How should I go about my car situation

[tingirl]

Time to grow up perhaps and lose the fun car?

I’ll do a 3 part, current car and cost, expenses and then what would suit my situation/needs/wants

M25, Melbourne. With a girlfriend and newborn

$ is in AUD

1) Current car is an auto Subaru WRX VA, bought over a year ago (finance) currently paying 550 per month, interest 8% it was a 7 year loan. Petrol about $100-$120 per week
Insurance $160 per month.

Rough total $800-$850 per month
I have about $29000 left on the loan (bought for 37k

*i’m well aware now it’s not the most sound financial decision and I could have made a better choice

2) Expenses and lifestyle: not paying rent currently for living, main expense is car and rent for the gym I work at ($1100 a month)

ALL expenses work out to be approximately 2,800ish a month.

3) Situation/needs/wants
Income: on track to probably just grossing over 100k for current financial year. Income is anywhere between 1.8-2.3 per week (work for myself)

Currently have around 4k in savings (would like to grow to 20k by end of next year

I would like to move out with my partner and our baby boy in the next 24 months (rent) and start a small savings account to buy in next 10 years (being realistic maybe?)

Needs: I drive 500-700km a week for work (gym and outdoor services) so better than my current car on fuel would be great.

I’d like to not pay so much on insurance

I’d like a relatively comfortable ride

Space is a must due to the stuff I need to carry in the car + child seat.

I would like to pay off more on current car (within next year or so) so that if I sell it, it can cover the cost of the loan and I can pay it off (don’t have much savings at the moment to make lump sum) then I can look at purchasing another car.

I love cars and I enjoy driving, but being smart is probably a better idea for now.

 

[im911]

@tingirl You must be new here

You can get a Camry or a Corolla, anything else is just a waste of money.

And doubt your post will last long here, so check out r/CarsAustralia as well for more enthusiasts

 

[nessofonett05]

@im911 This but unironically.

 

[tingirl]

@im911 Need more space than a Camry or Corolla, and ok I’ll get that sub too

 

[foreverbeach11]

@tingirl My old Camry had more space boot and back seat wise than my mid sized SUV

 

[matrich]

@tingirl If you earn 1.8k a week minimum, roughly $7.2K a month with 2.8K for all expenses - you have 4.4K a month left. You could easily add alot of money into your savings and make additional payments into the WRX.

But i would sell the WRX and downgrade the vehicle to get a second hand, maybe even like a small or medium SUV could be better. Add more funds into savings. Add funds to a child account where you can allocate funds just for your son which wont interefere with other bills etc.