About to purchase my first vehicle

Please be sure you are in an industry that will not be affected by the current market slowdown. That could put you in a pinch. With that said, I dont know your current situation ( ie married, kids, home owner etc ) but I will assume you are single. Here is what I would do ( and I say now, because I am much wiser than I was 10 years ago regarding personal finance ). Wait, if you can. Take that $500 ( prolly close to what your note would be ) for the next 6-8 months and get that debt load down. Granted, based on your current income, your debt low is relatively low, but could be much lower. Freeing you up with more "discretionary" income to spend/save. Trust me when I say there is nothing quite like having a nice little cushion in a money market/savings account to give you peace of mind.
Try some of the online auto finance companies. The last two autos I bought were thru PeopleFirst ( which is now Capital One Auto Finance ) and I got a 5.5% rate, well below any dealer could offer up ( now that was 2 years ago and the markets have since tightened thier credit requirements ) . Plus, you can borrow based on what you want your payment to be and know EXACTLY what you can afford, instead of guessing and leaving it up to the dealership to decide and having to shell out additional cash as a downpayment to keep your payments affordable.

Good luck and enjoy the new apartment, i mean King Ranch. ( several of my clients have these and the interior is HUGE! )