That'd look sick if those were ghost flames...

I see I see..

I honestly want a sportive, luxurious and also kind of professional looking car, thats the look im going for with the 350z here. Color is an important choice for me, but anyways, i think i got enough info.

370z I can still afford, but down the road i may not be able to, and i dont want to be in debt. Also 350z I can pay fully, having said that get a nice 08 model and mod it up a bit.

Insurance, ofcourse ill get it under my dads name.

There was a 2003 G35 Coupe Ivory Pearl with black roof for 16K in Totonto. The owner is on another forum and is a good guy. The price was amazing, it included all the parts too. It also has variable Tints!!

I was somewhat in the same boat as you are in. I am currently 21 years old and have had my 370z for about 10 months. The only difference was I came into some money (family reasons), and sold my previous car (which I personally had none of my own money in). I put it all towards a new 370z and paid it off and came out with only having 16k of my own money in it. My dad insured the 370z under his name, and it cost only $1000 a year. I read where people were talking about insurance being higher in Canada? I can't imagine it being that much higher.

honestly I'm 19 and im paying for my own 370 and i dont make 18/hr. so you can definitely do it; but when you get ready to move out are you going to be able to and not sacrifice the whole lifestyle you have now? just food for thought. I love my car and couldnt imagine wanting anything else but id also like to feel like i could move out and do more than just barely make ends meet.

Not going to move out till ilke 2-3 more years.. Im planning on helping my dad with his business.. but god knows where my company will put me.

they are opening couple of new branches recently too, hiring bilingual people like myself, they are the leading in the market of what they do know in all of north america..

So my company is super stable, they add 50 cents more every year to my salary..

so i dont know man, im pretty sure i can afford the 370z.

If you really like your job and don't plan on leaving it, just do it. I'm all about living life too, less thought more do.

The only thing that gets me is that I realized I can't quit my job now, not that I want to at the moment. Although sometime soon I'd like to start traveling the world, discovering my path, etc.

I mean I could always sell the Z, but you know what I'm saying. An expensive car is a commitment.

Insurance in Canada is alot higher, I would bet its close to double of what we pay in the states. Car costs much more so it would make sense, and my cousins who live in Ontario talk about how ridiculous it is.

No offense, but don't take this as advice. If you lost the support of your parents (their health goes bad, they move, whatever) or otherwise had to move out, then you'd be screwed unless you could sell the car quick. The Z is a $40k car up there, so almost $750/month on a 72-year loan if you don't have a trade in (assuming 7% APR which would be really good given your age). That's a lot of money on $2500/month. Almost a 3rd of your income after taxes.

I'm almost to that point (1/4 of my take-home income) paying for a 370Z and 08 Evo X, and it's kind of tight if anything on the cars breaks lol.

Your theory is flawed, if his parents died then im guessing they would leave him a majority of their money. Considering he still lives with them they are probably on good terms. Now before you come back with the "you dont know that argument" lets be realistic. He can afford the car given his current situation, which is what he is asking. Not if X and Y happens then will he be able to afford it.

If you gotta ask you can't afford it. Car Payment Hell awaits you, and the pretty ladies you hoped to attract with this sexy car will spurn you when they realize you have no spare cash.

Sorry, I wasn't trying to flaw the situation of affording the car overall, I realize I was not clear in my wording. (btw my parents did not die). I was trying to work my story up to the point of insurance. I had no idea Canada's insurance was a lot higher than the states.

haha thats not how it works tho =p. if ur dad drives a car and if ur mom drives a car then if u guys get a third car then the insurance is going to assume you are primary on ONE of the cars (3 cars, 3 drivers they put 2 and 2 together) and charge u as primary on one of them. now the Z is like 3800 a yr... if ur parents are rich then they probably have nice cars too which wouldnt make much of a diff what ur insured on. its gonna be expensive.

I'm pretty sure if you add a new car, an insurance company wouldn't necessarily assume that its for the kid. Very often parents get a new car and give the kid the older one, and if it happens to be nice, its still a really nice thing to do.

