I am a recent college graduate, and I have been saving for a car for a little while so I could get something after I graduated. Now that I have secured a job (from a previous internship), I intended to purchase a late 90's-early 00' economy car. Then I got suckered by a convincing car salesmen to test drive a 370z.
Instantly I fell in love with it, nostalgia set in from the days of my MR2 Turbo (had to sell for college
![Frown](images/smilies/frown.gif)
). I felt alive once again, it was simply amazing. I could not think of a better car to make my ~hr commute to work more enjoyable and bearable. Now I find myself running the numbers in my large spreadsheet that contains a 5 year monthly outlook. Considering the savings this time of year and the willingness of the local dealers to meet or go below invoice, I believe I can reasonably afford a base model with the sport package.
I found this forum, and I have been reading up on the car non stop for the past few days. I now find myself at a crossroads where I believe I am ready to pull the trigger, but I am hesitant due to fear of credit rejection.
My credit score is only 695, as I have student loans that I have not yet started to pay on and I do not start my full time job employment until mid January. My salary is fairly competitive for the area, and likely above the mean for my location and field of industry, but I have not yet started to collect my first paycheck. I am able to make a $5-8k down payment if that has any effect on my interest rate approval. I would really love to make this my first real car, but I can't justify the expense unless the interest rate is below 5%.
Ideally, I know I should wait until I feel out the new job, although I really enjoyed it during my previous internship, and then wait and save until I can pay as much cash for the car as I can. However, I do need a car, and I would hate to spend a considerable down payment on a car I don't intend to keep for more than a year and would depreciate considerably with my yearly mileage.
Can anyone offer their thoughts? How many points am I likely to loose for applying? Is 695 just too low?