Another "what car should I get?" thread

I'm really tired of having cars that need modification to suit me & my tastes, so I'm looking around at what's available either from the factory or from the dealer in a lightly modded form, is and looks fun, unique, weird, or all of those together. Reliability is a plus.

Most choices are either li'l things or wagons...

Right now, I'm throwing around a few choices:
Volvo C30 2.0 (I like the Gecko Green they offer)
Mazda6 wagon, though discontinued now
Mazdaspeed3
Saab 9-2x
Saab 9-3
Subaru WRX 5-door

For the time being, I'm looking at a price ceiling, including fees & all that crap, of $30k and not a tick higher.

Any other suggestions?

Not looking to buy very soon; just looking.
Anybody want to buy a boosted Cavalier station wagon? Grocery getter with guts! :burnrubr: ...oh, and it's ugly, too. heheh

Mazdaspeed 3 woo woo

Be prepared to buy tires right away for the Mazdaspeed 3.

I think they discontinued the Saabaru 9-2 also.

Go for the EDP from Saab and get a free trip out of the deal. Save 15% off retail and get a $2000 spending allowence for your trip.

Linkie

Golf GTi? 4door.

Mazdaspeed 3, or Subaru WRX wagon!

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Originally Posted by Radio-Active

Be prepared to buy tires right away for the Mazdaspeed 3.

I think they discontinued the Saabaru 9-2 also.

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But if you find one on a lot or recently used, you can usually get a steal on one.

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Originally Posted by johnwag

Mazdaspeed 3, or Subaru WRX wagon!

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I'm with Johnwag on this one, +1 on the ms3 and subaru wrx.

A 2000 to 2002 BMW M5 or M3 could be had for that price.

here are some M3's

http://dallas.craigslist.org/car/459125145.html
http://dallas.craigslist.org/car/458439347.html

and M5's

http://dallas.craigslist.org/car/456928621.html
http://dallas.craigslist.org/car/420437374.html

Rx-8 Rx-8 Rx-8 Rx-8 Rx-8 Rx-8 Rx-8 Rx-8 Rx-8 Rx-8

If you get an M3 or M5 in that price range it will be a money pit.

Love mine!

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Originally Posted by CosmosMpower

If you get an M3 or M5 in that price range it will be a money pit.

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I disagree, Look at how many high milage BMW's are out there. Kindof Like the Miata's they go for a really long time. About the only big ticket item that can go out is the clutch.

Ive never had a car I did'nt want to Mod/Customize. ;)

Even my lawn tractor is! :p

I'm also working on a big block V-twin golf cart to terrorize Propwash.

If it was me, I'd be looking at the Mazdaspeed 3, the Mini Cooper, and used Saabie 9-2s. In fact, those are the cars on the short list to replace the wife's Murano.

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Originally Posted by Rogue

Ive never had a car I did'nt want to Mod/Customize. ;)

Even my lawn tractor is! :p

I'm also working on a big block V-twin golf cart to terrorize Propwash.

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I know a guy who used to sell the Bar Stool racers...
Jim Lauden at Aero Country would be right up your alley. Now he's building T-bucket Kits and was seriously considering Lotus Sevens.

I've heard the name, we bought the Swift from "Aero Country".

I wonder if you can Auto-X a cart? ;)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YntA4Aw6UZk

:clap:

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Originally Posted by Ataim

I disagree, Look at how many high milage BMW's are out there. Kindof Like the Miata's they go for a really long time. About the only big ticket item that can go out is the clutch.

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Obviously you've never owned one. I had a E36 M3 sedan and if you saw some of the repair bills you'd shit a brick. Just to name a few things for the E36 you have expldoing radiators, rear strut mounts, subframes that come apart, oil pump nut falling off, rear trailing arm bushing, vanos unit dying, SRS seatbelt sensor. The cheapest fix for any given problem with DIY labor is around 200-300 bucks. BMW's are NOTHING like miatas when you're talking about maintenance cost. The price of a small glitch in a M BMW could easily pay for a longblock and transmission replacement in a miata. Go do some reading on bimmerforums, 5 series and M stuff is very expensive.

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Originally Posted by Rogue

I've heard the name, we bought the Swift from "Aero Country".

I wonder if you can Auto-X a cart? ;)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YntA4Aw6UZk

:clap:

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After that seeing that video I doubt you would want to.

Upcoming 128i or 135i.

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Originally Posted by CosmosMpower

Obviously you've never owned one.

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I've never owned a M3 or 5, but my past experience with my wifes 740iL has shown that a well maintained BMW will last for many miles. It has 160k miles on it. Besides regularly scheduled maintenance, we have had to replace the radiator and a pulley bearing for the belt. Total bill of about 650 at the stealership. Part for Part a Miata is less expensive. Hell my white car cost me less that a set of tires for my Porsche ::BaHump::.

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Originally Posted by Ataim

I've never owned a M3 or 5, but my past experience with my wifes 740iL has shown that a well maintained BMW will last for many miles. It has 160k miles on it. Besides regularly scheduled maintenance, we have had to replace the radiator and a pulley bearing for the belt. Total bill of about 650 at the stealership. Part for Part a Miata is less expensive. Hell my white car cost me less that a set of tires for my Porsche ::BaHump::.

