<prompt> Human: Moved cross country and started a new job recently. Ive been paying down debts and thinking of getting a vehicle. 25 year old. 20K in student loans at 3.83K in Credit Card debt I do intend to finishing paying off the CC firstSalary: 40KYTake home after 401K: 12002W or 2400 per month. Expenses: 1300 Living comfortablySavings 1100 each monthCurrently I have a public transit pass which allows me to ride for free. Unfortunately its a round about commute which takes 40 minutes. A car ride to my work takes 6-7 minutes in traffic. A safe calculation would suggest a car saves me roughly 240 hours in commuting time each year.The car:Ive pretty much made up my mind to buy a car. Although Im trying to work out what the best investment would be. Affordability calculators would suggest I dont go beyond 11-13K. This budget would allow me to purchase for example a 2012 Mazda 3 with 40K miles and a clean history. I could lower my budget considerably to the 5K range, but im hesitant to deal with a vehicle which may quickly become unreliable. Im also curious if I could justify a higher price tag in terms of depreciation and resale. The price of a Mazda 3 doesnt seem to change very much between 40-60K miles and 2-3 years of age. Financing would be 60-72 months at 1.80 for those who like all the details.  <response>: No. Based on the information in the comments, this is not a good investment. It appears that you have already made up your mind to finance at least 5,000 on a car and more likely 2 - 3 times that amount, and are really just hoping someone will help you justify an even more expensive car. In my opinion, given your current and upcoming financial situation, any car purchase is suspect, and one you cant pay cash for is ludicrous. Im not someone you want advice from. With that in mind I will recuse myself from this thread. 