To trade it...

Alright guys, I've enjoyed my '16 MT TRD Sport. I've had no issues with it and it's been really good to me. I just turned 25 and am getting ready to move out of my parents house. (Go ahead and make fun, I've been saving money like crazy and have never had to worry about budgeting up until now.) So now that the time has come for me to start paying rent, I want to lower my monthly expenses. I started off by just paying off my student loans. I paid the giant chunk. Boom. Done. Now I have that extra money per month to either continue paying for my Taco ($425/mo) and include in rent or was thinking of trading the taco for something less expensive. I had my eye on a 2016 WRX Limited with 43xxx miles on it. My monthly payments would go down and I miss being in a small quick car. I had a Civic Si before my Taco. The Taco is great though for hauling music equipment and fishing gear but ultimately if I can fit a 4x12 cabinet in the back of a WRX it seems like a no brainer. Let me hear your opinions.

 

Had? Past tense, so hopefully you have decided against it. It may have problems and driven hard, which is why it was traded in. 43K miles in one year is a lot.

Your Tacoma is much more functional.

 

Sounds like you WANT to downgrade (not that an STi is a "downgrade"). Depending on the details of the purchase of your truck you may be slightly upside down on your Tacoma when you trade, just be prepared to roll that over to you STi or go ahead and pay it down. Nobody knows your financial situation better than you, with that being said I put more priority on purchasing a home than I did a vehicle. I bought my home at 22 and drive modest vehicles. Renting is throwing away money (in my area anyway).

 

Take what you'd been paying on student loans and move it to the truck and knock it out.

Rent a budget level place. Good thing about rent is you can move on when ready.

If you can become debt free quickly, then have the rigor to stay that way (other than maybe a mortgage eventually) you'll have great freedom.

 

Keep truck. You're going to be living on your own. No clue when you may need to tow or haul a small load.

 

Have you checked the difference in insurance costs? At your age, it might be enough to matter. You also will want to ask about insurance where you are moving to as insurance costs will vary with location as well.

 

No offense, but I think you have your priorities all out of whack as far as how you spend and budget your money, and maybe you be better off asking about the WRX on a forum for them, and one would think that at 25 and with a collage education one could figure out their life by themselves.

I don't know about you, but I moved out of my parents house shortly after I got out of high school and went to work full time as I wanted to get out on my own, and I never looked back.

Here is a simple philosophy that has worked out great for me for 63 years, and that's to live within your means.

 

1) WRX Limited... Not an STI.
2) Not looking to purchase a house as I may go after a different job in the near future (2-3 years)
3) Lower monthly payment on a WRX and insurance would be about the same (Just turned 25 and rates went down as well as same year vehicle only the WRX is less money.)

I still have my eye on it. Clean Carfax but you're right that it MAY have been driven hard. The clutch was replaced at 32xxx miles. It's a red flag for sure but I haven't gone to actually look at or drive it.

Guys I do love my Tacoma. I just wish I had the best of both worlds of a quick fun car and the utility of a truck. A hatchback would work well for me to get my music and fishing gear in the back and the Golf GTI's are fun to drive but AWD in the Ohio winters would be nice too.

 

I just called Smitty to consult him on the matter.

Smitty says trade that bitch ASAP.

 

Honestly I graduated at 22 bought a 2014 GT mustang modified it and it was fast. Partied all the time and didnt have anyone else to worry about but myself. Fast forward three years I now have a GF, 2 dogs and we go camping all the time. Once you start settling down if you do you are going to wish you still have your truck. I traded in the mustang for the tacoma off road scene and never look back. Sure I miss my manual stick stang but now I have something that i can actually carry things with and people.

In the end just make sure you your positive on the trade in including all the fees or you will essentially be paying the same monthly payment.

 

There's no going back now, but at your age it's likely the interest on your student loans was lower than your trucks so you might have been better suited in paying down the truck. Maybe, maybe not and it's moot so I don't know why I'm even commenting...

But really, without a Taco you can't get pointless advice from us morons!

 

He also lost the tax deduction.

 

OK. I've spent a great deal of my time counseling people on finances (and learning from my own horrifying mistakes). I'm also an accountant and corporate finance director (if that even matters).

Your post is lacking a lot of details, especially income and whether or not you have any other debt (those dreaded credit cards). That said, I'll take a stab at some advice.

The cheapest car you can buy is the one already in your driveway. You WILL certainly lose money on a car trade. If your truck has been, as you say, good to you then I seriously doubt it's wise to trade it off.

I just read where you said you didn't want to buy a house since you will probably be leaving in 2-3 years. If you pay fair market rent of, let's say, $1,000 per month (for example), then in three years you just spent $36,000 on basically nothing. If you purchased a small house at $100K and a decent interest rate you would easily pay 25% of it off in that length of time (or more) and sell it for at least what you paid for it. Why is that not an option? You could also consider renting it but that's another discussion for another day.

Think long term. Every bad choice has consequences somewhere down the line. We only make a finite amount of money in our lives. Use it wisely.

 

you don't need a 2016 WRX to save on your monthly expenses, you need to own basic transportation that you buy outright and own for a few thousand dollars, and can use cheaper liability insurance on it to further lower your transportation costs a used Honda Civic is a good car and gets 30 mpgs and is easy to maintain yourself, has front wheel drive for snow/ice driving.

 

My student loan interest was about 3x what the interest rate is on my Tacoma. Student loans are pretty ridiculous honestly.

 

Must have been private? Should have refinanced through the....wait --moot-- Sorry mate.

 

Ok more details, my interest rates on my loans were higher than the Tacoma. My monthly rent will be less than $1000/mo as soon as I find a roommate and move. I'm almost to that point in fact after all expenses I think I'll be right around 500-600/mo. I'm a driving enthusiast. I like driving and I drive a lot so I want something that's fun and rewarding when I drive. @neilbedwell had a great point about the house and @TheCookieMonster had a great point about economy. The WRX has better fuel economy than the Taco and is a rewarding vehicle to drive. Any more opinions, facts, and general comments/experiences? This is great guys thank you all.

 

Also as a side note. My dad's friend's wife has a 1992 Mitsubishi 3000GT VR-4 that she lets me drive on rare occasions. That thing is WAYYYYYYYY too fun and I wish I had one in nice condition but that won't happen. This is another reason why I'm leaning towards a WRX. AWD and boost are one hell of a combination that screams fun in the sun... or snow.

 

I hope he doesn't have 8% APR on his truck that would be crazy.

 

You WANT the WRX. I get it. But do you NEED it? Is it going to hold its value like the Taco? Dude, everything is a compromise and a sacrifice. I can almost guarantee that if you get the WRX at some point down the road you will regret it. I speak from experience. I've spent more money on cars than most folks here could fathom. 99% of the "trades" I made were driven by desire NOT need. 100% of them were a mistake (even my last one). I know this isn't what you want to hear but it's the truth.