Dibalz

I'm 23 and sell corrugated boxes. Bought mine totally pimped out with 40K on it - 21K. Ground effectz, tint, spoiler - all the ****. Buddy worked at car dealership and called me. Sold my Dodge Ram 1500 for it. Loved the bastard but this is waaayyyy phatter. Look around, you'll find one

ragin

30, 65k Software Developer (Idaho). $1800 Mort. 3 Kids and an expensive wife. I'm in denial, but the truth is I can't afford the TL.

GoBig

I'm a Civil Engineer and 35 years of age. As far as salary, no matter how much I make it always seems lake it's not enough. Waiting for the wife to graduate Chemical Engineering so I can retire (HA, HA)

adam209

19
male
cali

my parents bought me my first tl in 99 & my other car for graduation & my girlfriend bought me the TL cuz she knew i h3lla wanted it.

That Girl

Hi Bob,

Your a neurologist....... interesting..... do you have your own practice,work for a hospital,or are you with a group?

I would have thought that you'd be driving like a prowler, a benz or something along those lines....The docs I work for drive those ,but to each his own~


So I am curious though ...in Oklahoma are the wages different for Doc's the for other states?

cma2180

Whats up with all the peope in the IT field, is that the only people that go on the internet? Been going to school for Computer Science for the last couple of years, already got A.O.S in networking and still can't find a job in IT. Anyways 23yrs old, make sh*t money and took a loan out for my 2000 TL -- Best money i've ever spent!!!!!

arkollbay

39, Network Analyst, $70K/year. Married, no kids, $1,300 mortgage. 449 for 42 months. $1,200 down.

Viper

I'm a civil engineer. I just graduated and I just got my first new car. It's a 2004/blue abyss with navi. One question i've got for all these guys that have no payments and make over 100k a year is why are they settling for a mid-class luxury sedan, when they could easily afford a high end luxury sedan???

acuraddict

One word....VALUE

rybocf

Oldguy, you paid cash for your third marriage? Sweet...

GoBig

The reason why I went with this car because it's my daily commuter, also, I don't want to try and be flashy around my clients...engineers are conservative by nature.

I will say, my very first car out of school (by the way, I'm also a Civil Engineer) was a brand new Chevy Corvette, mind you, I was 22 years old when I graduated.

I love this car, it doesn't tell the world that you're all money, but it does say that you are well off.

Formula 350

Well thank you!!

Now you see what the people who protect us make. Not much compared to all the overpaid IT people.

HondaOnly

Now I feel bad. I'm in my late 20s, work in IT, make 60+, have no wife, no kids, no mortgage, no student loans, no credit card bills, and live in a cheap city. I wanted to get a TL but talked myself out of it for several reasons. The main one was because of the uncertainty of IT. I didn't want to commit to a car that was 35K and have the IT market fall out from under me. I didn't want to spend more than 600 a month or put more than 2000 down. I also didn't want to show up to a work in an expensive looking car. If IT were more stable, I would've gladly gotten the TL. I'm not surprised there are so many IT people on this board, but I am surprised that so many IT people would get a TL given how bad IT is these days. I played it safe and got an Accord EXV6 instead thinking it would be safer to go to work in and more importantly, it would save me 10K. Aren't any of you IT guys worried and do you see any signs of a turnaround? All I hear about is layoffs and outsourcing.

rybocf

Well, I've managed to stay working in IT with only a small outtage. Yeah, its tougher, but if you keep working at it and you know what you're doing, you'll find a port in the storm.

Keep in mind that IT is still expected to be the fastest growing sector for jobs over the next 6-7 years. I'm glad we had the shakeout, get all the pretenders out of the industry and back to answering phones and bagging groceries like they were doing before they all became "Sr. Web Developers" overnight.

Ryan

vothsc

43, single Sr Chemical Technician, 60K +, The house is paid for and with no wife or kids to spend the money on that leaves more for my favorite things. The 04 will be my second TL if Acura will just get around to building it. I love my 02 TL-S in the meantime.

kinggeorge

i'm almost 24 years old, just finished college about six months ago with a bachelors in Digital Media and i work at a production company working in 3D computer graphics making movies & tv shows. Making decent money. Looking forward to buying a TL w/Navi next month.

sssick

22, work in a large yacht dealership, make over 50.

Mav

ROFLMAO!!!

32 Own a logistics company doing everything from truckload freight to sameday nationwide airfreight 45 employees in 4 states. Make around $275k a year in salary plus other....benefits. Company pays for the car and gas. Wife drives an '03 Z71 Suburban. She teaches Kindergarten (loves kids). $300K home, two kids.

