What every car modify should do...THINK! *please read*
09-06-2006, 01:15 AM
#1
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Thread Starter
What every car modify should do...THINK! *please read*
Before I get into the full explination of this thread, I just want to say that this is all a personal outlook on things as far as modifying vehicles and should not be taken as a literal fact but just my personal outlook on things.
With that said...
I've been on forums for years now, I read alot, I've done alot and I've experienced alot. Starting out modifying, I was about 17 years old, knew nothing about cars and started modifying cause of my local Honda friends. Now being 22 and entering from one stage of life as a student in high school to a father working 2 jobs, my outlook on life has changed alot and even more so with Cars.
Being that the perdomanent age for tuners is young (usually from 16-25), there are alot of young minded people out there. Granted when you're in your 20s you're expected to think more maturely but sometimes doesn't happen just as of yet.
The problem I usually encounter is people so willingly to dump their savings and every penny they've earned into their vehicle without any regard for life after a vehicle. You work a minimum wage job, live at home with your parents and have an 4 cylinder economy car (for example) and you like cars...automatically you're supposed to make your stock car into some super human dream beast that's one step down from an Ferrari Enzo. As silly as it sounds, this happends. Why?
My vision as of why could be alot of reasons...keeping up with the croud:
Example: Bobby is around guys with turbos, now he wants a turbocharger
To impress people:
Example: Guess what I did to my car?
Attention...kind of goes hand and hand with impression people. The list goes on.
Beyond why people do things, we should think about the results of what we do in the present and how it will effect the future. How much do you really like your car? Do you honestly feel that your 4 cylinder car that is worth dirt in the market deserves 20 grand in modifications? Granted, it is a personal opinion, some say yes, some say no but it is something that I don't think most people think about or most people ACT like they think about and don't.
People fail to realize that people change, situations change, life goes on and you don't always feel the same way about something as you did when you were younger. When I was 17 & 18, all I could care about was my car, trying to get laid (even though it never really happend lol) and working for money for my car. I'd count every week I got paid how many hundreds of dollars I had left to buy this exhaust system, this intake, these rims....you get the point. Now, I'm not the only person who thought this way when they were that young and I'm not the only person who did the same thing.
The problem with the way I thought was just total disregard for the future. Did I think of me possibly having money to move out? Nope. Did I think about the possibility of me having a much better car with the money I invested in? Nope. Even for some of those years my mindset was NOT to move out so I could finish my car. The problem is that you never really finish untill something happends to you. You don't just stop at a full body kit...you want the projectors, you want the spoiler, you want the turbo, want 200...300...400 HP. This mindset I had cared nothing of the future and thought nothing of the future.
What did this lead to? Never paying off my Credit Card bills...even the one that only had $300 on it. Not having squat for savings. Living with my mother even when I wanted to leave but couldn't afford to. Having bad credit cause I never paid off my debts.
This was a destructive way I was thinking financially and personally. Now you might think "sucks to be you, that won't be me" but the point I'm trying to make is that there are lots of people that are leading this way and honestly need to think about the consequences. My situation is not even the worse that could happen to someone...I could be declairing bankruptcy, be homeless, things of that nature. Sounds serious cause it could really get that serious if you don't think about what you're ultimately doing.
Now, I'm not in anyway putting down people who are into modifying cars or like cars as a hobby. I still say that I learned alot from modifying but it's about how you do things and how out of control some people get. If you're some 17, 18 or 19 year old "kid" reading this, I just want you to realize what you do now can and will effect the future.
Myself, I never really wanted to go to college or had plans to go so that part wasn't really effected but I know alot of people are in college and want to modify their vehicles. Is a car really worth you missing out on education cause you can't afford to pay your tuition? I'm hoping that people who are looking for higher learning can easily realise that answer.
If you're curious as far as my situation and what I did:
First let me tell you that I realized how much I was in a shithole when I decided to better my life and get out on my own and I tried to get a personal loan for a 93 RX-7 TT, basically a vehicle I don't have to modify unless I wanted to. Well that came to a hault when i saw that my car note wasn't paid off, my credit cards weren't paid off and started becoming late, had 0 savings and my credit score was under 600.
