I tend to agree. IF your finances allow, a car loan is not the end of the world. While you're old enough that it shouldn't matter too much, it may be worth calling your insurance company and finding out what kind of change to your rates will be since you're looking at a sportier car than a TDI as well as a car with a loan will require full-coverage.
Personally, after years and years of owning practical daily drivers, I am tempted to throw caution to the wind next year and order a new Focus RS. 
Counterpoint to the not bothering with low miles stand. In certain cases it may be worth paying a little more for a lower mileage vehicle. Between 80-100K you're going to want to change shocks, possibly cooling components etc etc on a car. Is it worth buying a car that is several years further away from the point where things are wearing out due to mileage.
Adrian_Thompson wrote: Counterpoint to the not bothering with low miles stand. In certain cases it may be worth paying a little more for a lower mileage vehicle. Between 80-100K you're going to want to change shocks, possibly cooling components etc etc on a car. Is it worth buying a car that is several years further away from the point where things are wearing out due to mileage.
Great point. That stuff adds up, especially if you buy quality components. (I just put bilstein 5100s on my 139k mile truck)
Klayfish wrote: I don't have as much of an issue with others here about debt...with the huge caveat of doing it smartly. I'm shopping to get my wife a new DD right now, and I'm sorry, I'm not coughing up $15-25k cash to get it. Interest rates are so stupidly low right now that I'm willing to pay 2% for the flexibility.
Well, at 2%, I'd buy the same car with "debt" vs paying cash, as my invested money is going to outperform that without issue. But that's a Pay cash vs. loan for the same car kinda question - not a increase budget to where debt is required or not kinda question. I'd argue if you are looking into the latter, you're not "doing it smartly"
$14K for a 32K mile '07 doesn't sound bad at all. There's a lot of S197s around since Coyotes and now S550s, so good for the pickin'. Figure lower mile cars seasonal toys at 4-5K/ yr., pluses for garage kept and never seen snow/ rain types. Shop wisely to find someones baby w/o premium prices, they're out there.
S197s are good and fun stock but keep in mind they respond soo well to mods you're probably gonna go w/ add-ons at some point, and the aftermarket is huge.... so budget that as well.
Wow thanks for all the great responses. To answer a few questions, yes this would be a 48 month loan, $308.00 a month and around 4%. I had been paying over $500 per month in credit cards, so should be easily affordable, although need to check insurance.
The price of the car is usually what 05-07 GT's go for with 50-80k on them, so I'm essentially getting the low miles for free, it's a hell of a deal. Usually I would agree get the higher mile cars to lower the price by a few grand. I agree I have been spending around $500 a year keeping the Jetta on the road with 225k so there really is something to be said for upkeep cost on an lower priced beater car. I think I have been busting my ass for the past 5 years and I agree time to reward myself, I'm not going crazy but being sense-able and I live breath and eat cars. I swapped a LS1/T56 into my 2nd Gen RX7 and the Corvette Z06 was a dream daily driver, super fast, comfy, and on rails, plus got 22mpg! I hope this Mustang will be a close 2nd to it once I get the suspension sorted out on it, I'm glad to hear others like it for daily duties and that V8 sound is sorely missed music to my ears...
I'm running stock springs, Tokico D-spec shocks, and 255 wide tires and it's a blast day to day without being uncomfortable. I'd probably suggest a mild drop shock - like a 1" - to help the shocks. It may be how hard I drive and the roads I subject it to, but I do shocks every 50k or so. Even then, aftermarket is so good for these cars, it's not expensive. You're going to want those and a tune at the bare minimum. The tune kills the factory throttle lag and makes the car 1000% sharper and more fun. I had a friend who sold his 425 HP (or whatever) factory stock '12 because mine "felt faster" when I know it was the just tune that made it feel that way.
FYI, I get around 18-19 mpg in mixed driving and 23-24 on the interstate with a canned 93 Octane tune.
Look at it like this -
$308 x 48 months = $14,784
Buy a $5,000 MR2 for cash.
