My first new car was a 1981 Mazda GLC hatchback. It was, as the name indicated, a great little car.
1999 Jeep Cherokee, which I still have.
I was driving a white, hard-top Porsche 911SC. It was the most fun car I’d ever driven… but it wasn’t practical. I needed room to haul stuff. I looked through the catalogue at the Jeep dealership and saw a photo of a Cherokee in dark blue, which they called ‘Deep Amethyst’. That looked nice, so I ordered it. 4WD, A/C, overhead console, cruise control… Imagine my surprise when I went to pick up the truck and discovered that ‘Deep Amethyst’ meant ‘Dark Metallic Purple’. :eek: Hey, I’m a guy, all right? It looked blue in the photo. And this is right when Jerry Fallwell was going on about how purple is a gay colour. But you know what? I dig it. I still think it’s one of the best colours they’ve had.
I’ve taken that Jeep over steep, narrow, snotty-with-mud motorcycle trails in the rain in the mountains near L.A… It’s carried me, a friend, and two kayaks across 45 miles of washboard dirt road on Vancouver Island. It’s hauled 5,000 pounds of trailer and Porsche, a Willys jeep, and two motorcycles (not all at the same time!). It moved my stuff from L.A. to just south of the Canadian border. It gets me through the snow. Currently, there are about 230,000 miles on the clock. The SO likes the power. ‘When you step on the gas, it goes vroom!’
The SO likes the automatic transmission. (Her truck is a 4-cyl. with a standard transmission.) I’ve always wished I’d bought the standard transmission.
2002 Saturn SL that I got a month after 9/11 and still drive daily in 2013. It gets damn near 40mpg! And it was cheap as hell, the payments were $206 something for 5 years.
But there are two great stories that go along with it. First, our old beater we were trading in broke down on the way to pick up our new car, and we had to get it towed into the dealership. I bet they loved that. We got $500 off for that worthless hunk of junk.
Second, the new Saturn was a manual transmission, and neither me nor my wife knew how to drive a stick. I had to drive it out of the showroom, with about two inches of clearance on either side. I ended up rocketing out the doors and stalling right outside, chipping the side mirror in the process. 
You should have seen the faces on the guys at the dealership! It was great.
We drove around Huntsville, AL for the rest of the night, teaching ourselves how to drive a stick, stalling at all sorts of busy intersections and pissing everyone off. But before the night was over, both of us had learned a new skill. Sometimes I wonder if the best way to learn anything is to make it so you have to.
The first brand spanking new car I ever bought was a 1970 Chevy Vega. What a total, complete piece of shit that car was. Car of the Year, my ass.
Our first brand new car was a '52 Chevy that my Dad won in a 4th of July raffle after I begged him to buy a 25 cent raffle ticket. I was very young. The car was delierd to the house and Dad told the dealer to take it and sell it as he did not drive, nor did Mom, and never had a license.
MY first brand new car was a 1967 Toyota Corona which I bought after returning from 2 years overseas Navy duty. It got totaled in a rear end crash after 4 months. I then bought 3 more brand new ones (Toyotas) each succeeding year to get all of the new safety features such as built-in whiplash-restraining headrests.
The first car I ever actually bought with my own money was a green 1959 Plymouth Savoy wagon (scroll down to see the wagons). I was stationed on Adak Island in the Aleutians in 1970 and picked it up for $300. It was a real “Adak Bomb” of a car, but it got me around until one day when the engine just sort of lost all compression and the car stopped on a slight incline. I got it over to the curb, and as far as I know it’s still sitting there.
I bought a scion. I was thinking of buying a private party used xB, but I went to a dealer to test drive them and see how I fit. (I’m tall, and don’t comfortably fit in a lot of cars.)
I test drove a used 1st generation out-of-warranty xB, and saw that a new 2nd generation xB was only about $1,000 more, and they’re kind of like a real car whereas the 1st generation xBs were more like a go kart.
I picked one out and started aggressively negotiating with the salesman. Apparently you don’t negotiate on a Scion, they cost what they cost and that’s it, like Saturn was. I told the guy I liked the car but I didn’t want a huge payment and I walked out. He chased me down and said if I had a trade we might be able to work something out.
I had a beat up truck. It looked nice but needed about $1,000 in parts to remain a safe daily driver and I didn’t want to keep dumping money into it. I wanted to keep it around for hauling things a few times a year so I wasn’t planning on trading it in. It was worth about $500 as a trade, but probably worth at least that much per year compared to renting trucks whenever I needed one. It was dark out, the salesman didn’t test drive it, he was dazzled by the gaudy 20" chrome rims I had bought on eBay for $250 and he offered me $5500 for it.