Now all of you people insuring it and registering it under a parent. Finance it yourself. Register it under your name. Put it on your PARENTS policy BUT put YOU as the primary driver.

If you say you are not the primary, you are lying. If you have it registered under dad's name, when you get pulled over for being dumb, the cop will think 'daddy bought this spoiled **** this car, so i'm gonna give him a ticket no matter what'

you still save a lot of money just being on your parents policy, you should put yourself as the primary driver because that is the right thing to do because YOU ARE.

if i was you, i'd live life to the fullest. whatever that means. If it means buying a 370z and living at home for 2-3 more years then so be it. If it means buying a used 350, and having more financial freedom then so be it. Just keep in mind, your interests may change. You may at one point sooner than you think, want to move out. If you spend less on the car now, you willl have more later to do other things with like buy a house, instead of pissing money away renting. I was in a siimilar situation as you. i chose to get the 370z. But i'm making more and have more put away and i already owned an 08 altima which i was able to sell and put towards the Z. You are in GREAT financial shape, no matter what decision you make here. You're 21 or however old with all that money in the bank and making a good salary.

i'm just saying, you may get into wanting to buy a house and you're gonna want it to be just as awesome as any car you'd have, so having money for that doesn't hurt.

food for thought: You could choose to eat cat food and live with your parents forever and buy a 92 geo metro. You'd have tons of money. But would you be happy?

Your presumptions are a lot more far-fetched than mine... I doubt this guy wants to live with his parents indefinitely since he's making decent money. My advice is much more sound - don't buy the car if it's going to keep you from doing what you want to do with your life while you're still paying for it. Thinking 5 years down the road is a lot smarter in this situation. Thinking about buying a $40,000 car is ALL about the "what ifs." :ugh2:

I read all of your suggestions and possibilities...

I can basically put down 20k as a down payement, now idont know how much that affects the monthly bills on the car, but including the insurance on my parents and such, then i believe i can afford it. Although then, if I buy a nissan 350z right, get it modded, keep saving up money while enjoying the 350z, I can always sell it, and have alot of money saved up in a year or two, and combine that to buy 370z. My company will give me a bigger raise of over 46k a year, i will be promoted soon... I am their most valuable employer because I am so skilled with computers and i know many languages.

but anyways...

I can either work my *** off to enjoy a 370z with insurance payements, monthly payments, and really have no money left to save up. OR I can buy a 350z, have it for 1 year, and during this time save up money because i can pay fully for the car.. then sell it and use all my savings to buy a nissa 370z and pay 3/4's of the car, instead of 1/4.

Looks like your mind is made up, time to hit the newspaper ads and autotrader... :)

I wouldn't use all that cash for a down payment. If you can acquire decent financing, just use half of that saved money for a down payment. Take the hit on having to finance the other half, and invest the rest for a couple of years. Hell, start thinking about retirement... I've been saving since I started my current job @ 19. It all adds up, especially if your employer does any kind of matching or profit sharing.

Just out of curiosity, what do you drive currently? Are you trading that in?

Currently its a piece of crap 1999 honda civic... Been trying to sell it, and still no one has come to even look at the car.

Having to finance less with help you save a ton of cash unless you can somehow find a low interest or 0% interest on a loan. I don't know your full financial situtation or credit history so I can only tell you that you should pay as much money up front. It also depends on how many years you plan to pay off the loan. 5 year loan for 20,000 is about $333 a month plus insurance & interest or $555 a month for a 3 year loan plus insurance & interest . Paying it off quicker means lower interest rate. You can "afford" the car with $20k down, A little over $450 a month isn't too bad at all.

Just remember that while under your parents insurance, if you do anything stupid, they can go after your parents assets. You probably know that already, but you should try to get your own insurance if you can. There is a reason why the insurance is so high on sports cars especially for anyone with less than 5 years experience behind the wheel. $20k is alot saved up, its your decision, take your time and don't rush into anything. Also know that no job is 100% secure, no matter how valuable you are.

