Originally Posted by Beastly

Extacie,

I vaguely remember being 16. (Man, that was a while ago! I'm in my early 40's now.) I understand the exhuberance, and your desire to do something cool, and fun, in the new (to you) automotive world. I was that way, too!

If you turn out to be anything like me, the novelty, and romance of your new car/truck, will quickly fade into practicality. I think that you'll find that once you get your truck/car, or whatever you finally end up with, you'll find that they can become money pits very quickly. Especially, if you use it for recreational fun, and it is your daily driver.

While there is nothing wrong with taking your 4WD mudding, or whatever you want to do with it, you'll find it will be plenty expensive just to keep it running, and pretty expensive (at your age) to keep it insured.

While I think it is okay to have a 4WD that you take out to play, I don't think it is smart to have that vehicle be your daily driver. What are you going to do when you bust the transfer case on a rock you didn't see on a fun Sunday afternoon, and need to be at work early the next morning?

I think you would be wise to hold off on purchasing a 4WD until after you have had your first car/truck/daily driver, and had some experience in what it really costs to keep a used vehicle on the road. I think you'll find that it is generally expensive without doing any upgrades to the vehicle.

After you start working, and are able to save enough to buy that 4WD, I would say wait until you have doubled that money in your savings account, so you will have the money necessary to fix it, when you break it. (You will break it sooner, or later. It's the nature of the beast.)

Sorry for the negative diatribe (I'm pretty sure it's not what you want to hear), so good luck finding a good vehicle.