[Perfectlap]

buy an old enthusiast owned Miata that has been well maintained. Take the rest of the money you didn't blow and put the first $1,000 in a picture frame in $100 bills. Hang it on the wall. If at any point you have more money in that picture frame than your money market account you are missing out on one of the biggest oppourtunities of your life: investing early, which is the quickest way to become a millionaire. Your next car can be a Ferrari F430 or Carrera GT. Go to Barnes and Noble and check out some of the books by Dave Ramsey, he specializes in the less complicated ways to invest. I'd already invested $100K (and lost it a few times) through stock trading by the age of 21, mostly by working part time at a high end watering hole but boy do I wish I had known about the easier, no-brainer ways of letting my bankroll just grow itself into a million dollars before the first grey hair. Once you are 30 or 40 that advantages of that early start are gone and your old Porsche or BMW is worthless.

p.s.
I just spent over $5K on major maintenance (including the IMS ugprade), dropping that kind of cash is not something a college student should be worrying about. A veteran of a late 90's Asian currency meltdown, dot com bust, subprime Chernobyl meltdown, pump and dump commodity bubble.....different story. But dang if it still didn't hurt to fork over that kind of cash from my blood sweat and tears. Why not put it on the Credit card? You'll never consider entering into a WORSE agreement in your life than putting money on plastic. Budget for the big repairs before you buy.