bsl888

Or.....driving daddy's car.

FrankReynoldsCPA

I think having a beater in your youth is a tremendous benefit. I have a lot of fun stories with my first car, and I learned a lot of things from it. Opportunities I would have missed had I started out with a nice fancy car. I wouldn't go back and change anything for the world(well, I would have gotten the V8 instead of V6 in my Firebird, but I digress).

Fizzboy7

I'd have to agree with the others and say to stick with a less expensive car at that age. Too much is going to be learned at that stage in life and you are better off not burdening yourself with high payments and all that comes along with having a higher end car. What's cool is there are many very nice mid-level cars that you can have fun driving and still look/feel cool in. You can't go wrong with a Honda Accord, Civic, used Acura, or newer Toyota.
But if you must have a luxury car, do avoid the German makes. They are not reliable after a few years. A nice all-around compromise to everything being considered here is an older Lexus model. Maybe the original IS or older GS. Prestige, reliability, and affordability all in one.

KA8

iTrader: (1)

05 c230 is supercharged 4cyl and 06 and 07's are 2.5L v6. While it's not super fast it's plenty of power for everyday driving. I used to have 06 model and I told myself I would never buy another Benz until I bought a 05 Lexus es330. Japanese cars are known to be reliable but boring. German cars fall a litle on reliability but they shine on safety and rigidity, not to mention they know how to design cars so it can be fun to drive. I can honestly say my old stock c230 was as fun as my modded TT z32 on twists. C230 drove like it was on rails on stock suspension brakes are superb even bettter than my old stock setup on my Z. If you can afford maintenance I would choose the Benz over Honda or toyota. Gas mileage on v6 is good at 25mpg average.

jakehz

I dont really have a budget i have about 18k cash and 30k with stocks. would it be a bad idea to spend all the 18k on a is350? I make around 2k a month so its not much to me to have a payment of 300 a month.

Squirrelz

Wow, that is pretty impressive. Juggling school and making 2k a month and you know how to invest?

scgt652

There are plenty of used 06-07 IS350s in SoCal for $22-23k. If you purchase one for $22k, and put down $10k, then you would have a payment of $268 a month for 60 months. This is based on LA County sales tax (8.75%). Also, this payment is calculated with an interest rate of 5.9%. Your rate will be higher since you are only 16 and so you probably don't have any credit history.

jakehz

I would do it through my mom because im not legally allowed to finance a car. and she has good credit so hopefully I can talk my mom into paying just 30 more on insurance. Our deal is she will pay insurance on anycar i buy as long as i pay for gas and pay for the car.