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Originally Posted by inpuressa

Thanks for the advice guys.


Guess I'll just drool over this message board for the time being.

That is what I'm doing, but doing the same thing on the EVOX forum. There is no rush man, wait it out. It's a good idea to watch as the first year issues/problems come out and get resolved. And Suby might make some upgrades available for the 2009 model year. With the economy hanging on like it is, best to wait. At least I'm in no rush but I will buy one when I can score one for less than invoice and for an incredible interest rate. They are already offering up some low % rates now, on a brand new model so in December of this year, there should be some great deals to be had.

[Pre]

Originally Posted by Gray08

Having made a lot of mistakes when I was younger, it's easy to give advice now. I know how tempting it is to go into debt over a cool car, but it really isn't worth it.

Damn good advice

I especially like the part concerning the mortgage. I've been over this with my accountant as well. Those tax deductions are worth it. I might pay an extra house payment every year or every other year but that will be the extent of it.

As far as the car goes...buying one with $ is kind of out of the cards for some of us. But I would make sure you can put some nice $ down on one so that you can keep your payment in a comfortable place. For me that is $500 or less a month, anything more and it isn't worth it to me.

[inpuressa]

It'll take me another 2 years to save up for the STi... The one that I had my eyes on was sold to some other guy last week.

I now have time until the next batch arrives sometime in May/June. I can save up to pay majority of the cost, but have another problem to deal with.

I need to sell my current car to get that huge chunk going, but I need to sync it with the time the car arrives. I could just sell it to the dealer, but there's about a $4000 difference compared to a private sale, so that's out of the question. Somebody said I can just refinance it, but don't want to go that route. Maybe I can get a cheap rent-a-car for a week... But again, it depends on "when" I get a potential offer from a buyer. The dealer also told me that they can only hold the car for a week even if I put $5K down.

Being still a noob at buying/trading cars, what you guys think I should do? Thanks

[chmura]

To the op:

How old are you? If you are young ie 20-25 depleating most of your savings isnt all that bad. If you were say 30+ and you did this it would not be a good move. IF you are young then go and get the car you love to much.

Also, taking out a $12k loan is not that bad. Don't save up every penny for this car because no car is worth saving every penny for.

Looks like you have a decent downpayment so just get the car.

[GilMikalian]

Originally Posted by inpuressa

It'll take me another 2 years to save up for the STi... The one that I had my eyes on was sold to some other guy last week.

I now have time until the next batch arrives sometime in May/June. I can save up to pay majority of the cost, but have another problem to deal with.

I need to sell my current car to get that huge chunk going, but I need to sync it with the time the car arrives. I could just sell it to the dealer, but there's about a $4000 difference compared to a private sale, so that's out of the question. Somebody said I can just refinance it, but don't want to go that route. Maybe I can get a cheap rent-a-car for a week... But again, it depends on "when" I get a potential offer from a buyer. The dealer also told me that they can only hold the car for a week even if I put $5K down.

Being still a noob at buying/trading cars, what you guys think I should do? Thanks

Work out an arrangement with the buyer that you will need your car until a given date. Unless the buyer needs a car that day, they may be able to make proper arrangements until you hand over the keys.

[VtecSTI]

I would just put down enough to swing the payment comfortably. If you have a great interest rate, finance longer(72) months, then just pay more each month if feasible. I'm doing this in Sept. on the 09 M3. They want 10% before i can order it, and the 08 doesn't come with the M-DCT so i choose to wait. I've made poor decisions when it comes to buying and selling cars. 3 cars in 3 years. But i am only 23, and have my whole life ahead of me. Good luck with your decision. Just remember..if you mod a car, make sure you part it out. You'll save alot of $$$$$...believe me, i lost enough to know

[inpuressa]

wow revived after some time. I am financially stable enough to get a STi, with some thing fall back on now. But with all these problems with SoA happening, I may not see my STi for a long time...

I finally converted my car back to stock trim to sell all my parts and now this... grrr.
But stock feels so slooooow from stage 2.

