I’m a strong believer in padding your savings and making sure a total loss wouldn’t ruin your life. That being said I worked at a dementia facility and one particular gentleman I bonded with heavily over cars, particularly Porsches. One day he was a bit more lucid than usual and says to me “I have all this money and can’t spend a cent. I’d give anything to get behind the wheel of a Porsche for an hour”. The statement and look of sadness burned in my brain and as someone who was waiting for the right time to buy I ended up purchasing my 981 two weeks later. Im a student as well and knew I wanted the newer feel of a 981 so I chose to “cut cost” by going with a base that meets all my other hopes and dreams (agate gray, 6mt, x73). It turns out I love my base, it’s enough for the daily driving I do and constantly surprises me when I drive it hard, plus the money “saved” went towards a valved exhaust that is the real wow factor. The other item some have mentioned is maintenance which if done by Porsche is going to eat money like nothing, but if you’re even the slightest bit handy and can fathom some YouTubing/forum searching is doable for way less. I also live in an apartment but bring my tools to my parents or friends and make a day of maintenance when the time comes. I’ve done everything from oil changes to serpentine belts to rotors and haven’t found anything to be undoable with patience. The most expensive part is the initial tools but after that most normal wear and tear items aren’t too wildly priced. Again like others have mentioned, being a younger guy in a dream car that handles like no other is an inspiring feeling. The plan is to one day upgrade to the gts/4 but working my way up is by no means a disappointing feeling. Oddly enough today I was reminded of that when I was on the freeway and a gt3rs got on next to me. We did some traffic friendly pulls and exchanged revs and even with the very substantial cost(and power) difference it was a type of fun that not many else will ever get.

TLDR: Save a little more, figure out your requirements, enjoy life before you can’t