New LS1 Owners - Newbie Tech - I have a dilemma about what car to buy and financing

Ok here's the deal. I've come to the conclusion I can prolly get a trans am with not to high milage for around 14k-15k. Dunno exactly what the payments would be or nothing...but i'm sure slightly over 300....insurance would be another thing...slightly over 300(or more). I only make about 1300 a freakin month...sure I don't spend all that much money from week to week. My girlfriend and her dad are telling me no don't get a trans am, get some new economy car or something....saturn ion, chevy cobalt, hhr, pontiac vibe....ya know "good milage" usefull vehicles. Well I could probably do that and get off with insurance being around a hundred bucks cheaper a month nearly, and the car payment baout the same or slightly less. I just want one so freakin bad that it hurts, I just wanted ya'lls opinions on what ya'l would do in this situation. thanks.

Ok here's the deal. I've come to the conclusion I can prolly get a trans am with not to high milage for around 14k-15k. Dunno exactly what the payments would be or nothing...but i'm sure slightly over 300....insurance would be another thing...slightly over 300(or more). I only make about 1300 a freakin month...sure I don't spend all that much money from week to week. My girlfriend and her dad are telling me no don't get a trans am, get some new economy car or something....saturn ion, chevy cobalt, hhr, pontiac vibe....ya know "good milage" usefull vehicles. Well I could probably do that and get off with insurance being around a hundred bucks cheaper a month nearly, and the car payment baout the same or slightly less. I just want one so freakin bad that it hurts, I just wanted ya'lls opinions on what ya'l would do in this situation. thanks.

Same happened to me I went for the SS. You just have to make a budget and stick with it. My budget allows me to pay off and extra 200-300 off a month on my loan. With all that I'll be able to pay it off over a year early.

Ok I've never bought anything new or anyhting in the range that required financing or a loan or antyhing before. But say I was looking to get a 2001 Trans Am @ around 15k....(how long how many years) would they let me pay it out and at what kind of interest rate could i expect on the average.

That is completly up to whoever you finance with. You can change the length of time you pay it off. Which is more monthly payments but less overall interest. I think 72months is the max that I know of.

BTW I merged your threads since they were basically about the same thing. ;)

get the trans am so much more fun, worth payin the extra at the pump and to your insurance guy ,i love my 99 z28 and i wouldnt have anything else

I may be the only one to say this, but 50% of your income is too much to dedicate to the basic payments (payment+insurance) for a vehicle.

Gas can cost $50 a tank now. Let's say a tank a week and you're at $200. Now you have $500 a month left. Maintenance (Tires, brakes, oil)? Repairs? Ticket? Mods? If you get a ticket and your insurance goes up by $100 a month, can you now no longer afford to drive?

With this thin of a budgest just one or two things going wrong means you've got a huge, expensive paperwieight sitting in the driveway.

I guess it depends on your situation, but I'd say honestly you're not to the point of having a toy car. With certain incentives you could have a new, $100 a month lease car like a G6 or Cobalt be in far less danger of financial problems, and actually enjoy going out and having fun.

I know it's not a 300 hp sports car but there's a lot to be said about a new warrantied vehicle when you are on a tight budget.

Just my $0.02. I'd have a hard time recommending anything over 20%, but that considers you're on your own (rent, etc.). I suppose if that $1,300 a month is purely disposable... then maybe.

Oh and on a 2001 a common loan would be 5 years at about 5.5-6.5%. You can go up to 6 years with some banks, and regardless of the term the rates on used loans nowadays are about 4-6% if you have good credit and get your own loan approved. For a used car I would try to stick with a 4 or 5 year loan, if not shorter.

Lots may offer financing in the 8-12%(!) range, but most will drop down without a fight if you bring in a pre-approved loan.

Ok here's the deal. I've come to the conclusion I can prolly get a trans am with not to high milage for around 14k-15k. Dunno exactly what the payments would be or nothing...but i'm sure slightly over 300....insurance would be another thing...slightly over 300(or more). I only make about 1300 a freakin month...sure I don't spend all that much money from week to week. My girlfriend and her dad are telling me no don't get a trans am, get some new economy car or something....saturn ion, chevy cobalt, hhr, pontiac vibe....ya know "good milage" usefull vehicles. Well I could probably do that and get off with insurance being around a hundred bucks cheaper a month nearly, and the car payment baout the same or slightly less. I just want one so freakin bad that it hurts, I just wanted ya'lls opinions on what ya'l would do in this situation. thanks.

what toddchi said is prety much how you should look at it. I had a vehicel that was to much for me but I enjoyed it for a year after that I got sick of not having any money and not being able to sell the car because it lost to much value in that year. I would never do that agian if I didn't have to. btw thing's will break and you'll want to changes this as well. all I can say is either wait until you find the deal you can afford and can't pass up or just wait till your income level can afford the hit. I waited and found some really good deals' and they do come along. the two car's I have now are both 2000 and in excellent conditon. the camaro now has 45k on it and my truck truned 100k and I don't have what your considering paying on one car in them. just something to think about.

