FormulaRX

Modding cars, racing cars, attending car shows have been my hobby since I was 8 years old (ok not racing cars cuz I couldn't drive yet) but anyway, to the point...I have always enjoyed powerful cars but never had the money to buy them. I know how to drive well and consider myself a more than average driver because I have owned and raced several fairly inexpensive front drive cars that I have modded with stiff suspension for track racing. But I'm sick of playing around with these little "cheap toys" if you want to call it that. I have an appreciation for rear wheel drive powerful cars and have always wanted to own a real sports car so the 350Z was naturally my choice due to it's performance and relatively affordable price at 28K cuz I'm considering Enthusiast model.

The problem is that I am still a student and have no job but I really would give anything to own this car because I just enjoy driving powerful cars and would love to see this in my driveway everyday. I graduated from undergrad already and am currently in my first year of medical school, which will get me into so much debt by the time I am done that I figured I might as well enjoy myself now while I have the chance.

I have a 1998 VW Golf right now that I can sell and also an old CRX track car that I can probably get a few grand for. I also have a few grand saved up and can use my student loans if I wanted too...so the question is should I sell my cars and pay the difference to get the 350Z now while I'm still a struggling medical student? Or should I wait until I graduate to buy one...look at it more like the pot of gold at the end of the rainbow so to speak...like a reward after I'm all done? Cuz I don't really know about buying this car if I can barely afford it at the moment but I would love to be able to enjoy this car other than to just visit forums and watch other people talk about how cool it is to own it. What would you do? Part of me wants to get it now but a bigger part of me wants to wait like I have been waiting. And I also don't want to be like some of my friends who had their parents buy it for them cuz I'm 23 and I believe that it's not fair to depend on your parents for everything. Thanks guys.

FairladyZ

Just wait, but if its hott young chicks you want.....j/k. If you dont want to live under momies wing then dont do it, you just cant afford it. I too am a student 21, I work 5-6 hours a day for 5 days to pay for my Z, but yet I still am a "baby" living off mom. I cant consider myself a "man" until I pay for everything.

Sounds like you da man.

yobri

iTrader: (2)

Excellent mentality. You're one step closer to becoming a full-fledged adult. As for the car, I'd say wait... use your student loans for what they were provided. Besides the cost of the car, you'll have to contend with insurance, maintenance, and the ever-increasing price of gas. And if you ever get bitten by the "mod" bug...

Everything in due time, and since you are not in a comfortable financial state, wait.

FairladyZ

I dont see how you guys use "student loans" to pay for things. Through my bank they will only send the money to the "finance dept" at the college.

jmboag

A car is much less important than your (financial) freedom. Having a nice car isn't very fun when you have to work all the time just to pay for it, really. You'll have plenty of time after school.

TZUNAMI

I don't know how you can even consider doing that. I understand your love for the car, it is badass, and I had to make some changes in my spending to afford it, but for a medical student. Dood, there is just no freaking way. My GF just got accepted and starts this summer. We're trying to figure out how she'll be able to live off of her loans for the next 6 years, and she has a car that is paid off and a great insurance record at 26 years old. I mean, we're considering things like getting a cheep enough efficiency apt. for her that is close enough that she can walk/ride/bus so she can save X on gas. Her monthly budget for gas would be like a 1/3rd of a tank for my Z. Your insurance at 21 male, even if you have a perfect driving record would have to be at least 3x hers. I just can't see how you could hope to make it work. Just wait man. Some of my clients are doctors. Once you're out of school you'll have the money to afford just about everything you want.

ZJD

The solution is a sugar momma. My wife has a good enough job that she let me get my 350Z 1 yr prior to graduating from law school. Its a quid pro quo: I get the life now, and when I make bigger bucks, she gets to be a tennis wife. Sounds fair to me if I get a Z before I deserve one!

dchengmd

I was in the same boat as you. All throughout college and medical school I wanted a car, but given the cost of schooling and the fact that there was excellent public transportation in Chicago, I never got one. In fact, the first car I ever bought was an Acura Integra in 1995, after graduating from medical school, when I was 24 years old. At that time I had just started my internship and was already about $60,000 in debt from student loans.

