ancker

iTrader: (2)

I literally walked out the door with my Evo last night (3/15/05)
546/mo - 880/6mo insurance

22 years old, no tickets (on my record) and no accidents.

osunick

iTrader: (8)

I see your point but your logic is flawed. Don't feel bad, my crazy asian parents are the same way. You just paid 30K in cash for a car that is worth 25K the minute the drive it off the lot. It's all downhill from there. You can get loans in the 3-4% range right now, and with the economy turning around you can see greater than that return in a mutual fund or some other investment. By tying up your cash in the car, there's nothing else you can use it for. As an example, at a 3% interest rate I'll pay around $3000 in interest. My relatively modest $8K investment is currently making around 10%, so I've already beaten interest. If I had 30K to invest, I'd be doing much better!

Having the $ to buy a car outright only strengthens the case for taking out a loan. You then have the cash freed up to invest, and stocks and bonds are easy to sell off if you ever need to pay the car off early. But paying off a depreciating asset right away sounds kooky to me.

Scottybob

iTrader: (3)

3 to 4% auto loans are getting hard to find. Most people in the real world are looking at 5 to 6%. Unless you are talking about short term loans or manufacturer incentives.

You are not taking into account the income tax implications of your stragity. That narrows the spread considerably.

Most people dont have the disipline for this approach. Stock evo with 10 grand in the bank. hummm whats going to happen.

Money that you put down on a car earns you a fixed rate of return. Not paying intrest on 10k is the same thing as earning investment intrest on the same money, plus no income tax. Also, this is the no risk strategy. Any stock market investment has risk.

osunick

iTrader: (8)

Good point, discipline is a big part of what I said earlier. Then again, it's important to learn fiscal discipline, and one way NOT to learn it is by having your dad pay off your car I guess I can simplify my assertion by just saying that if I had the money to pay off a car outright, I would ask myself if I would rather be doing something else with that cash. Because once it's in the car, there's no way to get it out besides selling the car. 30K is a down payment on a home, which is (hopefully) an appreciating asset and interest is deductible.

If I put 20% down (I know I am ignoring closing costs, but work with me here) on a solid $150K home in a good area I'd be looking at a $700 mortgage on something that I could make good money on down the road. Hell, if I was really crazy I could take out a home equity loan and buy the car with that, thus having deductible interest on the HE loan.

So all I'm really saying is that loans are not good or bad, they are an instrument that can be used for us to obtain the things that we want. Like any instrument, the way you use them is what ends up being good or bad for you in the long run. I'm not anti paying off a car by any means, I just wanted to make a point that loans aren't 'evil'. There are lots of reasons to buy a car outright, but there are also lots of reasons to take out a loan.

PS- I did get a 4.5% loan through Chase on a used car in November, so I assume that rates are still low, as long as you have good credit. Maybe a lot's changed but I assume that with sales in their typical post christmas slump that the rates would be pretty low right now.

mobounce

iTrader: (6)

I payed $28,500 for my 03 EVO brand new w/ everything except the moon roof in mid 04 with less than 50 miles on it....I pay $604/month-60 months @ 6.6%

Insurance is $330 month and Im 24 yr old (gonna be 25 in july...discount!) with 2 tickets and 1 accident; progressive ins....and thats Philadelphia! Philly is top 3 with highest insurance. But me moving to Kansas on Monday...I should have lower ins. hopefully

I would say go new...the usual rule of thumb is ok on used cars for a regular car..i.e. civic, toyota, nissan...blah blah........but for a EVO, I would say go new, considering it is NOT a regular car...unless you know the previous owner really well...thats my 2 cents

dryad001

iTrader: (27)

What some of you people are paying is insane. I would never pay 560/month for a car. I was paying 256/month did that for 14 months and finally paid the car off 4 weeks ago. Why give Mitsu any more money?

