To trade it...

I traded in my 2013 WRX for my 2016 TRD sport.

Monthly payment increased $120

Insurance dropped by $900/year

Gas mileage is a little worse, but I can get 87 octane instead of high test ($1 difference/gallon)

I can tow a boat, put stuff in the bed, drive around 5 people with more leg room than my WRX had.

I can tell you that a used WRX has been abused by its previous owner. Just a fact of a small, fast, cheap AWD car with a turbo.

43k miles is a lot for a 2016 too.

I'd stick with the truck, but that's just me.

 

Well you have the Blue brotherhood. I can't say I blame them. Tough times to be a police officer these days. No love.

I will say it hasn't been uncommon for me to see a mutual respect between military and law enforcement.

I've had law enforcement stop me for traffic citations and let me off with a warning just for being military and veteran. An officer in Manhattan beach stopped me once for doing about 10 over the speed limit and he said "I'm not inclined to give veterans tickets so just slow it down for me please." Of course a little respect always goes a long way too "yes sir, no sir" etc. Being honest and not making excuses. Of course I had a cop pull me over once when I was Active Duty (1st Lt.) in uniform and he obviously just wanted to have his opportunity to give a young Company Grade officer a hard time. He mentioned he was prior enlisted Air Force MSgt or some shit, of course with an attitude towards me. I kept it very polite and professional. He has his job, I have mine...no worries. I think he was hoping I'd get into a bickering match with him. He probably had some dickhead LT rip into him when he was enlisted. You never know.

There's a good portion of Law Enforcement who are prior service. Just like anything in life you have some good guys and you have some jerks. Some have good days and some have bad days. I wouldn't want to be a cop, I know that much. Those guys don't get paid enough. Worst "customer service" job in the world. Deal with scum of the earth 90% of the time. Can't trust anyone.

 

Dude stick with the truck if i were you. Already have a truck an will need it eventually down the road. Best advice I can give you stay single with no kids till your debt is paid off plus with a truck i always had better memories with friends/family than I ever did with a car.

 

I have issues with some of the things you post, respect lots of the knowledge you drop, but this is an Awesome post and true that.

 

Play it smart and keep the truck. You're young, one day you will meet the person you want to spend the rest of your life with and raise a family, you will be glad you made wise financial decisions now. You don't want to start a family saddled with stupid impulse debt that gives you nothing to show for it. Many couples split over finances, so if you are smart now, chances are you won't have that pressure in your future relationship. If you can stay at home and save every penny, you won't regret it later. Good luck whatever you decide.

 

That's what I'm doing. Keeping the truck. It'll last me a long time or we'll see. (Turd Gen but zero problems so far and lifetime free oil changes from stealership) I take care of it too. I'll pay it off sooner than the 60 months.

 

I'll chime in here even though you've already decided.

I had a 2015 WRX, it was the car I always wanted, I put the deposit down without even seeing them yet and it took 8 months to get here (Canada). That thing was awesome, loved everything about it and had initially planned to run it into the dirt.

So, why am I in a 2017 Tacoma? Got engaged, got married, bought a house, got a dog all in those few years.....and the truck was just more appealing. Do I miss it? Absolutely. It was fun, I told my wife more times than I can count how I loved it while we were out. Do I love driving the Tacoma? Not really in the same way, I'd say I like it versus love it....but that's my fault for not getting a manual.

I will say this though, I sure don't miss the maintenance costs of the WRX. To give you an idea, a schedule 1 service was $230, schedule 2 was $430 and the frequency was half as long as the Tacoma ($67 and $130 respectively). I also don't miss every dipshit with a civic trying to race me everywhere.

But other than that, I don't have much negative to say....buy what makes you happy they're both cool.

I wouldn't buy one used tho, they all get driven hard, it's impossible to drive that car soft.

As for resale, my sticker price was $36500 (sporttech package in Canada) I traded it in for $31,500 2 years and 50,000 KM later. That's pretty damn solid in my opinion.

B

 

Depending on my situation after I pay off my Taco and get a house and such maybe I'll lease a WRX for 2 or 3 years just to have as a weekend and or summer car and use my Tacoma for winter and saving miles on the WRX if needed per year. It's a thought. That decision would be years down the road so who knows what I'll be into then but either that or pay for some older sporty vehicle for fun.