My advice is to wait. As you progress through med school you are going to run into a lot of unexpected expenses (i.e., travel expenses for residency interviews, license/board exam fees, etc.), and keep in mind that you income isn't going to be that great as a resident either. I know it sucks seeing friends who have graduated from college making 6 figures and driving nice cars at your age, but work hard now and it'll pay off later.

I'm married now, drive a Z, live in a $450,000 house, and I'm about to take a $400,000/year anesthesiology job starting in July. Keep looking to the future, you'll get there.

hakhan

Excellent advice above,
I graduated med school last May and bought my Z just prior to graduation. It was worth the wait,like a reward for getting through school, and it is nice to be able to pay for it yourself.
Just concentrate on your profession, in the long run it will be worth it.

FormulaRX

Thanks for the info guys...it helps especially since a few of you are MDs so you know what I'll be in for the next few years...yeah I know once I hit residency I won't even be able enjoy much so definitely won't have much time to even maintain the car let alone drive it. I thank you for your informative replies and will choose to wait it out. Yes it is hard since a lot of my friends all have jobs and have bought BMWs, Audis, Zs and I'm still stuck here with a stock 4 cyl 5spd VW Golf with 14 inch wheels hahah! It's just that I have always had a passion for cars and know much about a lot of cars seeing how I read about them in my spare time...and to see my friends have nice cars that I know more about than they do just gets to me sometimes...like "if that were my car I would ..." ... you know. A lot of them cannot drive stick as well as I can and they totally mess up their trannies and such...and here I am a guy who would totally appreciate the car and take good care of it but yet I cannot afford one...kind of funny how things work huh? Anyway, enough of my rambling on...thanks for your supportive advices. I just finished final exams this past week and am on spring break currently...I guess I'll satisfy my thrist by visiting some local dealers for a test drive before I have to hit the books once again for spring quarter. Thanks again!

kcobean

iTrader: (2)

You need to read this before you make any decisions. The cost of the car is a SMALL part of the financial impact it will have on you over the next few years.....Hope it helps. Sounds like you have a good head on your shoulders...don't let it get away from you....

https://my350z.com/forum/showthread....threadid=65836

NzZ

Wait until your third and fourth years...you won't even have time to enjoy the car at all. Stick with what you have, you'll be happy in the long run. That's what I recommend, although I basically did the exact opposite. Hipocrisy? yeah....but hey, you need something to brighten your day after being chewed out by attendings, residents, and the like...


NzZ

A&M 350Z

If you are fourth year then go for it. I am graduating med school in may and just bought a Z about 4 months ago. You wont have the time to enjoy it the first 3 years but 4th year you have all the time in the world to wash, zaino, and cruise. Dont get hung on the cost because whats a few thousand if you have hundreds of thousands and interests rates are really low.

drivenCSZ

iTrader: (2)

booooooooo...you guys are so practical. Ill be the devils advocate here. I have a little bit of idea what med school is like cause my sister is in currently a 3rd year doing her rotations. As much as i would like to see you get the Z I honestly couldnt say that, however i am still in college and sprung for my Z and have not regretted it one bit. I now have no more life savings and have to be extremely frugal( I get ragged on all the time " you have a 30K dollar car but you dont have enough $$ for a cell phone"). But you just arent going to have enough time to enjoy it right now as i do in undergrad. I say sell the golf and the CRX and spring for like a used wrx or a 300zx. that should provide you with enough go fast fun til you can afford/have time to buy the Z. good luck

FormulaRX

kcobean, thank you very much for the informative link. It was just a thought that I had in the back of my mind about getting the car but it seemed almost impossible being that I am a student without a job and am not really relying on my parents that much. I will just focus all of my attention on doing well in school and hopefully bigger and better things await me. For now, I'm just glad that at least I have a car no matter what it is because some students don't even have a car of their own. Anyway, thanks a lot for the valuable information. I guess for the time being, I'll keep hanging around here and read up on all of this stuff about the car, try to learn more about it and just have as much fun as I can without actually owning the car. I guess it really is the smarter thing for me to do in my current state. Thanks again.

