Gonna buy a car for college, suggestions?
I used to drive around with my dad's 2007 Toyota Camry 2.4 around illegally.
Since I'm becoming a college student my dad agreed to buy me a car.
My family is well off but not rich, my dream car has always been the 2008-2013 BMW M3 E92 Coupe, it is pretty expensive (Avg. 60k USD for one in great condition) for a family like mine.
With the fact that I've only been driving for ~20 hours and I'm asian (Asians can't drive, lolz. But people around me says I'm extremely good for a beginner) I wouldn't want to ruin a expensive vehicle because of my lacking in experience.
Especially since I would need to spend all the money I saved for my entire life plus the budget my dad offers to buy the M3.
So my dad suggests that he would offer me a budget of $10k for me to buy a "practice car" that I would drive for about 1-2 years to get experienced.
10k is a interesting budget, because I can get cool but old cars (Like a 2005 BMW 325Ci) or newer but uncool cars(Like a 2008 Mazda 6).
Since I am gonna be driving this car for 1-2 years a cool car would be awesome but it might break frequently (especially these old BMWs, they are disasters) and the uncool cars would be the opposite.
I did a bit of research on the internet.
Here's the list a few cars I've chosen. I am looking forward for you guys to give me better suggestions since I know nothing about second hand cars and my knowledge in cars are pretty much all concentrated on BMW.
2006 Mazda Miata MX-5
2008 Mazda 6
2006 Mazdaspeed 6
2010 Mazda 3
2007 Mazdaspeed 3
2005 BMW 325Ci Expensive to maintain
2008 Honda Civic
2007 Honda Civic Si
2009 Scion tC Problematic engine
2012 Ford Focus SE
Subaru???
I really like BMWs but I don't know if the 325Ci (Or even a 330Ci) would be a good idea, because old BMWs are expensive to maintain.
I don't want to buy a Toyota Corolla or stuff like that because they are just wayyyyyyyyyy too uncool.
So any other suggestions or picking one from my list would be appreciated.
Also another question: Do I really need to buy a M3? I has been my dream car back when I was 12. However it is slightly higher than the budget my family gave me (30k) which means I'll have to spend everything I have to buy it even after 2 years and the price have gone down.