Young guy looking for financial advice...

[Reggaeboyz]

I feel like us "young people" should be asking you for financial advice. But like the others have stated, no one would blame you if you went with the Vette but at the same time you never know the future. I pray it doesn't happen but you're financial situation could flip in a second. Do you think you could handle the monthly payments, insurance, consumables if it was to happen? If so buy it with no regrets....

[Phantobe]

I'm 24 & a mechanical engineer. Love the car, you can truly appreciate the way it was engineered.

Life's too short to not own a sports car in your 20s Go with the 86.

[SloS14]

[86-tundra]

I can't even stomach reading these threads anymore. You just can't come here for financial advice. There are way too many opinions and to be honest - we're all dumbasses financially for buying the car.

Just buy the damn car and don't look back

[Koa]

Originally Posted by N1rve

Life's too short. Buy both.

this

[strat61caster]

Drive both, and without a doubt get in a sports car today instead of 3+ years from now.

If you decide the Vette is the way to go then buy something cheap (<$10k) to get into enjoying driving. In no particular order, all built within the last 10 years and perfectly capable of daily driving and weekend HPDE/AutoX/backroads driving: 350Z, Miata, Mustang, Camaro, Impreza/WRX, Corvette, RSX, GTI, Mazdaspeed3, or my personal suggestion: RX-8.

If you're mechanically inclined the options open up a bit more to older cheaper versions of the above and the cars that used to be top dog in the late 80's early 90's: Porsche (928/944), BMW (E30/E36) non-M, Nissan 300Z, Mazda RX-7, Mitsubishi's and I'm sure many others I'm forgetting, but these (and some of the above cheap cars I mentioned) can cost a pretty penny if you're not able wrench and diagnose yourself chasing up into the price range that you would have been better off buying a used Toyobaru.

Edit: Then in 4 years sell the sports car you've got and pick up a used C7 'Vette with the money you've been squirreling away.

If you can buy an alternative fun car and put >$5k towards the C7 and then turn around and sell the fun car for minimal loss seems like a win to me. Don't compromise for the Toyobaru unless after driving both you decide it's the winner. Also make sure to drive the competition: Miata if for no other reason than to truly understand the advantage of how effortless light cars make fun driving.

[MokSpeed]

Get the FR-S. You don't need financial advice. Based on your post, you know exactly what you're doing with your money, and doing it quite well I might add. What you do need to do is enjoy a sports car while you still don't have a kid!

Also, the Corvette will always be in production on the market. The FR-S is in production...for now.

[ashtray]

Sounds like you have a very solid foundation - just don't destroy it. Also be prepared for periods of unemployment - it happens these days.

My gut reaction: get either a C6 base or C5Z6. The C6 is very good, the C5Z6 coukd be tracked (although with pricey consumables - tires, brakes, etc).

C7 is a great bargain supercar, but not a great bargain car. (The C7Z6 is a bargain hypercar!)

FRS has 151 lb ft of torque. Really, its not much. Corvette just comes alive at the blip of the throttle. The FRS you wind out towards redline and you're still not going fast.

This is the drawback of the FRS - it looks faster than it is. You get stuck behind a slower car or want to pass someone on the highway, its a slow move. You get a sportscar with 3-500hp and suddenly things disappear in to your rearview mirror faster.

The FRS is practical. It's cheap new. It gets good mpg. Doesn't have high maintenance costs. It handles nicely and takes mods really well (and affordably). A Corvette is going to be more costly to run, and maintain. But in return you get a completely different level of car.

Test drive a few options, but before dropping $60-70k on a C7, explore the ideas of a used Vette for the price of an FRS.

[LucidMomentum]

Originally Posted by trevorovert

There are way too many opinions and to be honest - we're all dumbasses financially for buying the car.

Just buy the damn car and don't look back

Hence my tagline

[continuecrushing]

I'd go used 'Vette...

[chas3wba0]

Hah, just saw this article today: http://carbuying.jalopnik.com/young-...810900/+travis

I wouldn't listen to it though. My 4-year BRZ payments are about a quarter of my monthly paycheck and I don't regret it one bit... yolo? (Sorry)

[Shark_Bait88]

Originally Posted by chas3wba0

Hah, just saw this article today: http://carbuying.jalopnik.com/young-...810900/+travis

I wouldn't listen to it though. My 4-year BRZ payments are about a quarter of my monthly paycheck and I don't regret it one bit... yolo? (Sorry)

Came here to post this. lol

I agree with a lot of what Tom says, but did the opposite. Because

If you click through the article and look at the comments section, you can see a much longer explanation of my thoughts on the subject. My username on there is Chris_K_F.

[mav1178]

Originally Posted by buckaroo22

What would you guys do in my position? Save and wait or spend the least for the most amount of fun? I asked the corvette forum and most of them said save and wait, but I'm trying to get as well rounded an answer as possible.

Most FRS/BRZ owners: under 30
Most Corvette owners: over 30

Different financial situations will get you wildly different opinions, but just remember... why are you buying a sports car, and what do you want out of it?

Either one will get you what you want, just like any car will get you where you need to go. How you get there is entirely your choice.

And on the financial advice part, here's why your reasoning won't work with some folks: $175k would be what some of us (myself, as an example) pay as a down payment on a house in some ZIP codes.

-alex

[Dadhawk]

Originally Posted by mav1178

Most FRS/BRZ owners: under 30
Most Corvette owners: over 30

I think that is primarily a function of income more than anything else, not so much age.

@buckaroo22 if you can afford both, I would say drive them and decide. I already have my C7 savings account set up for a 3 to 5 year old model (I only pay cash for cars) but I'll be keeping my FR-S when I buy it so I'm going the "little longer" route. Had the C7 been available in that 3 to 5 year old range when I got the FR-S, I would have gone the C7 route most likely.


By the way, I'm not sure how quickly the first year C7s are going to depreciate in that time period. Given there is a backlog of orders now, Chevy may have to catch up before the price starts dropping. We may not see a good dip in price until after a mid-cycle refresh.