it will end. I am 33, I bearly got out of a Honda Civic, I got my masters degree in Physical Therapy (I don't make a whole lot more $$ than you do, my wife only works part time, I have 2 daughters, and Had $116k student loan debt (now down to about $65k), I finally bought the car (my civic was 10 years old), and am getting ready to buy a cheap house (cheap in Orange County means around $300k and you get a SMALL 2-3 bedroom house). I am NOT where I want to be, but it has gotten MUCH better over the past year (I would be embarressed to print my income from only 1 year ago, for a person with a masters degree, it is an shame).

Hang in there, 22 is still VERY young, you have your whole life ahead of you. if you had a Z, you would have a car better than 95% of the rest of the world, waiting a few years will just make you appreciate it more

GOOD LUCK!!!

btw, congrats on the wedding, MUCH more important than a car!!

hockeygabor

Well don't feel too bad...I've waited about 25 years before I was finally able to purchase a "Z" and the wait was sure worth it!

rodH

iTrader: (2)

DUDE, over $100k in Kentucky?? umm, you should easily be able to afford a Z, I wouldn't want to tempt you the wrong way, and certainly don't know what bills you and your wife (to be) have, but man, $100k out there??

btw, Accords are Niiiiiiiiice, don't be ashamed!!! next time you think you NEED a Z, and it is driving you crazy, when you are walking out of a grocery store next time, and COUNT the # of cars that you'd rather have than your Honda, I bet money that there really aren't that many. That is what I would always do, when I got down and wanted a new car so bad, even though it was only a CIvic, I treated it like a ferarri, b/c to me, it was. I had some slight mods on it, so it looked good for a cheap car.

btw, some guys buy a Z just to get chics, you got yours, so hang on to her. The Z can come later. When I drove my civic, and had my wife sitting next to me, and I see a rich guy in his S500 with some fugly chic, who do you think was REALLY smiling inside?? HAving a Beautiful wife that you love is FAR more imprtant than a car you drive a few minutes everyday.

2003z

iTrader: (7)

That has to be the best advice I've seen on keeping a car!

bigworm521

dude put some of that "Z money" you saved by getting the Accord into the market - everything is relatively cheap nowadays...

nodeel

LOL

no, i'm not in Kentucky anymore. I originally found this board when i was interning at GE Appliances in Kentucky. I'm not at GE Medical Systems in Milwaukee....significantly more taxes

I agree with the choice that I made - but there is a part of me that wishes I could have my cake and eat it too Think about it, Beautiful wife, home, wedding.....and the icing....350Z

copperhead

Get the 350Z dude. Get all your toys before you get married! When you get married your wife will get pregnaut and you will never, ever get a 350Z. You will get a Minivan!

Get your 350Z now! You make 55K+ a year with only 10K in credit card debt! Get the damn 350Z now! or.........buy a house! while the interest rates are low, then get the 350Z, then get married....but get married in vegas and get a $1000 ring, not a 10K ring or a 20K wedding...crazy, crazy......get the damn 350Z!!!!

rodH

iTrader: (2)

what a miserable situation, do people wives really act like that?? What if your wife lets you get it and she likes cars too?? My wife and I have a policy-NO MINVANS!!!

I got 2 daughters, BUT my wife knows my passion for cars (what ever happened to "give and take"??). Guess you just have to marry a cool wife, sounds like lots of miserable people/marriages out there, I feel sorry for you guys. I guess if I had met and married the same girls you are talking about, I would get the Z too.

btw, my car far left, my wifes car far right (modded Jetta)

nodeel

LOL
My girlfriend would NEVER get a minivan. She grew up in a family of Volvo and BMW station wagons rather than the people movers, and she herself drives a Civic EX 5 Spd. She'll actually be considering the RSX Type S whne i'll be considering my Z in 2 years....hopefully we wont have a rehash of the 90-96 Z, power cutbacks and finally ending the line....