Reality got even realler when I saw I couldn't afford to get the cars I wanted from dealerships with 0 down and an bla credit score. Because of me still owing about 6 grand on my car note, I basically had to add the amount of money I owed on my car note from before onto a new $22,000 note for an 06 Eclipse GT w/6,000 miles already on it and now paying an outrageous note just so I could get out of the car that was ultimately going to lead me to bunkruptcy. Yeah, I got a decent car out of the deal but it's not even under my name and my note is over $500 a month!
Now you know my situation, my faults, my issues I ran into and I got lucky. Being 17 years old, I never imagined having a son and having ton of responsibilities at the age of 22 but I should have taken that into consideration.
Overall, life changes and money rules the world. I just want the young tuners out there to see how life changes and see how the decisions you make now really can effect you when you're older. Just cause you have $4000 in your savings account doesn't mean you should throw it away on a turbo kit or just cause you have an extra 200 from your check doesn't mean you should spend it all on car parts. THINK about your future!
Hopefully someone can learn from my mistakes. Thank you for reading this.
With that said...
I've been on forums for years now, I read alot, I've done alot and I've experienced alot. Starting out modifying, I was about 17 years old, knew nothing about cars and started modifying cause of my local Honda friends. Now being 22 and entering from one stage of life as a student in high school to a father working 2 jobs, my outlook on life has changed alot and even more so with Cars.
Being that the perdomanent age for tuners is young (usually from 16-25), there are alot of young minded people out there. Granted when you're in your 20s you're expected to think more maturely but sometimes doesn't happen just as of yet.
The problem I usually encounter is people so willingly to dump their savings and every penny they've earned into their vehicle without any regard for life after a vehicle. You work a minimum wage job, live at home with your parents and have an 4 cylinder economy car (for example) and you like cars...automatically you're supposed to make your stock car into some super human dream beast that's one step down from an Ferrari Enzo. As silly as it sounds, this happends. Why?
My vision as of why could be alot of reasons...keeping up with the croud:
Example: Bobby is around guys with turbos, now he wants a turbocharger
To impress people:
Example: Guess what I did to my car?
Attention...kind of goes hand and hand with impression people. The list goes on.
Beyond why people do things, we should think about the results of what we do in the present and how it will effect the future. How much do you really like your car? Do you honestly feel that your 4 cylinder car that is worth dirt in the market deserves 20 grand in modifications? Granted, it is a personal opinion, some say yes, some say no but it is something that I don't think most people think about or most people ACT like they think about and don't.
People fail to realize that people change, situations change, life goes on and you don't always feel the same way about something as you did when you were younger. When I was 17 & 18, all I could care about was my car, trying to get laid (even though it never really happend lol) and working for money for my car. I'd count every week I got paid how many hundreds of dollars I had left to buy this exhaust system, this intake, these rims....you get the point. Now, I'm not the only person who thought this way when they were that young and I'm not the only person who did the same thing.
The problem with the way I thought was just total disregard for the future. Did I think of me possibly having money to move out? Nope. Did I think about the possibility of me having a much better car with the money I invested in? Nope. Even for some of those years my mindset was NOT to move out so I could finish my car. The problem is that you never really finish untill something happends to you. You don't just stop at a full body kit...you want the projectors, you want the spoiler, you want the turbo, want 200...300...400 HP. This mindset I had cared nothing of the future and thought nothing of the future.
What did this lead to? Never paying off my Credit Card bills...even the one that only had $300 on it. Not having squat for savings. Living with my mother even when I wanted to leave but couldn't afford to. Having bad credit cause I never paid off my debts.
This was a destructive way I was thinking financially and personally. Now you might think "sucks to be you, that won't be me" but the point I'm trying to make is that there are lots of people that are leading this way and honestly need to think about the consequences. My situation is not even the worse that could happen to someone...I could be declairing bankruptcy, be homeless, things of that nature. Sounds serious cause it could really get that serious if you don't think about what you're ultimately doing.
