Step 1 Take one crapped up car, drive the shit out of it, make sure you learn everything from that car.
step 2 Once you've worn the clutch out/crashed/broken the gearbox/broken something/broken everything, throw the car away, spend a decent amount of money on a good car.
Step 3-9999 Enjoy the new car
(step 4) - if you've never crashed/bumped into anything in 10 years, be really paranoid to step 9999 because you really don't know when you might have an accident and I sure as hell wasn't gonna wait until I had my first accident.