Buying first car need advice

[Otaku]

I will be buying my first car and am looking into getting a VW or *dreaming* a porsche. I'd like to know what you guys think of a 17yr old getting a porsche I know a couple of guys my age who do or have owned them and have done fine, I think I can do well with one also I just have to convince my parents

My family has always owned american cars, I like german cars personally. The only "practical" cars I can consider buying are VW's I am particularly interested in Jetta's and Golf's and their GLI and GTI editions. I've heard they are very problematic however. I will be buying a car no older than 2000 year model. Will maintenance and all that be horrible? I know I'm not buying a jap car here, thats not what I want.

Also I am not sure if I should go with a performance oriented/standard model or a TDI I know I will get better MPG but are they noisy running? And is it worth it financially with diesel at 3+ a gallon (its like 3.60 here I believe)

Thanks for the help. I am particularly interested in a silver 2002 GTI (golf) 1.8 with tiptronic. Has 37k on it and is priced at 15,000

[Oh Haha]

You might have better luck posting this to a VW forum.

[Tervuren]

With a Porsche for a first car, get an old one(or new one) with a lot of miles, at least 180K, preferably over 200K. If insurance rates at that age are any thing to go off of, its got a good chance of being wrecked. My 215,000 mile 944 was totaled when I was 19, was at the back of stopped traffic, no where to go, guy wasn't paying attention, looked up, saw that traffic had stopped, but not in time to react. If I'd of had a realy nice 944, 968, 911, I'd of hated to see it go.

My first car was a Porsche 944, was the right car at the right time.

[deathpunk dan]

If you like hot hatchbacks, seriously consider a Ford SVT Focus over the piggish mk4 Golf cars. It is a far superior drivers car, no joke. Can't get over the idea of owning a domestic? No problem, you just need some euro Ford Focus ST170 badges (which is what the car is, a euro model).

I am quite serious.

[deathpunk dan]

Buy a Focus ZX3 or SVT for your daily driver, and try to find a 924S for a project car, especially the 1988 924S.

My .02

[Dantilla]

At your age, check for insurance rates before you buy.

I bought a Corvette when I was twenty, and it took a few phone calls before I could get any coverage at all.

[Jims5543]

If you are going to VW route have you considered a TDI? A co-worker has one and gets 40 MPG CIty and 50+ HWY driving nice.

Something to consider as prices hover around the $3 mark.

[Otaku]

Yeah I've considered TDI's founda nice one to my only concern with them is driving-they are very slow (my dads monster SUV is faster!) 11.5 seconds is just slow to 60. Love the mpg though.

I will definetly check on insurance first and don't plan on spending much and getting a perfect car just a nice 911 or 944 for under 15k

Yeah I like the zx3 and don't mind the domestic factor really and they can be had new at great prices and my dad just loves fords (owned nothing but)

Thanks for the help

[HardDrive]

For chris sake don't by a VW. Unless you are VERY handy at working on cars, the damn thing will cost you are arm and a leg.

Buy yourself a Toyota Tacoma pickup. Regardless if you go to college, join the service....etc....the next few years of your life are going to be mobile, and it is really nice having a truck.

If you don't want to go japanese, get a Ford Ranger. I owned one. I drove it 135,000 miles and ended up putting in about $500 in 7 years, and most of that was for rear brakes. Great trucks.

I would love to tell you to get a Porsche, but these cars are damn expensive to maintain, even if you do the work yourself. If your rich, well go for it. But otherwise its a poor idea.

[yellowline]

With a $15k budget, go for a well-maintained S2 or perfect NA. Spend half of that on the car, and bank the other half for maintenance. DIY is the way you can afford one of these cars on a budget.

The 951 really isn't worth the complexity if you plan on using the car regularly and want to semi-depend on it. For example, it can tack on 4-8 hours of labor when doing the clutch. There are also 14 cooling hoses instead of 9.

[Tervuren]

Originally posted by yellowline
With a $15k budget, go for a well-maintained S2 or perfect NA. Spend half of that on the car, and bank the other half for maintenance. DIY is the way you can afford one of these cars on a budget.

Ding!

I had about $12k, spent $4k on a high mileage 944Na with solid mechanicals that had about its current mileage left in it all over.(If it hadn't of been hit, I'd of been driving it 10-15 years from now).

You don't have to spend all availible money on a car. What I did with the other money, is put $5K into a mutual fund - its at $10K now(although I've been steadily adding to it). Eventualy, I'll use that fund ot either buy a house, or a realy nice car down the road.