I'm really bad a making decisions. Always want to make the right choice. I have two options.
1) Don't get another car. Take the 2400 put it towards my 9000 student loan and also put my income tax return towards it. I will be saving 250.00 without paying car insurance, gas, etc. Suck it up, bundle up, wake up in crazy early hours to get to work. Once the 9000 is paid off, I will just have another loan that will need to paid. And finance a car with room to breathe each month.
OR
2) Get a car. Either pay monthly for something newish, or get an old car with the $ that I have and risk frequent repairs.
I hate making choices. I don't know what the responsible thing to do is. I feel that paying it off first would be, but my parents won't be happy. They'll think that it need to be put towards a new car.
i feel your pain. i think i probably agonize a bit too much myself on some things.
i would go a direction something like what graceLR said. while i hate debt of any kind, if you're struggling at all financially, i would never pay my college loan to the exclusion of anything set aside for your car or what immediate needs you will have (assuming your college loans are federal loans from the us govt). your college loans are a debt like no other, considering you are given almost an endless supply of opportunities to defer, delay, reduce or pay/negotiate repayment (not to mention, without taking a hit on your credit rating).
in my opinion, college loans are probably the only debt that i would never throw extra money into repaying early until you are stable (and possibly have a bit of savings for an emergency).
another thing to consider would be, is the length of your commute. getting an older car may afford you a great deal of extra time and ease in your day without a great deal of risk if you're talking a small handful of miles everyday.
if you can't find something immediately that fits your requirements, i'd keep looking and wait a bit of you need to. some of the worse decisions i've made were because i felt like i had my back against the wall and was in a reactionary mode.
p.s. i like toyotas too...