Alternative to the 2012 Civic SI?
 

My friend (23 years old) is in the market for a car.

Canadian, he wants to pay $25,000-$33,000 out the door for a new car. He has considered a (year old) 2011 WRX ($28,000), the Mazdaspeed3 2012 ($29000 before taxes.. a bit of a stretch and neither of us like the design), the 2012 Civic SI ($25,000 I think? before tax), Scion TC (too cheap of an interior for him, didn't like the gaudy seats (agreed)).

He says of all of them, the SI had the nicest interior. His values lie somewhere around quality, 180-260hp, and some interior electronics (aka he would look kindly on tech packages, hes an IT guy!). Fuel economy is a priority for him, and he is looking for value long-term (the reason he wants fuel economy is because he doesn't want to get to the point where it becomes painful to fill up his tank, he understands sporty cars cost more to fill up).

Do you guys have any suggestions that we may not have thought of yet?

GTI, Forte Koup sx are both out for design reasons. He is somewhat keen on the Mitsubishi Rallyart, but the price is a bit high. Keep in mind this is a Canadian market we are talking about. He is looking to buy within the next 2 months.

Thanks a lot guys.

Uhhh..... Scion FR-S?

You're awesome. He wants a bit more utility than the fr-s, in his words "its too much like a miata, and a miata is definately too small. Usable rear seats required"

Totally spaced and forgot to put that in the first post... otherwise this would be THE car for him.

WRX.

has he test driven them all, if the tc's seats were his big complaint he can just get some nice covers for like 300 and still get out for cheap

We're working on that. He has no manual experience apart from my lessons with him (he has driven an auto '94 cavalier). I'm teaching him all the tips and tricks so he doesn't look like an idiot walking into a dealership and stalling their $25,000 brand new cars all over the place.

As soon as he feels comfortable he will be going and giving a couple a test drive..

Honestly, he doesn't sound like someone who really cares what he drives so who cares...

Were you ejected from your mother's womb knowing how to drive standard?

This guy is driving what he could afford when he bought a car. All this time he has been saving up for a down payment on a new car.

Please get out of my thread.

Kali is correct...in a way. What he means to say (I think), is that the 'sports' of the car doesn't matter to him, he just wants a sporty spacious compact (ish) car, in which case there's little point in asking others opinions on what car's he should or should not buy, as there's no real technical debate to be had on the car's mechanics for his buying decision. Whether or not its a manual transmission is irrelevant. The decision ultimately falls on what he likes subjectively, and what is the best bang for the buck.

You should go narrow the list to 3 car's he would definitely buy given the circumstances, then go to each dealership and see what specials they are running (0% APR for 12 mos, $XXXX cash back on purchase, or options that can be added free of charge). Express interest in the car but make it known that he's actively looking at other car's in the same target market, and you should get a salesman willing to win him over.

I for the life of me cannot remember the decision making tool you can make for him that would ultimately make him feel confident in his end result. You basically list, lets say, the top 5 criteria for the decision process and then rank them from first to last, then judge each car in each category. The car that comes out first, is your first to look at, then second, etc.

Lastly, another car he could look into getting (thats in this same category) would be the upcoming Focus ST. Not sure if its in his price-range though.

Thank you for clarifying. I think you are quite correct in your assumptions about my friend in saying that he will need to start ranking the cars and find something that fits his criteria.

I reacted the way I did to the previous poster because it came off as extremely rude and condescending... My friend has been saving for 5 years to buy a new car, and I thought he was being judged by this guy because he drives a 1994 automatic, and therefore is not worth this forum's time.

Thanks again for the input.

Just keep test driving. He'll know when he test drives the right one. If he doesn't, like others have said, it really doesn't matter to him which car he gets anyway.

Couldn't have said it better myself.