there's a saying i picked up from autocross..."you dont know poverty unless you own a race car"...same goes for this hobby...

work your ass off, save your money, blow it all on your car...i put like $20-$30 away each week for junk food and other stuff i'd spend my money on...other than that...my money went into parts, tools, autocross, dragstrip/shows, gas, all that good stuff...the only thing my parents really helped with was co-signing on my car...

EDIT: this was on the sunfire...otherwise my TSi wouldnt be stock with a messed up transmission...Im broke now...