My First Car

[Shalo'zier]

So, I'm 17, and haven't yet gotten my license. My parents are on my case to get it as soon as possible, because of the University is a bit of a ways off (2 hour commute in the mornings.) And they don't exactly have enough to pay for residence. I'm currently looking for a part time, but this is my last year of school, and I have some night school stuff to do (I need to do 2 courses, one grade 12 Geometry, and one grade 11 Accounting.

So, it's possible that at the end of the year, we may band together what money we have, and get me a cheap car (probably under $5000.)

But enough of my life story, tell us about YOUR first car, and the story behind you getting it. How was the experience? And if you have any tips, please feel free to tell us.

[MommaSquid]

Well, let's see...I drove hand-me-down cars for a lot of years.  My mom's car, my dad's car, my husband's car, my in-law's cars...it seemed like I was always tooling around in somebody else's run down piece of shit car.  They would buy a new car for themselves and I would get the old one, which was better than nothing but I was starting to get an inferiority  complex.

My first new car was (don't laugh) a Geo Metro.  It was a good little car but not much to look at.  It never gave me any problems and it got great gas mileage (back when gas was 75 cents per gallon and it didn't matter what kind of mileage you got!!).

Ahhh, memories.  

[McQ]

Oh, man. This is bad.......I can't remember . Some kind of old Volkswagon Station Wagon that I inherited from my dad. Not a bad car, but not too cool.

Very 1970's.

[Will]

My dad "let" me buy his 1994 Ford Tempo from him. It was the only Tempo Coupe in the entire state because it was bought in MO, before we moved to CA. Somehow that still didn't make it cool. Not sure why.

Like this, but black.

2.3L I4 pumping out 96 screaming horses and 126 ft. lbs.

26:1 pounds per hp. Compare that to a 2007 Z06 Fellows which has a 6:1 pounds per hp ratio.

[rlrose328]

First car I drove and called mine was a 1972 Chevrolet Impala, kind of a pee green shimmery color.  I kid you not, would have made a great low-rider.  It's the car my family drove across country in 1973 when we moved from Massachusetts to California.  I drove it in 1980... big ole thing!  We called it the "green weenie."

[SteveS]

Okay - I'm game!  I had just graduated from college, and I had $2500 saved in a bank CD from working odd jobs and summertimes (I actually had $5000, but I spent half of it on a personal computer - 486 DX @ 100 MHz, 8 Megs of RAM, 270 Megs of hard drive storage - this was pretty decent back in 1994).  I wanted a 4x4 - I drove through too many blizzards going back and forth to other universities (I played hockey for the college club team - no NCAA bus to drive us around), and I almost crashed once on I-57 when a pickup with a trailer swerved into my lane.  I controlled the car, but if I had gone off road I'd have been screwed for many many hours.  That car was a Chevy Nova that belonged to my parents - my brother and I shared it - we were at the same university - so this wasn't actually my first car and I wanted something better.

So, on to my real first car.  I graduated before my brother (he's younger, so its fair) and the parent's car stayed at school.  So I needed one and was looking for a 4x4 - I found a used Jeep Cherokee in early '95 (it was a '93 sport model, with black rubber instead of chrome - previous owner somehow put 38,000 miles on it in 2 years    

Anyway good luck with your quest!

[MommaSquid]

...my wife's ancient Ford Escort died...

I had that happen to me, too!  It just died one day...it had been falling apart for years, so it's not like it was a surprise.  I called it the Flintstone car because the floor boards had gaping holes.  PA winters are not kind.

I'm a Chevy girl now.  

[Whitney]

I was spoiled...I got a new dodge neon for my first car.  It was silver.  My dad isn't much of a handy man so he has never bought used cars other than some of the muscle cars he had when he was young (too bad he sold them, they'd be worth a lot now).  

For under 5 you can find an older camaro in good running condition (in the states).  You may want to calculate gas cost vs living near campus...with gas prices so high here (maybe not where you are) it could be cheaper to live closer to school.

[Dai]

My first car was an '03 Hyundai Ellantra. I got it on my own, when i was 21.