Now, I'm not in anyway putting down people who are into modifying cars or like cars as a hobby. I still say that I learned alot from modifying but it's about how you do things and how out of control some people get. If you're some 17, 18 or 19 year old "kid" reading this, I just want you to realize what you do now can and will effect the future.
Myself, I never really wanted to go to college or had plans to go so that part wasn't really effected but I know alot of people are in college and want to modify their vehicles. Is a car really worth you missing out on education cause you can't afford to pay your tuition? I'm hoping that people who are looking for higher learning can easily realise that answer.
If you're curious as far as my situation and what I did:
First let me tell you that I realized how much I was in a shithole when I decided to better my life and get out on my own and I tried to get a personal loan for a 93 RX-7 TT, basically a vehicle I don't have to modify unless I wanted to. Well that came to a hault when i saw that my car note wasn't paid off, my credit cards weren't paid off and started becoming late, had 0 savings and my credit score was under 600.
Reality got even realler when I saw I couldn't afford to get the cars I wanted from dealerships with 0 down and an bla credit score. Because of me still owing about 6 grand on my car note, I basically had to add the amount of money I owed on my car note from before onto a new $22,000 note for an 06 Eclipse GT w/6,000 miles already on it and now paying an outrageous note just so I could get out of the car that was ultimately going to lead me to bunkruptcy. Yeah, I got a decent car out of the deal but it's not even under my name and my note is over $500 a month!
Now you know my situation, my faults, my issues I ran into and I got lucky. Being 17 years old, I never imagined having a son and having ton of responsibilities at the age of 22 but I should have taken that into consideration.
Overall, life changes and money rules the world. I just want the young tuners out there to see how life changes and see how the decisions you make now really can effect you when you're older. Just cause you have $4000 in your savings account doesn't mean you should throw it away on a turbo kit or just cause you have an extra 200 from your check doesn't mean you should spend it all on car parts. THINK about your future!
Hopefully someone can learn from my mistakes. Thank you for reading this.
09-06-2006, 01:22 AM
#4
Senior Member
Dont regret your past!
Dude! You're the master of ECOTECs!!
I seriously love this motor so much, I have been trying to figure out a way to cram an L61 and tranny into my new car
Dude! You're the master of ECOTECs!!
I seriously love this motor so much, I have been trying to figure out a way to cram an L61 and tranny into my new car
09-06-2006, 01:24 AM
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Well said luckily I have the best GF in the world that reminds me of that when I want to do stupid **** to my car she goes, where are you getting $ from, what if you break something or need another part do you have the $ for that, etc. Shes kept me from doing some stupid ****, like buying an evo when I get out of college without paying off any of my student loans.
09-06-2006, 01:32 AM
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lol..you didnt post this b/c of my thread did you? lol.
i've been out of high school for a little over 2 years, and havent gone to college yet(granted i JUST now turned 19, graduated early). i got no scholarship or anything, and my mom was already in debt, so she couldnt pay for the college i wanted to go to, which is a good thing, because i wanted to go design video games, which is something i had NO experience in, and i probably wouldve just failed. i still havent decided where/when i want to go college, or what i even want to do. i have a girlfriend and we will probably get married sometime in the future(not soon) and i probably wont move out til then, mostly b/c i dont care what ppl think about me living with my mom, and i save money staying at home. i probably couldnt make it alone. my mom has high bloodpressure and has had a stroke before so i dont want to move out and leave her alone. i love cars, but i wouldnt spend all that on a turbo kit, unless i had a REAL job. whatever car i get, i'm just going to get it to about 200 whp n/a, and thats about it, other than exterior mods. i just like having a nice looking car.
mostly hobby, and i can always make a little extra doing bracket racing(lol).
yeah i would save money if i wait instead of trading in my car i owe money on, but not much money! and it wouldnt be worth it, because i dont want to keep that car, and if i get a cobalt i know i will keep it for as long as i can.