BDM

OUCH. That reminds me about my days back when I was in the corporate world (end of '98), I was making 37,300 a year and was due for a raise. I took home a little more than 900 every 2 wks because I had to pay for part of my medical, dental, and life ins. and I was putting a lot into my 401K. I changed careers (to law enforcement) and took a pay cut down to about 32,000 a year. But I took home more because I pay 0 for medical, dental, and life ins. I also end up spending less because we have take home cars and don't use my gas to go to work and back (I was filling up about 2.5 times per week because I worked in another town). It also saves wear and tear on my personal car - and it's resale/trade-in value remains higher because I'm keeping the back and forth to work miles off it. The amount of money I spend on clothes has also gone down - for obvious reasons.

And the best part is - this job is WAY more entertaining than
1) sitting behind a computer crunching numbers to find a more economical freight set-up
2) calling around trying to set up a jet charter for a box of screws so my company wouldn't shut an auto plant down and get charged back $30,000 a minute
3) testing a new freight / inventory system that my company designed and spent over $1,000,000 on and finding bug after bug that they chose not to fix since they later decided to sell the division that was going to use it.

BDM

PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE do not do all of this your first year out of college.

jj1814

Sweet Choice!!! (the Accord Coupe)

I trailed my friend to a Honda dealership this morning to drop her '92 Accord off for service (I still think the '90-'93 Accords are SOOO hot!). I was looking at the Accord Coupe and MAN!!! That car is nice. They coulda done away with the Sedan though LoL that thing is hideous in the back.

rodH

iTrader: (2)

agreed, the new Sedan doesn't look that great, I dont like the rear end either.

DeludedBuzz

Yeah the new Accord Coupe looks nice, while the Sedan looks like *** in the *** But man I wish Nissan would get their NAVI up to date like Honda's. I was thinking about NAVI on the z but didn't because it sucked so much...

But back to the topic...

It's a good thing some of you guys don't live in the Bay Area California. Anything below 100k is living below the poverty level!

Anyways, it's a toss up. Live life to the fullest now when you are young. OR set yourself up financially so that you can enjoy life more for the rest of your life.

If I were you, wait on the Z, pay off your credit card debts, buy a home and then use equity to buy the twin turbo Z when it comes out in 4 years or so (heh).

del105

iTrader: (4)

Good advice about buying a house first. It really bothers me when people have really nice cars and park them next to their $500 a month apartment.

jj1814

My rent is $685 lol....funny thing is, I dont want a house That high property taxes, a lot more electricity to be paying, house insurance, a yard to keep up....

Well..I think I would get a townhouse.

zxsaint

Thats what I hear from my gf all day (she works for LAPD) .. in fact so much that i'm signing up as a tech reserve.

zeroday

I think you're probably kidding but just in case I'd be a little skeptical of the person telling you that. Never heard of such a thing. 10 years is a very long stick to be dangling a carrot from in any case.

with this economy i'm totally impressed at the salaries you guys are pulling in fresh out of college! I work for the federal reserve system as a network security engineer and many of you are making more than anyone we've ever hired coming straight out of college...for any position really. I know this because our salary grade levels are public. Our research dept. has a few heavy hitters from Ivy league schools that started around 50k but most are less than that. Having been in IT for 7 years i'm a little ahead of some of you guys as far as pay is concerned but I was making 30k when I graduated 7 years ago from PSU and at the time I thought that was great LOL.

Ozzie

Man, o man, are some of u up urselves...

alex30327

There is no way you make 56K a year and cannot afford a Z! You should go see a finacial planner! Unless you are way into debt beyond anything you have mentioned on your post, you should be able to afford a Z!! I just got engaged, spent $11K on the ring, have to pay for the "Honey moon" etc. and still got my Z and a $270K house. I don't make a whole lot more than you do, and can easily afford my monthly payments of $528.38 a month. Get your priorities straight!! Its either the Z or no woman! For some reason, I have the inclination that maybe you fudged on your salary! If you break it down, after taxes from your tax bracket, you bring home $39,200 after taxes, am I correct? This means that after taxes, you should have around $3,266 cash per month for living expenses. I don't know where you live, or what the cost of living is where you are, but you should easily be able to afford a $500 car payment on that salary!