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I didn't say it won't last for a long time, I just said it will be a money pit. For the most part the drivetrains are pretty stout but there are tons of other parts that can and will go haywire costing you the big $. I definetely wouldn't start with one that already had 80K+ miles, that's all I was saying.

Joe, your car was a nightmare compared to mine. I never really had a problem with my M3. It was super reliable.

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Originally Posted by CosmosMpower

Obviously you've never owned one. I had a E36 M3 sedan and if you saw some of the repair bills you'd shit a brick. Just to name a few things for the E36 you have expldoing radiators, rear strut mounts, subframes that come apart, oil pump nut falling off, rear trailing arm bushing, vanos unit dying, SRS seatbelt sensor. The cheapest fix for any given problem with DIY labor is around 200-300 bucks. BMW's are NOTHING like miatas when you're talking about maintenance cost. The price of a small glitch in a M BMW could easily pay for a longblock and transmission replacement in a miata. Go do some reading on bimmerforums, 5 series and M stuff is very expensive.

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Originally Posted by Miatamoto

Joe, your car was a nightmare compared to mine. I never really had a problem with my M3. It was super reliable.

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I'd say that somewhere between your car and my car was a normal medium. You have to admit that radiator, rtab, rsm, oil pump nut, plastic water pump etc etc are pretty common and not that cheap when you add it up and M5 parts are considerably more costly.

My wife's bimmer was a reliable car for the most part, but when it did have to go to the shop = ::BaHump::. I wasn't sorry to see it drive off with a new owner after it was out of warranty.

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Originally Posted by CosmosMpower

I'd say that somewhere between your car and my car was a normal medium. You have to admit that radiator, rtab, rsm, oil pump nut, plastic water pump etc etc are pretty common and not that cheap when you add it up and M5 parts are considerably more costly.

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I guess we just had a very different experience b/c the RTABs and RSMs never had to be changed on mine before I sold it at 120k miles. Never had a problem with the oil pump nut and the cooling system is just something that has to be dealt with at 100k miles ($250 package for everything incl the radiator at bimmerparts.com). Have to change all that stuff at a 60k interval with the Miata.

Not trying to argue, but just telling my experience.

Well, this has certainly made for some good reading! Thanks for the thoughts & ensuing discussion. :D

While I like the idea of an M-series, I really can't justify such a thing at this time. My dad has one of the aforementioned E36 M3s. It's proven itself to be fun for him, but a bit high on the upkeep expense side. I'm gonna have to take the zero on that one, though I do love the looks & performance of the cars.

MS3, well, that's my fav at the moment.
The suggestion that really has me intrigued is the A3, which attracts me on aesthetics alone. Would this Audi fall under the general umbrella of "lease it, then unload it before the electrical gremlins pop up" like many other Audi/VW vehicles I've read about or been related to? I saw one at Carmax in Columbus, OH, on Tuesday that was very reasonably priced...so I have to wonder.

I recall reading that the leases on the A3 really sucked because of the low residual value. :-(

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Originally Posted by juxt3r

MS3, well, that's my fav at the moment.
The suggestion that really has me intrigued is the A3, which attracts me on aesthetics alone. Would this Audi fall under the general umbrella of "lease it, then unload it before the electrical gremlins pop up" like many other Audi/VW vehicles I've read about or been related to?

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I would suggest that as standard practice on any VWAG product.

I second srivendel's suggestion on the upcoming 135i. That looks like it's going to be a fun car. Still, I'd offer make the same suggestion to dump a new Bimmer (or Mercedes, for that matter) before the warranty expires. There are a lot of electronic doodads on these cars, and the Germans still haven't figured out how to do electronics quite as well as the Japanese.

For $30k you could get a Z06 AND an Accord!

Quote:

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Originally Posted by juxt3r

The suggestion that really has me intrigued is the A3, which attracts me on aesthetics alone. Would this Audi fall under the general umbrella of "lease it, then unload it before the electrical gremlins pop up" like many other Audi/VW vehicles I've read about or been related to? I saw one at Carmax in Columbus, OH, on Tuesday that was very reasonably priced...so I have to wonder.

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Based on previous experience with my S4 and the gf/s TT, I would say "yes."
But fire off a PM to rob76turbo on this forum; he currently owns an A3...

Don't ask me why, but I kinda prefer the E30 M3 over the E36. Though a swift search of Autotrader reveals it to be a somewhat undesirable option due high price and low availability. Just my personal preference.

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Originally Posted by MX-5EE

Don't ask me why, but I kinda prefer the E30 M3 over the E36. Though a swift search of Autotrader reveals it to be a somewhat undesirable option due high price and low availability. Just my personal preference.

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The E30M3 is a great car, but is (from what I've heard) a maintenance nightmare compared to the E36M3.

They have a 15k rule, if you don't spend that much on one, you'll end up spending that much to make it good.:(