Celeron

Dude, I'm not exactly sure what your problem is, but I already thanked the people for their advice. Maybe you should return to lurking. Go away now please.

jcg878

Way too much $$ IMO

TSXDude

I should've went to school in the state... age 22, making $54k after grad.... i feel very, very depress

TSX 'R' US

Fawk!! I missed that memo



You have to decide on what you want first... Do you want a house now or later... I'm not paying any rent....so I decided to get a car first...and save up to get a house later. So it's really up to you on how fast you want to make your next big purchase.

Celeron

I am paying rent right now, $700 a month. I've got 10k saved up for a house down payment. I think I'm going to pull the trigger on the Accord EX instead of the TSX. It makes more sense as a daily driver. My commute to work is 10 miles one way, on 2 lane surface streets, in mostly stop and go traffic. Not what I would call premium drive time for a TSX.

Fibonacci

Sounds like you have a good head on your shoulders. Good luck with your Accord - not too shabby as a second choice. After a few years, I'm sure Acura will have an even cooler car then the TSX for you to purchase.


BTW - with 10k and reasonably good credit, you should easily qualify for a FHA loan for first time homebuyers - only requires 3% down payment - and you don't have to pay PMI.

Suggestion: buy a starter home, find a good friend you can tolerate as a roomate - charge him $500 per month rent --- TADA --- there's your new TSX!

TSX 'R' US

ah...sounds like you've got a plan in mind.


You'll still have fun with the TSX on other days
But you could always get a fun car later on as well
good luck!

Lung Fu Mo Shi

It's your call really.

You basically have three choices:

- Expensive new car that you've always wanted
- Cheaper new car that is decent
- Cheapest used car on par with the TSX.

I vote for #3. Get a 1-3 year old car, keep it until it's about 5 years, then sell it.

You should save the most money that way, and still have a nicer car than you could have gotten new.

PandaBear

I totally agree with the comment that you should have at least 6 months of $ saved up before you buy any big ticket items.

I was graduated 3 years ago with a Computer Science Engineering degree from UCD and was right off the bat making $55k. Someone luckier was making $70k with no experience right off too. That was the good time when everyone was buying Supra's, M3, etc and all of a sudden the bubble burst.

I was unemployed for 6 months at home and end up with a new job getting 36k, didn't move up to 55k until 2 months ago at a crappy company doing crappy $hit. Now I got a new job after 3 years and back to a 65k level.

In the whole scenario I was living at home to save and drove a 95 corolla or a 97 integra with 140k+ miles. I am glad that I didn't buy an expensive one like everyone did because they were really in deep stuff, some have been unemployed for 3 years and still are unemployed, many moved into other field like teaching or insurance broker that make only 1/2 as much as before.

What is affordable now may not be affordable in the future. The guy that made $70k on his first job is making $28k right now as a technician.

roadtacks

This thread has some very sound financial advice. Here's a bit about women: guys love cars, but you might be surprised that a lot of women have little or no interest in which car is which. No one wants to ride around in something ugly, but what draws more women to a 22 year old guy is stability and maturity, not the car he drives. It's a psych fact that women mature faster than guys. Believe me, at 22 you are not yet finished with adolescence as you will realize when you hit the 30s. So if you land in a situation where you have a shiny car but cannot afford concert tickets or a 5-star dinner with good wine, what's there for a woman to like? As one poster said, you'll have better luck in a nice condo than in a nice car. TSX is aimed at buyers who have household inc of 80k. The reason is obvious if you look thru this thread.

pby

You have to get them there first, though.

jcg878

A former co-worker of mine in Chapel Hill just married her longtime boyfriend. When he went to pick her up for their first date, he did so in his NSX (usually only comes out on weekends). She didn't know what is was, and still doesn't. He is now a patent lawyer, and he told her that after he passed the bar he'd buy her a new BMW to celebrate. Her reply? "I'm happy with my Camry."


(of course, not all women are like this, i.e. ricecake and sarawi)

Dr. T

One thought not yet mentioned: a 96 Accord with 97,000 miles on is still YOUNG. I drive a '91 Legend with 240,000--it refuses to break, but I finally convinced my wife I needed a "reliable" TSX (face it, I'm bored with the Legend, and the TSX is more fun to drive). My sister's '82 Accord finally broke at about 250k. Replacing the clutch on the Accord will cost 2 months of payments on the TSX, then probably last easily a couple of years.

VeniceBeachTSX

Even here in LA, this is largely true. To the extent that women recognize anything about a car, it's the name. And typically only a few names are going to make much of an impression. Acura isn't one of them.

I find that at my age, the attidude I get from women tends to be "wow, a guy who has a car to get around, not to overcompensate for his other shortcomings..."

sauceman

Oh yeah, these girls are really like us when it comes to cars. I wonder if Jaje used the race car bait...

I remember when I met my wife on my first date, two things happenned related to my car:

1. She was impressed that I was in sedans and not sports cars (Had my relatively new 95 Accord EX-R then). She thought all guys in their early 20's craved about 2-seaters, while I was more prone to drool over a Volvo station wagon.

2. Her father said, "who the hell is this guy?" Here I was, pulling up in my beautiful, shiny black Accord (a car he had as a 91 model year, and that he no longer had, though he considered to have been his best car in time) while he was driving around in a POS Nissan Access.

So all in all, the car made as much of an impression as it could. But still, if my girl then could have told me what car it was, I would have been impressed, because I'm sure she couldn't.

biker

I just can't picture that of the sauceman.

virtualbong

Here's my experience. When I first got out of college, I got a job in Boston, MA and I decided to move out and live in an apt right outside of Boston. I'm not sure how expensive your living costs are but Boston is ridiculous. I spent over a grand a month just for rent and then the rest was for food and some fun money (don't regret this either because living on your own with roommates right outside of college is a GREAT EXPERIENCE!). After 2 years of working at my old company and renting, I decided to look into finding another job in California or DC, so I told my roommates that I couldn't commit a year, so I moved home. Well, it took a full year to find my new job and it actually is going to still be in Massachusetts. Well, I took advantage of this time living at home and saved up a lot, which is why I have some funds to use towards a new car, a new car that I will LOVE for the 5+ years I'm paying it off. You most likely don't have anything saved up so your down payment would be close to nothing, which results in ridiculously high monthly payments. I suggest saving up some cash for a nice down payment and then purchase the car you want. Don't purchase a Civic just to get a new car because you know that's not what you really want. So drive the Accord for a year more and then get the TSX. Just my opinion.

Oh, just wanted to add a funny story (funny to me at least). I was talking to a girl friend of mine about cars and she was saying that her friends were looking to upgrade their cars. I told her I was too and that I was looking into sticking with Acura (I have a 1998 Acura Integra LS Coupe). Well, she hits me off with, "Oh yeah, that's cool. The RL is a very nice car to get" I was like, are you serious! How much do you think I make! LOL I wanted to add this Smiley because its awesome! LOL