Alright, w/out going into a crapload of details about my life story and all that jazz, I'm going to be as straightforeward as possible.

I am 22 and I have a good software engineering job. I dont make FANTASTIC money, but I do pretty damn good for myself.

I have 3 toys right now, probably way more than I should have. But Ive never had money issues, and I save a little bit here and there, so why not have fun. I currently have an 03 Evo, a 1990 300ZX TT, and a 2006 R6.

The Evo is lightly modded (as seen in my sig), the Z USED to be a monster. I had put quite a bit into it, and on pump gas and drag radials I bested an 11.2@124mph in june of this year. The R6 is all stock

I had a financial emergency come up where I needed alot of money fast (health problem) so I had to make a huge sacrifice and part out alot of stuff on my Z. I sold the turbos, manifolds, intercoolers, IC piping, etc. It was alot of stuff

Right now I am in the process of buying a house because it is the financially smart thing to do. I imagine that I will not have alot of money left over each month to spend on car parts or whatever I see fit. I am going to have to make a sacrifice somewhere.........there is where it gets cloudy....

I would love to get my Z back going again, but I calculated it up, and its going to cost somewhere in the neighborhood of 11,000 to get it to where I want it. This would include much bigger turbos than the previous setup (twin GT3071s), manifolds with ext gates, a vertical FMIC setup, an 8pt cage, a TH400 setup. Theres no doubt in my mind this setup wouldnt go 9's

I *also* would love to get the evo going more. With all the attention these Evos are getting on the drag strip (especially AMS and Buschur) it makes it really easy to want to make a drag car out of an Evo.

Going with my initial Z lust, I had originally decided it would be best for me to just sell the Evo, get something really cheap as a DD, and dump the cash into the Z. This HUGE problem with this is, I owe about 22k on my Evo and I absolutely cannot even get any bites on it, listed at 21k OBO. It seems to me like this car wouldnt sell for much more than 18-19k on the market. I dont know why no one wants a Yellow Evo anymore. I get so many compliments from many non-evo owners out there....

The bike I have a loan out on as well, but I put some cash down on it, so my payment is only 120 bucks a month, not expensive at all. I do not have any motivation to sell the bike right now

At this time I basically have two options, and I am looking for other people's outlook on this. I can:

1. Return the Z back to stock. I would probably spend 2-3k in getting it all back to stock form and ready to sell. I imagine I could probably get ~10k out of it. I owe nothing on this car so it would be free money in my pocket. I would really hate to do this because Ive owned this car for almost 5 years and its been my *baby*

2. Continue trying to sell the Evo and see where it goes. As I pay monthly, the amount I owe goes down, however dishing out 450 a month plus the insurance and gas does gouge quite a bit into my budget.


Selling the Z would bring definate heartbreak to me, as I've poured my heart and soul into that car many nights/days and had many experiences I'll never forget over the last 4 years. Everyone in the area knows me for this car, I am also known nationally among the Z crowd, and not to mention these cars are a dying breed. They have the looks of today with the performance of today.

Im guessing that most of you would say to keep the Evo and sell the Z, just because the Z is older and behind the times, and not to mention this IS an Evo forum but I'll also point out the Evo is depreciating much faster than the Z. The Z, I believe, has reached its bottom for depreciation. Poorly conditioned TTZ's usually go for 3-5k and good conditioned ones with all maintenece performed and good paint go for 10's usually. The Evo has depreciated severely since I purchased it in September of last year. I paid 23,5~ used and I'll be damned if I cant even get a bite for 20k (still considerably more than i owe)

Anyways, sorry for the novel but I'd like to gather peoples thoughts/opinions

For novelty, here are some pics of said toys







later

 

lose the z

 

To put it simply, it sounds like you can't afford an Evo right now. Though your issue arises at the point when you can't sell it, and if you do sell it your taking such a huge loss that your still making payments for 6 months.

It sounds to me like your only option at this point is to sell the 300z, and use the money for your said "emergency." I understand you don't WANT to do that, but sometimes we all have to make sacrifices when things go south. And seriously, this is the only logical thing you can do right now.

You can always buy a fresh 300z and start over when your money problem goes away. And like you said, don't even worry about the bike, it's too insignificant to worry about. I'm surprised that your min payment was $120/m though, mine was $40/m for the first 2 years, and is now $80/m... Though paid $200/m since day 1.