Exactly, not sure how secure this job is going to be. I know i can afford it with a 5 year loan, but i think if I just buy a 350z and pay the full amount its going to take alot of stress off my shoulders...

plus if I mod it very nicely, i can make it look reallly nice.

Agreed, go for the 350. You won't have to worry about voiding the warranty if your into modding. Who knows, maybe you could get a good deal on a used Nismo 350 if you are into that. Performance is on par with a standard 370. Insurance will be less expensive for a 350 also. The 350 is still a sweet car & I don't think anyone here would think otherwise. The 350 has plenty of parts to choose from that can be had for far less than a 370. Just don't go over the top, keep it clean and you can sell it when the time comes.

I think you have been given a lot of mature advice here. I am also a young dude (23 pretty soon). I would say your number one priority is becoming more independent. Your question is verbatim to what I was asking at age 19. I ended up staying with the grand am that I had (and still drive). It turns out that the "awesome secure" job I had with my neighbors company was not the hit and I chose to enlist and finish my degree upon losing the job even though I was best. Dude I am really fond of the Z we all are and we gripe about its small flaws but its still our dream car.... Be aware, a lot can happen in 1-2 years. You could be seeing alot of your friends move out or feel cramped by living with parents. I gotta tell ya, at 19 bein off on my own, my own place, my own cell bill(no more gettin chewd on for high bill), havin all the friends over and last but not least bringing my girlfriend over. Dude imagine pullin the finest chick and being stoked about it only to tell her that you dont know if your parents are home so uuuhhhh.... buzz kill.

Put that $$ in a ROTH IRA, keep some for your self get an ok used car and live life to its fullest with out the stress of high bills. My buddy has a dodge ram that he drooled over and now he spends every week stressed over bills and spends the weekends trying to make extra pay. I feel ya dude, a nice billy bad *** car is what I look at on this forum every night too. But I tell ya what. At my place the beer never stops flowin, the music never stops, and the feeling of independence is .. well... liberating. I might get the Z if a bloody dealer will charge less then my two marbles. Before ya know it, time will pass and you being a hard worker and all .. will have the pick of the litter. Your making good pay now, but to get the full effect of the nice car get the full effect of the responsibility of finances. I wish you the best and hope you get the car you need.

Honestly I completely understand what you are saying.

I don't drink or smoke and I am not too focused on friends or anything like that. I couldnt honestly care less if my friends were moving out or w.e, I just find that something to be what the media has influenced upon us. Why not live the life you want and live a nice house with my parents until I am set to go?

Reason i cant drink or smoke or anything is because i do fitness modelling during the summer. I have a comp in california soon and I have to cut down to a certain bodyfat :) Its a passion of mine, and I cant give that up for chicks and such, just not my personality type.

I agree that buying an ok used car is good, but thats honestly for someone who has a crappy job and living on his own. My parents are set for life basically, any money i make (may sound spoiled) doesn't goto my parents even tho i like to offer them the money.

anyways, i have the moneyto buy a 350z and pay out the car fully, just gonna have to pay insurance which will be under ym dads name/

oh nah, i wont add bumpers and crap to it.

Ill make the interior all nicely designed and probably change the color.

Sounds like a plan and if your happy thats all that matters.

thanks brother and also everyone else :)

This is one of the nicest and most mature forum boards i have ever been to.

10/10

Will surely post more around here as it isn't a waste of time.

I'd be kind of disappointed if you don't pick up the 370Z in the future.

Just remember, if you're going to mod the 350Z anyway, you might as well have spent the money paying for the more expensive 370Z. I spent over $50k modding my first car... and it may have been a highway killer, but it was nothing compared to the top-of-the-line Evo I could have bought with cash if I had just saved.

all that stuff about the 350 was really sensible.

as for the financing, id say put as much as u can down on the car to lower ur finance payments. Investment is a possibility, but this economy isn't what id call very stable. you could lose money just as quickly as u could gain it. im of course not your financial planner of any kind just saying the markets arent really that great =]

Taking 25-50% of his saved down payment and putting it in a 2-3 year CD wouldn't be a bad move at all. :tup: That way he at least has something saved away and be earning some cash on it.