The trade in brought the cost of a brand new scion to the same amount as a used private party scion with >60k miles. I told the salesman I wouldn’t be using his financing. He was annoyed. When one of the lot guys pulled my trade into the well-lit area where you take delivery of new cars the salesman was pissed and expected me to renegotiate. I declined to do so. 
1989 Chevy Cavalier.
https://www.google.com/search?hl=en&site=imghp&tbm=isch&source=hp&biw=1600&bih=798&q=1989+chevy+cavalier&oq=1989+chevy+cavalier&gs_l=img.12...0.0.3.71559.0.0.0.0.0.0.0.0..0.0....0...1ac..32.img..0.19.1498.n8zgJdcVlHM#facrc=_&imgdii=_&imgrc=u-TKdSSAcoommM%3A%3BreJdLJ_08I6etM%3Bhttp%253A%252F%252Fcarphotos.cardomain.com%252Fride_images%252F3%252F1676%252F1401%252F29188200002_large.jpg%253Fv%253D0%3Bhttp%253A%252F%252Fwww.cardomain.com%252Fride%252F2918820%252F1989-chevrolet-cavalier%252F%3B575%3B431
I totalled it twice: once my fault, the other not.
A 1990 Holden Commodore, I remember walking into the dealer to pick it up and the smile on my face was as wide as Luna Park. The joy of having a car that I didn’t need to worry about breaking down, the power of the motor allowing me to do easy burnouts and that smell!
My first car was a 1966 MG Midget. I still have it.
My first Brand New Car was a 1983 Ford Escort GT. 1.6 liter, 5-speed, 88bhp!
$1,500 down from The Bank of Dad, and $144.15 per month. He told me not to pay a penny more than $140/month, but let me do the negotiating. At 20 years old.:smack: I suppose he was trying to teach me a lesson. I went at them with my offer, but they said no, and explained for several minutes why it just wouldn’t work. I’d look at my dad, and he’d just scowl and say nothing. I knew he meant “no”, and I stood my ground. Finally, like the OP, someone said “Fine, I’ll pay the difference myself.” They gave me $200 bucks, and I drove home my first BNC.
I put a Kenwood stereo in it, Jensen Triax speakers front and back, and 400 watt amp.
Stylin’, baby!
Not long after getting it, I jumped some hill somewhere and tore off my muffler and tailpipe, and it sounded AWESOME. I sounded like one of my Jaguars! It accelerated much faster, and got better mileage, so I never put one back on, much to the chagrin of my parents and family I’d visit. 
Sadly, someone at the factory or a dealership never connected the water temp sensor wire, so after 3 years it overheated on me with no prior warning, and locked up the engine. I left it parked on the side of I-285 here in Atlanta, and walked away.
I went round and round with Ford over fixing it, but they never would, and I stopped paying them for it. Finally, they said they would take it back in a voluntary repossession, and I wouldn’t owe them anything more. 23 year olds are just as stupid as 3 year olds. We learn math and geography, but nothing of the real world. When we went to buy our first house, I learned there is no difference between “voluntary” and “forced”, and I still had to pay the balance. Cocksuckers.
I enjoyed it while it lasted. It was a nice little car, and I think about buying another one now and then, but I haven’t. I have enough cars right now.
It was a 1970 MG Midget purchased in Bitburg, Germany (I was in the AF) and I paid $1,700 for it. Stateside, they were selling for $3,000+ and after about 6 months, I shipped it back here for $60. It was a great bargain but mechanically, very poorly designed. If I could drive for 1,000 miles without serious mechanical issues, I considered myself fortunate. On the bright side, I sold it in 1974 for $1,000.
Chevy used that CAR OF THE YEAR title in every print ad for the Vega , but they should have added “Just kidding!” right under once the cars many flaws became undeniably apparent!
But it could have been even worse…imagine if there had been a Chevy Vega Diesel!:eek:
First brand new car was a 2009 Mini Cooper. About £14K or so. LOVED LOVED LOVED that car. I’m not a big car person in general, but it was -fun- to drive, got really good gas mileage, parking anywhere was a breeze, and of course it looked great. The perfect car for two adults, and my wife and I drove it everywhere. Sadly had to trade it in when the kids & dog arrived…
My first brand new car was a 2003 mitsubishi eclipse gtx. It had a v6, and way more acceleration than the cars I had previously had. It was a lot of fun to drive, but wasn’t practical in any sense. I kept it for four years and traded it for a toyota prius, which is completely different and the best care I’ve ever had.
It was a Dodge Shadow with a 2.2 turbo engine. It was what I could afford and was OK for 2 years.
During the 3rd year, the engine blew apart and the company reneged on covering the repairs under the 7-70 coverage. I got it running out of pocket & sold it to a “car-cash” place the next day, because I knew it would never be the same.
