Let me give a little bit of a background. I’m going to be starting a new job as a resident physician in Ohio. Based on my daily commute, I anticipate driving 1000-1200 miles per month. I want to keep my budget around $800/month including the car payment, insurance and gas. Ideally 0 down or max $1000. I don’t particularly care about getting the best deal overall, but I want to make sure I get a good deal for the next 3 years. What I mean by that is I want to make sure the vehicle is reliable overall and falls under budget for the next 3 years. I anticipate substantial pay raise after that so I don’t mind throwing money after these 3 years to pay off the car or whatever.
Things I care about the most are that it’s fun to drive, has a great audio system, and is reliable. So far I’ve been looking at CX50 turbo, TLX and the 330i. From what I’ve heard, all 3 of these are pretty reliable, have pretty good audio systems if they are the premium ones, and are quite fun to drive. But I’m not sure about hidden costs of owning any of these cars. Should I try to find other cars or do you guys think I should able to fit one of these within my budget and which one should I go for? How many miles driven should I look for?
I’m looking to buy some time in late August. I don’t have a credit history yet, but my fiancé can co sign, credit score is 760. I tried running some numbers and it is hard to find one in my budget based on a 72 month loan. Based on a monthly payment of $500 I think the max I can do is $30k. I’ve heard about 84 month loans. Are they common or easy to qualify for? Looking to keep monthly payments lowest I can for the next 3 years. Please help a brother out would truly appreciate any insights 🙏🏼