just like the title says, i'm a college student, 21 yrs old, and i really want a new car. i've had my 3.4L firebird ever since i was 16 and its time for something new. i have about $2k saved in the bank, but i don't want to use it incase something comes up and i need the money.

how do i get a loan for a car? i know either my bank or a credit union can do it. will they even give me the money? what type of interest rates do they charge and how many months to pay it off? i only have 1 credit card right now and it doesn't have a huge balance so i should have decent credit.

ideally i'd like to get an ls1 trans am or camaro, but they are still pretty expensive. i don't think they would even do a loan for an lt1 but you never know. these cars are depreciating so much it may not even be worth it. anyone have any advice or input on what to do? i've been driving my slow firebird that looks good for quite some time now. i know i've definitely matured and drive more responsibly. i also want a car that will be respected at sonics on tues so i will actually come.

 

Like you said banks have rules about getting loans on cars that were older.

(people used to tell me why not get this lt1 its only $9,000 and a good deal, and chepaer then $15k cars you are looking at. Because I couldn't get a loan on an lt1, it was too old.)

Like you said ls1s still to high in cost, even for me, and I am considered to be living large to the average college student making $12 an hour. Actually I am cutting back from my normal 15 hours to 9 hours at school jsut to help with money.


I saved $3,200 cash, got $1,000 for my car...

I put $3,700 towards my car ketp rest for new tires, and other goodies. My car ended up being $9,500

 

www.capitalone.com will give you a loan on any car no matter how old it is.

 

i went through CapitalOne, they have a "blank check" thing that really kicks but.

also check out www.bankrate.com to check out rates from different companies.

the blank check thing goes like this. figure you plan a maximum of $12,000 for a car. you apply for a loan for that much. if they approve, they send you a blank check that can be written for any amount up to that value (or the value they do aproove you for). then if you find a car for only $9,000 you can just write it for that amount. it's pretty cool

 

Only advice I can give Adam is make sure you think before you go buy a car.

On a couple, I almost plopped the money out, then I did things sat down for a second and thought to my self. How many miles will the car have when I pay it off... I average 8k a year(actually more then that now I trust my car more ) A few cars I was looking to buy they were gonna be paid off when the car had 85-110k miles on it.

YOu have owned an f-body for awhile, just remember making payments and fixing a car really sucks.

I am on my 3rd, one thing I kinda learned, is the "average"I know people there is a guy that has 100 milllion miles on a ls1 and runs 12.5s stock and only replaced a window motor and changed the oil twice but the average f-body around 90-100k, starts getting expensive. No way I coudl afford car payments and drop a good $1500-2000 on a tranny on top of payments, and that is something you might have to worry about on higher mileage f-bodies(even normal drivers, not just me)

 

Hell my car had 118k on it when I bought it. Its up to 189k now and it still runs great.

Considering the milage I haven't put much money into the car at all. The most expensive part I've had to buy (not including mods) was a clutch but thats really a wear & tear item on any car.

 

if i get a new car it HAS to have low miles. i work out by sea world in a hotel and its 54miles round trip. i've been going through oil changes every month and a half. theres also something wrong w/ my gas mileage b/c on a full tank i get between 250-300 miles. thats about 4 days of highway and the rest city. that comes out to being really sh*tty gas mileage. i know a 6spd can do better than that assuming i won't have a lead foot.

like you guys were saying, i'm scared once i get near $100k miles it will have a lot more maintenence problems on top on my car payments. i just had a tranny rebuild at 85k. also redid the a/c system last summer. this car hasn't been real cheap for me lately or reliable. theres a mysterious starting problem that no one can seem to fix. i just want to get rid of it before i get stuck somewhere.

i need to decide pretty quick if i want to get serious about a new car so i can save my money this summer. i won't be able to work full time like last summer since i'm taking summer school. its going to be tough but i would like a nice big first payment on the car so my monthlies aren't too bad.

 

I agree there are nice f-bodies out there like yours... but not every previous owner was so friendly to their car.

