Welcome to the site Andrew.
Originally posted by Andrew the man
naw, see the reason i want the sport trac isa for its looks...not because its an explorer. next you dont need a "hell of a good job" to pay for a sport trac...my local grocery store pays like 7.75 to start with and you make roughly 600 a month. that'd easily cover the car, the gas, and about 100 bucks extra just for me(going into saving mostly)
but thats just basic because im rounding. im thinking like 350 for the payment, 100 for insurance(most likely 50 though because my parents are gonna put the car under their name or something while i pay for it) then 25-40 for gas that still gives me enough to get by
Oh my goodness. You have to admire innocense.
OK, thanks to our over-spending, pork-barrel politicians and programs, you can forget about seeing that much money a month. The government is going to run with some of it, and believe me, they will take a lot more than you think.
I understand how you would really want this vehicle, but you need to be realistic as well.
In order to pay for that vehicle, you are going to have to put in a lot of damn hours, a lot. This gives you very little time to focus on the most worthwhile and invaluable activity of all, studying.
All that money you will spend on that car will never equal the return you WILL get from focusing your time and energy toward education. Sorry if this isn't "cool" in a pop-culture motivated mind. But let me tell you, image doesn't mean crap, never has, never will. A car doesn't say a damn thing about you, regardless of what some may think.
And even if you are able to afford an ST, is it worth it? You're barely 16 years old and you are going to throw yourself into $20,000 worth of debt? Kid, take it from anyone and everyone on this board, put debt, any debt off as long as you possibly can!!!
I buy things I can afford and I still want to shoot myself. Not to mention the fact, as I am sure this will be a requirement when you purchase the vehicle, you will have to have full insurance coverage, liability is not good enough. I am sure (at least I hope) you will be leasing the vehicle so if something does happen and you can't pay for it, you can at least save yourself. And with leasing the vehicle, more than likely you will have to maintain full coverage.
If you work hard in school and excel in everything you can, you can have any damn car you want. But even then, whatever you do end up getting will have little to say of what you have potential to do or achieve, that is something that only you can define by your actions.
Is it just me or is it frustrating how materialistic younger generations are becoming. I was damn lucky as a kid. I had a father who treated me 100 times better than his dad ever treated him. He busted his ass everyday. He never had the opportunity to go to college, but it was the one thing he wanted to see for his kids. He broke his back to give us every opportunity that he never had. I guess it is just hard to see the value of a dollar and hard work these days. When a 19 year old can throw up a website and become a millionaire, it's plausable how reality can become distorted.
Anyhow, I'm rambling.
Point is, you could be setting yourself up for a difficult road, and not a fun one either. You need to ask yourself why you want to take the route and if it is the best thing for you. You can get a decent car for far less than what you are looking to spend.
If there is one thing to remember in life, and I am sure this can apply to you: not everyone is as fortunate as you are. That's very important to remember. And believe it or not, but one of the last things that statement has anything to do with is money.
Here's a link on a similar discussion:
Dead Link Removed
Not trying to crap on anyone's parade, I just feel that I should make all points known. My 2 cents.
You should start making payments to yourself now before you get locked into something like this for real to see if you can handle it. Or what happens when you turn 18 and the parents think its time for you to handle things on your own? Just think long and hard before locking your self into a payment. Plus with a payment there is no money leftover for mods usually. Especially with a salary like that. $290 a week at $7.25 an hour for a 40 hour work week would probably be about $230 or so after taxes which would be roughly about 900 bucks a month. If your going to school its going to be a rough 40 hours a week. 