if anything, i will end up going to community college anyways, which is cheap, i can afford it now(i will have money still and my mom just got a raise- she's a teacher) and probably just become a tech at a dealership. its the only thing i have experience in now-working on cars. honestly, i dont know if this sounds selfish or not, but i dont care if i turn out to not be making 500k a year. i really dont. i will be happy(isnt that whats important) living in a 2 bedroom house. with my pimped out cobalt and hot wife, who already lives with her mom who pretty much is in MUCH worse shape than i, welfare/food stamps, mom has illness and cant work a real job, has to clean houses for money. i by myself make more than she does(no offense to her). i'm sure my girlfriend will be happy in that situation as well.
i've been out of high school for a little over 2 years, and havent gone to college yet(granted i JUST now turned 19, graduated early). i got no scholarship or anything, and my mom was already in debt, so she couldnt pay for the college i wanted to go to, which is a good thing, because i wanted to go design video games, which is something i had NO experience in, and i probably wouldve just failed. i still havent decided where/when i want to go college, or what i even want to do. i have a girlfriend and we will probably get married sometime in the future(not soon) and i probably wont move out til then, mostly b/c i dont care what ppl think about me living with my mom, and i save money staying at home. i probably couldnt make it alone. my mom has high bloodpressure and has had a stroke before so i dont want to move out and leave her alone. i love cars, but i wouldnt spend all that on a turbo kit, unless i had a REAL job. whatever car i get, i'm just going to get it to about 200 whp n/a, and thats about it, other than exterior mods. i just like having a nice looking car.
mostly hobby, and i can always make a little extra doing bracket racing(lol).
yeah i would save money if i wait instead of trading in my car i owe money on, but not much money! and it wouldnt be worth it, because i dont want to keep that car, and if i get a cobalt i know i will keep it for as long as i can.
if anything, i will end up going to community college anyways, which is cheap, i can afford it now(i will have money still and my mom just got a raise- she's a teacher) and probably just become a tech at a dealership. its the only thing i have experience in now-working on cars. honestly, i dont know if this sounds selfish or not, but i dont care if i turn out to not be making 500k a year. i really dont. i will be happy(isnt that whats important) living in a 2 bedroom house. with my pimped out cobalt and hot wife, who already lives with her mom who pretty much is in MUCH worse shape than i, welfare/food stamps, mom has illness and cant work a real job, has to clean houses for money. i by myself make more than she does(no offense to her). i'm sure my girlfriend will be happy in that situation as well.
09-06-2006, 01:35 AM
#7
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Originally Posted by nomoreavril
i will be happy(isnt that whats important) living in a 2 bedroom house. with my pimped out cobalt and hot wife.
09-06-2006, 01:41 AM
#9
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Originally Posted by 2006BlackSS/SC
wow adam nice book and good reading also man btw not to jack thread hows the eclipse treating you
I love my Eclipse, plain and simple. I just drove over 24 hrs from TN to NJ and back and enjoyed every minute (except my legs cramping up badly).
09-06-2006, 01:43 AM
#10
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Originally Posted by kyyankee
Well said luckily I have the best GF in the world that reminds me of that when I want to do stupid **** to my car she goes, where are you getting $ from, what if you break something or need another part do you have the $ for that, etc. Shes kept me from doing some stupid ****, like buying an evo when I get out of college without paying off any of my student loans.
09-06-2006, 01:51 AM
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I too am in a similar situation. I m 22 and now a father. I m still paying credit card bills from when I had my Talon. It was 92 AWD. I dumped over 6k in the car altogether replacing things that broke, upgrading everything I replaced and so forth. I eventually overboosted her and shattered some piston rings, then sold the car on ebay for 1800. Now, I did have ALOT of fun with that car, some stupid, and some just driving and listening to the engine. However, now having a family to support things have changed. After I bought my balt I immediatly began looking into performance upgrades. Then it hit me. Why dump a ton of money into a slow car, only to make it perform about the same as a stock v8 car? No offense to anyone here, I love my car, and it is fun to drive, but the 2.2 cobalts are not fast. Perhaps I was spoiled by my 12 sec. Talon, buy I dont know, I just cant see dumping any money into performance parts for this car. I d rather have somethign that gets good mileage, is dependable, and has a warrenty. Looking back I too wish I had been smarter about modding, although I did have alot of fun at the time. Young guys, just think hard before dumping big bucks into parts. Think to yourself, I know I love this car now, but what about in 2 years? If I do decide to get rid of it, will I get my money back? Probably not. Just something to think about. And on that note, keep modding...
