I am a E-7 in the Navy in Hawaii. It takes $432 every month from me.

 

im a E-6 in the ARMY... 500 a month..and a bike payment of 160 .... anyway..

i think you should wait till you get a few years in, a nice size down payment, and find out where you are gonna be stationed first because i've see it all the time... privates buy cars they know they can't afford, insurance alone eats them up... and sometime the insurance is as much as the car payment.


as a private you really don't make that much money from the start..yea you don't have to pay rent or nothing like that but if you buy a 30k car.. you will be working evryday for the car payment and insurance... might be lucky enough to drive it once a week.

example... a private first class buys a ws6 firebird, the payment with 3k down was 450 a month insurance was 370 a month... and he made maybe 1k to 1500 a month... he never could go out, party, and he barely was able to put gas in it. so now his car sits in the parking lot, with a cover 1 tire flat and 1500 miles on it...

 

E-5 in the AF and I pay 385 a month after putting 8 grand down and having payments for 6 years. When I first came in, what I did was buy a car outright, no payments. Then after I starting building some credit I started looking at being able to afford a new car. Plus your still wet behind the ears and a dealerships wet dream. I've seen E-3's and below get stuck with $385 payments for 5 years on cars that are 5-7 years old. The highest interest rate I heard of some paying was like 18%. Plus E-1's make like 600 a month. You'll have no money left over to get gas. Trust me, I've seen people struggle and its not cool. Take it easy for a while, save and then maybe you can think of buying new. Plus how much is insurance. I know one guy at my last base who was paying over $700 a month as an E-3. ****ing crazy. Just to look pimp in some used lexus.

 

Hrmm well I will be going to OTS for the Air Force here hopefully this summer. I have already been accepted. My car payment is 472/month because I put nothing down, but I make about 1000/month and live at home so I can clear it. Once I get in I figure 1200-1300/month while in training so I should be good to go. The reason I didn't go with the evo was the high *** 650/month payment though. I knew I couldn't swing that with all the maintanance and gas. I am glad I made this decision. I had some extra money to spend on mods about 5k so that plus the price of the car (22k) = 27k and I couldn't be happier. I have a car that runs 12s and only a 472/month payment Now I just need some tein coil overs, sway bars, and strut tower braces and that will complete the beast. I figure another 3k or so. Of course if your an abusive driver and are worried about breaking something out of warranty this is not the way to go, but then again if you plan on modding the evo then you are in the same bind.

 

I am an E-5 in the AF as well. I would do what he said. You never know where you will get stationed. If you get Japan for some reason you can't even bring the car with you.

 

yeah I did 8yrs ad and trust me just going in to the mil. you don't want that headach of a car payment.... get something simple that won't cost alot.... you will want to get off base when you can and if you have that big payment you will have NO money to party and to chill with the girls... Do yourself a favor and don't get yourself in over your head.... And that is coming from and experience as an NCO with lots of troops under his belt... I'v seen too many guys get into financial trouble that ruined their careers in the mil....
good luck though!

 

You are getting a bonus for coming in right? Dont let the recruiter screw you!!! You can get a bonus just for coming into the military. I am an E-5 and i know as an airman you can not afford this car. That bonus would help though.

 

I was in the Army back in 1987 and after I finished my AIT, I went home on leave before flying out to my permanent party station in Germany.

I saw a nice '85 Toyota Supra, silver, 5-speed, and thought it would be awesome to take it with me to Germany- I read in my orders that the Army would ship it to Germany for me for FREE!!!

Anyway, while it was great to have the car with me in Germany, I found that I didn't have very much money to have fun with. Many of my friends took leave to visit some of the neighboring countries and I couldn't afford to do that.

My mother had co-signed for my loan and, more than a few times, I could not make the payment (thanks mom for bailing me out).

It was nice driving around Germany, especially on some of the autobahns that had no speed limit (in certain areas)!

Bottom line though, if I could do it over again, I would have bought a cheaper car and had alot more fun.

 

Yea..I'm an E-6 in the AF and my EVO payment takes a good chunk outta my BAH (housing allowance) and thats for the DC metro area, so I have a higher rate than most.
It really depends on how much you have to put down. The advice to wait till you at least get out of tech. school is pretty wise. The thing is your not gonna be an E-4 for at least 3yrs. and your still not gonna be makin that much. Not to mention your also gonna be living in the dorms when you get to you permenent duty station so you won't even be eligible for BAH. So you only have your base pay to rely on. Believe me its not gonna be that much. Do yourself a favor and don't get in over your head with a 30k car.Unless you have outside help or alot of money saved up, you WILL NOT be able to afford it. Remember your gonna be in the military, so if you get in financial trouble not only are you gonna screw your credit you also get in trouble with the commander, they will find out. Its not worth it. Get yourself an SRT-4, which is a badass ride, enjoy it for four years. Then get an EVO or something even better when you put on E-5.

 

I'm an 0-3 in the AF, and the payment is about right. I know I will have my car paid off and I stay right-side up on the value. If I ever have any financial problems I can bail at a moments notice.

The big thing to remember is that the Evo is fun now...however, will it be fun in 7 years when you're still covered in debt and you're driving a neon? Don't forget operational cost (tires-$800, clutch-$???, rotors-$500, pads, etc), you want to feed your evo well. Also, you definitely don't want to do any mods and void the warranty...transmissions cost a lot.

Also, committing so much money will definitely hinder any extra-ciriccular activities.

Unless you're getting some outrageous SRB, I'd hold off until my payments were under 15% of my paycheck.

My $.02 anyway...

 

There are a lot of negative posts about owning an Evo at such a young age and rank but it is possible. But you have to ask yourself a few questions:

Are you financially responsible?
Do you have a good amount of money in savings?
Do you have a backup plan if money gets tight?

Like I said earlier, you can afford this car but if you might not be able to afford much else. If you are coming into a car with no down payment, I suggest you wait another year or so till the 03 Evo's are around $20K or you find a cheaper alternative. Another great thing about the Military is they provide you free Financial Advisors at the family support center which can help you determine how much car you can afford at your rank. Good luck.

 

E-6 navy, i think the payment is fine, but my WIFE tells me every damn day that if she was married to me back when i was looking at the evo, and not just my girlfriend, she would have said "your ****ing crazy!" oh well, at least i have my priorities straight, car first, then the wife... (just kidding, i hope my wife never visits this site)

 

I spent five years in the Army and believe me, you dont want to be the one left behind on the weekends because your are broke. You are 18 for crying out loud! Live a little and save heavy financial burdens for when you are married. Most importantly, I have seen what happens to nice cars that are parked in barracks parking lots........ not pretty.

 

Must be an Army thing cause I don't know of anyone's car that got jacked or messed with while I was living in the Air Force dormitories.

 

I have seen a couple of things happen in the dorm parking lots on 3 different Air Force Bases. From someone making a snow ball the size of texas and putting it on someones hood, which caved in by the way, from broken windows to someone backing into their car and not being honest and driving away. Kids in the dorms with beer=very stupied things always going on.