I'm 20 still living at home, still having to pay for college. I had a mustang prior to my SS and lent it to a friend for shows/repairs/mods. Anyway to get back on track for those 2 months I was driving a 4 cyl auto S-10, and literally driving was depressing. Maybe it was because I knew my car was gone, or maybe I just missed having a car I really love to drive? After all that I knew I couldn't just get any old car, as long as I could get by with payments. My payments are 350 a month on it and my insurance is 350 as well, I spend around $75 a week on gas, if not more.. Well worth every penny if you ask me, payments are sometimes tight, its all worth it in the end!

I am 22 live on my own and love the hell out of my Camaro. Personally my six speed gets pretty good gas mileage. So I say get it.

well both sides of this have a point ...just like i said before. I just have this feeling that if I don't jump on something soon...later on down the line something will happen and i wont ever be able to get an f-body. If i find one low enough i'll go for it...if not i'll get some car probably no more than $6k and drive it till it's paid for and hope like hell my job takes off better and i get a raise...that way then i can maybe get my dream car.

If youre goingto get a good mileage vehicle, dont go with a grand am or anything pontiac related. The TA was a fluke in Pontiac's reliability and power sector (thanks to the GM powerplant spread wide throughout the muscle-car revolution). Any onther car pontiac or early chevy related is a bomb waiting to explode (around 80,000 if you're lucky; and yes this does include V6 camaros and firebirds)

why dont you go for an lt1 ws6 or trans am? they are much cheaper(can get a low mileage one for 5K-7K)..insurance is cheaper also. they are definatly quick cars also. doesnt take much to get them running with and surpassing stock ls1's.

if i drive good..i can get 26 mpg out of my 6 speed lt1.

i bought my ws6 just when i turned 17, dad co signed, i work at circuit city and i still pay my 300 note every month and i dont regret one thing about it i love my car so much i would probably pay twice as much if i had to. im actually sittin here right now at work drinkin coke and eatin candy i love it. no but get what you really want cus if u get something else u will hate and you will not be happy cus then u will be right back where u were. u only live life once so get what you want. just my 2 cents

why dont you go for an lt1 ws6 or trans am? they are much cheaper(can get a low mileage one for 5K-7K)..insurance is cheaper also. they are definatly quick cars also. doesnt take much to get them running with and surpassing stock ls1's.

if i drive good..i can get 26 mpg out of my 6 speed lt1.

i second that, just get a more affordable f-body. When my Ford blew up, and my mind was set on a performance car, i was getting a camaro whether it be the one in my sig, or any other year. I got it made though, because my car was only 10,500 and i paid 6500 up front, just got 2-3 months left of giving my mom $165 after the other sums of money i gave for it. Insurance is a different subject entirely though...

My advice? Wait until you can afford it. If you buy it now, you must always factor in maintenace, and other running costs. There is a possibility you may not be able to enjoy this car as you would if you were just a little more fiancially secure.

I waited 10 YEARS to buy my first sports car. And now that I have the money to throw around - I can still sleep at night - knowing the bank will not be knocking my door down anytime looking for some cash ;)

Also - you said you have a gf.. gf's are expensive. Women in general are like running a sports car.

Again, my advice, wait a little my friend, work hard, and then when you can make a good down payment ( or pay in cash even ) then enjoy your ride, like you rightfully should!

Any onther car pontiac or early chevy related is a bomb waiting to explode (around 80,000 if you're lucky; and yes this does include V6 camaros and firebirds)

Hmmm....don't know about that. I have 180,000 on my '96 Camaro (V6 engine) and still runs great. Only thing done to it (other than general maintenance) was a new alternator and a coil pack. :)

i second that, just get a more affordable f-body. When my Ford blew up, and my mind was set on a performance car, i was getting a camaro whether it be the one in my sig, or any other year. I got it made though, because my car was only 10,500 and i paid 6500 up front, just got 2-3 months left of giving my mom $165 after the other sums of money i gave for it. Insurance is a different subject entirely though...
Sounds like what I'm about to do. My 2005 Scion tC was just totalled by Katrina. I'm getting $5k from my Insurance Co. plus about $1k lying around. I'm going to use that plus a small loan from my bank to get a Trans Am. The loan should only cost me around $150/month. I haven't checked the cost of insurance yet, but I'm sure it will be less than what I was paying. I had been paying ins on my '05 tC and my '93 T-Bird (5.0 V8). Now that they're both gone, I'll only have to insure the TA.

