Mani,
in my opinion (since you asked) and based on your situation as you've described it, buying a 996 right now would be a pretty big mistake.

50k is a good starting salary (way more than I made at my first job outta school!) but it won't go as far as you'd think. Plus putting that money into a depreciating asset with relatively high maintenance costs will put you behind the 8-ball at a time in your life when you really don't need to be burdened with a lot of monthly expenses.

I know it seems tough and you want to treat yourself, but you can still get something fun and sporty that costs a helluva lot less than a 996. An older Z car, Supra, RX-7, C4 vette, Mitsu 3000, etc.

These kinda cars will still be a lot of fun to drive, have lower initial costs and probably have lower maintenance costs to boot. Plus in 3-4 years the 996 cost will be much lower and you could buy a newer and/or upgraded model for the same scratch. It's win-win.

Don't get 'car poor' just out of school, it's the wrong priority and has teh potential to push you into making further bad financial decisions if things get tight.

Either way, good luck with your new career!

 

I think the important question is whether you will pay cash for the 996 and, if not, how much money do you intend to put down on the car?

 

First off, I am very grateful for all the input everyone put on this post.
Here are a few answers...

Nota_Troll- I wouldn't recommend your friend buy a car from Nxcess Motorsport. They have shady business tactics. I went to check out a 996 there, and 5 of the panels were painted differently. I live less than a mile away from Nxcess(near the galleria) and on many occassions I have seen wrecked cars on truckers coming into the shop. I have a feeling they sell a lot of wrecked cars with clean titles. I would be very wary of it.

Polarbear- How the hell did you afford to buy a condo during college?? Impressive...and ya, I'm not sure if I want to stay in Houston. I'm from Dallas, and I'd prefer to be back in Dallas if I could. and Houston property inside the city is ridiculously expensive.

Rama- you make a very good point and honestly I have also been contemplating that idea. One of my friends that recently graduated bought a 4bdroom house, rented out three rooms to college students(which pays the mortgage) and gets the tax shelter. Its an awesome idea, but I really don't know if I'd like to commit to Houston(or maybe I'm just using that excuse to go with the P-car)

Mereel- awesome parents. do you drive it hard? what maint. costs have you experienced so far? and ya, i can give up big screen tv and fast computers-don't know if i can give up alcohol and partying it up though.

k996-you make very solid points, and it scares me

jw97c2s- parents-3k, me 4k- so 7k down, and my buy price will be around 37k, 5 yr loan, but I intend to pay it off within 2.5yrs with payments above $1100 a month. kinda scary, and I'll be broke. but the car should last me 7-8 yrs right?

once again, thanks for your honest opinions and help everyone

Mani

 

As with any P-Car.....it can last longer than you as long as you take care of it. Regualr oil changes, etc.

 

Manni,

I can understand your desire to get into a 911 but with all due respect, you're nuts! $1100/mo for a car is over 25% of your annual salary. Take into account taxes, rent, and food alone, whew, you're living on the edge my friend!

But, having said that, I came out of college (14 years ago) making substantially less that $50K/year and substantially much more in debt than a $30K loan for a car (I paid for my undergrad myself - all of it @ average $18K/year for years '86-'90). If you can live with no dinner on Thursday because your check doesn't get deposited till Friday morning, then yes you can probably do it. But, do you want to live that way? I didn't (and I don't miss it either...).

By the way, I only get about 4K miles out of the rear tires on my car and it cost about $600 to replace them (tires from tirerack and installation done locally by an independant shop).

Best of luck.

 

Joe,

4k miles only?! do you track your car? luckily UT-Austin-good business school, cheap price so no debt

ya, I imagine its quite difficult. right now, im enjoying the benefit of a roommate, so we live in a luxury apartment(used for corporate housing), and rent rates in Houston have dropped so I pay 400 a month for my room.

Joe, after taxes, its 38% of monthly income. damn taxes...

 

Hi Mani,

Yup, 4K miles. Nope, I don't track the car (yet).

