First Car?
 

Hi! I'm Auron, came here to get some advice from owners...
Currently I am looking for a fun first car, in between some manual vehicles (not trucks or SUVs) or a 1st gen BRZ, FR-S, or 86...
I live in Colorado, looking for a daily driver, but something that isn't boring... Not one of those kids that wants to slam my car and camber it unnessicairly... more of someone to do actual upgrades that will do something (suspension, power, comfort, etc).
But, i wanted to get advice from the best advisors, the owners themselves :)

i think you'll be disappointed. the 86 is nothing like a 4runner or a tacoma

Personally I think the 86 (or Miata) make great first cars as they are great vehicles for learning driving skills.

First thing though is that I think you really need to understand what you want. A 4Runner/Tacoma and a BRZ/86 are entirely different beasts that have no business being cross-shopped/compared.

That said, I am in the Denver metro area and I would not get an 86 if you are not able to shell out for a good set of winter tires (just put them on their own set of wheels). I know we do not get tons of snow here, but with the 86 being a RWD car you really should have these (heck I even had them on my AWD BMW).

@bucketfoot I agree with you, well except for this...

Cross shopping and comparing a wide variety of vehicles, even those (gasp) of vastly different types is sensible, particularly amongst first car buyers (and with me everytime).

Usually first vehicle buyers are shopping by price first, type second.

No reason to limit yourself unless you have a specific need. Doesn't sound like the OP does.

The last time I went shopping for a pickup truck I ended up buying an Eagle Talon TSi.
The wife was so pissed!

Yea, pretty much same story here. I went to take delivery of a 1985 Toyota SR5 4x4 "extended cab" and came home with a MR2.

I eventually remarried though so it turned out OK.

Never got the appeal of trucksSUVs if you don't need to haul stuff around all the time. FR-S/BRZ/86 all the way for "fun"! As mentioned you *will* want to get very good winter/snow tires for the cold months...

All my friends are truck guys that don't understand the appeal of my car. Neither group is more right than the other.

In the building where I work (about 80 people) there is 1 Corvette, 1 Chevy SS, and my FRS. There is also about 10 that drive some other type of coupe or sedan (Accords, Camrys, one ex-police car). The remainder all drive either trucks or SUVs.

Every once in a while I drive my Suburban in, and confuse everyone.

It's a great car to learn many things on. Driving, maintenance, modding, dealing with limited visibility in traffic, hating hedges at corners, tetris. You can only fit 2 real people in it so if you often drive friends/family that is a limitation. Good cargo space for a small car though.

Unless you want to do off roading, a twin (FRS/86 or brz) is going to be more fun to drive every day.

Great for off roading too. Dirtfish runs classes. Don't sell the twins short.

As a first car, I could have easily fit 4 in it (most of us were smaller in high school). Heck I used to fit three in my MR2 before people starting obsessing on seat belts and stuff....

You can mod any car for any purpose. It just takes desire, time and money.
https://i.ytimg.com/vi/ib-KGYt1tpQ/maxresdefault.jpg

https://i.ytimg.com/vi/kJun-5YZWAE/maxresdefault.jpg

https://performance.ford.com/content...9312888886.jpg

Auron, you haven't given us very much info to work with. This is your first car but how long have you been driving? How old are you, in school or working? When My daughters and grand kids went looking for their first cars it was all about insurance and operating costs. You may want to look into that as it may have you rethinking what your first vehicle will be.
In my oldest grand daughter's case she ended up with an older low mileage Honda Civic. My oldest grandson wanted a Subaru WRX or STi. He ended up taking his step father's older hand me down Subaru Impreza.

It's fine to have wants but, I think you have to look at needs and costs first. Just my old guy 2 cents worth.

In significant amounts for some cases. Which first car shoppers are not likely to have, statistically speaking.

There's a difference between a rally stage and trail driving.

Didn't say it was smart just that you can.

Of course. I was just clarifying for the OP that it is not actually our collective advice to plan to do so on a first car, considering our limited insight into their lifestyle.

I know 😂

Oh im not comparing them i promise, just the 2 things i was looking at which i changed (again) Thanks for the advice!!
And i already know about the winter tires from personal experience and the Miata forum

Thanks for the advice. Most likely i would go in one of my parents' vehicles if i was going with them, and less friends may convince my parents that it would be a good first car.

