3sgtepower

I would like to give an FD a good home, but I only make like 20k a year. Im afraid it might be too much of a financial burden to actually give it a good home, while I save cash in my reliable, low-maintenance 1995 miata.

On the other hand Im working on investing in some high-dividend paying stocks to increase my income over the long term. if I feel like giving myself a $560 raise this year, I buy 100 shares of AGNC, Im planning another stock purchase in the coming months. This should have a snowball effect if given time.

At what point of financial wealth and income, does the FD become more of a toy and less so a financial burden, I.E. what do you guys make for income without having to sacrifice too much to keep a nice FD roadworthy?

Oh, and are V8 FD's lower maintenance and therefore cheaper to own, than for the rotary FD's?

I have a bit of time on my side, since the local quarter-mile is closed and between owners and looking for new funding, I would like a track-only with minor weekend driving for my next import, either MR2 Turbo or FD. Not really a street racer, but a 9 second MR2 or 10 second FD would keep me happy on track days. My last MR2 was built to run 11's and left me wanting more, but broke the bank first.

I can do basic maintenance, but I turn over the major work to my mechanically inclined friend with an engine crane and stand, who enjoys working on turbo japanese imports.

Mahjik

iTrader: (1)

Do you have a house, condo or town home?

chiefboon

There is likely no way your income would support building / maintaining a 10 second fd I would think.

allrotor93

iTrader: (126)

1 beeeleeeoooonn dooolers

Narfle

iTrader: (16)

If the prospect of an unexpected $5k rebuild threatens your financial stability, this car is not for you.

1QWIK7

iTrader: (33)

ANY car shouldn't take up 20% of your annual income. If it does that's the wrong car or you need a better paying job. The fact that a proper running fd will run up to 15k and you should have 4-5k of spare maintenance money on the bank anyway really shows that you're not ready for the car yet lol

zeroG

iTrader: (28)

Put the dividends from those high-dividend paying stocks in a high-yield interest savings account with Charles Schwab. When that account reaches $15k you should start shopping for an FD

3sgtepower

Charles Schwab is my trader and I gathered the savings account's yield at Schwab is low due to Bernanke keeping the federal borrowing interest rate low.

Actually Im rolling them back over into more high-dividend paying stocks, AGNC pays about 19% annually and my NLY pays about 15%. The compound interest on 19%/15% can add up to a substantial sum of money in a few years, depending on if the stock can maintain the dividend and if I continue to add wages into the market. I've also found my stocks to largely be recession proof and were virtually uneffected by the japan quake and nuclear accident (they actually went up substantially over the last couple days)

I ask about a 10 second FD or 9 second MR2, because the amount of money I spent alone on my last import, had I staved off buying a derelict MR2 and trying to fix it up to run 11's, I could of easily bought a turn key 9 second MR2 or dropped 20k on an FD and still have money left over. I learned from that expensive lesson in import tuning, do it once, do it right, or don't buy someone elses money pit. I also prefer to win races, if I do drag race and I want a really killer car this time around.

Needless to say it was a disaster of an import tuning project and Ill never build up another import ever again, its turn-key fast import or nothing.

So about 20k, give or take? I got some stock trading to do and need to accumulate more financial wealth and income for a few more years. Ill probably settle on a Mica Yellow 2002 SE Miata as an interim car, but I definitly intend on getting back into the import game in the future, as of the 6 cars Ive owned, all were RWD, Manual 2 seater Japanese imports, hence my attraction to the FD as a car I would consider for a future purchase.

turboIIrotary

iTrader: (9)

I bought my fd when i had a job at kroger i do all the work on it myself so it's pretty cheap to own.

3sgtepower

Is that due to the rotary having a 3rd of the parts that can go wrong when compared to a piston driven engine? Im not mechanically inclined, but I have a friend who owns a WRX and a MR2 Turbo, and Im sure he wouldn't turn me down to work on an FD. THen there is always the local speedshops.

btw, i apologize if you guys think I am merely day dreaming, owning another fast import is a definite goal of mine.

Mahjik

iTrader: (1)

IMO, I think it would be a poor choice to sink a lot of money into a car if you don't have living quarters taken care of first (i.e. not renting, but putting money into something that can appreciate). I did something similar when I was young. Wasted a ton of money early in my life, when I would have been much better off today had I used my head a lot more back in those days. Not that I'm doing bad now, but it could have been better.

Put your money now into something that can grow. Then, when you have disposable income, get the sports car you desire.

Ryan95

iTrader: (10)

At least 5 times that income depending on your other expenses in my opinion. Depending on how much you're saving and putting away into long term investments every month, maybe as high as 8 times what you're making now.

Ryan95

iTrader: (10)

I 2nd everything in this post.
When I was young I blew money like it was water. I daily drove a 95 RX-7 for 2 years and it was worth at least half of my yearly income.

I got out of the sports car game for a few years, and didn't really feel comfortable getting back into it until I had an income that would buy a nice FD on one month's salary.

There are still some people actually financing FDs, and I'd say that is a recipe for trouble.

MR_Rick

iTrader: (7)

Look at my log. Every thing I have done to the car in there has been in about 6 month and I have spent about $6-7K so far.