I've realized for some time now, I must drive my car (and probably incorrectly so...) harder in a different way than just about any other P-car owner. 4K miles is a mean value through about 8 sets of tires, not all from the same tire mfg either. Somehow I seem to be able to get them bald pretty quickly. I've also blown the gear shift linkage on my car twice, something else that seems to be rare amongst 996 owners. But, knock on wood, I've never seen a drip of oil nor does my car consume any measurable amount of oil between changes.

As an aside, tell me I don't have a golden wife: she doesn't count my beers when I drink and has never said a word about $600 worth of tires every 4k miles. Aong with my car, she's a keeper! ;-)

I hear ya about the taxes but I'd rather live in the US and pay 'em than live anywhere else! You should feel lucky too, Texas doesn't have a state tax does it?

Cheers.

 

"I can understand your desire to get into a 911 but with all due respect, you're nuts! $1100/mo for a car is over 25% of your annual salary....[snip]"

there are 84-mo. lease plans for a 3 to 5-yr-old 996 that would put your payments way below $1,100/mo--like less than half that.

btw, if your're getting 4k miles out of your rear tires, then your alignment is severely off or you're replacing them prematurely. i've seen 12k-19k on my rears (p-zero rosso, s-02, 02a, 03). i got more than 6k out of r-dot tires that were used exclusively for track events.

 

Hi Rob,

I thought of alignment too. I've had my car aligned just about every time I put new tires on it (or at least had the alignment checked). The rear tires wear evenly but I began to suspect something my dealer was doing was wrong. So I subsequently took my car to Custom Alignment in Mt. View CA. They have been recommended here on the rennlist. Same result. Tires I've used: Contisports and p-zeros and I now use S-03's (despite my dealers shock that I use a non-N rated tire). Same result on all tires.

Two points to consider:
1) I mostly drive with my rear spoiler up. One, I think it looks cool (sorry but I do...) and two my car tends to run a bit hot and I think that the spoiler up helps somewhat in cooling.
2) I am an admitted "jackrabbit". That is, I don't launch like I'm drag racing but I do indeed get it in gear and floor it as fast as I can from start to stop, start to stop, start to stop...

I've "rationalized" the tire wear based on the above two points and just live with it.

 

In my opinion 50k per year is not enough to pay for a 40k car.

You really should spend a 10 to 15k less and then have more money to spend on girls and bars and going on really cool trips looking for bars and girls.

Hey I was 23 once (only 30 now) and it is NO fun to no be able to do stuff like that since you spending all your money on a stupid car.

Oh yeah... a friend of my once told me. "Really nice cloths are better at picking up women than a car. Reason... You can't bring the car into the club with you."

 

I would say you probably shouldn't do it since you could be in a lot of trouble, financially speaking, should any unexpected problems arise with the new 996. If you do decide to make the purchase then I would strongly advise gap insurance for the depreciation you will experience. Good luck!

 

Skip the car for now! Buy a reliable daily beater for cash, pay yourself a steep Porsche payment every month. That way, if things go well your Porsche account is building....if you hit a bump in the road financially you just contribute less and you don't have a payment hanging over your head.

In 2 years you'll have $20-$25K to put towards a mint '03 996 which will be selling for low $40's. Finance $20K and you'll be driving a pristine machine for a Honda payment and from an equity standpoint you'll never be upside down!

 

Free advice is worth what you pay for it. That having been said, you are categorically making the wrong decision if you buy the car at this point in your young life. You are just starting out. It is not the time to be financially reckless. Saving your earnings is very worthwhile. Plus, based upon the 1% savings rate in the US, it will make you unique (financially solvent). But what do I know, I only retired at age 37.

 

Laurence, that was a funny post.

Good thread guys. I'm about to be in the same position as the thread starter. Perhaps another FD RX7 for me, or G35...

 

Has anyone pointed out the $2000/year insurance bill for over 25 males yet? I wonder what the tab would be for a under 25, in a city? $5000/year maybe?