Still a bit of a cunundrum

[GEIST LS9]

Here are the cars i've made up my mind on test driving after I get out of basic

RWD:
2011 V6 Mustang
2011 GT Mustang
2010 V6 Camaro
2010 SS Camaro
2010 RT Challenger
2004 SVT Cobra
2008 Shelby GT500
2005 STS-V

AWD:
2010 Lancer Ralliart
2010 Evolution X GSR
2010 Evoultion X MR
2010 WRX
2010 WRX STI
2011 Buick Regal AWD Turbo

I will be buying a newer car(my current is a 2003 Mercury Sable GS FWD)
I want to buy something that has performance potential and that's good on gas as well.I'm considering AWD due to if i'm getting stationed in a area where i snows alot.as u can see I prefer RWD.The only thing I don't like about the 5.0,SS are the manual trans gear shifter knobs.I like the 2010 Mustang gear shifter knob

[Brokinarrow]

I assume you're going enlisted, do you already have some cash saved up for this car? I ask because I remember exactly how much money I had when I got out of basic: not a whole damn lot And I know the pay isn't too great those first couple ranks either.

[19K3SS]

Originally Posted by Brokinarrow

I assume you're going enlisted, do you already have some cash saved up for this car? I ask because I remember exactly how much money I had when I got out of basic: not a whole damn lot And I know the pay isn't too great those first couple ranks either.

This.

Plus, any enlistment bonus you may be counting on to use as a down payment... Unless they've changed things in the last 6mo, you won't get that until you report to your first duty station - not Basic. And even then, it could take several months before you see the money in your account.
Also, you may want to wait until you actually get to your duty station. You may find out you are deploying within 30days of you arriving there. No sense getting a car then just to put into storage for a year, when you can get an even newer/better one 12 months later.

[Brokinarrow]

Originally Posted by 19K3SS

This.

Plus, any enlistment bonus you may be counting on to use as a down payment... Unless they've changed things in the last 6mo, you won't get that until you report to your first duty station - not Basic. And even then, it could take several months before you see the money in your account.
Also, you may want to wait until you actually get to your duty station. You may find out you are deploying within 30days of you arriving there. No sense getting a car then just to put into storage for a year, when you can get an even newer/better one 12 months later.

plus with all the cash you get from deployment, plus whatever else you may have saved, you may just be able to pay for the thing in full! No car payments would be awesome

[2000v6]

Well if you want the car now than

awd - I would ditch the regal, the lancer and the evos, because they don't really perform as well as they should on snow. I happen to know what I'm talking about so don't bash me. What I would put on the awd list instead, is any model made by audi. Now obviously unless you have over 100,000 burning in your pocket, then the a8, s8 and r8 are out. However, you can look into such models as the s4, s5 and s6.

rwd - Seeing as all of them are modern day muscle cars, then it basically comes down to personal preference. Personally I would narrow it down to the ss, svt, gt500 and sts.

[a_Username]

Don't you mean a Challenger SRT8? They start around the same price as an Evolution X MR.

RWD List: Hard choice between the 2008 GT500 and 2011 SS/GT. The 2008 GT500 only pushed out 500 HP and 475 lbs/ft, plus I'm assuming this will be a used vehicle, and the only thing that kept me away from buying a used 2010 GT500 was the fact it is a muscle car and these cars tend to be ran hard. I'd go with the SS if you're a chevrolet fan, or the GT if you're a ford fan.

AWD: Evolution MR. I've always liked the Evos over the Subura's, I've always thought they've looked better and that is the deal breaker for me considering they basically have the same performance.

Between the two lists? If you want to learn to drive your car, which in turn will be more rewarding, I'd pick an SS. However, if you think you absolutely need an AWD vehicle for the snow, I'd go with the Evo MR.

[jrc1122]

Let us know when you join the real world and realize that an E1-E3 (unless you have a huge chunk to put down) isn't going to be enough to live comfurtably and have a car from that list.

1622 = E2 pay (for argument sake) Since you are only an E1 for a short time.
17.5% (assuming you change residence to a state with no tax) 10% Federal 6% SS and 1.5% (est) Medicare
= 283 dollars in taxes.


$1339
-20 bucks life insurance
-20 bucks renters insurance (for your personal items in your dorm)

$1299 left

So for argument sake you have 1300 dollars a month
Food is free or BAS given which is mid/high 200s) but will call it 0 with no food expenses.
Dorm is free

$1300
-$350 auto insurance (young with powerful expensive new car) probably more...
-Lets say 38K for the car with taxes - 4K trade in. @ 5% (cosigner will likely be required) payments are right at $550 x 72 months.
$1300-$350-$550 = $400 left.

You are giving yourself $100 dollars left a week, (for gas, eating out, shopping, clothes, Ipods, cell phone bill, internet (if not free) ..etc.etc....

