My Turn for What Car

Carl Heideman wrote: Okay, follow up question. Which one? 2008 Civic Si Sedan (blue), no mods, perfect, owned by very fussy person, 187K miles for $7K or 2009 Civic Si (black) Sedan, no mods except Exedy clutch and lightened flywheel, nearly perfect but not as nice, 70K miles for $11K, 2007 Civic Si Sedan (bronze), lots of mods, like short shift, exhaust, header, throttle body, 30K miles, as nice as the 2008, for $13K. I think I know the answer for me, but I'm curious if you'll back me up. Thanks for your help!

Modded honda is a death sentence in my world. I keep seeing people suggesting 4 door Mazda's, and as the resident disi nut, I have to say ms3 or ms6. Either is unstoppable on snow meats, despite the rumors a properly maintained one is bulletproof, and torque for weeks.

It doesn't help that I'm not a huge Honda fan and my solutions almost always involve more power.

I'll add that I've pretty much ruled Mazdas out because I live in Michigan and Mazdas seem to rust more rapidly than many other brands up here, probably even a little faster than Subarus.

And I'm glad David finally said Miata--I was amazed that nobody had said that yet.

I would say if you were planning on doing the mods that already exist on the low-mileage bronze one than that might be a good option, but assuming there is a decent maintenance history I would go with the black one. So he burned out the clutch in 70k, seems kind of quick, but there is plenty of life left in that car (might need a t-belt eventually). I would hesitate to go for the 187k example, only because you may need to crack the engine open in the near future for a refresh/rebuild. Again, if that was part of your plan, then maybe that makes the most sense.

tl:dr, each one could work for the right person, which person are you lol

I'd go with the $7k one owned by the fussy person.

Update: I agreed with Harvey and bought the high-mileage one. It was honestly the nicest one, plus it just seems more grassroots, doesn't it? As a bonus, the guy had a spare, rebuildable short block core from a warrantee repair he was saving just in case and I got that for $50. That's nice insurance. Thanks to everyone for the help.