Special interest cages??? What do you drive?

[Sirref]

@ForceofWill everything about your boss 302 is sick, great car

My first car was a chevy lumina, even with all the things about that car that straight up sucked I still loved it. I went through my first set of tires on it within a whopping 1,500 miles (rated for 80k and they were brand new) by sliding it around on back roads (I was a tad bit less mature at 16 than I am now)



I'm personally looking into getting a new car as I'm getting rid of my golf soon (typical 1.8t 2000 golf w/a 5sp nothing special) due to consistent mechanical issues caused by shoddy mechanic work done by the person who restored it as salvage to sell it for profit. Unfortunately I learned that it was a salvage title too late though I didn't run into any issues for a little while.

it's pretty much this except the wheels are stock.

at the moment it's my sisters car for the summer since it's running until something else breaks and I'm good with my 300 as my main transportation. Once she goes back to school for the fall semester it's headed to craigslist to help towards a down payment on a new car.

Doing some math I'll have plenty of cash by new years which is when I'm going to get my next car (dealer sales and such) so I'm thinking about what car I want. Eventually I'm going to get an isuzu pickup (or some other beater truck) to haul stuff around but what I'd need now is more along the lines of a daily driver to get me through winter and have a little fun at autocross events next summer.

I see 5 options for new/slightly used reliable cars
subaru brz: love this car but I feel like I'd want a bit more power so I'd end up modding it down the line, while that isn't a bad thing it does mean that it wouldn't be quite right out of the box.
honda civic si: I think it's a bit ugly but fun as hell, I love naturally aspirated engines and this is a good one if they still had the hatchback trim then it would be better but it's still a great reliable car.
chevy camaro lt rs: mmm muscle, love the way the car looks. The top level trim for the v6 engine as ~323hp is plenty to get you moving at a good pace and they get pretty respectable gas mileage if you're cruising (my uncle gets 28mpg in his)
mazdaspeed 3: hot hatches are pretty awesome in addition to being ridiculously useful for day to day purposes
and the last option that I'm thinking of is a scion tc, this is a fairly down to earth car without any of the flashiness that the other cars have and it would likely be fairly reliable and a decent amount of fun.

any help with this selection? advice on choosing a different car to go with is completely acceptable as well, the camaro seems to be the most likely buy at the moment but I'm not entirely sure if I want it as a daily driver due to the blind spots it has. I intend to be keeping this car for a very long time and putting 120,000-200,000+ miles on it so really knowing the ups and downs of each car is pretty important.
I don't intend to buy until winter so we'll see what I end up with.

[Blue Monster]

Sirref,
since you asked and at 430 am I am warming up after a cold, wet ride home from work, what the hell. Take this in good spirits, God knows it took some good spirits to warm my bones:


Nada on the Camaro, low resale, a little heavy and a six... 2004 or earlier 4.6 mustang with a stick will get you into the mid 20's MPG and give you a lighter chassis with better performance.

Besides... a six cylinder Camaro... really.... I got a VW Cabrio for ya.

Honda's are the Eastern Gold standard (1990 AWS Prelude in the drive), I like the Civic SI, but darn it's small and not in the same category as the rest. At least to my thinking.

BRZ, love the idea, love the lines!
I have read they are really noisy (odd, but two mags made pointed comments in their reviews). I suspect they are really nice rwd little cars. I like the Scion trim better, the thought of someone seeing me in a Subaru is too much.

None will get you near the performance of the Mazda III (get a "Speed"), nor the convenience, space and bad weather performance. It's the sensible choice along with the little Civic. Hot hatch are really tough to beat till you step up to real HP.

T.C... if considering a BRZ why consider this one?

All that aside, I like the predictability (and right foot steering) of a rwd with decent juice (400+) but given your parameters, I would say a Mazda speed 3 hands down.

But I notice that you seem to be torn between sensible and cool looking, skip the cool if you can get the performance you want out of the sensible.
Then later when your rich buy a cool car with insane HP, at least once or twice.

[ForceofWill]

@Sirref what about a new Focus ST?

[Sirref]

@Blue_Monster thank you for the advice, the camaro is really on there because my uncle is a gm sales rep for north america and I can get it cheap, it's not really my style but it's cheaper than everything else on the list to me. The brz is my favorite though it's a little under-powered stock, it's tons of fun to drive (I've driven one) unfortunately it's the most expensive of the bunch to me.

I'm considering the t.c. because it's basically the mazdaspeed3 without the power or the price, it's the cheapest of the bunch and would basically be me settling.

