Pre-FRS Vehicle
 

So I was originally gonna save a chunky down payment for an FRS to get low monthly payments in case something happened, but I absolutely need a car before school starts in august to get me to school after work.

What car do you guys suggest to get that's not too expensive and will hold its value well to be used as a trade in for an FRS eventually. I'd probably keep the car for a year or two.

So ur gettin a frs in a year or 2? Civic or corolla. Theyre bulletproof

I traded an 05 x-runner. Dealer gave me just over what kbb said trade in value was. Took a bit of negotiation though.

I'd just get an FR-S now and deal with the higher payments. If you buy something else then trade it in, you're going to lose some money anyway.

Lease the frs and then buy it out.. I'm paying about $415 more to lease and then buy out my frs instead of just buying it from the get go...shit, four hundred bucks to delay paying more than I want to at the moment is perfect for me. I bought myself 3 years of time to finish up law school and then have bigger payments

A lot of ppl bash leasing. But for some of us it just makes sense. Spending the extra $415 is already worth it to me considering how happy this car makes me. Just my .02 cents

You're saying you'll end up paying a total of $415 more in interest/fees spread out over a 3 year period?

Yes, the interest to lease it was .000 something (.00019 or something close) because of being a college grad. Also got $1500 off from Toyota as an incentive to use their college grad program for financing. The interest I would have gotten on a plan to own it was closer to 5 percent, as I don't really have tons of credit.

So I guess what I'm saying is that I will have paid $415 more to lease for three years and then buy it out on the spot than if I were to have made monthly payments for three years and then bought it outright at that point.

I'm not really sure that the money is directly a result of interest, it could be the dealership making profit on a lease or Toyota wanting more money for a leased vehicle, but the bottom line price was $415 more so that made me happy

I don't know much about leasing. I've always heard people talk shit about it and I know if you turn the car back in, it can't be modded, which sounds terrible to me. But that doesn't sound too bad at all.

Like was said above. Civic, or a Corolla is a great car to bridge the gap. They get good gas mileage and there are tons of used ones out there. They also have already depreciated, so you won't lose much at all on resale.

I will throw a Mazda 3 out there. I find them to be much more fun to drive than a Civic or a Corolla and they also get good gas mileage and will hold their value better.

You are doing the right thing if you are going to school. Your payments will probably be a 1/3rd vs an FR-S, your insurance will be much cheaper, and you will get better gas mileage. And it will give you something to save towards and look forward to.

unless you plan on paying that car off within that two year period, then you're more than likely going to be dealing with negative equity. that is never fun when going into a new car purchase.

not the best advice, but as mentioned previously... go ahead and go for it. if you can that is. do your research, test drive the car 4,5, or even 6 times and make sure. while it's not a cheap car, it's not expensive either. going into college with a shiny new frs is going to be a great experience "wink wink".

Yeah, I'm certainly not recommending that anyone do this, but I am saying this is exactly what I would do. No second thoughts here. And of course, that's under the assumption that I could. OP said he was saving up for the purpose of low payments and security, which leads me to believe he could if he chose.

I'm not sure what you want to spend, but anything that isn't a lot of money isn't likely to have much trade-in value a year or two from now. With that said, buy something older, but decent, and sell privately when it is time. I'd highly recommend looking for an '02-'05 Civic Si hatch. My wife had one for 10 years. Good little car, and despite being front wheel drive, the driving dynamics reminded me a lot of my FR-S.

One of these...

Buy an NA or NB Miata. Should be able to sell it for not much more than you paid for it if you bought it right and sell it in the spring or early summer. Very reliable, and a blast to drive. Most are at the bottom of their depreciation curve, or are slowly starting to increase in value.

If you are truly about driving enjoyment get a Mazda 3 or an NB Miata.....

buy a crx. Those things are like go karts and hold their value well.

Buy a motorcycle.

Why?
1) Cost nearly nothing (get a 250/300 or an older 600)
2) Easy to sell at little-to-no price hit
3) Deal with any need-for-speed doubts you would have with the FR-S
4) Because racebike

If money is that tight, consider buying a used FR-S. Can probably find one for $22k or less. Let someone else pay the initial premium for the brand-new car.

Thanks for all the responses, extremely helpful.

@mush
@thill
@Miniata
@ZmZMWagon
@bkblitzed

What model year would you guys recommend for the cars you suggested?

The problem with the higher payments is that if for some odd reason my hours at work drop, I get about 38 hours a week and its not guaranteed, or I lose my job, there's no one able to cover me with payments that high. Talking 400-500$ a month.

That's an interesting idea, I too always heard bad things about leasing, I'll have to check that one out.

