ElTorrente

Don't buy anything that you can't pay for in CASH.

If you have payments, you are preventing yourself from building wealth.

NEVER buy a brand-new car! There is no such thing as a good deal on a new car.

roxfatal

The car is cheap compared to a wife and yes usually less maintenance cost as well. Get the car, work hard and don't get married for a while and you will be fine.

911@25!

I was going through the same debate about 2 months ago. I am 3 years out of college and decided it was time to sell the motorcycle and get a nice car. I was debating between a new G37 and the 911. I ended up deciding on an '01 Carrera 4 with about 50k miles. I absolutely LOVE it. I have a little money set aside, but nothing to cover being unemployed, etc. I figure if something that drastic happens, I have a P-car I can sell.

I would say get the 911, but make sure you take the time and fully understand your finances before making the purchase. Then take your time and find EXACTLY what you want. Good luck with the hunt!!!

hwk72

Although I basically agree that it’s the right decision to wait some years to get a nice car like a 911, it's hard to sell this argument to a car enthusiast and I wouldn't have followed this advice some years back either. However, you're coming from an Explorer so you'll appreciate almost any nice German car and don’t need to jump on a 911. My advice is therefore; get a 1-2 year old BMW 3 series or even a VW Golf GTI. These are damn fine cars that teach you how to drive and guarantee a lot of fun. When I was about 3 years post business school, I got a 2 year old BMW and loved this car; btw, I paid cash. Honestly, I think it was THE car in my life that gave me the most enjoyment, even more than my 996 that I got with 33.

Navy'sporsche

I found myself in a similar situation a few months ago. Although I am still in college, I will be commissioned as a Naval Nuclear Officer when I graduate and the benefits of my program, which included a bonus and salary, allowed me to consider purchasing what has always been my dream car, a 911-996. I was however on the fence like yourself as to whether I was digging myself a money pit. One thing that I did which put the true cost into perspective was plan out a hypothetical maintence schedule with costs to determine an appropraite amont of money to put away each month so as to have a reserve of cash, as well as cost of insurance to really see the true cost of ownership per month. Then I calculated the same schedule for my second choice; a cheaper, less expensive to maintain car. Additionally, I knew that the difference in money I saved between those two, both in inital cost (I would pay for either in cash) and monthly cost, would go into a mutual fund account of mine. I then hypothetically figured out what I would make over the course of five years of ownership. Long story short, I found that the Porsche would cost about 10-12000 more over 5 years. What did I do? I still bought the 996!! It came down to the fact that I wasnt getting married soon, I didnt have alot of other expenses, I had at least 5-8 years of solid job security, it was my DREAM car, and I didnt think it would make sense to buy one again until I was much older. It was a little bit of a risk, but I made sure that I knew exactly what I was going into and weighing that against the emotional factor led me to my choice.

rroobbcc

It has been said by others... buying an expensive car is probably not the best move for you right now. If you own a house, can put away $1000+ a month into some type of savings/investment/401k, and can still afford the 996, then by all means go for it. Otherwise, I would point out that the housing market is still in a slump, and there are some great bargains on homes out there. Drive a honda civic, and spend your money on a house (no need to rent and pay someone else's mortgage). When the real estate market cycles back up in a few years, and you are making even more money, you can upgrade your house, and maybe even use some of the equity to get yourself into a used 997 without needing a loan.

Yes you only live once... which is why you want to do all you can to retire as soon as possible, so you don't waste all of your one life working. You are at the best age to make this happen, but unfortunately 99.9% of people your age screw it up... I know I did, and it required a lot more cash later to get back ahead of the curve.

Rob (hoping to be done working before 50)

ejdoherty911

The Porsche is expensive to maintain. If anything major goes wrong with a 99 or 00, the cost will be in the thousands not hundreds. I would really go with a newer GS or Lexus. Hey, those are pretty sweet cars right out of college. I drove a POS Chevy Cavalier.