I know that I’ve never bought a Chrysler product since then and personally I think my bad experience with Chrysler’s arbitration team out of Tappan NY is why.
1967 Plymouth Valiant, Slant-6. Built like a tank indeed. I drove it 12 years, hard. It was a metallic blue-grey color that was perfect: never looked dirty, just got greyer as it went without washing. My dad negotiated it for me (I was in college) and took me to the dealer, let me drive it off the lot (3 miles on the odometer!) and then told me there were three more payments due, one every six months, and he’d help me if I was short. (I never was.) God, I loved that car. When I was leaving Georgia for California I knew it would never make the trip, was using oil and had bald tires and I had no money, so I sold it for $100 to a used car lot. Would have been a very sad day if not for the getting-out-of-Georgia part.
I got a 2009 Honda Fit after the ancient Honda Civic hatchback my aunt had given me finally became unusable (I drove that hatchback for 1.5 years before it died). I was 29.
It was a bad situation for buying a car, because I needed one ASAP so I could get to work. I only had a weekend to decide. Luckily for me, since I’d already been having to patch up the Civic a lot to keep it going, I had looked around at my options a little, and narrowed it down to a few. I test-drove those (Yaris, Fit, some kind of little Mazda) on Friday evening, and chose the Fit on Saturday. It felt so good to have a brand-new car - like some sort of grownup milestone.
My husband did most of the talking, since I had absolutely no clue what I was getting into, and we got a joint loan and title and all that. I paid attention, so I think I’d be okay buying another new car on my own now if I had to.
Oh, and instead of a sad trade-in with that 20-year-old Civic, I sold it to the guy at the garage for $1000, because the interior was in gorgeous shape and he wanted the parts to fix up his own version of the same car.
I still have the Fit. She was paid off in two years and she’s all mine. She’s traveled far and hauled a lot of junk. I don’t think I’ll be trading her in for a long time.
1994 Suzuki Sidekick 4-door with a fixed roof. (I think it was only marketed as the Geo Tracker in the States.) Kind of noisy and a rough ride, but better than the Samurai I had been shopping for. I liked the 4-wheel drive and the solid feel of the manual gearbox.
A week or two after I bought it, I talked to the service rep about an annoying rattle in the door locks. He said I should turn up the radio.
I had an aftermarket sunroof installed a couple of years later. I also added my idea of a sound system (think Radio Shack CD player and Radio Shack surface speakers screwed into the cardboard-like side walls in the back).
We drove it down to Florida once. It was all right but our butts were a little sore. We drove a little bit on the beach in Daytona.
On another trip, the hood blew open on the highway, about 10 hours from home. The hood was fairly short, it was only protruding about 15 cm / 6 inches above the roof and didn’t bend much, so we made it with bungee cords, etc. But after the cracked windshield was replaced it began leaking in heavy rains.
Maintenance issues included two sets of distributor cables, two catalytic converters and one alternator. Oh, and the mass airflow sensor/money pit, which we eventually just disconnected.
It lasted about 270000 km (= 168000 miles), and actually it was still working pretty well when I traded it in after 7 years.
I never did give it a name, but it was a he.
First really brand new one, picked by me after much research?
2010 VW GTI.
I was so pleased with the appearance of the car in those photos (gunmetal grey) with all of the trimmings, including their “autobahn” package, that I asked my dealer to find that exact car, same wheels, same color, same everything.
They found one in Connecticut and brought it to NJ for me.
Even now, after 4 years, it is my favorite car ever. The motor is peppy, it corners like it’s on rails, and the wheels look much better than the current models. My wife did scrape one of the rims on a curb, but it was going to happen sooner or later.
On two separate occasions I have hit potholes with enough force to blow out one of those low profile tires. I still like them.
ETA: I noticed that the one in the pictures is 2-door. Mine is 4-door, to let kids in and out. Otherwise the same. I also had to go for the 6 speed DSG auto trans, since my wife needs to be able to drive it too.
Mine was a Dodge Omni. So I win.
I actually did a 5-year lease at $99/month (this was 1986). I got it with almost no extras, since $99/month was already crushing our budget and we still had to pay insurance ($212/six months, thems was the days), fuel, and upkeep. The only extra we got was the rear window defogger, which was required by state law. No radio, no A/C, you name it, it wasn’t there.
Among the extras I did NOT get was automatic transmission. I had driven a stick shift, once, while learning to drive 5 years earlier. In the interest of saving money, I thought, why not get a standard shift? I’d done it once, successfully, sort of, how bad could it be??
<sigh>
The car finally fizzed out fourteen years and 90K miles later. Always an adventure.