I have a nice S10 for sale... like new. I'm half-joking, but I was in your same spot many moons ago... I tooled around in a 1989 GMC Jimmy 4WD I bought for $500, put a gas tank in it, brake lines, half-shaft, rebuilt the starter, etc... it began nickel and dime-ing me to death, and always stranding me at inopportune times. It was mainly a blow to my pride every time I had to call my ol' man to bail me out/tow me home. You lose a little of your manhood when you call your "daddy" to haul your POS home. My dad didn't think anything of it "cuz you're family" (he's good people), but my ego didn't like that. Sold the Jimmy for $500 (after a deer hit me during a rally race), I had about $1k and 40 man-hours fixing/replacing parts sunk into it at that point and, that's how I ended up with a new 2003 S10 ZR2 as a Sophomore in college. I let all my "problems" become someone elses headache at least for the warranty period... I guess I can't complain too much, it cost me all of $500 after it was all said and done to drive the beast for a year. Plus, in a beater, you never had to worry about door dings or "keeping it nice" - there's something to be said for that. My $0.02, if you can afford it, I'd say do it. I value my time more than anything, so the less time I have to worry about having a reliable vehicle, the better. It was worth it from that aspect. You can bank money, but you can't bank time. Besides, you can't take $$$ with you after you're dead. But, I originally wanted just a base model S10 (Would've been < $10k OTD after all the sweet rebates at the time + GMS pricing), and ended up decking it out to the most expensive model (MSRP $29k) because I figured I'd be keeping it for a long time. So, just be smart about your purchase decisions - don't get roped into buying all the bells and whistles if you know you're not going to keep the new car forever. All these pieces of metal do are depreciate, so the less money you spend up front the less money you'll lose. Taking a $5k hit on a $10k vehicle is financially smarter than a $15k hit on a $30k vehicle though that's a drastically oversimplified financial analysis.* Good luck dude. *Do as I say and not as I do -- I think I have swine flu or some brainworm because I'm looking at Avalanches right now to replace the S10. I'm a scrooge when it comes to money, so I've gotta be going crazy to think I can treat myself to a $50k truck. WANT, but definitely not a NEED.