I ended up crashing it last December, coming back from lunch, our post has these big steel black gates. I hit a patch of ice and hit the gate, totaling my car .

[SteveS]

Hehe - MommaSquid - your post cracked me up!  Yeah, our escort died slowly but relentlessly as well - we weren't surprised when it finally kicked the bucket either....

[Steve Reason]

A mid-70's green Vista Cruiser wagon. You could fit a tank in that thing.  

[weirdframer]

my first car in 1967 was a 1955 herst cadillac Purple  cast me $300 still had all the funeral parlor stuff in it

[0dan1]

im still 16 -.-

adore the Delorean DMC-12 car though, beautiful.

back to the future is awesome XD

[fodder]

My first car was a 1953 Pontiac two door, flathead six engine with three on the tree transmission and supposedly 83,000 miles on the odometer. I worked in a bank, salary $2000 a year, out of which I paid $20 a week for room and board, plus deductions for income tax, pension, and unemployment insurance. The only salvation was a ten per cent Xmas bonus, which bought enough suits and ties to keep you employed till next Xmas.
The car was on consignment at a local (small town) car lot -(hey, I had no car, so was stuck with the severely limited local market),for $425.I bought it,I was so naive I didn't even haggle, and the salesman had to drive it home for me because I had no license.
I went to a finance company, which could've gotten me fired from the bank, because the bank wouldn't lend me the money, knowing I couldn't afford it on the pittance they paid. My Mom had to co-sign for me.
When I was a kid, I drove a farm tractor for neighbours doing the haying, so I had a bit of experience with a standard transmission. Having no one to teach me to drive, I used to sneak out of town and practise driving on back roads. I took the driving test, and failed, because I was very nervous, and followed another car through a yellow traffic light. I dropped the examiner off at the town hall, which was also the police station, waited until no one was around, and (illegally) drove home alone.
Two weeks later, I retook the test. The examiner made me parallel park in a spot which was about six inches longer than the car, but somehow I managed to do it perfectly. Then, he had me drive around for a while, and took me back to the same spot and made me park again, and, once more, in spite of the sweat dripping off my face (nerves and no power steering), I did it perfectly. I got my licence.
I was living at home, and my Mom started waiting until everyone had just fallen asleep, then getting up and stomping around the place puffing on  cigarettes and muttering how she was going to lose everything because of co-signing my loan. I thought the idiot was probably right, because if I didn't get any sleep I would lose my job and not be able to make payments.
I went to our landlord, who was well off, and asked him to lend me the money to pay off the finance company and get my mother off my back, which he did. His interest rate was a lot better too!
I lived frugally,except for my smoking habit - thanks Mom!, and never missed a payment. The first time I drove on an unpaved road, I almost choked to death on the dust coming into the car. I found that there were a lot of rust perforations in the trunk floor, and that's where the dust was coming in, so I patched it up with linoleum scraps and roofing cement.
I took my younger sisters on outings, and my mother shopping. What a fool - I should have made her pay every time, since she reneged on helping me out with buying the car, but was now benefitting from it.
I managed to make that car last a couple of years, but finally the block cracked  - those L-head engines were prone to that.
I was little wiser by then, and my second car was a one year old Austin Mini with only 17,000 miles which I got for $600. I remember making three hour drives home on $1.85 in gas.

[saturnine]

First off, as well as an agnostic/atheist, I am also an environmentalist. I don't really believe in cars and think that one way or another their use will largely be eliminated by the end of my lifetime.

As of now I am part of a car-share club. They own cheap cars: Echoes, Toyota Corollas, etc. The only car I really drove was my dad's Honda Accord. It was a 1993 standard transmission (fun!) and a 2 door. Cool! He still dives it but I do not. One of the reasons is due to arguments I had with parents about cars. That's why I recommend DO NOT SHARE A CAR WITH YOUR PARENTS. I see you want to get one on your own. 5 grand can buy a great car in Canada. Just get it inspected or else!

Also, why do you not re-locate to your college town? Get a p/t job, etc? Do you really want to commute that much every day? I do about 3 hrs. on public transit a day and after a while it wears you out. Driving adds stress to the whole experience.