 

Yea that's an idea, or like others said buy an old sports car and let her rip. Pretty much any other brand drops in value like a stone, Subarus like Tacoma just aren't worth buying used (in my opinion).

Crazy how different lives can be.....I'm 26 and my wife is 23!

 

Good call. You are already on a good track having paid off your student loans. The more financially disciplined you are in your 20's the more fun you can have in your 30's, 40's, and 50's. In the end, solid finances are primarily a function of time. The beginning phase of financial security is the toughest, which is why many people don't even start. If you make the right moves in your 20's, by paying down or off non mortgage debt, start saving for retirement, and build a decent emergency/car replacement etc fund, then you will be able to enjoy more of your income in the following decades without sacrificing your retirement savings etc.

 

Sounds just like me and my 2015 GTI that took a hike to make way for my truck. It was a fucking blast to drive, I just had concerns about longevity and it was not nearly as functional as my truck. I actually love the truck more than the GTI or the Wrangler before that. It just offers so much utility that neither of those vehicles could match. The Tacoma is a Swiss Army knife comparatively.

Glad you are going to keep it, I think down the road as life changed you would regret it.

 

That decal in your rear window is SICK!!!!! I love that. Thanks for the advice. I'll have my sporty car. But I'm willing to wait. And for anyone still following this thread, my dad's friend's wife has a 1991 Mitsubishi 3000 GT VR4 that she lets me drive occasionally. That thing is a monster! I love taking it around town and crushing all the Si's, GTI's, and WRX's that want to have a go. My favorite was a mustang GT on the highway tried to outrun me. Yeah good luck with that!

 

Glad to see you are keeping the truck! Good move on your part. Fun cars = lots of tickets and wrecks. Trucks = hopefully no wrecks and fewer tickets, lol.

 

No speeding tickets in the year I've had it. No wrecks either and hopefully none anytime soon!

 

Enlisted in '95 - Back then, for some reason, LTs (1st or 2nd) were dicks - all day, everyday. Once they get to Captain, they seem to mellow down ...just had to get it out of their system I guess

 

Like @TacoRD16 I bought a 2014 Mustang when I turned 25, and loved the hell out of it for 2 years. With that said, I continued to dump money into my Mustang rather than saving for a house, and dumping money into someone else's property that wasn't mine (renting). It took me two years to get my priorities straight, buy a house, and trade in both my Mustang and Ranger for the Tacoma. Just depends on your priorities.

I would be very scared about a 2016 WRX with 40k miles on it. That's a ton of miles, and most of those cars are flogged pretty hard during their life. I would stick with the vehicle that's going to give you 20 years (if taken care of properly). In the long run, it's better and CHEAPER to invest in the vehicle that will last rather than the one that's good "for right now". I'm also having a whole hell of a lot more fun in my Tacoma than in my Mustang (off-roading vs. stop light to stop light drags). Just my two cents.

With everything said however, I wouldn't go back and change the Mustang purchase. It's what I needed at the time and what forced me to truly understand my priorities and how I didn't need it.

 

As an officer myself I tried to be cognizant of how I came across to the enlisted guys particularly (self awareness is huge) and then also keeping my mouth shut and listening to senior enlisted and making some of them my allies was a big win down the road. Making nice with the IT department (comms folks) paid dividends. While a lot of my peers were waiting for IT issues to be resolved I was sitting pretty with the latest hardware and if I ever had an issue it was resolved as a top priority.

There were a handful of guys I commissioned with that just made me cringe when I thought "these are the folks who will be managing our enlisted force"

 

No hate man I'm 29 and moved out like you when I was 25. These guys on here that are older saying they moved out at 18 with a full time job didn't graduate into the Great Ressesion like we did. I moved out as fast as I could it just took til 25 to get there. You made a great choice keeping the truck. I wish I would have had a truck at 25 instead of a corvette. I got married had a kid and bought a house and all of a sudden that fun go-fast became pretty useless and I had to go out and buy something more practical. Whereas if I had started with a practical truck I'd have that bad boy paid off by now.