my friend is looking for a car under 9K price range, and he wants a reliable, good-looking, fun, and relatively gas friendly and cheap on insurance car. he would prefer to buy a car in 5K range, so 9K is a bit of a stretch, but anyways, what would you guys take and what other recommendations do you guys have?? 1. GC 2.5RS 2. Mazdaspeed Protege 3. Nissan Sentra SE-R Spec-V 4. Ford Focus SVT 5. Nissan 240SX 6. Honda Prelude (early 90s) 7. Integra (non-vtec ones are only ones in the price range..) 8. mitsu eclipse 9. mitsu lancer ralliart
you have the order correct the rest I am not sure I would even own except a honda for a dd 1. GC 2.5RS 2. Mazdaspeed Protege Not sure you can get a mazdaspeed for that price range.
I had a co-worker with a Sentra spec-v and it was pretty sweet... pretty damn quick for what it was and fairly stylish.. Pretty sure he paid close to 12k though, might have to get an older one to get in your friends budget.
Would he prefer a car in the 5k range so he can sink 4k worth of mods into it? Because if that's the case I'd go with the 240sx and put an SR20 in it along with some other goodies (call me a typical ricer blah blah blah, rwd + hp = fun).
he wont be modding like 'us' :naughty: he`s not into driving world that much, but he`s just been around me and my friends alot hahaha. he was actually at an install meet and rather has been delighted with the saabaru (but you know, obviously out of price range). but i think a RWD car might be a bit dangerous for him.. (high schooler + rwd= trouble)
i sold my mazdaspeed protege to the dealer for about 9k with 40,000 miles on it. just keep in mind if he buys that, upgrades are not a good idea because the motor was not built for the turbo
There are plenty of bug-eye's near $9k. Get a near stock, 90k mile bug-eye. Then as he gets money, he can mod it easily... Siegel
+1 Jeb just sold his for something around there, and he already had exhaust installed and stage 2 ecu, along w/ a few other upgrades. I think he even threw in his extra set of wheels / tires along with it. It was clean, just over 90k, still ran really good.
he prefers something that runs on regular gas and cheap on insurance/maintanence.. horsepower is not much of a issue for him, as long as it feels quicker than his mom's accord right now. but anyhow, the range is more in the 5K zone, so.. yea. and the thing with the RS is that, me, as a suby enthusiast can justify the price for such a rare car that carries so much history, but when a 02-03 bugeyes cost just few hundreds to thousands more (and often times the RS has way more mileage) it's really hard to tell yourself that the RS is worth the money..i mean i think it is, but for the most buyers, it may not be.
I would say go for the Nissan Sentra Spec V. I test drove one a long time ago, when I was ready to trade up on my Civic EX Coupe. I test drove at the time, a new Civic Si, a Protege, and the Sentra. The Sentra had the best power out of the bunch, nice interior, decent styling, good gas mileage. For about the same, if not slightly less than the Civic Si, the Sentra was the much better choice. I ended up waiting about 5 months, and instead of any of the above, got my 02 WRX.
This is true, the mazda protege uses the same engine internals on turbo and non-turbo models. They are not designed to go over 5-6 lbs (or something low like that) of boost. So you gotta be careful with that. Get the RS, there are several member on here that can vouch for their reliability.
STAY AWAY from Nissan sentra spec v. My buddy had one and it went through a tranny and 2 motors. I thought it was his fault, but it was bone stock and he didn't drive it that hard. It is great on power and interior appeal though. My 2 cents. I had a 96 prelude and loved every minute of it. get a 95 or 96 prelude for the better looking gauges. SI or Vtech if you can find a decent one. if you want pics of mine lemme know so you can show your friend.
the nissans and hondas are great reliable gas friendly cars for the price. but for someone who is into driving, they are not wise choices, as they are FWD. if its just a dude that wants a DD and he doesnt care about the handling/safety of AWD even RWD, then those are the way to go. but after having been in a honda of some sort for almost 4 years and a subaru of some sort for 2 almost 3 years, I will NEVER own another FWD vehicle again.
I had one before my sti, they have some reliability issues. The motors had a number of recalls and when i finally had a issue that should have been covered under one of the recalls, they denied me so I sold the car and bought an sti.
oh c`mon... everyone knows that some of the 'FWD' hondas can be quite good at handling.. but yea still looking for a cheap RS
Below are a few; I got bored, lol. Tell him to go over to IA and buy a SR20 swapped 240 and call it a day. http://www.vehix.com/inventory/Vehi...id=770000012A1F88&N=127+4294965119+4294966042 http://www.vehix.com/inventory/Vehi...id=7700000119AA63&N=127+4294965119+4294966042 http://www.vehix.com/inventory/Vehi...id=770000012052CE&N=127+4294965119+4294966414 http://www.vehix.com/inventory/Vehi...id=7700000126C46D&N=127+4294965119+4294966414 http://www.vehix.com/inventory/Vehi...id=770000011878D8&N=127+4294965119+4294966414
I'l vouch for hondas. I love 'em. I'd go w/ the prelude or integra; but why not just do an H22 swap in Mom's Accord. I had a '96 Accord w/ H22 and was a great car and package. ......man, i miss that car.
I don't kow if Texas is too far this one looks fairly decent........ http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/ws/e...3&vertical={}&creative_id=3599037024555189545