09-06-2006, 02:04 AM
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the cobalt was my first car, so i will always have a little place in my heart for them 
i dont see me getting a different car until it breaks down, and i want to have as much fun as i can until that happens:P
i dont see me getting a different car until it breaks down, and i want to have as much fun as i can until that happens:P
09-06-2006, 02:16 AM
#13
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Originally Posted by fastfreddy7
I too am in a similar situation. I m 22 and now a father. I m still paying credit card bills from when I had my Talon. It was 92 AWD. I dumped over 6k in the car altogether replacing things that broke, upgrading everything I replaced and so forth. I eventually overboosted her and shattered some piston rings, then sold the car on ebay for 1800. Now, I did have ALOT of fun with that car, some stupid, and some just driving and listening to the engine. However, now having a family to support things have changed. After I bought my balt I immediatly began looking into performance upgrades. Then it hit me. Why dump a ton of money into a slow car, only to make it perform about the same as a stock v8 car? No offense to anyone here, I love my car, and it is fun to drive, but the 2.2 cobalts are not fast. Perhaps I was spoiled by my 12 sec. Talon, buy I dont know, I just cant see dumping any money into performance parts for this car. I d rather have somethign that gets good mileage, is dependable, and has a warrenty. Looking back I too wish I had been smarter about modding, although I did have alot of fun at the time. Young guys, just think hard before dumping big bucks into parts. Think to yourself, I know I love this car now, but what about in 2 years? If I do decide to get rid of it, will I get my money back? Probably not. Just something to think about. And on that note, keep modding...
09-06-2006, 02:28 AM
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Nice write up. I was a nerd who had to have the latest and greatest PC parts. I had looked at my purchasing record on the website I frequent to one day and found out how much I actualy wasted just to play games with all the eye candy.
The car I had been driving for 7 years was a Ford Pinto. Only reason why I got a new car was because the last incident I had was an engine fire caused by a leaking fuel line. The first day I test drove the cobalt, it was like nothing i've ever felt before and this car is a keeper 
Originally Posted by nomoreavril
the cobalt was my first car, so i will always have a little place in my heart for them i dont see me getting a different car until it breaks down, and i want to have as much fun as i can until that happens:P
i dont see me getting a different car until it breaks down, and i want to have as much fun as i can until that happens:P
09-06-2006, 02:37 AM
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Originally Posted by cyrix
Nice write up. I was a nerd who had to have the latest and greatest PC parts. I had looked at my purchasing record on the website I frequent to one day and found out how much I actualy wasted just to play games with all the eye candy.
LOL! I m still trying to get over my computer upgrade addiction as we speak, its gottten better since buying the balt, but I ve got close to 2500 in my computer. I know that seems relatively cheap, but that was all in about a 4 month time span! 3 Graphics cards, 2 cpus, 3 mobos, and 2 psus later, I m pretty happy with my computer as of now. Gotta love newegg!
09-06-2006, 02:50 AM
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Originally Posted by fastfreddy7
LOL! I m still trying to get over my computer upgrade addiction as we speak, its gottten better since buying the balt, but I ve got close to 2500 in my computer. I know that seems relatively cheap, but that was all in about a 4 month time span! 3 Graphics cards, 2 cpus, 3 mobos, and 2 psus later, I m pretty happy with my computer as of now. Gotta love newegg!