2RotorsNaDream

iTrader: (7)

Wow talk about exaggerating. Its a $10,000-$15,000 Japanese sports car, not a Porsche or Ferrari. I hate to be the bearer of bad news if you thought it was.

Anyways OP, since you live in St. Louis you have the fortunate ability to afford to buy a place to live unlike myself and anyone else who isnt a millionaire living in NYC. I say take Mahjiks suggestions very seriously, housing by you doesnt cost much and you would be building a good amount of interest as the housing market jumps back up. Save the sports car dreams for alittle later, a Miata is still a fun *** car to play with in the meantime.

Ryan95

iTrader: (10)

Say he buys a decent FD for $10k that needs almost no work.
We're literally talking about him spending half a years pay on a toy. That's pretty excessive.
Say next year the motor goes, he now needs another 2-3 months pay for the motor for his toy.

I would only recommend someone buy one of these if they can pay in cash, 100% without impacting their normal lives.
If they can't do that, or handle the expenditures that comes with owning an FD, they should have other priorities.

Ryan95

iTrader: (10)

You're also doing a ton of work yourself and fixing/making your own replacement parts. That would be $10k+ to most people.

chiefboon

Agreed -- I wanted an fd for a long time before purchase but waited until the time was right. It is not the sticker price but the potential costs associated with keeping one running. If you don't have at least $3k (inexpensive rebuild) I would look another direction. In your case it would have the potential of being an absolute nightmare for you.

It sounds like you're heading in the right direction and one day the FD will be the perfect second car for you, but now is not that time.

All of this, in my humble opinion of course.

Stephen

2RotorsNaDream

iTrader: (7)

If we're talking about him buying the car included then you are right to a point but I believe he's talking about actually just upkeeping the car after he already has it. Maybe I misunderstood his post though? Regardless you dont have to make $100k minimum to own one of these cars, even if you did have to include the price of the car in that.

1QWIK7

iTrader: (33)

Honestly, he's not exaggerating, he is actually within reason of income.

Thats why i believe A LOT of FD owners are broke, because of how poorly they manage their income.

Like i said before, forbes articles, or even anywhere you look up money management sites, a car should NOT be more than 20% of your income.

If his income was in fact 100k a year, an FD outright is 10-15k, with money to spare (about 4-5k) because of how old the car is and things in fact do break on this car, will equal 20% of his yearly income. So 100k is about right. IDEALLY.

Does that mean it is impossible to own this car if you dont make 100k a year? Of course not. A lot of people here do not make 100k a year and they have FD's and other toys, live in apts/houses and manage well.

Its really about money management and the FD you buy and your plans with it.

But ideally you would want disposable income, like mahjik said, when you own this car. If you have to charge a clutch job on your credit card, you dont have the proper funds to own this car. Maintenance on this car should be as easy as just throwing 20 bucks of gas into the car, thats how easy it should be to pay for your maintenance for this car. Otherwise if you cant, then you dont have the proper funds. Period.

3sgtepower

Alright, IM backing down, you guys caught me day-dreaming.

Even the Mica Yellow 2002 Miata SE seems out of my pricerange at this point albeit probably more reliable and less maintenance, but if I keep accumulating wealth in high-dividend paying stocks, and further my criminal justice education, I should afford one in several years.

It is a goal of mine, not as a status symbol, but I loved ripping through the gears and doing 0-60 in under 4 seconds in my MR2. It was fun, I miss it dearly but simply can not afford it.

Drag racing is my passion, and some people have abused my low income as a form of character assassination in the political forum to deem that Im not worthy of an RX-7 or an opinion on that forum. Atleast you guys have been nice to me.

In the meantime I got a little RC car I spent $800 on and have a local offroad race track for it to keep me occupied. Solid 9 second MR2's go for about 20k or less these days and are relatively cheap (theres one on mr2oc.com's forsale section right now), I can always go back to those instead of an FD, I just love the styling on the FD.

Meiogirl

iTrader: (2)

I used to live in STL, I didn't own a house. IMO if you can make enough to put about $500 aside a month just for the car AFTER insurance costs, then you make enough for it. This gives you plenty for emergency and lets you start stockpiling for goodies as you learn about the car.

You could wait until its more affordable but if you get married and have kids I'd imagine it gets harder.

greenday_5606

I have and paid for my gs while going to school and working on part time house remodeling. Its really not terrible you just need to be patient and if something goes wrong with your car shop around for a while before going out and buying the first replacement part you find. You'd be surprised how many pervious fd owners still have parts laying around that they will get rid of for little or nothing.

greenday_5606

Not gs I meant fd sorry using phone

JamesVaughn3rd

iTrader: (3)

Is your financial model include buying one fd per year? I don't think so because the average person, let's say 45,000, would only be able to buy an 8k dollar car and that makes no sense.

I bought my fd in 2003, paid 16k, got a three year loan, daily drove it for three years and now it's a weekend car. I paid little in repair costs as I did it all myself using tech articles on this website.

I'm not sure what that tells you but I'd think you would probably have to be either making about 45k a year or have at least 1,500 disposable income per month. I took really good care of my car but it still left me stranded so unless you have a 10 mile commute max I would personally never recommend daily driving an FD. In no means do I want to sound condensing but at 20k annually I would think you have some vital life things, rent food potentially life with children, to think about before a very expensive mostly unreliable funmobile.