Well, after much thought and deliberation, I have decided to upgrade even farther than I originally thought. I have come to the forum, as I have many times in the past, for advice. I have my eyes set on a C55 AMG with 30K miles on the clock, clean as a whistle, for $24,750. The dealer would only come down $250 on it because of the low miles and the rarity.

If any of you have read my prior posts in this thread, you will know my situation - graduated in Dec.09 - been working 5 months at a defense contractor - ready to upgrade and try to salvage what little value my Crossfire has left in it.

The dealer is willing to give me $6800 on the Crossfire - SSB, 75K miles. I have been trying to sell my car on cars.com for $8800 for the past month and have not gotten one single e-mail. Not even one!

I would be taking out a car loan for 60 months and $18K from Pentagon Federal Credit Union with a 3.99% rate for a total of $331/month which covers both the car and insurance premiums with USAA for six months.

I love the AMG look and the C55 has been my dream car since it came out, previously my dream car was the C32. But what I really like is the space the c-class provides as the Crossfire is beginning to feel a bit cramped (it is my daily driver), as well as the familiarity of the C55 engine bay and parts to the Crossfire's engine bay - since I know my way around there very well.

I have no credit (just applied for a credit card) so my father is willing to cosign on my loan. Given that I am about to move out, my dad and I have discussed the possibility of it being difficult for me to rent a place (I am going to be living with two other young working professionals - also my buddies) if I have a car loan. If I can verify my income to a possible landlord, I was thinking maybe my not having credit yet would be minimized?

The car payment fits in easily with my budget, and so would a rent payment. I love the car and am ready to make the leap, but I would love some input on
A) the trade-in value of the Crossfire (abysmal obviously)
B) the choice on a C55
C) the price on the C55
D) is this unusual to be taking a car payment and rent payment (probably around $700-$800/mo.)?

I am a car nut (obviously - I am on this forum), and have done all the maintenance on the Crossfire myself (brakes, oil changes, lights, filters), and would do the same with the Benz.

Any input is greatly appreciated.