Hey Everyone! I have been reading informaiton on this site for about a month now. I would just like to say thank you to everyone who has helped me make my final choice!
Ok a little background on myself! I am a 19, almost 20 =) year old college student. I have just started a student internship at Fort Monmouth. My major is EET (Electrical Engineering Tech) and am graduating in a little over a year thanks to summers spent in class rooms and not at the beach =(! Because of my new job and some saved up money, it is now possible to buy my dream car, the MINI COOPER!!!! I'm sure you guys have heard of that car?
Ok now for the good part! What I would like to get.......a 2006 hyper blue MCS with a black roof and black bonnet stripes!!!! As far as the options I am still not 100% sure, I would like to get the navigation system and upgraded stereo and some other stuff if i can!!! I have my heart set on getting the JCW upgrade since if I don't I will prob end up moddin it myself and end up screwing up and voiding the warranty! and no body wants that!
My main confusion is HOW to pay for it. I have close to 20,000 saved up from working and stocks and such. Should I put all that money into the car and finance the rest? I would like to finance through MINI select as the lower monthly payments would be ideal. Or should I only put in like 10,000? Which would be more benificial? How did you guys go about doing this? Any regrets of payment choice? Any information would be GREAT!!!!!!!!!!

 

If I was 20-21 years old and had 20Grand cash money, I'd save it/invest it for use later towards a downpayment on a house/condo/apartment.

 

Just curious, sound like your going to Devry (or Deepfry as we used to call it)

Anyway, I'm a 43 year old guy (you guessed it BEET grad from DeVry). Is that all the money you have saved? Will you have student loans when you graduate? Have you checked out the cost of insurance? All these things need to be taken in to truely answer this question. I like to look at the long term cost. 20k put into stocks at 8% will yield ya 80K by the time your 40.

With said, you only live once, and hopefully you'll graduate and get a well paying job. Hopefully not burdened with student loans. Usually I say get a one or two year old car with under 20K miles and let someone else take the initial depreciation hit.

I've alway found that debt stresses me out. Other people don't mind. I usually write a check for my cars because I don't like making the payments.

At the end of the day, you gotta do what you feel comfortable with, Ive learned that is something that money can't alway buy

 

You don't have to listen to these guys, I say do what is in your heart, I'm sure your smart enough to know what you should do with your money and dont need a the lecture. I say you couldn't go wrong with buying a MINI.

Yeah of course its not gonna make you rich like an investment and in the long run you will loose money, but if it will make you happy then go for it.

You can probably ask any Mini owner of the value of their car, and they will probably tell you its worth much more than the money they paid for it.

I don't have my mini yet, and I got the same lectures from parents and the like. but I figure with the amount of time spent in a vehicle, i want one that is fun to drive.

As far as your question, I can't help you much there, my only suggestion would be to put down enough to make your payments lower and save the rest of your cash and possibly put it away.

So go for It, I'm sure you wont regret it.

 

Save the money, Buy a house and leverage the equity.

Thowing away 20K on a depreciating asset is a poor investment.

Buy what you want after you got the house ... my opinion

 

Buy a house. Don't waste it on a MINI - just yet! Trust us here. A house will give you money back in as little as 1 year

If you do end up buying a MINI, consider buying a stock one or a used one.

I don't mean to burst your bubble here. Sorry!

 

Where do you guys live at? In my part of the woods 20 large doesn't even get you a look at this house.. oh, wait...

 

Hang onto your money until you graduate. I wouldn't sell my stocks for a car. A house is a good idea too...

 

get a real job first.

 

Seeking financial advice on an automotive board is probably not the best idea. Having said that, I'd suggest not to put your entire life savings into a car (or any one thing for that matter).

 

I say get a house. I'm struggling with the same choice AND I have a real job. I'm already in debt from school, I want a MCS so bad it hurts, but the thought of being more in debt, not owning a home but having a cool car doesn't sit well with me at all. I really want to be impulsive and buy a mini and I even try to reason with myself, " you worked your a$$ off for a long time, you should reward yourself", but in the end I'd rather be rewarded with a home rather than a car. That's my two cents.

 

I tend to agree with the saving for a house. I am 25 and just bought my first house a year and a half ago. Even though I had money saved for a down payment and moving expenses, I wish I had saved more. I bought a $27k new car when I was 21. It sounded good at the time since I had very few expenses. I did pay it off and started saving again, but I should have saved more. My first year in the house I was on a tight budget. Thankfully, the past year was very good to me. So I just ordered a 2006 HB/B MCS.

Welcome to the HB/B club. It seems like most people choos a white roof. The black will look so good with the HB.

 

I'm 19 as well (20 in March), and just took delivery of an '06 Dark Silver MCS...Loaded with Navi, all packages, H/K, etc...

That said, I attend a pretty well known university in DC and have a "real" job working in admin at our family business...I put a little more than half down on the MCS, and I'm glad I did...It will be paid off before I finish college, and I'll have a car that I can hopefully keep around for a few years after that.

Here in DC, $15-20k is a bit of a joke to purchase an apartment/condo/home. I purchased the car I've always been dreaming of, and will not have any financial burden relating to it after college. That said, I will also not have a car payment after college - I think it worked out nicely.

