Recommendations for fun, cheap, easy to keep running commuter car

In reply to swampyankee :

Very much yes. You would be better doubling your budget and buying a jdm import classic mini if you want a mini. It would be more reliable.

Mazda 3 hatch would be my choice.

If traction is super important, a clean Sentra SpecV which has a good diff can be had in that price range, but they are weird cars.  Unfortunately its a little too low budget to get into a 8th Gen Si.  I don't think anything in this thread has a diff.

Fitzauto said:

I like my 02 wrx for commuting. It’s been cheap to drive and it’s fun for the few twisties I have.

My pal put 250,000 miles on his commuting with almost no issues. By that point the whole thing felt really loose, like it was about to come apart at the seams. Not very good gas milleage though.

Surprised nobody has mentioned the EP3 Civic Si. Dead nuts reliable, pretty fun, great MPG, and new enough to be pretty comfy for commuting. They are great bang for the buck and much easier to find in good shape than the older generation Hondas. I would have another one.

In reply to pointofdeparture :

Around here you can find 8th gen si's for similar money to 7th gen. And imo the 8th gen is a better car.

In reply to MrChaos :

Around me the 8th gens are all trashed in that price range. Although personally, I'd rather have the hatchback than the better drivetrain for a DD commuter.

frenchyd said:

In reply to swampyankee :

Yes

Oh, ok. So was my wife's actually. Speaking of Escorts, I had a couple early 80's GT's back in the 90's. Cool little cars. Too bad the engines let them down.

I also had a couple Saab 900's back in the day. Non-turbos unfortunately, so they were snails. But I've looked at 9-3's before, especially the '98 - '02 SE hatch. Cool cars.

MrChaos said:

In reply to pointofdeparture :

Around here you can find 8th gen si's for similar money to 7th gen. And imo the 8th gen is a better car.

Wow.  Before I bought my Veloster I was looking at 8th gens for double that price range and they were not good examples.  I think you'd be hard pressed to find one under 8k thats in great condition all around, but you would most likely spend 10k+

FSP_ZX2 said:

Antihero said:

Zx2, seriously.

 

I'm stunned that you can buy a fairly fast car that when driven nice gets 40mpg, is somehow badass in the snow, can be bought for under a grand and there isn't more people talking about it

This.  Put a set of Haakas on it in the winter and it will be unstoppable.  The Zetec is as reliable as gravity, the consumables are dirt cheap as well.

Exactly, I love mine

Yeah, Hazmat was an absolute outlier of pricing for an 8th gen civic. Most trashed ones I find are in the $5-6 range and have interiors that have more broken or worn items than hazmat. Clean ones run $7-8 and Clean Mugen seem to be closer to $10k. 

A EP3 might hit this budget, but it will probably be in subpar shape.