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What to do with an expensive, upside-down car loan?
An option that no one has yet suggested is selling the car, paying off the loan in one lump sum (adding cash from your emergency sum, if need be), and buying an old beater in its place.  With the beater you should be able to get a few years out of it - hopefully enough to get you through your PhD and into a better income situation where you can then assess a new car purchase (or more gently-used car purchase, to avoid the drive-it-off-the-lot income loss).   Even better than buying another car that you can afford to pay for is if you can survive without that car, depending on your location and public transit options.  Living car free saves you not only this payment but gas and maintenance, though it costs you in public transit terms. Right now it looks as if this debt is hurting you more than the amount in your emergency fund is helping.  Don't wipe out your emergency fund completely, but be willing to lower it in order to wipe out this debt.