That is another thing i was very excited about, maybe even go there one day and learn :happyanim:

Oh yeah i didnt include much info. So im 14, have driven SxS, ATVs, and my grandfathers' minivan (very short distances), but i dont have my license yet. My parents have already said that thay dont want me driving any of their vehicles (too new, the oldest vehicle in our family is a 2019), and that it needed to be less than 15k, i will be paying for it with my money though. I am trying to get ahead of the game.

I am in school, not working YET but this summer i think im going to start at Chick-Fil-A and start earning some.

The insurance isnt too bad as their safety ratings are good, as long as i dont get a bright color (red, yellow, orange, bright green, etc.) the Coupe situation wont be so bad. Operating costs, well no offence but it IS a Boxer, though with a (hopefully) steady income if anything does go wrong i can repair it. Mostly, they seem to be reliable, however.

Tyank you for your advice also :thumbup:

he's not talking about the insurance crash rating, he's talking about the monthly insurance premium.

color really doesn't play much of a part in insurance either.

as an example-- in 2014, when i started looking at a new car, i was comparing the brand new 2014 brz vs. a 2008 infiniti g37 coupe. the infinity was about $200 more per month to insure over the brand new brz.

as a new driver, sports cars are generally always going to carry a cost premium over a more 'boring' vehicle like a tacoma or rav4. important considerations.

the 86 is a great car, as long as you pay attention to it, it can teach you something. they're a riot in 3" of snow with snow tires, but they do count as a sports car, so insurance will likely be higher.

trucks are, well, trucks. with no weight over the rear axle, most tend to have a strong desire to want to make the rear swap ends with the front in slippery conditions--not great for a new driver.

i would highly recommend a ford ranger as a first vehicle if you're looking at the tacoma. they're relatively simple reliable trucks, and much of the parts are interchangeable from 1998-2011, making it extremely easy to get parts. if you look at the flare-side version, they generally carry a $2-4k discount due to the bed being narrower-- they can't carry a full 4x8' sheet of material flat, so no one wants them for typical truck duties.

the extended cab/access cab trucks are going to be the ideal version-- most want the 4-door version, which will tend to have better road manners, but commonly suffer from the shortened 5' bed. the extra seating in the 4-door version will likely carry higher insurance premiums.

i would be careful of any 2nd gen tacoma running that close to $10k though. most tacoma's don't drop below $15-20k until they're almost entirely used up.


i don't know anything about 4runners except they're generally priced high(toyota tax), and they have a ton of cargo space in them...

Talking with my parents, the crash rating affects the premium because, well they have to pay more in a wreck (more injuries, worse damage, etc.) and the color plays a big role in our insurance. to put it into perspective, both my parents, with clean driving records, had 1993 Silverados. One was red, one was silver. The red one was an extra $100 per month because of the "color tax." Doesnt make sense to me because its harder for someone to hit you in a bright car than a dark one, but it is what it is.

Yeah, ik its going to be a bit more also, but thats alright.

Ive never been a big truck person for that reason exactly, but the price (here at least) is different, i can easily fin 15 2nd gen Tacomas with 100-150k miles where i am because they are so common.

As for the ranger, im an active lover of everything EXCEPT for Ford and Lincoln (personal experiences and opinions) But i actually changed that again (other than the 86 trio) to be manual hatches, wagons, convertibles, coupes, and sedans so ill edit that portion out of my question to avoid confusing future posters.

I would have to ask if that was the ONLY difference between them. For example, was on a higher trim level than the other, or perhaps driven more annually?

Also, there can be a difference between colors if, for example, it's a flat silver vs a metallic red (or blue, or silver). Basically, it's the difference in repair costs.

Almost every car I've owned has been red. I have run the comparisons on my insurance company's estimator and expect where there is a difference like above, color has made no difference in the quote

Hello


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Color has NOTHING to do with insurance rates.
This is the biggest insurance myth ever.
https://rates.ca/resources/does-the-...auto%20premium.

Goodbye bot

My grandson had a beat up old hand me down Mazda 5 that cost him $50 a month more than he was quoted for an FRS. The reason he was given was that it was a 6 passenger vehicle and as a new driver the was a higher risk of multiple passengers being injured if the car was full.

I always assumed that myth was started due to the "police target more visible colors" story..

I will say my red car is my most expensive to insure of all my collector car policies. I swear it has nothing to do with also having the highest agreed value lol