Seriously... If I were in the same exact position you are in, this is what I would do...

You say $8k in savings and either way you're going to go with student loans to continue school anyways...

I would sell the VX... and with that money and HALF of the ($8k) savings, and ALL the knowledge, wisdom and experience you now have with having owned 2 VX's, (3 with Gil's), go find the best VX that budget will buy... You know more now than ever before what to look for and what red-flags to run from... then after finding a better more reliable VX, I would just drive and maintain it (as is with no $$ spent on mods) till I resaved up 50-80% of what you spent on the new VX to replensh the savings... then and only then would I start modding the new VX. I would set a budget as to how much I wanted to spend to mod it to my satisfaction without spending ALL my savings... what would give me the most pleasure and satisfaction bang for buck without breaking my bank account. THAT'S the VX for you.

That's what I would do if I was in your exact situation. In my opinion... you have a 90/10 chance of gettng a way better, GREAT VX, better than what you have now and maybe even better than Gill's if you find the right one with an excellent PO that took care of his/her VX. Those are pretty damn good odds.

How many miles are on your current VX? Just think, there are deals to be had out there for an extremely low milage (< 50k miles?) VX for less than $10,000.00, which your budget should at least be, with the sale of the current VX and half of your ($8k) savings, and oods are that this new VX,(if you assuredly could find one with <50k miles), would have very few problems you would have to spend $$ on to "Fix" problems/breakdowns. This soulution results in NO payment and a healthy savings account and, again, in my opinion, peace of mind overall on the BIG picture.