Mod EP3 or replace?

I've had my EP3 (02 Civic Si) for quite some time now and have basically left it stock.

In the time I've had it my wife and I had a son.

It's difficult to get him in the car seat now but soon he will be forward facing and that will make it a bit easier. He needs to be in the car very little.

The Civic goes up for the winter. I have a truck and an older beater Civic as well.

The thought has come up to sell both Civics and get a more year round friendly fun 4 door.

WRX is the only answer I can come up with and I'm sure they're fun but I'm not really sold.

Other non Subaru options I'm overlooking? Budget would be $8,000 or so. Could go a bit higher for the perfect car.

Otherwise thinking coilovers, full exhaust and Hondata reflash for the Civic to spice things up.

Thoughts?

The 8th Gen Civic Si sedan should push a lot of the same buttons that your car does while having a more useful back seat. The early ones are well within your price range. I like them a lot better than an equivalent WRX. 

In reply to mazdeuce - Seth :

Thought about those for sure. Probably the answer. Need to try my car seat in one. Might be inclined to put it away in the winter though.

They're not super inspiring from the outside and the dash is all kinds of weird, but the motor screams and the diff makes them a completely different car to drive. I'm not sure they're special enough to put away in the winter but I'm a little jaded by hammering on a buddies car for the past couple of years.

What do you want out of the car? Just daily fun? Autocross? A project to occupy your mind and steal dollars from you and your family? 

Fun daily that I can do a few mods on.

For $8K there's plenty of fun daily drivers to choose from. Since you have a baby, a coupe isn't the greatest option; the only coupe I would suggest is an early Hyundai Genesis Coupe. The rear seat room is plentiful, but I don't know how new car seats fit back there. The seats are good, it handles really well, and the 3.8 has good power. It's a better car than the 5th gen Camaro.

A Mk V Jetta (06-10) GLI with the 2.0 turbo is the sporty Jetta of that generation, it's more refined than the Civic, and the rear seats are probably a little more spacious for a car seat. I have a MK V Jetta TDI, and it's real nice, but it's suspension is significantly softer than the base Jetta, so I'm gonna do research to modify my suspension (custom springs, etc.)

For RWD fun, an E90 BMW 3-series (07-13) may be a solid choice, but they're not known to be reliable. However, they ride and handle pretty good out of the box, so you won't have to spend a ton of money to make it handle compared to other cars. They're kinda big, but RWD cars need to be fairly large to have a good amount of rear seat leg room. 

An E60 BMW 5-series (04-10) could also be a solid choice, but, reliability would be similar to the E90. I haven't driven one yet, so I'm not sure what the driving experience is like.

An Infiniti G35(03-07) would be the slightly more affordable, more reliable choice compared to the E90. They also get more horsepower, so that's another plus. I test drove a

G35x, but a RWD E90 so I can't compare apples to apples, but I would personally skip AWD with any sports sedan. Even though these are rear-wheel drive based AWD systems, the G35x understeered under power waaaaayyy too much for my preferences (too much weight up front), not to mention it adds extra maintenance and a small drop in mpg.

There's more fun daily drivers, but I'll let other people suggest some, especially the ones I'll forget about.

I have a real soft spot for the EP3 for some reason, but with a car seat, I’d want a sedan. 

A g35 sedan would fit the bill pretty well. I owned one for a little over 2 years. The vq35 has great torque and liked to rev, but some people don’t like the sound it makes. I also wasn’t a fan of how heavy the stock flywheel made. It took me a while to figure out how to make smooth 1-2 shifts. 

I think I’d probably go with an 8th gen SI sedan if I had to do it over again. Having driven my friend’s several times, it never fails to put a smile on my face.

I'm probably too picky for my own good but no BMWs or VWs. On the fence about Nissan/Infiniti.

Maybe the best car is the one you already have?

Did send a message about a possible trade for an 8th gen Si.

In reply to Mr_Clutch42 :

I don't feel like I've seen you in a while. If so, welcome back!

still working through this

going to look at a 6/6 accord sedan tomorrow

messagind about a TL and two Si sedans

How about an Integra GSR sedan?

In reply to chaparral :

too old and molested in 99% of cases

here are my two options

1 07 Accord Sedan v6 6 speed  EXL with NAV 187000 miles 10/10 condition $5400

2 05 Acura TL 6 speed 194000 miles 8/10 condition $3900

both have good service histories

Accord is in Mass which makes it a bit of a hassle

TL is a customer of mine and I know the history and it's 10 minutes away

mazdeuce - Seth said:

The 8th Gen Civic Si sedan should push a lot of the same buttons that your car does while having a more useful back seat. The early ones are well within your price range. I like them a lot better than an equivalent WRX. 

I second this, it will DD well and will fit the carseat much better. There is a wealth of aftermarket to allow you to tinker as much or as little as you want. Craigslist here in DFW has a bunch around the $4-5k mark. 

If you travel a bit to the south you can find one with a clean chassis to go along with your 3 seasons idea... 

solfly said:

In reply to chaparral :

too old and molested in 99% of cases

 

here are my two options

1 07 Accord Sedan v6 6 speed  EXL with NAV 187000 miles 10/10 condition $5400

2 05 Acura TL 6 speed 194000 miles 8/10 condition $3900

both have good service histories

Accord is in Mass which makes it a bit of a hassle

TL is a customer of mine and I know the history and it's 10 minutes away

BUY THE TL 

came with the factory helical LSD and price, miles and known history are a winner. 

mazdeuce - Seth said:

....the dash is all kinds of AWESOME,...

Fixed that for you

Allroad in Stage 2-3 tune.  Infinite opportunities to tinker with it and 350-400 hp will rail anything mentioned so far.

B6 Passat, a bit newer and better screwed together.  Either turbo 4/manual option for tuning or VR6/auto to just roll out as-is.

Life is too short to drive boring cars.

spacecadet said:

solfly said:

In reply to chaparral :

too old and molested in 99% of cases

 

here are my two options

1 07 Accord Sedan v6 6 speed  EXL with NAV 187000 miles 10/10 condition $5400

2 05 Acura TL 6 speed 194000 miles 8/10 condition $3900

both have good service histories

Accord is in Mass which makes it a bit of a hassle

TL is a customer of mine and I know the history and it's 10 minutes away

BUY THE TL 

came with the factory helical LSD and price, miles and known history are a winner. 

I've basically talked myself into it at this point. Looking at it tomorrow.

In reply to KyAllroad (Jeremy) :

Can't bring myself to go Euro with some of the nonsense I've seen come through the shop.

Brought home the TL for 3700

solfly said:

Brought home the TL for 3700

Woohoo, another one!

In for pics

In reply to sleepyhead the buffalo :

I'll start a thread soon. Needs some attention but it's 3700 so...

Is300. Rwd. Mods galore. Good handler. Nice looks. Yota dependability. Good even in automatic state. Four door. 

_ said:

Is300. Rwd. Mods galore. Good handler. Nice looks. Yota dependability. Good even in automatic state. Four door. 

Came here to say this.