) and i've like actualy started going out to places and socialize. Its wonderful having a car that doesn't stall in the busiest interstections.Halfcents thread on his car thats ready to be turbo-ed motivated me to look into how it all works and made me further push myslef into researching mods. I've been holding myself back after putting a CAI on because i dont want history to repeat itself. Thank you NJHK for giving me an important reminder
09-06-2006, 03:12 AM
#17
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Thread Starter
Originally Posted by cyrix
Yup, that egg makes it way to friendly and easy to buy parts. Buying the cobalt was like... a turning point in my life. I neglected my Pinto for so long that it literaly blew up (i heard all the rear end explosion jokes ) and i've like actualy started going out to places and socialize. Its wonderful having a car that doesn't stall in the busiest interstections.
Halfcents thread on his car thats ready to be turbo-ed motivated me to look into how it all works and made me further push myslef into researching mods. I've been holding myself back after putting a CAI on because i dont want history to repeat itself. Thank you NJHK for giving me an important reminder
) and i've like actualy started going out to places and socialize. Its wonderful having a car that doesn't stall in the busiest interstections.Halfcents thread on his car thats ready to be turbo-ed motivated me to look into how it all works and made me further push myslef into researching mods. I've been holding myself back after putting a CAI on because i dont want history to repeat itself. Thank you NJHK for giving me an important reminder
I was kind of motivated to make this thread especially after my situation when you see stuff like Hahns turbo kit is coming out and people are so willing to dump their $4000 savings account for one. I just think people don't realize what's ahead when they are ready to make a big jump from N/A to Boost.
09-06-2006, 04:03 AM
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Originally Posted by HackAbuse
Dont regret your past!
Scott
09-06-2006, 04:04 AM
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Originally Posted by cyrix
Yup, that egg makes it way to friendly and easy to buy parts. Buying the cobalt was like... a turning point in my life. I neglected my Pinto for so long that it literaly blew up (i heard all the rear end explosion jokes ) and i've like actualy started going out to places and socialize. Its wonderful having a car that doesn't stall in the busiest interstections.
) and i've like actualy started going out to places and socialize. Its wonderful having a car that doesn't stall in the busiest interstections.Scott
09-06-2006, 04:21 AM
#20
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Originally Posted by Adirondack_Cobalt
i have and am still living this life... i can't seem to stay at one job for more than a couple years, I can't seem to settle down anywhere... i still live with my parent (the house is half mine so I am tied to that for the time being)... I have about ten years of misspent youth to worry about. Man, this thread was spot on. Nice to know that I'm not the only one out there.
Scott
Scott
09-06-2006, 05:06 AM
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well its about 1:45AM and I'm supposed to be in bed, so naturally this is a good time to respond to a long thread that I probably otherwise wouldn't read word for word fully awake.
At my current age (21) I quickly realized when looking for a car that speed costs money. Theres no way around it, no short cuts, no special deals...you gotta pay to play. Whether it be through buying a cheap car and spending large amounts of money on it or footing the bill for a fast car from the jump and putting 90% of your check into payments. I never had a car in high school, I didn't get one until I went to college and the only reason I got it is because I had no other way of getting to school. So my mom bought me a cheap ass car, a Ford Contour for $2500. Luckily I ended up with that car, because oh man would I have been such a ricer. I wanted a 91 Honda Accord with a body kit and aluminum wing and fart cannon with altezzas. Thank God for the Contours limited aftermarket, I sort of gained my knowledge of cars and modding through the older guys who owned Contour SVT's. Although all I had was a little zetec, I still loved the car and quickly became anti-rice. I put what little money I had into that car but being that I never really kept a job on a regular basis it wasn't much. As fate would have it I moved on after 125K miles and couldn't deal with an unreliable vehicle.
I then moved on to the Saturn Ion after 1.5 years of walking and riding the bus, and let me tell you...you don't know what you've got til its gone. Living in Arizona with no car absolutely sucks **** covered dick. On the bus I was actually jealous of the guys riding around in beaters because they had me beat.