FormulaRX

drivenCZS, thanks for the advice but I have always told myself that I would stay away from used TURBO cars being that they generally require more money to maintain as they age and at this stage in life, I don't think I have the money to afford a performance car let alone worry about costly repair bills on a used performance car in which I was not the first owner and have no recollections of what has been done to the car or how it was treated over the years.

dchengmd

This is really, really bad advice. Tacking on a 'few thousand' because you already owe close to a hundred grand isn't peanuts. I know, because I racked up a ton of credit card charges all throughout medical school and my internship, because I had exactly that attitude - "who cares, it's just a few thousand, I'll be making money soon enough, I can afford just to pay the interest, etc." That was back in 1995. Guess what - those credit card bills eventually added up to over $10000 and I'm still paying off student loans, and it took over 5 years to get all the credit cards paid off, at ridiculous interest rates.

The problem is, you will always get hit with something unexpected, from unrealized extra costs of new car ownership to something bad in your life happening that sidetracks you from getting where you want to be in a few years. Plus, there is no guarantee the interest rate is going to stay low, especially with this year being an election year.

As an intern, I made a whopping $26000/year and I lived in downtown Chicago. I had absolutely nothing left at the end of every month. I had a savings account, but it was useless to me because I had nothing left to save after monthly expenses. I know it's exhilarating to throw caution to the wind, but many times things come back to bite you in the butt later on. Trust me, it's no fun playing Russian roulette with your finances. You'll probably want to settle down with a family and buy a house in the future, which means it's never too early to start saving. You'll have plenty of time for the toys later. And if you die before it happens, well, you won't be around to regret it either.

peterhong

Dont really know the life of a Med student, but back when I was in law school I had that same mentality -- "If Im gonna be 75000 in debt when I get out, whats an extra 30 grand for my incidentals (i.e. the little luxuries in life that make you happy). However, upon graduating from law school that extra debt made a huge difference in monthly repayments. Yeah, Im sure I was happy at the time spending the money but it wasn't worth it cause I couldn't afford it. Yeah law school is only 3 years and debts are much less than med school, but debt is debt and you will not fully enjoy your Z if you have that money issue hanging over your head.

Since you just started med school, the Z will no doubt be revamped and/or eliminated by the time you get out, but there will be other cars that you want at that time also. Just think of it this way, you will be making tons of money in roughly 7 years and you will be able to afford any vehicle you want at that time. Hold off on the Z for now and focus on school so you can make the big money when you get out. You dont need to worry about little things like dings on your car, mods, etc.. especially while you are in med school. Trust me, use whatever extra money you have and party like its 1999 on your time off and when your schedule allows. It will make the years fly by. Also, don't do anything stupid and get married while you are still in school. Then you can say goodbye to the Z, goodbye to your money and goodbye to everything else!!!! (First you get the money, then you get the respect, then you get the *%&$^%$ -- you know what I mean)

robcassell

i just graduated from college and drove a truck for 3 1/2 years. Having to pay for a car in college would have been so stupid. Now that I have a job and can afford whatever, I am happy with the decision I made. If your getting the car to get girls, you better rethink your strategy.

kcobean

iTrader: (2)

You are a SMART person! The Z is a great car, but if you just practice a little delayed gratification for a few years, you might be able to epxand your realm of possibilities and look for something better or just load your Z up with every option and not fret over the dollars involved. Hang in there, and remember that half of the fun is the journey. Wanting the car for awhile is good for you. It makes you truly appreciate what a work of art it is, and working hard for to get something is way better than getting something and having to work hard to keep it....Trust me. Good job.