Eiffel

Could not agree with you more rybocf. Too many IT developer's that could not design or code their way out of a paper bag. Makes the rest of us look bad. IT needs effective accreditation. Of course, not sure that would do any good if companies think cheap overseas coders can do the same. Of course, most cannot!

qksilver17

'04 TL (Black/Ebony) 6sp w/nav, attorney, 28 yrs old, 200K+ Have been driving German (2001 Audi A4 and 2003 MB C230K). Was looking for BMW 330i w/performance package and the '04 TL knocked my socks off.

Also, own home in NYC, wife "retired", and 1 kid.

Pack Fan

35 yo doctor here too. Have ordered an '04 TL SSM/Ebony auto with Navi. Am also doing the delayed gratification thing, this will be my first new car, currently driving a 6 year old Honda Prelude that I bought used 2 years ago. =)

vtechbrain

Hey beware of wearing green and gold in the land of purple! Good color choice!

Pack Fan

You a Packer Backer vtech? Nice win today.....

I-MOD

28 here, LAN/WAN Network Engineer and Network Security Specialist. 138Kyr, 2 kids, 1 wife, 3 pets, House in the burbs. The 04 TL is my 9th Acura. I just get bored with cars and get new ones all the time.

jorgev

25, do phone tech support for 28K/year... maried w/ 5 month old daughter going to nova southeastern for my computer information systems batchelor degree. Just refinanced and mortgage now is 1/3rd of what it was and that includes paying off all of my debt (including my 97' 2.2 CL) so the cl is up for sale... i should get 5k which will go direcly to rick case acura for a 2004 6spd (maybe w/navi) lease as soon as the CL is sold... my wife has an '03 MDX leased 1500 down 450/month including tax it now has 11K miles got it in feb. my wife is a financial aid advisor for a private university... so u know who makes the money. and manages it well

vtechbrain

Who's going to drive the car????

jimbobo

I am in the consulting engineering business and I make about 80K. I live and work in the state of Washington so I have no state income tax. I have only owned 3 cars in my life. My first was
a 1984 CRX which I kept for 16 years! It had 200K when I donated it to charity. I bough a 1996 Accord which I still drive (paid off of course) and it has 120K. I also own a 2000 Durango and I put down 15K on it so I only pay 280/month for it. 500/month for a carpayment is way too much for me. I never have a car payment over 300/ month. The best advice I can give is buy do not lease and drive it at least 120K miles otherwise you will always loose money. Let's face it cars are a luxury item and are always a loosing investment but you can minimize the loss by keeping the car for a long period of time. I plan on keeping my Durango for at least 200K, maybe more. If you cant afford it do not buy it. Like someone else said the Accord V6 is alot cheaper and is one hell of a car. Look for a late model used one, 15K miles or less and you could save even more money, put some sweet looking 18" wheels on it and enjoy!

jorgev

u asking me??? CL is up for sale.... once is sold.. i get the TL..

scottt

I'm 34, wife and two 3 month old kids. Make 60k a year as an IT support specialist. Got lucky and bought my house 3.5 years ago for $250k, couldn't afford it at the $500k it's worth now. The lease payment on my '03 TL-S w/Nav is $389.90. I only put down first, acq and taxes.

I lease all my cars. Previous car was a '99 Caddy STS at $721.38 a month (put 0 down on that). But, that was before I had to worry about 3 more mouths to feed.

I'd had:

1984 Pontiac 6000-LE (bought senior year of high school, used)

1988 Toyota Supra, new

1989 Toyota Supra Turbo, dealer demo

1992 Acura Vigor GS, new

1995 Acura Legend LS Coupe, new

the Caddy,new

the TL, new.

Not sure what I'll get when my lease is up (Oct 05). It's gotta have a stick (had one in the Vigor and the Legend, miss it) and a Nav.

mistergin

23 here, was a "Sr. Web Developer" (LOL at the comment, so true!!) since I was 19 and learned cold fusion, perhaps the easiest server-side language there was. Job was secure (no layoff policy the credit union prided itself on and stuck by) and I was competant at doing what I was assigned to do, but I didn't see myself excelling, no longer seemed to have the drive to "tech-out" the new technologies...

I still code, but now am in real estate as a transaction coordinator for a huge agent making almost 7 figs which earns me a pay of about 100-150/year. Since I'm just starting out, money is not flowing like it will be in 6 months (we do a lot of new construction which takes 5-6 months to close), so I'm still driving my 02 hyundai accent.

