[Shoolig]

Just hustle on the side, 9 bucks an hour is plenty to go out and buy a 300ZX TT or w/e you want with. It depends on what your other expenses are, 9 bucks an hour is fine to afford all the cars you mentioned... it's plenty.

If you really wanted to you could go out and get a used SRT4 or GTO if you have someone to cosign for you.

Just to put it into perspective if you go the DSM route.

Price and time to fix problems:

Blown Turbo: 1G AWD, FWD, 2G FWD, 2G AWD: 2-3 hours, plus 70-140 dollars for a new turbo. No big deal.

Blown Trans: About 4-6 hours if you don't hit too many snags.
1G FWD: 150 bucks for trans
1G AWD: 150 bucks for trans
2G AWD: 400ish for the trans
2G FWD: 500 for the trans, they're stupid expensive.

Blown motor: 500-1000 dollars for a decent motor plus a day or two to swap it in and out.

If you buy a 1G you will be able to afford it with no issues.

I've spent over 1,000 dollars last month keeping my TSi running after 2 blown transmissions.

Also- I know a few people with brand new cars working full time at 9-10 bucks an hour, so, you could go that route if you wanted.

I was able to pick up a 300ZX TT when I made 5.50 an hour, part time.


Oh, another thing:

Do a compression test, shift at redline, floor it... a lot on test drive, don't buy a car with ANY leaks NO Matter What!!!!!!!, make sure the owner knows his ****. I will walk away from a car instantly if the owner doesn't know his car well (needs to know mileage on timing belt, maint done, how much boost it's running, etc) unless it's a rediculous deal. If it has a boost controller and no boost gauge punch them in the face for me.

Have fun!