The speed3 is definitely the best all around vehicle of the bunch once I get rid of that ridiculous smiley face hahaha.
@ForceofWill the focus st is a car that I've been considering as well, it's basically the same thing as the mazdaspeed3 except with the way it's set up I can't put an aftermarket tow hitch on it like I can all of the other cars to tow my bike to the track until I get a beater truck, I'd just get the beater truck and be done with it but I'd rather not drive one on a regular basis, that's just me being a bit picky hahaha

[ForceofWill]

If you need a hitch I guess. The ST is a better car all around though. Stout engine and I'm pretty sure Cobb tunes em. You should sit in one, the inside is nice, I like the recaros better than mine.

[Sirref]

I don't necessarily need it since I have access to an suv in exchange for a 6-pack of budweiser but having a tow hitch would be useful. Other than that I do agree with you that the focus st is definitely the class leader right now.

I'm also considering just a mazda 3 sedan/hatch since it'll be reliable and inexpensive (in comparison) while still doing everything I need it to and I can make any car w/a manual transmission fun at an autocross event if I can heel toe it

[cbinker]

07 ford f-250 or 1994 Jeep Grand Cherokee.

[choneofakind]

Love the hell out of my tC. A little underpowered, a little overweight, but reliable, fairly practical, and it turns way quicker than you'd think and it has pretty good mid-range torque for every day driving. It's cheap fun without crazy temptation from the right foot. According to road and track tests, it also makes more lateral grip than the frs (all things stock) but that's likely because of the extra weight. I've heard they do pretty well with some away bars to correct the body lean in turns. Unfortunately, if you think the brz is in need of moar powah, you're not gong to be happy with the tC. I'll admit it could really use a little more pep for highway use. But it holds it's own and doesn't mind being revved out. It helps that the gearing is pretty low and can punch pretty quick around town.

Of those choices, I'd likely suggest the mazda speed hatch. Likely the best value and I think it's the best all-rounder for the money

Ps. You never really mentioned a budget. We talking new or used here?

[Sirref]

My budget is roughly 20-25 grand in cash around next new years. Not really having bills and switching to a new job that I can expect at least 40-50g/yr from is awesome. Obviously being less expensive is a bonus since then I have cash left over for other stuff such as dumping into the stock market.

I have a discount on the camaro thanks to my uncle (this makes an ss possible, but that isn't a practical car like the v6 version is) and I intend to buy during the new years sales event where everyone is trying to clear inventory anyway so I can get a solid car new/slightly used with my budget. The tC/mazda 3 (base version) is my bare bones option, the cheapest of the bunch that does everything well but doesn't particularly excite me.

[choneofakind]

I mean... it's a car. At some point, you have the bikes for excitement. Maybe that's just my view though. I like my cars stock and reliable. My bike is for fun. Cars are for reliable DD duty.

[Sirref]

not necessarily, I'd be tossing the daily driver duty back and forth using the car more in winter and the bike more in summer.

granted I could potentially get one of the cheaper options and get a 600cc track/street bike and sell my 300 (I'd make my pregen 250 street legal at that point) but I like the idea of having a fun car that I can also do a season of autocross with (separate wheels/tires for the autocross season) alongside my track days. For that purpose the honda/subaru take the cake but the speed3/tC are arguably the better all around road cars and the camaro is somewhere in between.

I very well could be asking too much from one vehicle though and getting a stock mazda 3 hatch/tC w/a tow hitch and a dirt cheap mid 90s miata for autocross could be the way to go. I'm not entirely sure how I'm going to play it out yet but 2 cars and 2 bikes seems a bit excessive even if 1car/1bike are track only.

[jschorr]

i love having a fun car, though i do wish i had a truck quite often. this is my current project that got pushed in to dd status because we moved outside of cycling range of my job.

stats,
1987 toyota supra 5speed the two tone brown was rare, about half way re-built. have to tighten down the suspension this week, has an odd feel right now. the drive train is rebuilt all ready

[jschorr]

terrible pic, yes the paint is screwed but not that bad....how about...slightly better....well it is a fun beater and soon to be more.

[Mountain Dew]

Brown two-tone? Doesn't sound rare, sounds undesirable

[jschorr]

Just What are you saying there? There something wrong with brown things? Would you prefer it was white?

[Mountain Dew]

I'd prefer it not being dookie colored :P

[jschorr]

Yeah, me too. But there is not a large selection of supras left to pick from. I was lucky to find this one. Esp for the project friendly price of $500.

[Apex]

So I was talking about a fiesta a while back, maybe a focus. WELLLLLLLLLlllllll............


...it does not look like that will happen. She thought I was aiming too small, especially since we are working for a family. So, we talked and thought it would be a good idea to aim slightly larger.