[VtecSTI]

Originally Posted by inpuressa

wow revived after some time. I am financially stable enough to get a STi, with some thing fall back on now. But with all these problems with SoA happening, I may not see my STi for a long time...

I finally converted my car back to stock trim to sell all my parts and now this... grrr.
But stock feels so slooooow from stage 2.

Congrats. I would just be patient. Yeah, when i went from stage 2 in my 04 to stock in my 06 i was bored to death. Then 500 miles later i was stage 2 again.... I thought this was a newer thread...oops.

[STIcer]

0% APR over 24 months !

My 99RS trade in was the downpayment.

I'm waiting 6 weeks to even make the first payment.

All the years of babying my credit paid off!

[STIcer]

Originally Posted by Gray08

Having made a lot of mistakes when I was younger, it's easy to give advice now. I know how tempting it is to go into debt over a cool car, but it really isn't worth it.

I'll tell you what IS fun: Never having a car payment, and being able to pay cash for every car you buy. If you make that a goal, it will have a huge, positive impact on your personal finances. Of course, it goes without saying that you need to treat credit cards the same way. Use them to build credit only, but never use them to buy something you can't afford to pay with the money in your checking account.

Making car payments is a real anchor around your neck. It gets especially heavy when you owe more than the car is worth, meaning you can't even sell the car, because you could not even afford to pay back the bank if you did.

It's very different from a mortgage, where holding a large mortgage can actually be a financial benefit - provided you can afford to make the payments, of course, and that you don't borrow too much compared to the home's real value (I see forclosures all over the place now because lenders got too greedy and borrowers did not consider the possibility of a major market correction).

Now I digress, but if I'm going off topic on mortgages...
Most people think that it's best to pay off your house as soon as possible, or to make extra payments to pay down the balance. Everyone gets this advice from their parents, because this mentality is left over from the depression when mortgages were not federally insured, and people lost their houses unfairly.

If paying off your house ASAP was such great advice, then why do so many multi-millionaires have large mortgage balances? It's because they are smart financially, or have good accountants. If you have a good mortgage interest rate, and you factor in the tax deductions you get from paid interest, the effective rate is lower than the return most people can get by investing their money, even when you adjust for taxes paid on earned interest. Therefore, the person who puts all his extra money into paying off his mortgage will end up with a house, but nothing in the bank. What if he loses his job along the way or has a major medical expense? He's screwed and broke. He has no savings, and the pride of having a lower mortgage balance doesn't do him a bit of good when things go wrong.

The person who makes minimum mortgage payments and invests all his extra money will have liquid assets - and that provides options. He can afford to lose his job and be without work until he finds another one. He can pay for emergencies if they come up. He might even be able to start his own business and have some freedom from being someone else's slave. Best of all, in the time it would have taken to pay off the house, he will have accumulated not only enough savings to be able to easily pay his house off (if he actually wanted to), but he will have quite a bit more saved on top of that because of the extra accumulated interest.


Anyway, back to the topic: Be patient and drive a beater and pay it off. Then drive it a while longer while making "car payments" to your savings account. When you have a few thousand saved up, trade in the junk car for a nicer beater, or even a decent used car that is somewhat reliable (like an older subaru). Then keep repeating that process until you can pay cash for a new STi, or whatever the cool car happens to be in the future. You will save many thousands of dollars in the long run, because you will be earning interest on your money instead of paying interest to lenders.

And a final word on depreciation: It just isn't as big a factor as it used to be, especially if you buy a Subaru other makes that are holding their value well. It used to be that a brand new car would lose 20% of its value or more the minute you drove it off the dealer lot, but that just isn't happening anymore. Buying a car new isn't the "waste of money" it used to be.

[raymond555]

Dont buy!save your money,or wait 1-2 years until subaru will make some improvements to the sti,right now the sti really dont worth the price!

[inpuressa]

Well, I finally got the axe on my STi. Dealer just called me to say that the entire shipment of STi's for the 2nd quarter is withheld due to the stop-sale.

Guess I'm not getting the car for another several months. I still want the car though. Maybe I'll just wait for the 09 models. This car slipped from me twice now... hopefully it'll be mine on the third try.