ArthurDent wrote:
What about a 240SX with the hatchback - gives some more room plus rear wheel drive.
Practically non existent in the Northeast, and if they are around they're either riced out and hacked together or driven into the ground, which is a shame because i really like them. I've just honestly never seen a reasonable example for sale that wasn't either of the two things above or ridiculously over priced.
bastomatic wrote:
I have to agree with alfa here - Miata is certainly the answer here. More room for what? You will never have another time in your life when you will need less room than now. Enjoy the freedom.
Well I would really like to have the ability to take more than 1 other person in my car if need be, not to mention all the crap I usually have with me for either my bikes, camping/hiking, bringing recycling to the transfer station and my school stuff to a lesser extent. I understand that they are fantastic cars and are essentially exactly what I'm looking for but I just need more room.
Brett_Murphy wrote:
Exactly how much mechanical aptitude do you have? Do you have access to a space in which to work on your car?
If you are stuck on RWD:
In your budget range, I'd get a 4 door BMW. Both the E30 or the E34 are good choices, but I'd lean more towards an E34, simply because you can find a nicer one cheaper than a nice E30, at least where I live.
I'm pretty comfortable working on cars, I have a friend who's a big vw nut and I've done quite a bit of work with him on his cars, from oil changes to some work an engine swap. I consider myself to be fairly mechanically inclined, If I have the time and tools I'm comfortable doing pretty much anything. Space is no issue I have a nice paved driveway and a garage if I need it, ive got a pretty decent selection of tools as well.
I'm not stuck on rwd but ill get to that in a second.
pinchvalve wrote:
I don't get the bias against FWD. A Civic Hatch is the ideal car for your age, budget, situation, and desires. You can fit a ton of stuff in them, $2K buys something decent, a manual is easy to find and they are decent ones at that, you can fix it up to whatever budget you want, and you can autocross them on the weekends. OK, it has FWD. IMHO, for most beginners on most courses, a well engineered FWD platform will let them go faster than anything RWD they can buy in that price range. Plus you can go in light snow.
Go to your local autocross and ride along with that person in the Civic who is always the top PAX time. You'll be convinced that a Civic is the way to go. (Just don't ride with the dude in the supercharged Miata!)
rwd cars are more fun, thats all there is to it. power oversteer beats the hell out of pretty much anything you can do in a fwd car unless theres snow on the ground. Like i said I haven't ruled it out but I would much rather have something rear-drive. and as someone guessed civics are quite expensive or thrashed around here (and everywhere it seems), similar to the 240sx's but theres more of them.
The real problem is finding a car that you can like, or just tolerate, over hating.
Im going to let that speak for itself and not bother with some of the other posts.
mndsm wrote:
Go before the Frontier, find one that the tinworm hasn't gotten, and a 2wd Nissan Hardbody *might* just be the answer, if it isn't Miata. Those and the 240's shared motors, they're cheap, RWD, and if you really need to haul crap, it is a truck. Hard as nails too.... can't kill the damn things. Other than that, the usual suspects, miata, e30, 240sx..... I dinno what prices are like in your area, but a p71 might be a good option too. I don't know when they got the mod 4.6, I wanna say it was sometime in the mid-late 90's.... should be able to scam one for 2k. Problem is, it's not a manual. On the plus side, it's already set up for severe duty.
Other considerations- Starion/Conquest, Civic (yeck from me personally, but they're damn reliable) Escort GT, St185 chassis Celica..... mx3... all fun stuff. One thing to consider as others have mentioned? Where are you located? Is winter a factor?
Good point on the hardbody sharing the KA with the 240, that has totally skipped my mind somehow, really diggin that idea. The more I think about a pickup the more I like the sounds of it. rust is a problem because I live in new england but theres probably something out there. maybe. Those other options are some good ones but for the most part are really hard to come by in maine, new hampE36 M3e, and vermont. Right now i'm feeling the idea of the pickup as i said, or the e30 (see next post)
as for winter goes its not a big concern to me, either ill be at school or it'll give me reason not to drive around and burn gas. i always have the possibility of using the accord during the winter as well as my mother will be keeping it so she has something to drive other than her truck...which she drives all winter. jeez this makes me sound like a spoilt brat when it couldnt be further from the truth!
Apexcarver wrote:
I bought a needy E30 as a beater and here is a breakdown.
Bought it for $600 (it needed help)
Most everything on it has been maintenance or caused by myself. Most of the problems are electrical (easy to fix for the most part, clean a connection here, dielectric grease there, solder there.)
Parts arent bad (Rockauto is your friend, pelicanparts when rockauto dosent have it) (parts tend to be cheaper then my mustang)
Finding a shop to work on it, more challenging. If you want a BMW be ready to do your own work.
It is going to more widely depend on the example you buy. Mine was $600 and I did get what I paid for. Buy the nicest example you can afford (dont do what I did) and you will be fine.
What am I replacing the E30 with? Miata!
only times you will need more space is moving in and out of dorms.
Thank you this was very insightful and restores my hope in the e30. as you said finding a shop might be difficult but my friend into volkswagens is in a vw/audi club and i have no doubt he could help find me someone if i needed work that i could not accomplish by myself or with his help.
not going to quote but I know someone reccomended the police package crown vic and someone else the caprice - thats gonna be a no go, autos, mpg isnt too great, cant imagine the handling will be anything good, and i dont want to drive around looking like a wannabe cop.
sorry for another epic post...thanks for all the help though, really leaning towards the pickup and the e30 (e34 maybe) ever so slightly more now.
I still miss that car.
