help me choose a car

I have but once again they aren't too abundant (not a single one on craigslist in northern new england) and i hate how they look

but then again.... http://providence.craigslist.org/cto/2314953502.html

Buy my Brick , or something similar. That price has a lot of wiggle room depending on if you want the NEW engine and rebuilt 5-speed swap with it. My Red but also nice 91 945t is for sale from tun55 on here.

FWD sucks.

I'd look at the 2nd gen FC RX7 or a Mustang/Camaro

All the Nissan 240s suffer from the drift tax so are over priced and will either get stolen or will attract cops thinking you are one of "those" guys.

Junkyard_Dog wrote: Buy my Brick , or something similar. That price has a lot of wiggle room depending on if you want the NEW engine and rebuilt 5-speed swap with it. My Red but also nice 91 945t is for sale from tun55 on here.

Hey now, it's not yours anymore! Of course, if you want to buy it, then it will be, and then you can sell it to this guy. Plus, I thought Jason bought yours?

My biggest problem is parts availability. I can't be without a car for a day. If I need a part for my PT Cruiser they grab parts from behind the desk and hand them to me. If I ask for parts for my Volvo they say "We don't have parts for German cars here". That said, almost everything on mine has been replaced, so it's all fine now.

When running, they are quite fast with a few mods, like mid 14s pretty easily, and they handle pretty well and are very comfy and very roomy. Working on them is okay. Some of the stuff :: cough cylinder head to water pump seal :: is crazy silly, but some of the other stuff like timing belt is so easy you'll giggle when you're doing it. Compared to a Civic, you'll have yours done and be on your 2nd beer and halfway through a football game before the Civic guy will come and get you for help. Compared to the PT Cruiser, after the entire football game and the rest of the six pack, you'll go out to find that the PT Cruiser guy has hanged himself with the timing belt rather than installed it.

Careful of the advice, some of the folks here have never owned the cars they are hawking. Now, it sounds like you want powerslides, reliability and ease of parts and accessibility with lots of room for stuff. You, my friend, need to broaden your horizons and buy an 80's Chevy full size truck. They can be lowered and the suspension can be modified to be decent. The brakes and stuff like that are so cheap that people are literally giving parts away. The engine has made between 160 hp to 375hp, and that's just stock, showroom fresh power. You can make that much power these days by looking at a Summit catalog these days. Powerslides? Oh yeah. All day. Especially in the winter, still love my 2wd pickemup truck for that. With the carb and th350 I got 19mpg highway, so that might be an issue, but the turbobrick with all of its lack of weight, four cylinder, overhead cam, injected stuff gets a whopping 24 highway, so maybe the truck sounds better that way.

Having owned both, an early MR2 has a lot more room than the Miata. The claims of 35 and 39 mpg are only slightly exaggerated but 30 hyw can be had. Also, the one labeled a '84 is really an '85 model (first year) even though it may have been manufactured in late '84
http://providence.craigslist.org/cto/2253644878.html
http://southcoast.craigslist.org/cto/2319360492.html

Here is a solid and smart purchase that will not be really exciting but really smart. http://providence.craigslist.org/cto/2327348142.html

More fwd choices - Mazda MX3
http://providence.craigslist.org/cto/2301370180.html

I almost forgot, I grew up in Syracuse, NY and now reside in Greenville SC. I HIGHLY recommend buying a southern car and making the trip. It's well worth the rust tax. You can also buy way more car at 2k in the south than you can in the north. There are plenty of us down here that would gladly help you out with an inspection and some help with the DMV and such.

Like these

http://greenville.craigslist.org/cto/2305863086.html

http://greenville.craigslist.org/cto/2281647667.html

http://greenville.craigslist.org/cto/2259095124.html

OR

http://greenville.craigslist.org/cto/2315388564.html

http://greenville.craigslist.org/cto/2275672133.html

But then again I'm a chevy guy. These guys will tell you that a Miata or a MR2 or whatever will outhandle the Camaro, and they're right, but you're in college, you can grow into the Camaro, parts can be had for pennies since GM used the same basic cylinder head etc on every Gen 1 V8 ever since 1955 to 2000, and they will absolutely do some fantastic powerslides. I had both an 81 and 84 - loads of fun.

93EXCivic wrote: Seriously have you considered the Merkur?

I really dont think that would turn out well. They arent even made as well as a Milano is, and I had to get rid of my Milano because it just didn't work for school. I have a Mercedes 300SD now, and other than being an automatic (which i dont really even mind that much) its a quite nice car. It was only $2300 and other than needing new ball joints it works great.

$2000, 19 years old, need to move stuff around?

I'll just leave this here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q7ZzqBPz4sY

BMW E28 (5-series.) All the cliches ring true. Bulletproof engines, tank-like build quality, handle well for a 'big' car, can be had in a manual.

The M30 engine in mine has over 250K miles on regular oil changes/basic maintenance, and continues to run like a top.

I had an e30 as my first car, it was awesome(and I regret selling it), but I put a lot into it also. It would be a great college car(I'm in college now), I'm actually probably going to be looking for another one here soon to replace my 4runner. Almost everything that went wrong with the e30 I was able to fix my self, learning as I went, except for the control arms that bent, probably from autox, if I had it now and that happened I would do the control arms myself. They have a ton of space, really big trunk for that size car.

it's been getting harder and harder to find e30s up here in new england that dont immediately need new fuel tanks, rear brake hard lines, rear subframe bushings, rocker repair due to age/climate. about 7 years ago i did my e30 m3 fuel tank on jack stands in my mother's garage so it's doable but its an awful job without a lift.

theyre great cars though and MiataMe and I put a 90 325is together for the GRM challenge but we really did go through almost everything mechanical. I agree with the southern car notion, especially if your state will issue a temp tag to drive something you find home so you dont have to buy it before the trip. theyre worth it IMO if you find a clean example, most things in the engine bay and suspension/brakes are easy and straightforward to work on, and surprisingly affordable. occasionally you'll find parts that are 2-3x the price of say a chevy truck, like alternators, but its not as bad as the reputation some people have in their minds.

when i was looking for cars the past few months one thing i did if i was pretty interested in a particular model is go onto Rock Auto's website and just look through most parts of the car to get a feel for availability, pricing, and options, i was often pleasantly surprised.

I know it isn't exactly what you are looking for, but given that you have a friend that is in the vw/audi scene...How about an A2 vw gti. Decent fun to drive and though I have never owned one, I hear the 8v cars are pretty reliable.

sanman wrote: I hear the 8v cars are pretty reliable.

If you dont mind that they are impossible to get running right, that the shifter linkage is completely shot to the point it needs $100+ in parts to even be able to shift into the right gear, and other fun things like that then I guess they are reliable. They have alot more parts than most cars that really make them unpleasant to drive when they are in need of replacement.

Travis_K wrote: If you dont mind that they are impossible to get running right, that the shifter linkage is completely shot to the point it needs $100+ in parts to even be able to shift into the right gear, and other fun things like that then I guess they are reliable. They have alot more parts than most cars that really make them unpleasant to drive when they are in need of replacement.

But still better than a 16v I suppose. There is a reason I don't drive VWs. I actually prefer the AE92 corolla gts coupe that competed against it from 1988-1992. No hatch, but fun to drive and fewer problems.

If you get a VW and replace everything they are alright, but yeah, worn out ones are no fun. I still dont know how to get a digifant car to idle right though.