Not trying to crush your dreams, but you need to face reality.
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Chevrolet gpix concept

[jrc1122]

I can't remember which branch you were joining, I think it was Navy right?
Navy is one of the most deployable (when you count sea time)

6months on 6months off (yes you will pull into ports around the globe for a week or so) but your car will be in storage for 6 months out of the year..

Storage for 6 months isn't cheap- btw.
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BUY SILVERSURFER VAPORIZER

[rodimus prime]

Get yourself a 99-02 Camaro/TA modded to holy hell for Lance Criminal pay now a days.

But I would stay away from new cars until at least e4....at least.

[rodimus prime]

Originally Posted by jrc1122

I can't remember which branch you were joining, I think it was Navy right?
Navy is one of the most deployable (when you count sea time)

6months on 6months off (yes you will pull into ports around the globe for a week or so) but your car will be in storage for 6 months out of the year..

Storage for 6 months isn't cheap- btw.

You can store your car on base for really cheap/free on most bases.

[jrc1122]

Originally Posted by rodimus prime

You can store your car on base for really cheap/free on most bases.

Yeah enclosed storage wasn't available, and I lived on one of the nicest AF bases in the US.

But even still, Maybe the navy offers that because of the super long time out at sea..

Doesn't matter- my numbers still stand... He can't afford it (assuming he isn't putting down huge chunk of change on it, or someone is helping him with it.
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Dodge charger (1999 concept) specifications

[Brokinarrow]

Originally Posted by jrc1122

Yeah enclosed storage wasn't available, and I lived on one of the nicest AF bases in the US.

But even still, Maybe the navy offers that because of the super long time out at sea..

Doesn't matter- my numbers still stand... He can't afford it (assuming he isn't putting down huge chunk of change on it, or someone is helping him with it.

Yeah. Trust me, I had the same line of thinking when I first joined. Then I got sent to Okinawa after my MOS school If you ARE goin into the navy, I would definitely save as much as you can from your deployments. Maybe after the first one or two you should have a good amount of money (assuming you don't spend it all in port heheh) to throw down on a new ride. Then after that you can just keep it in storage for future deployments, and you should def. have it paid off by the time you are done with your contract. Good luck either way

[GEIST LS9]

Well to clarify things,I'm an Private First Class,United States Army.second of all at precisely 124,900miles the transmission on my 2003 Mercury Sable GS went kaput.I was just driving along my way to my recuiter's office to sign some documents and as I turn onto the street and proceed downhill my trans acts like i just dropped it in neutral.I managed to coast all the way to the parking lot and park it.I tried to assess the problem and ALL gears would not function.Bear in mind the trans i'm speaking of is an automatic.I bought the car in 2006 with 77,770 miles on the clock.
The next bit of good news is roughly 5 hours later the supervisor that's with my temp agency that I had my job through tells me my presence is no longer required which is fine if my car hadn't done what it did.I can't seem to win for loosing eh? but I'm leaving for basic in roughly 3 days and quite frankly whether the trans gets fixed or not is irrelevant due to the fact i'm putting that some or a good chunk of that money down on a decent USED car of relatively cheap New car.

I did recently read that the new 5.0 GT with a manual is going to feature skip shift which from what I've heard of with Chevy implimenting that feature I'd be better off choosing an automatic.The only manual Trans I'm considering are used GT500's,Mustang GT's maybe a Honda or other imports.I could go with an old standby Grand marquis,they're cheap and plentiful.Thanks for your advice everyone

[Brokinarrow]

Originally Posted by GEIST LS9

Well to clarify things,I'm an Private First Class,United States Army.second of all at precisely 124,900miles the transmission on my 2003 Mercury Sable GS went kaput.I was just driving along my way to my recuiter's office to sign some documents and as I turn onto the street and proceed downhill my trans acts like i just dropped it in neutral.I managed to coast all the way to the parking lot and park it.I tried to assess the problem and ALL gears would not function.Bear in mind the trans i'm speaking of is an automatic.I bought the car in 2006 with 77,770 miles on the clock.
The next bit of good news is roughly 5 hours later the supervisor that's with my temp agency that I had my job through tells me my presence is no longer required which is fine if my car hadn't done what it did.I can't seem to win for loosing eh? but I'm leaving for basic in roughly 3 days and quite frankly whether the trans gets fixed or not is irrelevant due to the fact i'm putting that some or a good chunk of that money down on a decent USED car of relatively cheap New car.

I did recently read that the new 5.0 GT with a manual is going to feature skip shift which from what I've heard of with Chevy implimenting that feature I'd be better off choosing an automatic.The only manual Trans I'm considering are used GT500's,Mustang GT's maybe a Honda or other imports.I could go with an old standby Grand marquis,they're cheap and plentiful.Thanks for your advice everyone

You can get a skip-shift eliminator installed for fairly cheap.