I've suggested the same thing for people that are interested in purchasing a home for the first time, but weren't positive they could afford it.
Although it may suck, keep your current car for a while longer and "practice" your vehicle payments of $500.00 per month. Open a seperate savings account and put the money in there - including the increase in insurance coverage. Call your agent and see what it would cost to insure your vehicle per month.
Do this until you are completely certain that you can afford it, even after all the little expenses that you don't expect add up. Providing you can do it without ever touching those funds, I'd say go for it. I could go into the whole "Brand New cars are terrible investments - pick up one that's 6 months old" deal, but you probably already know that, and you have a passion for cars. I don't really, so I can't determine what it is worth to you.
Providing the payments are near what you calculated, in a few months you'll have a decent down payment - if you waited as long as a year you'll have over eight grand to put down - making your payments lower than expected. Or, perhaps, if you don't have it already, you should just hold on to those funds and keep them liquid for six months of reserve income that you should have saved up....
There are two likely outcomes to this scenario:
1) You get down on your knees and thank whatever entity you worship that you didn't buy the car for real
2) You realize that you can easily afford it, and now either have a decent amount saved up or a lower car payment than you expected....
Either way, it works out better for you in the long run
Just a thought
