Does this car exist?

96DXCivic wrote:

Giant Purple Snorklewacker wrote: Mid-80s 911, brown

I like but how are the to work on and how is the A/C?

OK, well... they are simple as anvils so they are pretty easy to work on. You do need to get used to it - they are easy but not always intuitive. The AC worked. It could clear a foggy window on a damp day and blow cool air but probably wouldn't give you the chills if you live in Texas. Its R-12 so... since you would be converting it to 134 I'd just go the extra step and get a compressor / dryer from a newer junkyard car if its that important.

In reply to TJ:

That is why I put it in things I would like I am just seeing how close I can get.

In reply to 93celicaGT2:

What is a pony rack?

Manual steering rack out of an Escort Pony.

^What he said.

The Escort Pony was a bare bones model that had some interesting things... cheap vinyl-backed seats, no a/c, manual everything, no options, only one side mirror, and of course, manual steering.

Ugh, and they were E36 M3e! Girlfriend had one. The steering was heavy and slow, even with the narrow tires it had, suspension geometry was bad, the rest of the car rattled and banged and the CVH engines had a tendency to crack the heads when they overheated. Of course in the Pony, you didn't get a coolant temp guage, so you ran them until they died because the check engine light could have meant anything to someone who doesn't know cars. Thanks for bringing back that nightmare POS to my mind, so glad the S.O. got rid of it.

Honestly, a FWD car with manual steering can be a pain to deal with on a daily basis. The firm feel power racks in my Chrysler's have pretty decent feedback and at 14:1 ratio they are plenty quick.

A 1st-gen Neon could be had with an Airbag and decent A/C. With some parts swapping you can put a power rack from a Omni GLH in one to get 14:1 ratio and power steering. The DOHC motor is pretty decent as is the 5-speed.

turboswede wrote: Honestly, a FWD car with manual steering can be a pain to deal with on a daily basis. The firm feel power racks in my Chrysler's have pretty decent feedback and at 14:1 ratio they are plenty quick.

My Civic is manual steering and it doesn't bother me at all.

When I was car shopping a year ago, I wanted many of the same features with the addition of rwd and irs. I ended up with a 318ti.

The 4 cyl makes things under the hood easy to get to, good mileage (32+ on highway), has been reliable so far, good aftermarket, compact and relatively light (2700 lbs), decent seats, driver and passenger airbags, rear seats fold down for awesome storage, manual trans, fun to drive, etc etc.

You could find a low mileage (~60k) used 98 or 99 for around 5-6k. I gave 3200 for mine with 120k on the clock.

Unfortunately it comes with power steering and power windows standard. The steering has good feel, though.

Otherwise an older honda, mazda3 (or low mileage, newer protege) sound like good choices.

Two pages in, and no obvious????

Miata + Hard Top.

My '95 had manual everything, A/C was awesome, got 30mpg, etc etc etc.

Should have taken 2 pages to answer Miata.

Eric

Alfadriver.....apparently you missed "fixed top"?

Alfa...you beat me to it. I couldn't believe it hadn't been mentioned yet.

A hard top is pretty 'fixed'...

integraguy wrote: Alfadriver.....apparently you missed "fixed top"?

Hardtop? did you miss that part? Use SM harware, and it's mostly permanent.

Eric

I had a '91 Jetta GLi that was pretty close to what you described. The car did have power windows and you could probably find some manuals to swap in. It had great Recaro seats and was pretty simple to work on.

I'll second the 318ti.

There are probably a lot of Ford Focii with manual windows.

I had similar criteria and ended up with a Mazda 3. So far I like it. Oil changes are easy, but other than that I haven't had to work on it. Looks pretty easy to work on though. My gas mileage with the 2.3 has averaged about 31 mpg with several tanks in the 33 - 34mpg range. Very fun to drive in my opinion. Don't know about the seats/position, but I have no complaints and my previous car had factory Recaros.

mini cooper, new or old

alfadriver wrote: Two pages in, and no obvious???? Miata + Hard Top. My '95 had manual everything, A/C was awesome, got 30mpg, etc etc etc. Should have taken 2 pages to answer Miata. Eric

I am 6'3" 205lbs. Is there anyway I am going to fit in a Miata with the top in place.

my 91 and my 93 honda civic/crx's both have great a/c...and I live in central florida. I've owned many different vehicles in my time, and a/c is not a problem on these cars.

I've also owned miata's with hardtop's...but nothing is as agile as my crx

96DXCivic wrote:

alfadriver wrote: Two pages in, and no obvious???? Miata + Hard Top. My '95 had manual everything, A/C was awesome, got 30mpg, etc etc etc. Should have taken 2 pages to answer Miata. Eric

I am 6'3" 205lbs. Is there anyway I am going to fit in a Miata with the top in place.

not without some serious seat mods. I'm 5'11 and with a helmet on I had to bend my neck to the side while racing

JFX001 wrote: '91 + SE-R?

This is what I was gonna say.

Personally, I'd ditch the manual steering from the "must have" list. It's going to derail you from arguably "better" cars. $10-12K can buy a pretty nice modern-ish machine (compared to what I'm used to owning at least), but they're probably not going to be available without the power rack.

My favorite suggestion so far is the '80s Porsche 911. What about a Porsche 968 or 928?

1st gen Neon R/T. I have 3. Although "the Champ", with a hair under 450,000 miles, needs everything rebuilt, it still fires right up and motors on down the road.

Saturn SC2

Are there any problems to look for in a '80s Porsche 911?

If it weren't for the air bags (why?) you could buy a good used 924 or early 944. Note: I said Good. Don't buy a cheap one as they will require a lot of work.

I still think a Miata with a hardtop is the best solution outside of a 3-series. The newer ones even have a folding metal roof.