If you want the MCS, go for it...No regrets here. The sage advice is ALWAYS to purchase real estate, but how can you take someone else's word for it? You live and learn...

Of course, this is all just my opinion...

 

Engineering student that you are I want you to take it upon yourself to figure out what the best way to finance it would be. That means getting all the figures and figuring out the payments and interest. Then figure out how much you'd save by putting the whole $20k down as opposed to just the $10k. Now figure in the savings by paying it off in 3years, 4years and 5years. Now take into account if you'd like to have some left in savings.

The reality is that you've set your heart on getting the most expensive Cooper(minus the ragtop). Personally I like the Mini better, but that's likely because I'm not impressed with excessive speed as much as the handling and style of the car itself. Good luck and remember if you're smart enough to be an engineer then you're smart enough to figure out all of this and be sure to get the answer you seek. We all know engineers aren't lazy so get to it and let us know your results. :-)

 

I'll take a different POV. You're young, you've got a lot of time ahead of you to own more expensive cars. How 'bout a compromise. You're interning and need a car. I grew up in that area of NJ, so theres no doubt you've got a pretty good reason to buy one. You seem pretty responsible in terms of money having saved a fairly considerable sum of $$$ so far, so I'd simply suggest you lower you sights a bit. A new JCW with a nav etc is 30K+. Remember a JCW in NJ for a 20 yo is an insurance nightmare. You're going to pay huge bucks for that. So in your position at this moment, it seems over the top to commit to something that expensive. An MC might not be your fantasy car, but it would fit your wallet a lot better and be far cheaper to insure. It's a fun car, economical and in a few years when you're situation is more stable, it will give you decent trade-in value to move up. Skip the high ticket add on baubles all they'll do is increase the cost and slow the car down.

Interest rates are reasonably low now, you're income presumably will be rising over the next few years, so I would certainly finance and keep at least half your cash in reserve.

 

5K down on a 2006 MCS @MSRP without the add-ons is a great car. I know I have one now and payments are about $350/mo. With 5K down, don't worry they'll finance you. Leases are loser bets unless you put no money down, you can stay under the mileage allotment and have a really low comparitive payment , like closer to 200 to 240 or so a month. Other than that you are really throwing all your money in to a "rental" that you have to maintain in OEM condition, and that in the end you have nothing to show for it. 15K left in the bank to get you started in your after school life plan, whatever that happens to be. The MCS will keep you interested in it even in stock form. Maybe spring for the LSD, but you don't really NEED that either, OK?

 

I'm 21 and agree with you. Since having my MINI I find myself spending more $ on it then I should on other things

As you can see in my sig I have a fully loaded and modded 05 MCSa. And I work for the feds on a 40/hr week.

 

About same age and from what I know about the $$ stuff, put half down, keep the other ten in good investments,A) you'll have 10k so you can cover, rent/mortgage, mods, food, gas, student loans, life in general. B) When the car is paid off credit rate goes up so long as you are regularly on time with payments and that translates into lower mortgauge rates.

 

Buy don't lease, I thought I'd only be outting on 20k a year and for the extra 10 bucks a month I figured it was worth it to buy cause I'd probably keep it forever anyway, well five months in and less than a hundred away from 20k miles a lease would have screwed me over and forced me to buy anyway. in short you'll probably drive more than you planned its just that fun. The MINI is my dream car too

 

So I bought my 2006 MCS in November. With taxes and fees, all said and done it came to nearly 25 G's. I also had a nice sum saved, and wasn't sure what to do, but I decided to save the big chunk of money for investments and stuff because at ~5% interest on the auto loan, that's not that bad of a rate (BMW may be a little higher). So I put $5000 down, and financed the 20 K, with a monthly payment of $380. That's not bad if you don't have a family to support (which I'm assuming you don't yet), and at least if something else comes up in life, you'll have the money to take care of it. Besides, as some have mentioned here, the insurance in NJ is going to be a killer on that JCW you'd like! Best of luck!

 

Put $10,000.00 towards the car, then put the rest away. You'll be ready to buy a house of some sort pretty soon. Even if it's not your forever dream house, it will be a good start into the real estate market. With a some research and a good agent you can get into a house that will appreciate, all while you have a great car to drive around house hunting! Enjoy life, but don't squander!
Annette

 

im paying about 430 a month for my MCS but thats because i had a few credit probs but i squared all that away and now its on its way back up which is good....you could always invest in oil...oil prices are dropping fast....buy low sell high...if u play it right ull have all the money for gas youll ever need lol

 

I didnt read all the posts, but I noticed a few people telling you right away to not buy the car.

Coming from another 19 year old, BUY IT, and get it asap. If you dont, you will regret it. You're only young once, that's how I look at it.

 

I would definitely recommend putting no more than 50% of your savings down on the car. Keep the other 10k or so available for when you start thinking about a house/condo. It can be awfully tough to save up 10k post-college; you'll definitely be glad you have it!

 

Don't spend your whole savings on a car. If you happen to meet Ms. Really Really Right in the near future, she'll be much more impressed with your fiscal restraint than with a loaded to the gills car.