Funny thing, I had a 00 v6 accord coupe as well Downgraded as it started getting problematic (even with the extended warranty, at 60k miles the SRS unit was busted, alternator needed replacing, etc...) and expensive for things not covered by the bank's extended warranty.

Now that I'm looking at new cars that are comfortable for driving buyers around in, I looked at both the TL and the Hyundai Sonata. The Sonata is a classy looking car (agent next office over got a compliment the other day - "nice jag lady!" lol) and offers a lot for the price of under 20k, but having driven the new TL.... it's really hard to decide... You really fall in love with the TL, it's a tank!

Since this would be a work car, I may go sonata, but if the money is really good and I can afford to pay cash for the TL, I may just do that, as I prefer the TL.

The IT shakeout was a great thing though, it needed to happen, and I'm glad it still is happening. It not only shakes out the employees, but also the companies as many just didn't build their IT depts correctly.

I think the reason a lot of you see IT folk here is that we're always at the computer so posting is easy and we usually frequent a lot of forums Though I code only for recreational purposes now (for my ut2k3 clan, our RE team website, etc.), there are a lot of ppl like me that don't have other interests and stand to lose a lot. Thank goodness I fell in love with Real Estate or I don't know what I'd be doing.

So to follow suit:

23, 1100/mo mortgage, realtor, both hyundais (sold the accord and bought an elantra for the fiancee and accent for me) are about 490/month, 1 daughter (2yrs old), and one at the factory being assembled (sex inspector has not looked at the unit to determine its gender yet).

Very interesting thread! Had I learned more about it earlier in life, I'd be in ASU taking their kinesiology program as health and fitness are my secondary interests. IT spoiled me though as I was making 65/yr as a webdev when I left.

Ginnie

Chitown-TL

This thread confuses me.

Is it just I but doesn’t it seem odd that people actually post what they make in a year and list how much they are in debt? Or I am just being gullible to think people are being truthful in what they post?

Oh by the way, am I an overpaid city politician who used his accumulated graft to pay cash for his vehicle, or I am lying?

Who is to know? :think:

mistergin

LOL well I'll be the first to say that like most Americans I'm in debt up to my eyeballs

That's why my next auto purchase will have to be in cash. At 23, I learned a very valuable lesson and it's that debt on depreciating items is a big nono. As Kiyosaki says, use your earned income from your ASSETS to pay for such things as cars and such. Reason I got my hyundais was for the value and the long warranties. They also turned out to be great solid cars, on par with my accord I'd even say!

But off of that tangent, I'm not afraid to be honest with the fact that I'm now working twice as hard to pay off the mistakes I made in my youth. Luckily there's no college loans, they've killed a few of my buddies!

frebay

i am sure most of us are in debt, but my motto is:
"the american dream is built on credit"

JAKE02

Not to flame but 200K on a Durango? Good luck.

Aerodaves

32 y/o Aerospace Engineer working on F-35 Joint Strike Fighter for Lockheed-Martin Aeronautics in Fort Worth, Texas.

TorontoTL

36 y.o. guy in Toronto Physician. Seems like there are a few of us on this board. HIV primary care specialist. This is my second Acura and had a Honda Accord before that which I bought in internship. Love my job and my car.

gweempose

You're only 28 and you've already owned nine Acuras? :wow: That's pretty darn impressive! Assuming you got your licencse at 16, that amounts to a new car every 1.3 years.

I'm a 31 yo commodity trader. Haven't seen that one mentioned yet. I currently drive a 2000 Bonneville SSEi. I absolutely love the new TL, but I'm probably going to have to wait a little bit before buying one. With two kids on the way, my two bedroom condo is going to get crowded awfully fast. Thus, a larger home is my number one priority at this point. Given the insane cost of real estate in my area, I better wait and see how much money I have left for luxuries once all the dust settles.

neuronbob

Yeah, don't remind me. The student loans are my second largest monthly expense after my mortgage. I am thankful that I was able to get through college on scholarship and med school was 1/2 scholarship, otherwise it would have been a LOT worse.

Been reading Kiyosaki lately, too...

TorontoTL, love my job too. It makes me feel like I earned the car when I help people.

gregory28

43 year old Sales Director.

Pack Fan

Neuron, I hear you about the med school loans. January I will write my last loan payment (YAY!!) and will also take delivery on my '04 TL! =)