Unless you buy very well or get lucky, I bet you put $2k into the MR2 and after 4 years, it may be worth $3k
The Mustang - as long as you don’t go crazy with Mods or burning rear tires will probably need very little PM and should be worth in the $7k+ range.
So after 4 years if you go to sell, your cost to drive the Mustang would only be an extra $3,800 (not including extra insurance, gas or lost opportunity costs).
At least that is how I convince my tiny mind to drive a Mustang over a beater. 
DirtyDiesel wrote: Wow thanks for all the great responses. To answer a few questions, yes this would be a 48 month loan, $308.00 a month and around 4%. I had been paying over $500 per month in credit cards, so should be easily affordable, although need to check insurance.
You should be able to get a better rate that 4% if you have decent credit. For example, check penfed.org - there at least used to be a way to join if you're not military (by donating to charities helping members of the military) and they have very good rates on car loans. They're also pretty lenient as to what you can buy with the money and are much less restrictive than my local credit union.
I'm gonna play devils advocate here too. Spend some time in Mustang. I wanted one pretty bad and bought an '08 GT a couple of years ago. I only kept it for 3 months. Some people love them, and that's fine, but they aren't for everyone.
It cornered flat, but the steering feel was non-existent, even compared to our F-150, and my best mpg was around 19mpg, but mostly in the 15mpg range. If you like old muscle cars, you will like it, and is wasn't much different in terms of driving dynamics than my old '70 Boss 302. Don't get me wrong, it was a great looking car and fun to do smoky burnouts, but I bored with that quickly. You need to spend more than a 10 minute test drive in one.
As to the loan, I don't think they are evil by nature, but you have to be smart and don't finance more than you can afford. If I do finance, I put a lot down and make payments far greater than the minimum.
I'd say go with MR2 Turbo. Drive them while you can. Newer cars while be around longer than they will.
If he can find a good one. Most good/nice ones I've seen for sale are at least advertised for a lot more than $5k and I've seen what $5k buys you out here. Those should come with a large bottle of headache pills.
Tim and I both know the siren call of the MR2. He got hit a lot worse than I have but I think I paid more than he did up front.
As a point of reference, I paid 7600 for a "Good one" with just over 80K miles on it about 2 and a half years ago. Even buying a good clean original one, I still have almost 4K in it in repairs for just a little over 15K miles. Some were not 100% necessary (new radio, amp, and speakers) but some were like the Hose from H and it's brother, suspension rebuild, complete tune up, replacing the belts and hoses, all new T-Top seals, window regulator, AC repair, and a few other odds and ends. And the scary thing is, I still haven't gotten to any mods and it still is ready for new bushings that I haven't even gotten to. Oh and try and get tires for the stock wheels. Impossible to get much good.
I would say if you want a cheap car to play with and drive the MR2 is probably not the answer. That's another reason that the miata is the answer.
On the other hand, Mr2 values are increasing while s197 values are dropping...
racerdave600 wrote: I'm gonna play devils advocate here too. Spend some time in Mustang. I wanted one pretty bad and bought an '08 GT a couple of years ago. I only kept it for 3 months. Some people love them, and that's fine, but they aren't for everyone. It cornered flat, but the steering feel was non-existent, even compared to our F-150, and my best mpg was around 19mpg, but mostly in the 15mpg range. If you like old muscle cars, you will like it, and is wasn't much different in terms of driving dynamics than my old '70 Boss 302. Don't get me wrong, it was a great looking car and fun to do smoky burnouts, but I bored with that quickly. You need to spend more than a 10 minute test drive in one.
Damn, these are my 2 greatest fears about the car. I drove one 7 years ago so I have forgot what they feel like, and snow is still on the ground here so it's been tough to find a local one to test drive. I have pushed my time table back by one week so I still have some time to back out of it, not this weekend but the next.
I did see an 03 Mr2 with hardtop (which is the only way I would want a Mk3 as I'm not a vert fan) I'm wondering if I purchased that for $7500 with 60-80k on it if it would need as much as the older cars. Granted it would need $4k in turbo goodies to make the performance decent, but that could be added later on. Any thoughts?
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