I blew my life savings on car stuff once... that was a retarded move. Would be the same to spend it all on a down payment.

hehe in that case it turns into a mathematics thing. ur expected gains in this economy vs the savings if you put that money into your downpayment rather than investing it.

simple matter to calculate it all it depends on is the rates he gets.

oh and factor in risk i guess as well. all opportunity cost
:tup:

btw to make this clear i in no way disagree with you. just my investments are kinda flatlining right now so im not too sure about the economy.

edit: one word i dont get in there CD, seems like an important thing, is it some sort of stable investment (government bond type thing)?

First, im glad to see that the OP hasn't been flamed right off the bat.

I bought my 370 when i was still 19 on my own credit, 6000 down. I make about the same as you. In may I also bought a house. So, yes you can own a 370 on your income. i still have about $300 in play money at the end of the month. not exactly where i want to be (I had planned on waiting till next year but the government incentives on first time home buying could not be passed up) but definately do-able. im on track to have the z paid off late 2011

Can you afford a 370? yes. Or more accurately, your parents can afford to support your purchase. I didn't grow up in a setting like that, so take this how you wish.

Reading your comments, I think you have a good outlook. I wonder if you might feel really good about the whole car thing if you just bought a 350 with cash. no help from the parents, just stand on your own two feet and buy that because it's what you can afford straight up. There's no way around the idea that you are buying a $45K 370 is funded in part because you have dad's help. The more at this stage in life that you can do on your own, with your own cash, the better in the long run for your confidence.

That's just my 2 cents.

No, I agree for sure (I work for one of the largest investment companies in the world, not a broker or anything, though)... but I just mean he shouldn't leave himself with absolutely no money saved away. Might as well keep a chunk of it and invest it, even if he spends it on paying off the car later; at least he's got it if he needs it.

A CD (Certificate of Deposit) is a relatively low-yield, guaranteed return investment which earns you a certain percentage of interest and pays you a return after a certain period (usually a few months to a few years). Basically, you're loaning money to a particular bank to invest or to use to loan money to other people. It's like a fixed-period savings account that pays you more than $5.00/year. :bowrofl:

he never said he was going to be funded it was under my impression he was either gonna buy a 350 no help or finance a 370 no help. his parents only provide room and board which hes gonna get regardless of if he buys a car.

Correct under the ideal scenario, however what I think he is implying is that if he defaulted(which is high risk) his parent would share the debt or consequence due to the parents name on either the insurance or note for lower rate purposes. If im wrong shoot me down. Anyway the guy has a plan and he sounds confident so none of this even matters anymore so wish him luck.

OP- Best of luck.

To the rest of you guys, I wana give ya'll props for not flaming the guy. Everyone gave him real solid advice. I wish I could +1 everybody in this thread.

You sure can it's easy, just takes awhile haha

OP I'm in the EXACT same position as you... currently living just north of Toronto, 20 years old and just about to graduate and begin a pretty nice full-time job that pays pretty well. I est. I'll be netting at least $3000/mo. after taxes in income.

I'm currently debating whether to move out or not my first year after graduating... but I've calculated that owning a 370z each month will cost about $1500, incl. gas an insurance, and that's assuming I'm putting $7000 down, the car being approx. $850/mo.

This is an awesome thread and I've definitely learned a lot from reading everyones input... and by having over $1000 to play with each month... I think I might decide to buy this time... but ONLY because I'm extremely passionate cars and the whole modifying scene in general, hence why I'm sacrificing any potential of saving for the next few years with this car.

But to divert a bit OT... I'm curious as to the regular maintenance cost of a 370z? Typical problems you face with the car in general? To avoid diverting the thread anybody with this info can pm me. Thanks!

what kinda loan term are you looking at?