I am sorry, but I have spent most of my life driving embarassing cars. I don’t believe in car payments and I don’t see why the appearance of my car should matter to anyone, especially if I am a student with a limited budget. Now if I were a stock broker managing millions of dollars of other people’s money I can see that a sleek new car would give my clients a warm feeling, but as a grad student I think your car just needs to get you from here to there, even if you have to put up an umbrella inside when it rains or you can see the street through the rusted out floor boards (actual cars I have owned). In fact when I was a grad student on a much smaller stipend than you have, I happily drove an elderly Datsun until someone parked their car on top of it (a young lady that had a need for speed discovered that it is easy to break the laws of Florida but not the laws of physics). My next car was an elderly Nissan (new enough that it recognized the name change of the company) that lasted until I planned to have kids and needed something bigger. It also survived some major body damage during its lifetime but if you parked it so the driver’s side was hidden no one could tell. In fact, cosmetic flaws often make it much easier to find your car in giant parking lots, so a poor automotive appearance can even serve as a plus. Ugly cars are also less likely to be stolen and that new ding in the door really doesn’t upset anyone, since the door is already dinged. So my recommendation is that you find another disposable car through a private seller and work harder at saving up some cash so that each time you do this in the future you have a bit more to play with. Buy a $2000 car this time, and next time try for a $3000 car, and so on. The other thing I did actually was make friends with several mechanical types and learn enough from them that I could do some of the repairs myself, thus keeping the cost of repair down longer and extending the usable life of the car. It may not be romantic, but a Saturday afternoon date spent replacing your water pump makes a lot of economic sense. You are NOT your car. It is simply a tool to help you get to where you need to be. Besides, think of the tales you can tell your kids when they start hounding you for a car someday in the future.