Whichever car I get now, as long as it's under 15k otd, I'll have it paid off by the end of the year or latest early next year. And if you're referring to the FRS, I've driven it tons of times, including a few runs around an autox track during the scion frs first drive event, was a blast, even as an auto. 100% sure on this car.

You're right, I could. Able to afford 600$ a month on the car + insurance and I have a quote of 70$ on insurance so that leaves 530$ for payments. But to avoid the issue of no being able to pay my car if i lost hours or my job and ending up losing my car to the bank and screwing up my credit in the end, I wanted to save that money instead.

Selling privately would be the better route to go, thanks.

I was actually considering this, but unfortunately I still live with my parents and my mom wouldn't agree to that due to the child of a friend of hers passing away while riding his bike. I'd have to move out to get a bike and that would cost me even more lol.

That idea is actually what caused the initial idea to save, I was gonna wait till December, but then I saw that at the moment there really isn't any big price difference between used and new in my area. So I was gonna just go ahead and go for new. Maybe in a year or two there will be a significant difference.

If you know you're going to get an FRS eventually, why not just buy something used and really cheap?

Whichever car I get now, as long as it's under 15k otd, I'll have it paid off by the end of the year or latest early next year. And if you're referring to the FRS, I've driven it tons of times, including a few runs around an autox track during the scion frs first drive event, was a blast, even as an auto. 100% sure on this car.

Because of this why not keep money in savings if something happen to said job or pay more on every month and have them roll over the money to next payments so in reality you could have two years of payments pre paid or which I would recommend keep the extra money in savings and if unforeseen events happen you have the money.

That will depend on what kind of car do you "want". Do you want a rwd? or fwd? do you want something that is older or newer?. Do you care about truck space? Do you do mostly city or a combination of city & hwy.

Well that's the goal of this thread, I'm just not trying to get a throw away money car that may break down on me. I'm definitely going used for this gap car.

Because I wouldn't have a big amount to save directly for this car with the 400-500$ payments that I'd have if I bought it right now.

I'm not really looking for any specific, just anything that won't be throw away money. As in won't cost me anymore than it needs to in losses before the inevitable trade in.

I would go for an older civic or corolla. It would be cheaper to buy and run. You will not get any trade in value by the time you are done. But you will be able to bank all the money that you saved towards the frs.

Celica GT or GT-S. They're old enough to have depreciated significantly, are fun to drive, reliable and great on gas

any 4 banger na car would be fine. Like others said you cant go wrong with a honda or toyota from the late 80's and 90's.

Honda Fit. I paid $16,570 for mine new in 2009. It got totalled in a hailstorm last April, which is when I got my FR-S. The insurance company settled for $14,800. So basically, I drove it for 3 1/2 years for less than $2000 depreciation.

This is not an isolated case. I've seen them on used lots for more than I paid new. And it's a very fun car to drive to boot! It has a lot more soul to it than a Civic (which I also own), as long as you stick with a manual tranny.

you should buy a Raven FRS...a manual one...one from California. I hear one is for sale. :)

Step 1: Learn to play poker to guarantee you can come up with 400/month if you're out of work
Step 2: Buy your FRS
Step 3: Go to college driving a wicked car
Step 4: Profit

When I was in university, even my heavily modded 92 integra (stock exterior other than nicer, non-rice head/tail lights, and a fresh paint job) had some.. added perks. An FRS back then would have been glorious.

I traded an 05 X-Runner too!

I've done the lease to buy before... wasn't intending on it originally but decided to instead of paying my mileage that I was over... and I liked the car so it was fine. Here are a few things to know though if you like this route:

1) Your interest rate will be renegotiated after the lease term is up, so who knows where those will be and what they will offer you 3 years or so from now.

2) Leases are incredibly difficult to get out of without hurting you credit wise in the event of a lost job/reduced income/other financial burden. Basically the only way to get out of it is to find someone willing to take over your lease... and if you are over on mileage because you were planning on buying it out, chances are you will have no takers. Otherwise you can do early lease turn-ins, but those are usually only offered 3-6 months before the lease is up and valid only if you trade in for another new car, so not super helpful.

3) In the event you decide you don't want this car over the next 3 years... again, you are more or less stuck with it for the lease term. Now you have to consider the mileage you are racking up versus the lease agreement and any damage or abnormal wear (including tirewear) becomes a burden at lease turn-in.

If you are dead set this is your dream car you want to keep for 5 years +, by all means, lease to buy is a pretty good deal, #1 becomes the only real risk you take... but if there is any doubt, 2 and 3 become big considerations.

I'm on my 3rd leased vehicle right now (the BRZ was a buy, not a lease) and I think in the right circumstances they can be a good way to go.

e36 m3...I'm selling one