Right before I got the Ion, I wanted a factory boosted car (turbocharged)...after looking at the prices and insurance for brand new boosted cars I quickly noticed that if I wanted one of these cars I would have to end up paying out of the ass. I didn't wanna be one of those kids (and I know there are many on here) who live at home and dump 90% of their income on a car in reality they could not afford if they had to make it on their own. So I opted for econo box, Saturns version of the Contour in a sense. Nobody knows what the hell it is and without support from its popular cousins would have even a smaller following. I think this has made me mature in a way as I was never apart of the tun3r crowd and never owned a popular, likely to be stolen vehicle. I still spend a good majority of money on my car because I love it, in fact I'm about to put about $700 down at the end of this month for some mods...but never will I max out my CC on mods. I'm about to be out of school in a year and definitely know I need credit to live good. Trust me, I have plenty of black family with no credit and they couldn't finance a George Foreman grill. Not where I want to be!
My goal with this car is to make it as quick as I can with as little money as possible...well, make it to the 13's for as little money as I can. I never intended to dump large amounts of money into this car. I'm waiting til AFTER college when I make some real money to get that 30K boosted car. Everyone is in a rush to get the fastest car possible even if it means paying like $1K a month on a car, I personally would rather wait. No maxing out CC's and no spend all of my income on the car.
But I guess some people just might consider me cheap. I consider myself smart...
Okay, I'm done babbling now...
At my current age (21) I quickly realized when looking for a car that speed costs money. Theres no way around it, no short cuts, no special deals...you gotta pay to play. Whether it be through buying a cheap car and spending large amounts of money on it or footing the bill for a fast car from the jump and putting 90% of your check into payments. I never had a car in high school, I didn't get one until I went to college and the only reason I got it is because I had no other way of getting to school. So my mom bought me a cheap ass car, a Ford Contour for $2500. Luckily I ended up with that car, because oh man would I have been such a ricer. I wanted a 91 Honda Accord with a body kit and aluminum wing and fart cannon with altezzas. Thank God for the Contours limited aftermarket, I sort of gained my knowledge of cars and modding through the older guys who owned Contour SVT's. Although all I had was a little zetec, I still loved the car and quickly became anti-rice. I put what little money I had into that car but being that I never really kept a job on a regular basis it wasn't much. As fate would have it I moved on after 125K miles and couldn't deal with an unreliable vehicle.
I then moved on to the Saturn Ion after 1.5 years of walking and riding the bus, and let me tell you...you don't know what you've got til its gone. Living in Arizona with no car absolutely sucks **** covered dick. On the bus I was actually jealous of the guys riding around in beaters because they had me beat.
Right before I got the Ion, I wanted a factory boosted car (turbocharged)...after looking at the prices and insurance for brand new boosted cars I quickly noticed that if I wanted one of these cars I would have to end up paying out of the ass. I didn't wanna be one of those kids (and I know there are many on here) who live at home and dump 90% of their income on a car in reality they could not afford if they had to make it on their own. So I opted for econo box, Saturns version of the Contour in a sense. Nobody knows what the hell it is and without support from its popular cousins would have even a smaller following. I think this has made me mature in a way as I was never apart of the tun3r crowd and never owned a popular, likely to be stolen vehicle. I still spend a good majority of money on my car because I love it, in fact I'm about to put about $700 down at the end of this month for some mods...but never will I max out my CC on mods. I'm about to be out of school in a year and definitely know I need credit to live good. Trust me, I have plenty of black family with no credit and they couldn't finance a George Foreman grill. Not where I want to be!
My goal with this car is to make it as quick as I can with as little money as possible...well, make it to the 13's for as little money as I can. I never intended to dump large amounts of money into this car. I'm waiting til AFTER college when I make some real money to get that 30K boosted car. Everyone is in a rush to get the fastest car possible even if it means paying like $1K a month on a car, I personally would rather wait. No maxing out CC's and no spend all of my income on the car.
But I guess some people just might consider me cheap. I consider myself smart...
Okay, I'm done babbling now...
09-06-2006, 08:19 AM
#25
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I would never dump my savings into a car. I baught this and modded it because im back at home with the parents and i figured it would be my only chance to have a fast car while im still young. I am not modding my cobalt anymore. I love the way it is. Oh, and I make more than enough to afford it.