MechanicalEng

I went through the same dilema when I graduated from college, I wanted a 911 since I was like 5yo. I saved money since I was like 16 for it, when I got my 1st Job out of college I used some of my savings + my sing-in bonus to buy a 2002 C2.. I couldnt sleep for almost a week thinking about how crazy the whole thing was, but now 2 years later I still have the car, I have savings, I had increased my income by more than 25%(remember you get raises/promotions).
The car had 0 isues I have done all the maintenance work myself, I have learned a lot about the car and about how to drive it.. in a few words I do not regret my desicion.
Other things you should take into consideration are:
Insurance ( I pay 1200 a year for a $500k coverage)
Do u have a daily driver? (I have a company vehicle)
Do you have where to park it?
Dont forget to take into acount maintenance/wear items in your monthly calculations (example: tires ~$1000 for a set=~ $85 a month) so you have to know that you need to save that amount every month! do the same with every item to have an idea.
I think that if you are making close to 6 figs and are paying cash for a good $30k-$40k 996 and have no debt or kids you should be fine.. just dont forget to max out your 401k and you should be fine... I am a living example of that

UCrazyKid

Do I have to state my age to qualify my comments? I'm 37 and I would encourage you NOT to buy a 996 as your first (only) car. There are a lot of reasons I can think up, but I'll just name a few. Cost, maintenance, tires, insurance, what do you buy next? a ferrari? I would invest. If you have them money for a 996, take it and and buy an apartment to live in. The market is almost at an all time low, get in now and start reaping the benefits of the tax deduction and equity at the market turns up.

In the meantime get some econobox and ride out the storm.

ElTorrente

Instead of buying a Porsche, buy a used Civic and a couple personal finance books. Once you read a few of them, you'll be excited about the prospect of becoming a millionaire, and will scoff at the thought of throwing your money away on car payments. The age you are at is the PERFECT time start saving/investing, and you will set yourself back severely by wasting your money on a car.

Read "The Millionaire Next Door" and a couple finance books before you toss your valuable wealth building tool (your income) down the drain on a toy.

Gaspasser19

I think you should live the American dream. Overextend yourself like it's your last day on earth and get the newest 911 the bank will let you drive. And while you're at it, how about an interest only mortgage on a million dollar house? Don't worry about the payments, if you fall behind, just blame the lender! Then the Gov'ment will help you out.


Sorry, I just watched the news again. I hate when I do that.

Show us all that you actually learned something in college and save your money.

bigmac

Maybe a used VW, the engine is in the same end

taylorsnutrition

Go buy you a house while the prices are falling. I am gonna buy a few next year, hopefully, the prices will be even lower. But I know how you feel when you are at that age and nothing else really matters. Just think in a few years when you have all that equity in your home, you'll be able to buy you a really nice P-Car.
If you wanna make lots of money, be your own boss and start you a little side business to go with your full-time job. Just make sure you start a business you like and know something about. Nothing worse than banging back a few and getting sucked into those infomercials around 3am.

desidon

When I got my first job at 23 I was in a similar situation. I had an old 87 Tbird Turbo beater from college and it was time to buy a car with my new found paycheck.
I figured that when I get older I would probably make more rational decisions and I should get owning a nice car out of my system. So I went and bought a 2 year old corvette and loved it!! I still had the beater T-bird and did all right.
Now if I was smarter, I would have bought a house...which I did eventually but it is tough to make such sane decisions when you are young and single.
I'd say if you are gonna make a decent paycheck...go ahead and get the 911. Make sure you have a beater to go with it and extended warranty.
9 years later...I have graduated to P cars but still have fond memories of owning a c5 corvette at 23.

24479

Has anyone noticed the comical trend in this thread - older people are telling me to save while younger people are telling me they have no regrets on doing exactly what I'm pondering! The funny thing is, those younger people will probably turn into those older people in a few short years.

To be honest I thought posting here would completely disavow this notion, but the fact that three or four guys in my exact situation who ended up with the 996 are happy with their decision surprised me a lot. I think I'm even more confused than when I posted in the first place! But I think the fact that response was not overwhelmingly (just mostly) negative means it MIGHT be possible. Time to do a long-term budget and go over everything time and again.