It looks like either later this week (or sometime next week) I will be selling off my 2001 Ford Mustang GT to get this:

2014 Ford Explorer


She has a 2012 Mustang GT, so there is no need for two sports cars.

I'll post pics when we get it. It will either be wrapped in white or black.

[CC Cowboy]

Bad ass ride dude!

[Apex]

Ended up with Tuxedo Black.

I'll post up a few good pictures tomorrow after it gets a bath. For now, my cell phone pics will have to do.

[Apex]

Still cell phone, but at least it is clean and sunny.

[Sirref]

Nice, I'm tempted to get my hands on something like that from time to time. Still like the sports cars though even w/a bike.

ford is coming out with some pretty cool vehicles these days

[Apex]

Originally Posted by Sirref

Nice, I'm tempted to get my hands on something like that from time to time. Still like the sports cars though even w/a bike.

ford is coming out with some pretty cool vehicles these days

Don't get me wrong, I love sports cars. I wanted a sports car. It is just that, well, there is something to be said for a nice cruiser that is quiet and comfy. Plus, I really do like sitting up high. I also like that I can simply throw a bicycle in the back and not need a rack (right now).

[Alex]

Bought one of these tonight:



No, that's not my car; it's a glamour shot. But same color/model (MDX SH-AWD in forest mist, Advance/Entertainment packages).

[choneofakind]

led headlights. Yummy.

[Ytse Frobozz]

Holy crap @Alex is on some kind of shopping spree.

[Alex]

[Apex]

Nice Alex!

I'm enjoying my new Explorer.

I'd post better pics, but the rain this week just ruined the nice and clean black paint.

[dcj13]

Originally Posted by Alex

...not my car; it's a glamour shot. But same color/model (MDX in forest mist, Advance/Entertainment packages).

Cool!

Ninjette.org has been very good to Alex!

[Hero Danny]

This is my baby, she's a 2003 Toyota Celica GT-S W/ Action Package... very amazing car, I will run her for a very long time.







God, I love that car! Only 180 HP so I bet a lot of your cars could smoke her, but she's still my babe.

[CynicalC]

Originally Posted by jschorr

i love having a fun car, though i do wish i had a truck quite often. this is my current project that got pushed in to dd status because we moved outside of cycling range of my job.

stats,
1987 toyota supra 5speed the two tone brown was rare, about half way re-built. have to tighten down the suspension this week, has an odd feel right now. the drive train is rebuilt all ready

2 of your wheels are on backwards

[CynicalC]

https://www.ninjette.org/forums/showthread.php?p=871621

@Alex Bring the MERGEHAMMER

[jschorr]

Douche

[CynicalC]

Scrub.

[Alex]

Originally Posted by CynicalC

@Alex Bring the MERGEHAMMER

[subxero]

Originally Posted by Sirref

@ForceofWill everything about your boss 302 is sick, great car



I see 5 options for new/slightly used reliable cars
subaru brz: love this car but I feel like I'd want a bit more power so I'd end up modding it down the line, while that isn't a bad thing it does mean that it wouldn't be quite right out of the box.
honda civic si: I think it's a bit ugly but fun as hell, I love naturally aspirated engines and this is a good one if they still had the hatchback trim then it would be better but it's still a great reliable car.
chevy camaro lt rs: mmm muscle, love the way the car looks. The top level trim for the v6 engine as ~323hp is plenty to get you moving at a good pace and they get pretty respectable gas mileage if you're cruising (my uncle gets 28mpg in his)
mazdaspeed 3: hot hatches are pretty awesome in addition to being ridiculously useful for day to day purposes
and the last option that I'm thinking of is a scion tc, this is a fairly down to earth car without any of the flashiness that the other cars have and it would likely be fairly reliable and a decent amount of fun.

any help with this selection? advice on choosing a different car to go with is completely acceptable as well, the camaro seems to be the most likely buy at the moment but I'm not entirely sure if I want it as a daily driver due to the blind spots it has. I intend to be keeping this car for a very long time and putting 120,000-200,000+ miles on it so really knowing the ups and downs of each car is pretty important.
I don't intend to buy until winter so we'll see what I end up with.

Out of what you mentioned these are my thoughts take them how you want.

BRZ... sounds cool on paper... looks cool.... but as an adult I would never own another coupe as my daily driver, a 4dr is so much more convenient for everything. Stupid long ass doors It is rear wheel drive, could be problematic in winter... not sure how hilly your area is, no hills you would probably be alright with some nice winter tires.

civic si... awesome car, they offer it in a 4dr... nice! , 4dr brings you insurance down as well, they consider it a family car... suckers
Reliable, front wheel drive, just enough power but not crazy torque steer. Super fun engine me likes, used to have a 10' great resale value... it's a Honda after all. Would get another one if I could no questions asked. Trunk was huge in my 10' with rear seats down I could fit lots in the 4dr. Only thing a hatch is better for is larger boxier things, If you have lots of medium sized things, you will still squeeze a lot into a 4dr Si maybe just not things that are quite as big, like a mountain bike, or a mini fridge. And mtn bike didn't fit all that well in the hatch to begin with.

