86 is a great car to learn on, but Never buy a car without test driving it first.

Also in California it better pass smog first (so don't give them a deposit in advance even though I would a dealer would have to clear that stuff to sell it to you I wouldn't want to have have them make you do it on your dime). With $9k down you could have pretty low payments right now even brand new... although with the state of the economy I certainly understand not wanting to have any (extra) liabilities.

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Honestly the 13s are fine, most of them are solid.

Just make sure it's a car that:
1. had the recall done
2. has driven at least ~10000 miles since then

Most valve spring cars were repaired properly, even the scions. engine failure from a bad seal job occur well within 10k miles (usually within 2k miles). other than that some people need fresh tail light gaskets. If you can get a good deal on a 13, I'd go for it.

YES

or an NB, even clean ones are getting affordable:
https://www.cars.com/vehicledetail/d...1386/overview/
This is the NB you want, facelift, LS, with the Bilsteins. A buddy of mine has one of these and it's a blast to drive.
https://www.cstatic-images.com/super...7fb737ccf9.jpg

And yet I've bought them cheap salvage because of the VS recall ;)

I agree that they can be just fine. I also agree that many dealers can actually fix them.

But if it's the guys first car and he makes minimum wage it's not worth going with a 2013 for him. He can't afford the engine IF something happens due to a bad repair (assuming it's even a recall car).

And the price difference between a 13 and 14 is barely worth mentioning so....

Normally I'd suggest a 2015+ just for the coilpacks but...

On the other hand I would fully support the OP getting a Miata.

It's a better first car IMO.

Not sure for all the hate for 2013, although the price for this one is way out of line.

It's high by several thousand dollars (KBB is around $12,000 dealer price) discounting the mods, which I would if trying to buy the car. They have no value unless it is something you would be doing immediately and even then I'd only pay maybe 20% of the price of doing the mod myself on top of "normal price". So the air suspension might be worth a few hundred dollars to me IF it was something I just had to have.

Since this is CA car, it will have to pass emissions, which means the spring recall will already been done. Check the mileage elapsed since the recall work. If its a few thousand miles, you should be good to go.

Nothing wrong with a manual car as your first car, not sure why that would be an issue for some. The mythos of the manual transmission continues I guess.

I bought my current 2013 for 2,500 with no accident damage. ;)

I do agree in general on the price of this car, it's quite high. Mostly because 42k is low miles for a 2013 but meh. I'd rather have a much cheaper one with 70 or 80 k. Although the 2013 I just mentioned only had 27k on it.

That's probability*sample size for you. If you buy a well running car 10k miles post recall, it's fixed right.

I've popped 1 coil on my 13 in 90K miles, that's hardly unsustainable.

You must not track your cars. I normally talk these cars with track guys and if you do track them a bit you'll be replacing them A LOT. My 2013 went through 2 or 3 before I sold it with ~18k on it.

Mine have 160,000+ miles on them.

99.99% of people don’t track their cars. For daily driving and a handful of autoXs a year they’re totally fine.

The coil failures are also greatly exacerbated by aftermarket headers and over pipes.

My son (he is 16 now) in the process of getting his G2 (Canada, G1 is just verbal test).
I also told him finish driving school first and pass test on instructor's car with AT. He finished only theory part and COVID started.


I had no choice to start to teach him MT first, like I did myself.
I can say COVID is the best time to learn to drive MT as a first car.
If you go into any office area all roads are empty. No pressure from other cars around you. Most pressure probably comes from me, when I slightly panic or car jerks too much.


On another note, with COVID delay lineup to get a license now is crazy. I heard G license test they are booking Nov 2021.

Have either you or your dad called your insurance company ?

I'm 73 yo. I drive a 2015 FRS. I have told my insurance company that I drive fewer than

five thousand miles a year. I have three vehicles insured with the same company. I have

full insurance on the FRS. I have no tickets and no accidents for many years.

The FRS alone costs me $1300. a year for insurance.

These are costing for insurance about the same as if we owned a newer Corvette.

1. Get your license. The dealership won't let you drive the car without one.

2. Insurance generally is not kind to newly licensed drivers as is, let alone on getting into a sports car. Make sure you can afford the insurance cost. See what you can get through brokers, your parents insurance, or local car groups who "have a guy".

3. As these cars get older, the miles will start to go up, however that means the price will start to go down! Sometimes it's worth driving 4+ hours to get a better deal from another seller than from the dealership down the road, plus on the road trip home you can figure out this darned "Manuel" transmission.

3.5: The whole "this car will sell fast!" in many cases is a gimmick designed to separate you from your money. Shop around and see what your other options are, Miatas are a great alternative and I was looking at several before I found my FR-S (Thanks, Tcoat!)

As with anything on the internet, take what I've said with a grain of salt and good luck.