Time to get the ///M?

[Privatestreet]

Well well well.. leaving work today was an adventure.

Im driving down the highway, headed home. Then all of a sudden i see the RPMs go from 6000 to 0 in under .5 seconds (yeah my car owns you! :-p)
Then i notice the power steering is gone..

i put on my flashers, pull over to the nice and large shoulder, and call AAA.

Im thinking the timing belt finally went.

Well, my car is old.. its a 93 Mazda MX-6 and I have wanted to get rid of it to buy a 95 of 96 M for a good amount of time now. However, I wanted to save up a good amount of cash to put a large downpayment on the car.. and I planned on this to happen sometime this fall or so.

THere are so many things wrong with my car its not even worth it to fix. The timing belt going is just a sign i feel of a lot more to come. The car could really use an entire new engine and tranny. ANd i dont want to spend that kind cash on this piece of junk (cant beleive i am saying that. I used to love this car. payed for it in full wiht my own money when i was a month away from being 16... $7500)

Anyway.. I want to get some opinions i guess. I know I can get a loan for up to around 15grand. I have already been approved for it by a guy I know who is a loan officer at my bank. But I really never liked the idea of taking out a loan that large. I wanted to drop a 10grand downpayment and then maybe a 5grand loan.

Anyway... right now im 21, living at home while i still go to school and work. I make around $1300/mo right now, which is not bad at all for a student, if i do say so myself. So im sure i could afford the car i guess. Im just scared to... this would be a big step forward.

So do you think its worth it. I know i want the E36 M... i just dont know if its what i should do right now.
anyone have any similar situations? what did you do? what do you think i should do. spend a few grand and fix my current car enough to run another 6 months, maybe.. or just go ahead and get the M?

ahhhh, this is so frustrating. I was really hoping my car would survive until the end of this year :-\

[Polo M3]

How much will it cost to fix your car, if its gonna be a bunch id say forget it, start lookin for a new car... no need to delay the inevitable.

You should definately look around.. its a buyers market, they will be as cheap as theyre going to get right now...

[Iwannadinanm3]

Taking a loan out and having to pay a big payment sounds kinda bad. But you gotta do what you do, if you have a stable job and think you can easily handle it, go for it.

[tdc]

Get yourself a reliable beater and continue to save up so you have that 10K to throw down. You've gone this far towards your goal, might as well stick with it till the end.

[Veno]

A reliable beater still costs money that could be going towards the dream, man. So, I'm all for "drop your sack and get what you want." Just don't screw yourself over financially. The worst feeling would be having the car repo'd because you sucked on making payments. If you can make the monthly without hating your social life, do it.

I purchased my E36 M3 back in Feb... and I couldn't be happier. Felt nice to drop my sack on the table and drive off in a m*f'in BMW!

- Veno

[Privatestreet]

well the way i see it, with the loan im lookin at paying about, what 500/mo maybe? I was told a rate of about 8% about a month ago. that might have gone up by now. but since im a student living at home, i dont have rent to pay for. I dont have food to pay for. I really dont have to pay for anything. And this is precisly the reason while i stayed home w hile at school (since NC State is only 10 min away) - i didnt want to get myself into debt. I COULD afford to live on my own.. but I would have maybe $5 a month to spend on myself. So right now all i pay is 35$ a month for my cell phone, and then a few other various things, but not much. So if i was to go ahead and get the ///M I would not just pay the $500 minimum, but I would pay all that i possibly could and still have about 200$ a month for myself. Im so busy i dont get a chance at much of a social life anyway. So i really could drop around 900$ a month on the payment. So in reality i could have it paid off in under 2 years time. Perhaps. But I just wasnt ready for this. As it is now, I can only drop maybe $3000 for a down payment. ANd the down payment is not something I HAVE to do, its just something I wanted to do... so that I would have less to pay back to the man.

bleh, decisions decision. Ill have to talk to my dad about this some more once he gets back from out of town tomorrow. Maybe he can help me out with a 2000$ intrest free loan :-\
but then again doubtfull. He just dropped 4grand on a new HDTV this past weekend.

Shitty timing for me. But hey, i got to see the NCAA finals in HD! wee!

[Privatestreet]

i forgot to add.

if it IS my timing belt then I will have to wait and see what damage has been done.

I knew the belt needed to be replaced.. i have just delayed getting it done... and i guess i waited too long.

