As someone who LIVES in California, I moved here from Oklahoma. The investment of an automobile here is extreme, insurance tripled on my Mustang GT when I moved here while I was 21. Went from 130ish to almost 400 a month! I had a clean record by the way. Gas is 4$ a gallon, registration is super expensive (400 for my PSD last year), and everything is super expensive in general. Just a tip on expenses from someone who knows and has been there, or here for that matter. Good advice on the breakdown of the cars. If you had 20k to burn, go for a charger, nice power, good looks, cheaper insurance due to 4 door, 10k I would get a clean mid 90's mustang v8 and mod it, 5k get a quality clean car of nearly any type with decent miles and put some sporty rims and speakers in it...be done with it.