Pay off car or buy used?

[acer24]

So I currently have a car loan with the following left:

Total left: $5,994
Payments: $170 @ 7.90%

The problem is, the car is very boring for me as I'm a car guy and I would prefer buying a used for around the money I owe or spend less than $5K on one.

I currently have ~$8K in savings and I plan on using that for moving out into my first apartment within the next 3 months.

What is my best course of action financially speaking?

[disneysteve]

How much can you get for your current car? If you can get enough to pay off the loan, sell it and start over with the car you'd prefer. As long as you spend about the same amount, you'll be no worse off (and maybe you can get a better rate - 7.9% is lousy).

Just remember that the payment shouldn't exceed 10% of your monthly take home and be for no more than 3 years.

[acer24]

How much can you get for your current car? If you can get enough to pay off the loan, sell it and start over with the car you'd prefer. As long as you spend about the same amount, you'll be no worse off (and maybe you can get a better rate - 7.9% is lousy).

Just remember that the payment shouldn't exceed 10% of your monthly take home and be for no more than 3 years.

I should be able to break even or +100-200. I plan on buying the car outright.

Yes, the interest rate is lousy but I've been making the payments early so very little money has gone to interest.