<prompt> Human: For some background, Im 18, graduated high school last year and have been working retail for about a year as well as doing an internship for the past 10 months in my chosen career field. I still live with my parents and pay my dad a small amount each month for rent and to use his car but I will need to get my own car within the next 6 months.I just accepted a job offer in my field that pays anywhere from 10-15k more than what Im currently making. I made some budgets with exaggerated expenses and I determined if I stay w my parents short term I could expect to take home 1-1.5k after all expenses each month or .5-1k if I move out. Im also planning on starting college in the next 1-3 years and would like to be able to pay for as much of it as possible out of pocket to avoid starting my career in debt. Also worth noting that experience is nearly just as important as an actual degree for the career I want so starting college as soon as possible wont necessarily guarantee me a high income position.So the car: Right now I feel like I have the choice between either getting a cheap starter car for 5-8k and having it paid for very quickly or getting something in the 15-20k range 2016 Civic preferably and start aggressively paying it off before I move out so I dont lose much to interest.I know any significant debt this young can have some pretty big impacts but Im entertaining the expensive option because I dont want to worry about whether Ill have to spend time or money on significant maintainance and would like something reliable that doesnt have issues for at least the next 5-8 years though school. For minor points I do care enough about appearances that Id feel more comfortable in the nicer car as well as I drive a lot for recreation and would prefer something more comfortable with modern features but financially that doesnt really matter as much.Thanks for reading, any advice or reality check would be really appreciated, is a new car a big mistake or is there any sense to it?UPDATE After reading all your comments, I think im going to opt for something cheaper and get it paid off right away. I figure Ill start building some savings and an E-fund and hold off on something newer for now, Maybe wait for more stability and re-asses my needs then. Thanks for the advice everyone!  <response>: Buy a cheap old car that you can pay for in cash, then behave like you have a car payment to make anyway. Thats an extra 250 a month into a savings account and you still have wheels. A shit car is still a car, it still drives, and often they are easier to maintain yourself. Falling into the debt trap at 18 is not a clever move - in fact, long term youll end up paying way more for all your vehicles because youll have to earn a much higher amount to be able to buy one cash after paying off your car payment.nbsp;My last three vehicles have, in total, cost me 5,000. 1200 for a discovery 1, then 6-800 in repairs I do the work myself, 700 for another discovery 1 after crashing the first, and 260 in repairs, and 1000 on a van, plus 500 in repairs. All of these were cash paid, and easy enough to just drive until it dies. A buddy of mine has never paid more than 1000 for a car and has only ever sold one because he was bored of it. They might be shitboxes, but its a million times better than paying 250mo on a car that youre stuck with for at least two years 6,000, which is worth AT LEAST six vehicles. 