I just realized I can't afford an FR-S :/ What should I get instead??

[Talus1]

Originally Posted by raven1231

So, OP, basically get every car ever made.

Not EVERY car ever made, silly! Just one of each!

[EAGLE5]

And herpes!

[aynickay]

Originally Posted by Brndn704

Ending thread now.

You want a fun car that is reliable and practical? Get an early Civic hatchback. You can find a real nice one that doesn't need work for well under $10k. You can easily squeeze out 300k miles off a stock engine if you take care of it. Plus they are extremely agile. You can't go wrong. Big enough for your musical gear, great gas mileage, extremely reliable.

There ya go.

Realist answer in here that everyone has seemed to skip over.

[Talus1]

http://www.edmunds.com/pontiac/aztek/2005/suv/

Highly rated - 4-1/2 stars!

[Dadhawk]

Originally Posted by aynickay

Realist answer in here that everyone has seemed to skip over.

Not going to disagree with your assessment, but you may want to define early. The Civic Hatchback goes back to 1973!

[Brndn704]

Originally Posted by Dadhawk

Not going to disagree with your assessment, but you may want to define early. The Civic Hatchback goes back to 1973!

Honestly (speaking from experience) I would go for either the fifth or sixth generations. Anywhere from '92-'00. Very reliable and cheap to maintain. Parts are a dime a dozen and anyone can work on them with a little bit of knowledge.

[FlamingRectumSyndrome]

Stunned that nobody has come up with what is, in retrospect, the perfect answer:


RWD, roomy, comfortable, and, for a musician, a real chick magnet (if you're attracted to tattooed girls in dorky glasses and combat boots with pierced noses and a strong affection for irony and ugly crap). Also dirt cheap, and already in the process of returning itself to the earth. Perfect!

[GreenMonster]

Originally Posted by Brndn704

Honestly (speaking from experience) I would go for either the fifth or sixth generations. Anywhere from '92-'00. Very reliable and cheap to maintain. Parts are a dime a dozen and anyone can work on them with a little bit of knowledge.

Hyper-milers prefer the 92-95 Honda civic VX.

[sofrsnsokleen]

Originally Posted by soilent

So, long story short, I was planning on getting an 86, but due to some personal circumstances I realized I won't be able to afford one. My first thought was obviously just buy a used one, but even those are typically too expensive. Anyway, I'd really like to get a car with a similar experience and setup as an 86- RWD (AWD is acceptable too), small, and has back seats and/or pretty decent cargo space (I'm a musician and have to haul gear pretty often). My budget now is around 15k and the suggested car HAS to be very reliable. I use my car for my job and drive upwards of 25k miles a year, so it can't be some 90s project 240sx or the like. Thanks.



EDIT: Thanks for all the suggestions guys. I'm really getting some good stuff in here. A couple things I've thought about that usually don't come to mind in this situation are some older Lexus and Infinitis. Especially the used Lexus market. Those things are dirt cheap. What are your thoughts on an IS model or an Infiniti G?

Dang.. I owe about 19k on my auto black fr-s, less than 25k miles lol, I'd sell you it if your budget was a big higher

[Tcoat]

Originally Posted by FlamingRectumSyndrome

Stunned that nobody has come up with what is, in retrospect, the perfect answer:


RWD, roomy, comfortable, and, for a musician, a real chick magnet (if you're attracted to tattooed girls in dorky glasses and combat boots with pierced noses and a strong affection for irony and ugly crap). Also dirt cheap, and already in the process of returning itself to the earth. Perfect!

LOL
I have been looking for one of those (the car not the girl) for a weekend toy for a while now. In fact that one would do nicely. Mind you it would not be like that when I was done with it. The only problem is that around here a decent one is far from dirt cheap and they are few and far between.

[soilent]

Hey guys, I'm back! Sorry to abandon you all for a bit there. Had to do some band/musician stuff. Anywho, thanks so much for the suggestions! The goal of this post for me was to get some options I couldn't think of myself, so thanks so much for broadening the horizons a bit. There's definitely a lot of great suggestions in here! I hope this thread will stick around for a bit and maybe help another future buyer who realizes his dream car might be slightly out of reach (at least for now) as well. I kind of forgot about the RSX, that may be a serious option. I've always loved those, and I actually learned how to drive stick on one too. You guys are great. And don't worry, I'll get my 86 eventually

[Brndn704]

Originally Posted by GreenMonster

Hyper-milers prefer the 92-95 Honda civic VX.

Oh yeah, no doubt. I've seen some with over half a million miles on them.

[cycleboy]

I would NOT be looking at an 86 if you need room in the back.

Yes, you can fit things. No, it isn't simple or easy like it would be with a hatch or a small SUV.

I've put a 100Qt ice chest w/ ice/food/beer, clothes, and camping gear in mine and it pretty well filled the back. It also handled like it had a full 100Qt cooler in the back.

Probably my choice would be WRX 5 door.

[EAGLE5]

Take out the spare and the tools. You'll have lots more room for carrying stuff.