My insurance is 67/month full coverage. I have the worst driving record than anyone else on here. I'm sure Fireball can back me up on this one.

mobounce

iTrader: (6)

When we have passion for something like this...are enthusiasts...we don't care on the money situation...thank god I can afford my car, If there were other issues in my life like..kids, mortgage, wife, house upkeep and so on...then no, Never in my life would I pay this much for a car...but I am 24, I have no mortgage (just apt. rent), no kids, and not married (only a fiance...which we are on the 5yr. plan). I'm a successful young guy thats livin it up while I still can

ronitlancer

iTrader: (2)

I'm getting some good feedback, most people are saying get a used Evo tho.....
I really dont like how the Evo 9 front looks, would a Evo 8 front bumper / hood fit on the Evo 9?

trevor

iTrader: (5)

I don't know about the whole Evo 9 / Evo 8 bumper thing, but I just wanted to comment on the insurance prices and new / used aspect real quick.

Insurance, as you may already see, certainly varies a lot upon location. Mine went up a real small amount from where I used to live last year to where I am now, which I think is retarded. I moved like two miles, and I went from just parking in a reserved space where anyone could get to my car to parking in a locked garage in a gated community and somehow they bumped my insurance up a bit... I guess the zip code I live in now is more prone to breakins or something even though I know breakins were like 100x more likely where I used to be. So location does quite a bit with insurance. And age / credit / driving record are probably even bigger factors.

For new / used, I would strongly encourage purchasing a new one if possible. Evos seem to have decent resale value and it seems like buying a used Evo won't always save you a ton of $. I have been into cars for years, and I've always liked cars that you cannot get new anymore. MR2s, Supras, RX-7s... cars like that are cool but it's often times hard to find one in really good shape that hasn't been raced / abused. One thing I love about the Evo is that you still have the option to buy a new one.

Just my 2¢....

-Trevor

sandm

iTrader: (11)

I purchased used. you can find some good deals out there and let someone else take the first year hit. seems like 30k is a good average price for one new and used seem to float around 25k on here and ebay. some of the local dealers are trying to gouge people here for 28-30k for used, but they will not get it. you have now saved 5k and the car will not depreciate as quickly after the first year..
insurance is a bad number to compare as already mentioned there are too many factors that can change that number. your best bet with that is to shop around and take what appears to be the best deal for you.
just my .02

SmurfZilla

iTrader: (33)

I was planning on buying an EVO when I had my ITR/Civic Hybrid. I eneded up sellign that and buying a house instead. Then I was looking to buy one shortly after getting into the house........

New born. So scratch that, plus wifie wasn't working yet.

So here I am driving a base model civic CX (93) making about 40kish a year. Mortgage a lil on the high side ($1200). 2 kids. Wife isn't working for much (and working part time). We need a partical family vehicle (She wants a CRV). I have been dying to get a car that is fun to drive (when you go from a ITR power civic to a 80 hp one....its like cutting your wrists).

Wife may start working part time but the money she is getting paid isn't the greatest.

I may not end up getting an EVO until next year. I want the car so bad but I just can't afford it right now.

Cost of living in GA is pretty low compared to other parts of the states.

I have a pretty bad driving record and progressive said that Lancer would only increase my premiums by 100 bux more a month. Makes me want it even more.

What I don't understand is people who are making less then me or have more financial obligations are able to afford htis car or others and I can't begin to fugire out how to make it happen.

Are they just throwing caution to the wind and signing their life away.

osunick

iTrader: (8)

Well I think the cost of living and the extra mouths to feed are a big commitment, and I'm glad you're making it. I think most of the people who make less than you who drive evos probably have a fairly low cost of living (no home ownership, low/no rent, etc) and are willing to make the sacrifices elsewhere. Either that or rack up a ton of credit card debt. Anyway, people make their choices and either they can live with them or they don't. It's a great car, but it's not worth starving over.

ronitlancer

iTrader: (2)

So true.

Iceman2011

iTrader: (4)

i would hate to see evo being reposessed. i waited for 2 years to buy a evo because i can afford it now, 20% montly income as a payment at that time it would have been 60% of my montly income to pay the car payment. not a good way to have a car payment

Rookie

I bought my 03 evo used with 16,000 miles.....for 24,500 payed 5,000 down on it....payments are 390/month....insurance 650/3 months.....i would go with a used 1 .....it would be hard to pay much more for the car unless u got a GREAT job. What ever u do man GOOD LUCK......