First car after graduation?
About to start IB in a city where I will need a car to drive to and from the office. What car can I afford with a first year salary / what's practical?
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Flex that big ol' Wall Street salary with a Rolls-Royce buddy
We don't know your financial situation, you work in finance. Make a budget and figure it out you fucking simpleton.
Toyota Camry
911
Don't drive a Honda c'mon. You can get a 3 year old C300/3 Series/A4 for the same price as an Civic and it comes with great warranty. Just make sure to buy certified pre-owned. These cars are still considered "new" and are in good condition with
@Tobin4TW" These are all horrendous cars. The only people who drive these are badge followers who want to say they own Mercedes/BMW/Audi. They are the more or less the lowest caliber car each brand makes. If you removed the logo and added a VW or Honda badge no one could tell the difference (exception being the C300, which is still a terrible car). This is without a doubt the worst advice I've ever heard. You are paying premium costs for insurance /gas/repairs yet your car could not be more stock. Just so you know, these cars are hardly "luxurious" and are as far from the fast end of the fast / slow spectrum as a Jetta. I believe all three have inline 4 engines too, so your Honda Accord could outrun one or at least keep pace, especially with the v6 option. OP PLEASE don't be the guy who gets a C300 right out of school so he can say he drives a Mercedes. IF you want to go this route, lmk and I can provide options for budget luxury cars that aren't absolute garbage.
Edit I: If you're throwing MS I am going to assume it is because you are mad I don't like your 2018 A4 or haven't read my response below outlining budget luxury cars that meet the objective good car criteria*
Edit II: as DawgStreet mentioned below, there are some awesome exceptions (mainly being the E90, E92, and some C350s). Broadly speaking though, most 3 series/A4s/C classes are not performance cars so it is not worth the extra costs associated with buying German cars.
Edit III: I wrote this sleep deprived, I want to rephrase my advice. @Tobin4TW" did not recommend objectively bad cars, but my primary point is that these vehicles are not the best in terms of practicality. OP is coming out college and as a recent graduate myself, I was always strapped for cash. You have so many expenses at that age and also should be trying to save if you can so I think that these base level luxury cars are not worth the additional expenses (100-150 a month in insurance, plus parking, plus premium gas, plus occasional repairs hits your budget hard if you are working on 60-90k pre bonus). If you are more senior and making more, then these are all fine investments if you are looking for a luxury car without breaking the bank. But I made the assumption that if you want German manufacturing, you want performance, and the reality is most people don't. With that said, if you don't care about performance there are a lot of other cars that are more inexpensive to maintain and today every new model comes jam packed with tech and has options for luxury seating. If you've ever sat in a 2020 Kia (I despise Kias), even that was indistinguishable from an 2019 Audi from a comfort perspective. Everyone has their own preference, and my personal stance is don't buy a 0-3 year old German car because it doesn't hold value, can be expensive to maintain, and doesn't provide the performance to make it worthwhile. I think most will agree that is an objectively bad investment for someone fresh out of college. Please keep in mind my entire response was tailored around OP, who solely mentioned practicality in his criteria.
I want to hear about these budget luxury cars
I'd agree if those cars were bought new, also can't speak much about the 3-series or 4. But you can pick a 3-year old C300 for less than 22K. Ask any college/HS grad if they'd rather have a stock Camry or a well-optioned C300 for the same price, which one do you think they'd prefer? Have you been inside the newly designed C300? It's not cheap at all. A Jetta is 160hp I believe while the C300 is 250+hp, hardly the same. If you want to buy a new V6 Accord that's gonna cost 10K more than a used C300.
I'm curious what luxury car recommendations you have though. Also I can respect the fact that people who buy a car for the badge are tools (CLA drivers ahem.), but I legitimately think a used C300 is a great value. Feel free to downvote me, but just stating my opinion based off of my ownership experiences.
Lol definitely don't get a nissan
which car do girls like?
Get a 5-10 year old BMW with less than 80K miles. I’ve had mine for 4 years now and it’s a blast to commute with.
You can find a nice one for around $15K. Maintenance really isn’t as bad as people make it out to be.
New Mercedes CLA in Black.
Looks like an entry level S-Class
If you take it out on finance, you pay a few hundred a month, and then you can either upgrade the car for free after 4 years, or re-sell (and often at a profit, when it gets in equity)
aaltyu
Hello, allow me to provide you with three reasons as to why this is objectively horrible advice. 1. Since you said the "new" CLA 250, I have to assume you are referring to the 2020 with a sticker price of $38,000. Keep in mind this is before any additional packages, and you will have a tough time negotiating the price on this car unless you wait until the 2021 is released. OP is buying his car for work, so he likely will need to make a purchase before the end of summer. Best case, he can shave 1-2k off the list price. So he is paying top dollar to purchase a car that will hold 50% of its value two years from now. 2. So OP, even if you financed the car with 1% interest (good luck obtaining that as a fresh college grad with no work history) and paid it down over 48 months, you would be paying $718 dollars per month to purchase a car that will be worth less than half of that once your financing payments end. Good luck literally saving any money during your first year, while you allocate a huge percentage of your paycheck to a car that will impress no one. 3. But wait, OP said you'll be driving a car that "looks like an entry level S-class!" Who will care? You won't have the performance or the luxury of an S class, any car enthusiast will hate your choice, and its not going to land you tons of girls. I have driven some pretty high end cars and some budget cars and can tell you firsthand the nicer your car may turn heads but there is no correlation between buying a nicer car and pulling more girls (maybe there are exceptions when you spent north of 200k+, but the point I am trying to make is a nice car should be bought because you want it). Especially in this case you should want it, because no one else is going to be impressed by the fact that you bought the cheapest vehicle Mercedes makes, and overpaid x3 for it.
So now you're broke all the time, your car enthusiast friends hate your car, you're not getting more girls, and you're stuck paying off a loan on a shitty car for the next 4 years. Don't forget when it comes time to sell it, you'll be lucky to get half what you paid for it. But its a Mercedes, at least its a performance car, right? Nope, your 221 hp inline four will get dusted by most other cars on the road. In summation, this is the most impractical, performance lacking, bank breaking car you could purchase.