I'm 24 been out of school for almost a year. (December 06 grad) Making Mid 40's as an Operations Manager. "should get a raise soon"

I will say it is tough being on your own and paying all of your bills while trying to save for a car.

Degree is from Texas A&M and I'm considering having my company pay for my masters.

Next purchase is to replace my 96 Jeep Cherokee with a Liquid Red G8 GT/ GXP if I can afford it.

That shouldn't be a huge problem, so long as you've already been saving your money and avoiding nonessential spending. A good way to figure out if you can afford a monthly payment is to learn how to amortize.

I= i/12 (i is your annual rate, and I is interest as it applies to your monthly payment.
For example, 6% interest would be I=0.06/12 = 0.005

______I______ * L = A
1-((1+I)^-n))

n is the total amount of months in your term, so if its 6 years, its 72 months.
L is the loan amount
A is the amortized value, also known as your monthly payment.

I did this on another forum, but that'll help you equate your monthly payments based on a targeted loan amount.

When you go through the math for a 30,000 loan at 6%
I = .006/12 = .005

______.005______ * 30,000 = A
1-(1+.005)^-72)

___.005___ * 30,000 = A
1- (.6983)

___.005___ * 30,000 = A
0.3016976

0.016573 * 30,000 = 497.19

497.19 equates to your monthly obligation on such a loan, at 6% for 6 years.

That is something I would start doing if you're looking to buy a car. Then, I'd go through my current expenses and cut down on things like entertainment, liesure, and other such expenses that you can live without.

I offer this to help you determine whether you can afford it or not. I would do some research to find out what kind of interest rate a bank or loaning company (other than GMAC) is willing to give you. If you've got a good record, they would probably give you better than 6%. If you work it out with the dealer, they may not give you as good of a rate. I hope this helps you. Basically, if you haven't been saving your money, I wouldn't be buying a GXP this summer, or really a GT; its a pretty expensive obligation next to your other bills. Don't forget to check on insurance.

__________________

The Pontiac Revolution

I really appreciate your post. I think i will put it into my excel spreadsheet to calculate payments. I also would be interested in how much Im paying in interest on the 30k loan per month. I'll look at that soon.
I just got my credit score which is 774 to 750 depending on who it was.

As far as insurance goes I will be 25 this summer just in time for my first car purchase. I'm anticipating getting a lower payment because of it.


On another note.. I have a spread sheet that i tally all expenses.

My net income after taxes is $2,674 (put $375 into 401k a month + 121.68 for health insurance taken out before taxes)
Example of Expenses for one month
$870.00 Rent + Utilities
$650.00 CC Bill
$1,520.00 Total
Leaves me with approx $1,150 bucks a month to save. Ive been averaging about 900-1200 for the past 9 months.

I'm willing to take GMAC financing if at the time I get an additional savings otherwise i plan to take a loan.

I've got a nestegg of about 15k saved so far. I just don't know if i should just put that down at the time of purchase or let it sit in the bank and earn interest and let it accumulate enough to pay a 1 months payment a year.

What are your thoughts?

Looks like I just slide into the demographic at age 35. I went ahead and registered as the G8 is definitely on my list, though I'm still about two years away from a new car.

Well I guess 2 out of three ain't bad. Just turned 34, hope they'll give me one anyway. But I figure if I'm gonna trade in the goat, it might as well be a 4 door beast with a ls3 eh?

Well I fit the age and income brackets, and I think I fit the overall intent of the car: Never considered a domestic before; always been an import guy, want performance but not overly concerned with impressing people with a hood badge, prefer subtlety instead of wings and plastic body tack-ons, etc

Hello everyone! This is my first post here. Let's see how I fit the demos:

1) Age- No, too young at 32. By the time a GXP M6 comes out, I'll be close though.

2) Education- Yes. 1994 BA, Arizona State; 2008 MS, CSU Long Beach

3) Yes**- My wife and I each cover this

** Owning a home in So. Cal kills my car purchasing ability. I want to save up for this G8 though. I'll have a kid on the way soon, so I will need a 4 door family rocket. I've been wanting to return to the domestic market, and this gives me very good reason.

24
Carnegie Mellon
easily...

"2 outa 3 aint bad"

1) 44
2) Northeastern U - BS-CompSci
3) Yup!

GM hit me dead on. Dumped my 8yr old 100K mile Lincoln Continental for a new GT. More HP, better mileage, WAY more fun. Liked BMW, but couldn't stomach the price.

Will be 45 until tomorrow,
No degree
Yup!

So, I'll fit until tomorrow. Good thing I bought it two weeks ago! My wife will fit for the next three years if she gets a small raise.

-23 years old
-Michigan State University Graduate
-Panther Black G8 GT Sports package

Age-Yes
College-No
Income-Yes

Replacing my 2003 Focus SVT...........Priceless

No - I'm 29
Yes - just graduated with a Masters Degree
Yes - make more than $70K

__________________
2009 G8 GT WHITE HOT
stock until spring

--------------------------------
Give them nothing... Take from them EVERYTHING

Interesting. I was wondering what Pontiac's target demographics were. I guess their marketing data is right, because I meet the demographics as well, as most others who replied seemed to.

1 - 38 yrs old
2 - BSEE, JD
3 - Yes

Was that the same demographic that the Grand Prix and Bonneville were targeted for? (Since those are the cars it supposedly replaced).

67 here and retired and nowhere near $70 Grand. Just an old fart likes performance cars and trucks.

Lee

I made this comment in another thread (relating to the G8 v. Maxima), where the article commented that women hated the G8 while men seemed to love it.

I was wondering if "male" was another target demographic category?

Born 1970
Some College
Over 100K
Not Married - No Kids

I just requested a dealer quote and a trade of my car. I work for a GM supplier and that should get me 1800 off MSRP. I have a 06 Accord V6, and highway mileage is not all that different than the G8 GT. I live a mile from work so I am not pooping a cupcake every time gas goes up.