But when the car died, timing belt is the first thing i thought of, so i didnt even attempt to start the car again. My sister, when her E30 325 timing chain went, made the mistake of trying to start the car several times. Yeah, that wasnt good! Total engine rebuild.

So.. if all i need to do is fix the timing belt, then i guess ill do that and keep letting this little baby go until it dies again. HOWEVER, if i messed up some pistons or any other kind of damage, and need to get a new engine, or rebuild this one... i will just say screw it and definatly buy somehting else. Its not worth it at all to fix this car.
I can get a new engine for this car for around 2grand or so then i have to get it installed. I wish i could do that on my own :-\

I need a pulling hair out 'smiley'.

EDIT: this will do

[Hornswoggler]

Privatestreet,
The car payment is just a part of the total cost of owning a nice BMW like an M3. There are other things to consider like insurance (could be over $120/mo at your age), tires (mine last about 20k miles, and cost about $200 or more per tire), oil changes (synthetic), and inspections. Plus whatever might be wrong with the car or need work.

and if you plan on driving it in the snow, you will probably want some snow tires. bottom line is that its gonna cost you way more than just the monthly payment. I would get another beater if I were you, maybe buy a house so you have a garage, and THEN buy the M3. You have plenty of time... stay focused on school and avoid adding any extra stress like an M3.

(besides, if you wait till you have graduated, you might be able to afford a new M1 or M6!)

[///AlpinePower]

i'd wait till you have the cash to do it. taking out car loans hurts your credit for other things if the loan is still outstanding when you go to buy a house (i know you're 21, just trying to consider every possibility). i'm 22, my first insurance payment for 6 months was $900 in MD (PERFECT record, before M)--- it just dropped to $600/6 months even after getting two speeding tickets. so, worry about the insurance, it'll be high since you're 21. mine's going back up, i'm sure!

i don't want to ruin your fun, this thing has been awesome, but i own it outright.

i'd go with your gut. i didn't want a car payment over my head, so i waited till i could pay cash.

haha--- an M1 or M6 would be cool, too. have fun fixing them $$$. seriously, a well treated m3 will require some oil, coolant, washing and lots of tires and premium unleaded, but not much else--- you can beat the shit of it and it'll be OK. an M1 or M6 would be so old you'd definately need another car. repairs would be cost prohibitive. if you find an m6 in pristine condition, though, same as above: add oil, etc and beat the shit out of it. bmws can handle thrashing if you love them in between. and no car accidents!!! getting good bodywork on these things is a killer.

i'm done rambling--- go get a timing belt and get the beater running. im surprised a 93 mazda could be that beat up!

final word: if you find an m3 in good shape, you'll love it to death even if it means car payments for 2 years.

[Iwannadinanm3]

i believe he was referring to a brand new m1 or m6, when he's graduated with college

[Hornswoggler]

Yes, I was referring to the NEW ///M6 that should be out in the next few years, and the CONCEPT ///M1 (not much is known, except it should be light as hell!)

[///AlpinePower]

New M1! New M6! sweet. yeah, wait till then and see what's up

i guess i could add this, also: US E36 M3 is like a "332Cis". so it's just as reliable as any other BMW; it doesn't have a real race engine! but, you'll pay a premium for M parts.

[M3King]

Hy !

I'm also in the same situation as you are !
I'm from Germany and on the Gymnasium. I don't no how you would call that. Maybe College or so.

I'm going to school and i'm working too, as you do. But i only get 650 € (= 650$) per Month. In the summer i will have about 13000 $ and will buy an E36 M3 maybe a 97 for about 20000$ (the rest i do with a financial system). I put all my money in my car and don't need money for myself because i also live at home and have to pay nothing at all. (My social live is my car then)

How are you able to get 1300$ a month in spite of going to school ? I only get 650 a month and i'm working 3 days a week for 5-6 hours to get this. ( saturday, sunday, monday, that is better because of the school)

Are you good at school in spite of working ?
I am, but i'm surely not so much working as you do.

[illegalprelude]

can some of the member who know their bimmers pretty good give us some detail about the M3 E36's cause I know from 96-99 they were made but didnt some of the models have some diff. problems? Ill prolly be pickin up a M3 in a month. Just have to sell my 2 prelude's

[cotmfk]

If you do decide to get an M3 in the end, make sure you get a warranty. If you knew the timing belt needed replacing, but you didn't do it, then I'd say you can expect more problems with the next car you own. Preventative maintenance is expensive when you do it, but not as expensive as not doing it (as you're finding out with your Mazda).