Mazda speed3 - why?... base model WRX's start out at like $26k new...with AWD... they come in a hatch... enough said. Wife had a normal 10' mazda 3 hatch 2.5l, it was ok... ok I hated everything about it, but the speed3 is hardly comparable other than shape, ect...but still I will never buy a mazda after driving my wifes mazda 3. We sold it after 2 yrs it was a POS!

Camaro... dunno? I would pass personally though, but would love to get an old 70's one as a sunday driver.

scion's - would rather have civic Si, does everything better, costs a little bit more. worth it IMO.

My opinion go with a civic Si or a subi WRX. great practical fun cars that won't break the bank. I have had both and would buy either one again if I had the chance. Only got rid of them because of life circumstances. I would buy my Si back before I bought the subi back. The subi was great, thing is a tank in the snow with some winter tires, but I wasn't crazy about the suspension, and it was easier to get into trouble with... like go straight to jail kind of trouble because you just past a buck 30 and the damn thing is still pulling like a freight train kind of trouble The Si was just as fun to drive if not more, similar to the ninja250 you can really wring that engine out and have a blast but stay somewhat out of trouble at the same time.

with decent tires Si was ok in the snow.

[choneofakind]

MTB IN the hatch? Fail. ON the roof. Sheesh

[Sirref]

@subxero thanks for the input, I got to test drive a few cars (didn't tell the dealership I had no intention of purchasing them right away) and I've ruled out the brz due to the fact that this car would see most of it's mileage in the winter and while I don't live in a hilly area there are a few semi-sharp corners on my commute that would be potentially deadly in the snow w/rwd. Love the concept of the car though, affordable rwd sports car w/a crisp 6speed transmission.
I ruled out the camaro due to it's blind spots.
The more I look at the interior of the speed3 the more I dislike it, I hate the red that you're forced to have so that's ruled out.
I hated the scion tC's 5speed, it wasn't the long throws that got me it was the fact that the angle was weird. Other than that I liked the car though which is a shame.

The civic si drove almost as well as the brz w/extra practicality. I felt it had a better 6 speed transmission and that it gripped the road more but they were pretty similar in terms of performance with the civic being cheaper and more comfortable for passengers.

I do like those wrx's but I'd want an sti for it's 6 speed and that would murder me in insurance I'll have to drive one to see how the 5 speed is but I've heard it's a bit sluggish like the tC's was.

I also saw a hyundai veloster where my intitial impression of the car was "hyundai = ****" but sitting in it it felt pretty nice and comfortable, I drove it and the 6 speed felt crisp and the steering didn't feel to bad. It was a bit down on power but it's fairly light too. I feel that this may end up being an inexpensive option if I decide that the civic is too expensive though the civic still felt worlds better as a drivers car.


also, who the hell willingly puts their bikes inside their car? I'd sooner ride my mtb out to wherever it is I'm going though I'd end up worn out by the time I get there.

[choneofakind]

Yeah my throws are uber long. :/

And ****, the new tC's have a 6-speed. Were you looking at an older model?

[subxero]

@Sirref

going from my 6spd civic si to the 5spd subi i thought i would dislike the 5spd but you just get used to it and it is really non issue.

The clutch and tranny in my Si was butter. super short throws just a flip of the wrist. The subj clutch and tranny was a little more stiff all around. When i would let my buddies drive the WRX i would tell them be precise and deliberate with your shifts other wise you will not hit the gear or go to the wrong gear. Despite telling them this they all had problems shifting.

WRX and most turbo cars have turbo lag but it is solved simply by not lugging it below 2k rpms. Use 1st to pull out, hit second often when slowing down and it is non issue. 50-70mph can be run in 4th gear with out a hiccup and still get decent MPG. 5th gear when my car was modded seemed useless unless you were going over 100mph, then it would be useful just to maintain that speed on the highway. You have 3rd up to 95ish, 4th up to 130ish and then 5th if you can hold it there.

my 10' si which had less hp and torque than current models would do 130 indicated up a slight incline. Once you shift to 6th though you have next to no pull and unless you are on flat or down hill you will not be able to maintain speed.

my pick is still 4dr Si for maryland driving. Since i moved back to PA and the crazy winter we had up here the AWD of the subaru was worth every penny.