Edit: As much as i hate the new R6's, that picture is SO sick.

 

sell both cars. keep the bike. save lots of gas money, worry about cars after your dues are paid and debts are cleared up. then you can go nuts.

wait. no. then you can't get groceries.. hmmm

well good luck with what ever you decide

 

i think your bike is leaking???

 

I suspect you took a factory program such as the Honda or Yamaha card......thats a revolving credit card which carries some negatives from a financial aspect, but it sounds like you took the right approach by paying more than the min balance.....I have a motorcycle loan from my local bank. They gave me a 6.5% I/R which is pretty competitive.....



The problem is, i CAN afford an evo right now, I just know in my head its financially smart to not have 2 cars i continually want to put money into.

 

I have 0 revolving debt.....and I think my 'dues' will never be paid if i purchase a house.

 

house > cars.

dump the Evo. Freeing up a 450/mo commitment is HUGE. Even though you're planning on putting a lot of money into the 300zx, it will still be less than Evo payments + mods.

 

#1- Get out of debt. Sell the Evo and the bike on Ebay or Auto Trader, even if you have to take a small loan to pay the Evo off. Drive the 300 stock and save money. Save up an emergency fund for emergencys like this one. Keep the emergency fund seperate and do not spend it on turbos, coilovers, clutches, etc.. Save money and pay cash for things. High Debt to income ratio is one of the downfalls of our great country. You are young and I reccomend you take this as a valuble lesson. The mistake of getting in debt is a very big mistake (I've made it before). I learned the hard way, and now I finally (at age 40) have no debt besides my house. When you live a while debt free, it is amazing how fast your money grows. I just paid cash for an 11,000 2006 ZX-14. Not trying to brag, just show you how being out of debt is awesome! You asked for advise, and I would not give it if you didn't ask. A great book to help you with money management is Dave Ramsey's Total Money Makeover: www.DaveRamsey.com. The book is cheap, and offers great, common sense advise for getting out of debt, bugeting and investing. BTW he will NOT take credit cards to pay for the book. At your age if you get out of debt NOW and invest aggressively, you can be a Millionaire when you retire, easily. There will be many more Evos and bikes for you down the road. I wish I knew what I do now when I was your age. Good luck and keep us posted.

 

i would hold up on buying a house i have a feeling that in about 1-2 years real estate might be getting alil cheaper. mmm real estate bubble burst.

 

Dude, you make a thread freaking out about how you don't have money, and ask us what to do. And when everyone tells you to do the same thing you sit there and fight us and tell us all you have the money? Why did you even make this thread then?

I don't have a Yamaha card, and i got 3.99% apr on my bike, and i have 0% on my Evo. But i guess you could be right about a revolving type loan, frankly i just don't care though, because that IR far outways the negatives of a revolving type loan.

 

you moron, its sweat from all those horsepowers......

 

Yikes, what a dilemma! Sounds like you just want it all, but are smart enough to know you can't have it. Knowing how I feel about my Evo, I'd say sell the Z, but if that is important to you then keep it and lose the Evo (even at a loss).

Buying a house is a huge financial commitment (but can be really smart in the long run). I'm buying my 2nd house now, and the costs go up fast. You want new toys for the house like you want toys for your cars. You are going to have to decide where you'll make a sacrifice and keep what really matters to you. Good luck, and I hope you'll stay on the forums no matter what you decide.

 

I Stongly agree this house market is way over priced. It has started to adjust itself. The house supply is definately growing and so is the NOD (notice of defaut) or foreclosures. Oh btw I am a loan agent for Countrywide Homeloans. So have been seeing a trend, especially in all of the appraisals coming in.

Don't do it now unless you want to be under in a year.

 

Why can't you use the bike as a daily? That alone will save a fair bit of money in gas. Have a CarMax near you? Head over there and see what they will give you for the Evo and keep the Z.

Good luck with the house but, be warned, they are expensive things to have. Many people forget about the escrow payments needed and don't budget for that. On my 4 bedroom house (2,300 sq ft) my actual payment towards principal/interest was $800ish yet my actual mortgage payment was over $1,500. Make sure you do your research first. Also, my electricity bill was $400+ a month in the summer. Then you have gas bills, cable, phone, water, etc. and they're all much larger than apartment bills. You'll be surprised how empty your house will be if you're moving from an apartment and furniture ain't cheap.