Imagine a buying a used car from me? Ask Joe


Adam you still have that starting problem? does it crank slow or just not crank at times? My 94, I had a problem, with the igntion lock cylinder, felt like my battery was dead but it wasn't just the car wouldn't crank when I turned the key at times. I reid everything and was stumped too it to dealer and they fixed it.

 

Predatorbird, what do you do for work and how much does it pay?

Maybe you could make more $$ doing something else...

 

This is stepping out of forum, but what about a Pontiac GT or GTP. Easy to find with low mileage, 2 or 4 doors, 3.8 liter and the 3.8 supercharged, lots of options and prices to kill for.. When I totaled my Z I got a GTP. Red, 4 doors, Super, Power Everything heated seats 32K on the clock for 10K at Car Max. I get over 20MPG, have over 240HP 260 lbs TQ stock…

This is just practical over fun

 

yeah its still having problems starting every now and then. i thought it was my chip that messed up my computer, so i took out the chip and put in a new computer. after a week of working fine, it was back to having problems starting. i think the cold weather had something to do w/ the problems b/c its been doing a lot better the past 2 weeks w/ the warm weather. every once in awhile the car backfires out the exhaust and starts in 2nd gear. i'll be at sonics on tues night and i'll see if i can get it to act up for you so you can see what i'm talking about.

i work for universal selling tickets in a hotel. i'm getting paid $7.89 + comission. on my last paycheck i got $176 just in comission for the week plus $75 cash from a car rental company. the other day i called and made reservations for 7 people to play golf and i'll get $15 per person. summer is the best time to work b/c that when i'll most in comission and referral money.

i really like grand prixs, but i want something more sporty and w/ a manual. my roommate has a grand prix and its a nice reliable car, but if i was going to get something other than an f-body i'll look for a 240sx and do a turbo motor swap. i have a bunch of turbo import friends who can do the swaps for me and they said the cars themselves aren't very expensive. when all said and done it will probably cost about the same as a cheap ls1. this is something i may consider b/c a turbo is so much fun. my top choice will be to stick w/ a v8 whether its a f-body or mustang.

 

If you dont have the tools are easy access to tools and do not know very much about engine/vehicle work/maintanence then stay away from the car modding or performance cars.

THey cost more to maintain, cost more to fuel, cost more to insure.
Thats my advice. Otherwise you'll have a kick *** car until it breaks and then you wont have a car and might not beable to get to work to make the money to fix it.

A v8 camaro (without head work or larger injectors) with a 6 speed gets 26-28 mpg on the highway. More than a Turbo SR20det or s13/14 would get. for you long trips

just make sure you can afford it and the tires,maintanence, gas etc. Dont let teh car own you... Sometimes its nice just to have a regular car so u dont have to worry about that stuff or even washing it etc...

Luckily I have both...

Kinda of a rule of thumb at your income level.. If you can pay all your bills within 2 weeks (year round) then your doing ok.

 

yeah i've considered just getting a beater so i don't even have to worry about. if i did i would just get a truck so i don't have to worry about modding it, racing, washing it, ect. i just put gas in it and drive it. that would be a good way to save up a lot of money to buy something real nice later on down the road. it will be just so hard to go from a head-turning f-body to just a plain looking truck.

 

I hada new mazda pickup truck.. 20+MPG with Stick, fun to druive off road, and ZERO to maintain and like 12K new loaded... Super cheap insurance too...

 

To be honest I had a truck for awhile and I really did not like it.

It was peppy, and more then fully loaded but I just wasn't happy with it... The suspension and brakes were not great, so that on top of just the dynamics of a truck, just made it a top heavy handling big.

Best thing I ever did for that thing was put some traction bars on the rear leaf springs, then modified them with a spacer to make them just stiffent the rear springs up.

but then the rear was really stiff and front end week, thing used to fishtail like a **** which made it more fun then feel like it was gonna flip...

http://images.cardomain.com/member_i...05_64_full.jpg


I really looked into GTPs, I think I might have been happy with one but dang, ones I saw were out of my pricerange... I think darkoverlift got a good deal.

the ones I saw for ~$10k at the time were like 87-99 with like 60-70k