What i did is i had my car in my dads name (im 19) sounds childish but if im saving money while people are laughing cause his name is on the title im laughing because im paying $150 in insurance and i am a secondary driver on the car, primary on the explorer :headbang: so everything is through him, he has a nice selection of cars so we have a multi vehical discount, i cant help you with the loan, my car was a graduation gift and it was only 6500 (have a friend w/a dealers license so it came from the auction) i opted to have it in his name to save me money, gas is a different story for me, i drive alot 2-4 tanks a week so thats a big expense but its worth it to me. My buddy has a 97 WS6 and that car is a blast, my first choice was an lt1 car just because of how much i had to spend, and i would have been more than happy with one, but i got lucky, think about it this way, worst case senerio you get a lt1 which still very good, low 14's for a car thats up to 12 years old and beating 03 gt's its just fun

hhjj//jl/

300 for insurance, i have 2 speeding tickets and mine is only 115 a month

I agree with todddchi. If you can’t get it paid off in 4 years, then you probably should not be buying it. I would go for an LT1 (maybe a fox-body mustang) or hold off until you are financially strong enough to not sweat the higher payments. Remember, the longer you pay off the car, the less money actually goes to the purchase price of the car. With 5 and 6 year loans you are paying a substantial amount of money just on interest - you are getting less car for more money. Finally, don't forget that "fast" is not the only factor that can make a car fun. I had an old 86 Chevrolet truck that was pristine. It was a whole lot of fun just to cruise it around, and it was definitely NOT fast.

i disagree with the performance remark i had a 3.4l camaro 1995 and it ran great until i sold it 140,000 miles and the guy uses it as a daily drviver and i put it through hell..my current 2000 camaro doesnt even have 50,000 on it yet and it runs great...i say if you want it get it i made the mistake of getting this v6 instead of the trans am i drove but moeny was a prob at the time so i went with the better financial decision and i want a ta so bad i cant see straight...but a lt1 is something to look into...i woudnt go any longer than 48 months personally...most banks wont go over four years for a car that is five years old or older i know i just got mine refinanced...usually for about 5 or 6 percent with good credit

this is awsome, I decided to get yet another quote from Geico.com So i filled out everything, even stated that I have two speeding tickets and one rear end collision on my record, put in my SS# and the works to get an accurate quote. What I am driving at eh moment is a V6 fleetside 1998 chevy truck. its paid for of course so I put it down as primary vehicle drove at 12000 miles a year and quoted a 2001 trans am(that i dont actually have) for comprehensive and collision with 500 dollar deductables each. I didn't go all out elsewhere of course but enough to save my A$$ ya know. After all that it came to about 150 a month!!!!

well actually the only thing I did do that I may have LIED about was that I would only be driving a total of about 8000 miles a year on it!!!

I would add, that I personally would not buy an LT1 car if I were in the market. I had a '93 stripper Formula that was still going strong at 155k miles until just this summer (sold it), and I loved it - it was a great car for me. Amazingly few problems, the car was a limit sample.

But given that you can get into very decent LS1's for 7-10k (my 2000/50k Z28 vert was only 11.5k off a GM certified used lot, and standard t-top models are a dime a dozen at 7-10k), I would recommend saving up for the LS1 rather than diving into the LT1. Just open your search up and be willing to travel to get the right car and it'll be easy. Resale values of F-body's vary ALOT depending upon the area/market.

Unless you particularly like the styling of the LT1 years, there are some pretty substantial upgrades 98+. The LS1 being the main draw, of course... but the brakes are also nicer, mileage is better, some small tweaks here and there on the interiors, etc. There are many lists on the internet about model year changes. Probably a 2001-2002 is the best way to go in general.

Outside of the LT1 cars looking quite more dated, you are also dealing with a 1997 or older car. 8 years is a long time on a car. When you get into a used car of that age you have that much more risk for it having a bad background, and time is going to start to take it's toll (worn out rubber parts, fading, paint, rust, just age stuff), adding a whole dimension of wear concerns outside of normal broken/not broken types of things.

This is all assuming you are looking for a top-notch example. If you're trying to make the best out of a 5k budget, then LT1's start to make more sense.

About the only thing I can think of that I liked about my LT1 car better was the exhaust note.

What I would suggest as far as financing is to basically set aside what your car payment and insurance is for 3 months, to make sure that you can actually afford that (kindof practice payments) and after the 3 months is over and you've decided that you can afford that much you have a little chunck of change saved for a down payment.

If money were tight, I'd be looking at a 98-99 over an Lt1 car. There's not a lot of advantages of getting a newer one than that except for mileage. And like others have said, you can probably pick up a 98 Z28 in the 8k range

I've decided to save about 2 or three months(already saved about 550) and then just get a damn LS1!!! Definatly gunna be under 16k....that way I can put a little bit down on the car and pay 6 months in advance on the insurance. Hell yes! this will happen!! I will get one and I will be back to tell you when I do or if I have any stupid questions that a million others havn't already asked before me.

todddchi really had some good points. I would agree with buying a more affordable F-body. I prefer the LS1 cars over the LT1 (have owned both). You can find a 98-99Z for well under $10k now. Look in your auto traders, newspapers, ebay, and other sources for car sales. You would be living on the edge, and may not even be able to fully enjoy the car being financially strapped as this car would make you. It wouldnt hit you right away, but after a year or so of "no problems" you would see it would suck. What if you needed some service work, or somehow destroy 2 tires?.. Problems do happen, and should be planned for. Good luck with your decision though.