Looking for a second car, what would you choose?
 

I have a FR-S, but I want a second car. I've had issues where I park at my work and at night people mess with my FR-S (broken window, etc.). Would be nice just whenever I want to go out on the weekends and plan on parking in a shady neighborhood too.

Needs to be manual, reliable and easy on the wallet. No specific budget but I want to drive this car into the 200-300k miles range with just routine maintenance. High MPG would be nice too.. ideas? Would be nice if the MPG savings paid for the car itself in a few years.

I was looking at a 5 MT 1st gen Insight. Good mileage, old, inconspicuous. Can be had for under $10k...

Toyota celica gts year 2000

get an old mini :D

get an old busted ass truck.

they can be so useful

Was thinking about getting a 10 year old WRX myself, mostly for use in ugly weather. Thought it would be fun, cool, dependable, affordable, and I wouldn't worry about babying it or keeping it pristine, as it would have to be parked on the street.

But only started looking a week ago (mostly in Subaru forums like NASIOC) and have found: 1) they go for more than I expected, 2) many of them have rebuilt engines.

-Z

Never heard of the Subaru 200?
When Subaru engines hit 200K, they need an engine rebuild.

Will most likely hold true for our cars as well.

Suck it up and get a Prius. It meets your criteria minus the stick. But as an added bonus, this will make time with your FRS all that much better.

Prius doesn't tick the boxes for him, remember. Has to be a manual and has to obviously be a beater. Prius is a CVT and is way too posh for what he needs (the car needs to effectively be ghetto-flauge).

A little nicer than what you want but Acura RSX, Integra along with the Scion TC and Celica others mentioned, mid to high 20's mpg on all, bullet proof reliable if maintained and won't destroy your soul (if you're resilient enough to own FWD).

I also second the idea of a beater truck, 4-bangers get low 20ish mpg with a manual and RWD, light back end makes sliding it around a bit of fun as well. Dirt cheap to repair. At this point the ones that are going to be cheap and not need much work are going to be late 90's early 00's, Ford Ranger, Mazda B, Toyota Tacoma and Nissan Frontier. If you're willing to put more work into 'em you can go early 90's late 80's, cheaper simpler and in my opinion less to go wrong.

Plus the Nissan hardbody comes with the same single cam KA24 that was in the 240sx ('89+'90), had more torque new than the Toyobaru does (ok only by a hair).

Edit: To pay for itself in gas savings compared to the FRS? That's going to be tough, you're going to have to get really boring. For that option I'd go early 90's to mid 80's Honda, Civic or Accords should get 30+ mpg from that time frame. My father had an 85 Civic hatch that got a little over 40 mpg, he got it for <$1k at the time (before cash for clunkers). No power steering, no AC, that was the closest thing to a go-kart with a windshield I'd ever been in.

Could also go Miata but the break in potential is higher and you'd be spending more on gas than the FRS.

Mk1 or 2 GTI or 1st Gen mini.

+1 on the truck. 4x4 Toyota Tacoma would sweet to have.

+1 on the truck. trucks have many more uses.

+1 more for the truck. Need to run to Home Depot for something bigger than a can of paint? Your FR-S is not ideal in that scenario.

If you want piratical, then well...nothing really beats this...

http://photo.netcarshow.com/Chrysler...1_photo_01.jpg

That's going to pretty much impossible unless you buy a $1000 car that gets huge gas mileage when compared to the 86.


I'll give you an example. My last DD was a Chevy Astro that over 289,000 miles averaged 17.50MPG (yes I track this stuff, it's like tracking your blood pressure, it tells you something. Full history is in the OP of my builders log, see my signature).


As of my last fill-up, I've driven 38,033 miles in my 86 at about two weeks short of two years. During that I've averaged a calculated 32.48MPG (the computer shows 33.2 by the way, never been reset).


I've "saved" 1002 gallons of fuel over the Astro based on my calculations. When adjusted for regular fuel (Astro) over 86 (93 octane) I've saved $3,020 based on the price of fuel at each fill-up.


So using your wish for your return on investment, I would need to buy a car that gets right at 65MPG for $3,020 to replace the 86 with the same results.


Unless you buy a motorcycle (and a small one at that) I don't see that happening.

Older Subaru wagon. I got a 1994 Impreza L wagon for $1000 that had a newer EJ22 swapped in, Forester rear subframe, diff and disc brakes, larger sway bars, and some audio work, something like that is awesome as a second car.

Hadn't heard of the Subaru 200, but I'm talking about cars with as few as 80K for sale with rebuilt engines. Is that not unusual for WRXs?

-Z

Get a toyota truck, the older the better.

Get any car that you wont be tempted to modify

Geo Metro

Find a four door corolla with a 4AFE. Talk about bulletproof. Also its the most bland looking thing on the road and no one would bother to do anything to it. Plus you can get a decent one for 2k or less if you look good enough. I had a 1989 two-door 4AF (the carb'ed version) and used it as my college car.

But I do also agree on old Toyota trucks, especially with the 22R or 22RE engines.

http://hotrod205.files.wordpress.com...turnsl1b01.jpg

early to mid 90's Saturn SL-1:

They get ~40 mpg, can be had for under a grand, easy to find in 5 speed, run off a timing chain (no timing belt to replace), made mostly of plastic, have 4 doors with a surprising amount of space, and parts can be found VERY easily at junk yards for cheap repairs. My first car was a 1991 SL-1 and it had 320k on the odometer when I got rid of it. Original clutch, would do roll-back one-wheel-peels all day.

a used corolla

Thanks for all the responses!

haha yea my first thought when I was looking at cars was an old Corolla or Civic - fits the bill perfectly.

Hadn't considered trucks but now it seems like a pretty good idea. A lot of the older ones are pretty bullet proof.

Is the Geo Prizm any good? I hear it has a Corolla engine... there's one going for really cheap on craigslist right now. It's ugly but if it runs good, could be worth it :iono:

Haha yea, exactly. I was looking at older Civic SI/Integras/RSXs.. even Miatas... If I kept them stock they probably would fit my needs but I don't know if I would be able to resist the temptation.

Don't forget - typically, for a very old used car, I've found insurance costs to be exceptionally high.
Don't be surprised if you end up paying more in insurance than the car is worth over the course of 2-3 years (or less if you're in Canada).

My previous 10-yr Celica GT was worth $3,000 when I bought it, and I paid about $2,300/yr in insurance (Toronto rates).

that seems really really high, but I don't know how rates work in Canada. My 24-yr old corolla was like 40 dollars a month to insure, granted it was just liability coverage, but for a beater, I didn't need full coverage. Also, that is much older than the Celica you listed, but in my experience old cars are cheap to insure. Even my FC RX-7 was under 100/month.

Exactly! When I got my FRS is was supposed to be a fun daily that I wasn't going to modify and well...... that hasn't worked out well for me at all lol

The Prizm is a Corolla, branded for Chevrolet (like a FR-S is a Subaru). I owned one (my wife's DD at one point), and it was bullet-proof. Except for having to replace the clutch at a little over 100,000 miles, it was never in the shop for more than routine maintenance.


Ours was sort of a purple popsicle color.

IS300, SC300, Civic, Camry, Accord, Corolla?

Don't buy a second car.

use that money to move to a not shitty neighborhood.

EDIT: Noticed that it is at work where you have the problem...not your home.

Buy an old econobox. Civic. Corolla, Escort or Focus...

Honda Fit. Practical, economical, reliable, and still fun to drive, like a go-cart. Best car I've ever owned.