I've been bereft of functioning vehicle for 4 months and

>>17568346
go to craigslist, fb marketplace or autotrader and pay cash for a car you can afford. Financing a car for five years with that little amount of income is just plain stupid

>>17568346
Why haven't you been saving for those 4 months so you can buy a civic for 2-3k outright? why didn't you fix the old car?

>>17568361
Its the hard spot though

I have maybe $1200 saved up, but the fuckass part is rust belt blues

Anything under like $3k is liable to have some form of terminal rot that basically makes it a time bomb. I'm really hankering for something with a hair of permanence.
>>17568363
I was on limited hours at my job due to my ride situation and then someone left and I was basically forced into more hours (not that I'm complaining) They have a current setup where I catch a ride with another employee, but I also lose hours sometimes due to schedule differences. Also every civic in my area has the afforementioned rust belt curse which is also why my current base model cav isn't even worth the goddamn struggle to fix.

the obvious flaw is you could find an older cheaper car

>>17568346
I WANT to tell you to get the Mazda, because it's a great little car, but this is an extremely bad decision. It's never easy to accept, but there are times in life where affording a car is beyond one's income. You cannot afford that car. Don't buy it.

>>17568361
>>17568363
Lump sum cash payments for a car are fucking stupid. This is why you drive cheap shitboxes.

Don't take financial advice from /o/, OP.

>>17568404
I mean i've done it and there is something to be said about just getting a car and nothing more to it, but at my income level and situation I'm not going to get anything beyond a fucking garbage throwaway car unless i literally commit a few years of my life for it.

Rustbelt used car markets are suffering.
Miata's going for 7k because no rust lmao
I just REALLY REALLY want a car that doesn't require me to have to justify the money i've spent on tools frequently. I've spent enough time fixing shit that all I want a car that I can have a fair measure of faith in.
I borrowed my friends relatively modern CR-V for like 2 weeks and it was one of the nicest times i've had automotively as an adult. Everything just worked and didn't make fucked up noises all the time.

>>17568380
You can find decent performing, non-rusty cars for under 3k. Why put yourself into debt? Use the used car to get you back and forth from a better paying job and then get what you want.

Assuming you saying you live rent free means you are still in your parents house, if you put yourself into debt for the Mazda, you'll never get out of their basement

>>17568452
https://pittsburgh.craigslist.org/search/cto If you can find me something under 50k miles, no rust, working ac, fresh tires, manual, no major or minor body damage, I will consider myself soundly proven wrong.

>>17568434
Then buy some POS Cavalier or old Focus for $800 and be done with it. The parts are literally EVERYWHERE for in America because it was a cheap American car.

Forget about performance. You should think about having a car.

Someone here is going to have an autistic freak out over me telling you this, but you have to live without a car. I had to go without for 4 years because I could barely make enough to make ends meet, and couldn't afford the insurance on my Trans Am, so I had to sell it. I scrimped and saved and got into a better, more stable job, and was able to pick out a good used car last year. No, its not going to be fun. It fucking sucks not having the means to buy things other assholes get to have easily, but being careful with your money is the ONLY way you will ever make a better life for yourself.

>>17568434
You may not be able to find a Miata within your price range, but try broadening your horizons. Late 90's-2000 Volvos like the 850 and V70 I have seen for $2k-3k in good shape, and that do perform well. Plus, during those years they have a fuck about quality and rust proofing is good on them. My 2000 V70 has endured 17 years of salty winters and had zero rust to show for it

>>17568434
>Miata's going for 7k because no rust lmao
And what are you about to do? Buy a 14k miata, when your in poverty, then watch it rust away and lose value after a few years?

>>17568457
>Under 50k miles
Now that is just unreasonable.

Every car I have owned I have purchased with 150k+ miles at the time of purchase. None have had any rust beyond tiny specks of body rust at the extreme most, and they never developed any. And where I live, we always get winters that warrant salt. Every one of them I had driven for at least 5 years and my repair bills for the total time never exceeded $2k. Each one was purchased for $2k or under. None of them have had catastrophic failure that caused me to get rid of them. And all that with the bare minimum maintenance.

If you are looking for that low of miles, do you really see yourself owning this car in 10 years?

>>17568470
Anon, i actually appreciated this.

All my IRL contacts, (even my mother) is telling me i should do it.
I suppose I know deep down I shouldn't but I feel I owe it to myself to at least get it all shot down by getting the hard numbers reality and accepting it.

>>17568475
I didn't specifically want a miata but that was my example because I figured everyone could get a decent point of reference on going rates of cars in this area. Pretty much anything under $3k is going to have a million miles, rust, mechanical issues, or some combo of the 3.

>>17568486
What makes you think a base model commuter sedan is the same as some manchild inital D car? I'm looking at this strictly as a means of transportation. The automatics are equal in price and it just so happened that the lowest mileage and most attractive option was the ultrabase manual. Rust is easier to prevent than to repair too, that being the entire crux of my motive.

>>17568457
Mileage is a meme. How it was maintained is way more important.

https://pittsburgh.craigslist.org/cto/d/honda-civic/6175195388.html
worth fixing the damage if no rust

https://pittsburgh.craigslist.org/cto/d/honda-civic-to-gomanual/6205077869.html

https://pittsburgh.craigslist.org/cto/d/honda-civic/6212383496.html
get rid of the dipped hubcaps asap. worth it mainly for the maintenance records if true.

>>17568346
20/10/4 OP

20% Of the vehicle's cost spent on the down payement (Do not go under, and it's not advised to go over if it stretches you financially thin), 10% of your monthly income spent on payments (remember, insurance for a financed car is higher than for an old shitbox that you had paid off), 4 years MAXIMUM loan term.

Nobody has any idea where they'll be in four years. Don't over-stretch yourself on payments.

I have a roommate that has a SEVEN YEAR LOAN for a fucking NISSAN ROGUE. It almost ended our friendship it frustrated me so much.

Then I hear him act surprised when the insurance payment is ~$100 a month, up from the ~$10 he was paying on his busted ass old Accord.

I hate having to explain this shit, but it always frustates me with how little people actually know about the car buying process.

OP here

I spent a few hours considering everything and I have to say, thanks /o/.

I decided it was a poor overall decision and also my boss was probably trying to foster a sense of dependency by trying to bait me into buying a car that I can only afford if i continue to work there.

And now I'm mad as fuck. Time to find another job.