Before you go down the sports car road, get an insurance quote to sober you up a little bit. Being a teenage guy in a sports car, you will likely pay the value of the car in insurance alone within the first couple years of ownership. My first car was almost a nice low mileage 350z, until we got the insurance quote back. Sports cars are also cool, but similar to jeeps and offroad parks, you gotta go find a track or autocross meet to really enjoy what they’re capable of.
Also, never had an issue in my 4 years of soft top TJ at college. Of course, I don't leave anything worth stealing in it anyways. Not all colleges are in hellhole liberal cities.
Also, to the college naysayers: no, it is not worthless, unless of course you go for something stupid like general studies or gender studies (pretty much anything other than STEM and nursing). I just graduated in mechanical engineering and am making pretty good returns on what little investment was required that scholarships didn't cover. That said, there is nothing less honorable about going into an apprenticeship for a trade, and lots of guys that do that are way ahead of the guys that go get a mediocre business degree by the time they graduate and realize everyone and their cousin also has a business degree already and can’t find a job.
Sacrificing the on road comfort does suck, I agree. The answer is a second econocar for daily driving, which is not really reasonable in your current stage of life. Either sell it and get something nice down the road when you’re financially comfy or keep it and keep fixing it up.
