Replacing the contents of my driveway

So the Regal sold this weekend & now I'm looking for my next toy. I'd like this car to fall into the $20XX budget. I'd love a Conquest, Neon R/T, or any turbo Dodge. Any leads would be appreciated.

It has also come time for me to replace the daily, my 08 Mazdaspeed3. I have grown tired of it as I do with everything else. I owe just over $11k on it & want something more practical under $20k. I've been leading towards the 05-09 Legacy/Outback non-turbo with a manual, possible Forester or Fusion. Anyone that owns one of these, share your input.

Essentially I want something that isn't really a performance vehicle for a daily, gets better mpg (the speed averages 22mpg), seats 4 comfortably, manual transmission ONLY, & is still fun to drive. All I know is I don't want my car anymore, but I am undecided on it's replacement.

Ive had a couple 2007 Fusion 4cyl Autos as company cars as well as a 2010 Fusion currently with the same 4cyl auto combo. The old one is the same 2.3 from the Mazda 3 and the new one is the same 2.5 from the new Mazda 3.

The 2010 is a much nicer car and the motor trans combo is a bit punchier. I average about 26-28 in mixed driving. Quite a bit of highway followed by a day driving surface roads then back to highway. I have been pleasently suprised by sportyness of the ride and with a decent set of tires it is tough to make it plow with anything but U Turns. I drove a 2009 Mazda 6 with the six speed. It didn't add much to the car or make the motor feel more powerful but was nice enough to drive around.

My wife has a 04 Forester XT. Quick but wallows a bit and its quite a bit louder to ride in than the Fusion. Granted it is 6 years old and has 67,XXX miles and the Fusion is 8 months old with about 15,XXX.

Fusion if you just want a driver. Forester if you want to AutoX, RallyX and DD.

If you are looking for good mileage don't get a Subaru - My Outback sucks back as much juice as my Explorer.

I'll second the notion to skip Subarus if you're after mileage, particularly any of the turbos. My nonturbo Impreza is good for 20-24mpg no matter how I drive it, and the wife's got an '04 Foz XS slushy that's never seen north of 25mpg.

Your only hope would be a '90s Impreza or Legacy with an EJ22... Most of those were good for 28-30mpg with a stick.

I wouldn't own a Subaru unless it was seeing race duty, or snow for half the year. I loves 'em to death, but pretty uninspiring unless you POOMP UP DA BOOST.

Essentially I want something that isn't really a performance vehicle for a daily, gets better mpg (the speed averages 22mpg), seats 4 comfortably, manual transmission ONLY, & is still fun to drive.

Hmm, non turbo mazda3? 30-42 mpg from the one i owned.

I agree about avoiding the subarus.

new-style fusions are pretty cool.

In response to Vigo, part of my reason for ditching the Speed is do to a lot of little issues that carry over to the regular 3.

Anyone have experience with a 6cyl Fusion? Unfortunately AWD can only be had with an auto. I know how to drive in the snow so I don't have to have AWD. I've only really been looking at non-turbo, manual Subies for the mpg reason.

If you get a Subie you can get to 27 or so mpg on the highway with a tune and exhaust. Not 40mpg I know, but better than stock.

I'm not looking to hypermile, but also don't want to stop at every gas station.

Any input on a Civic Si sedan? Only issue I think with this car may be all that fan-boys trying to race it.

So I've been reading up on the current Si sedan's & I plan on going to look at a Silver 08 sedan with 19,000 miles tonight. We'll have to see what this dealer is willing to do on the Speed3, I've already had Mazda appraise it at 13,500. I know if I were to sell it outright I'd get a few thousand more.

Stay tuned for results & possible MS3 parts for sale.

I'm sorry to see the Speed go. That has been a fun car. If I didn't have my WRX, I'd be all over that thing in a heart beat.

Like others have said, I'd skip the Subaru if you're looking for some gas mileage. Mine gets 25 tops, and that's on 93 every tankful.

From what i understand the issue with the Si (aside from fan boi's) is the trans, hate to see another speed go but i will be waiting in the background for a part out.

The fusion with the 6cyl drives quite well and carries itself well for a heavy pig.

+1 on the subaru comments (although they are amazing cars)

Just to through something in the ring you should look at SAAB's.

SilverFleet wrote: I'm sorry to see the Speed go. That has been a fun car. If I didn't have my WRX, I'd be all over that thing in a heart beat. Like others have said, I'd skip the Subaru if you're looking for some gas mileage. Mine gets 25 tops, and that's on 93 every tankful.

I just got 29 on a 300 mile highway round trip this week (average speed around 70mph). And that was with the bike rack on the roof! I was stunned. Somehow I'm getting 2 or so mpg BETTER both city and highway since I flashed Cobb AP stage 1 than I did with the stock tune.

my typical tank, in local driving/work commute is more like 24mpg though :(

irish44j wrote:

SilverFleet wrote: I'm sorry to see the Speed go. That has been a fun car. If I didn't have my WRX, I'd be all over that thing in a heart beat. Like others have said, I'd skip the Subaru if you're looking for some gas mileage. Mine gets 25 tops, and that's on 93 every tankful.

I just got 29 on a 300 mile highway round trip this week (average speed around 70mph). And that was with the bike rack on the roof! I was stunned. Somehow I'm getting 2 or so mpg BETTER both city and highway since I flashed Cobb AP stage 1 than I did with the stock tune. my typical tank, in local driving/work commute is more like 24mpg though :(

Stock tune sucks really really bad for mpg.

I dont think my wife's old 2000 Impreza Wagon or the 2004 Forester XT has ever seen over 26mpg. Both five speeds. Closer to 20 around town and 24-25 on the highway.

The old blue 2008 GRM WRX wagon averaged around 22mpg.

I understand that a tune helps quite a bit.

Tune does help with subaru's, the stock tune tends to be on the rich side. Solid cars, but not the most fuel efficient, one of the drawbacks of full time awd.

Bit the bullet today & picked up an 08 Civic Si sedan (silver)with 19,700 miles. Also checked out an 88 Starion with 80k on it. May post questions later.

So I've been slacking & finally posting the follow ups. I did replace my driveway in a weekend. After trading the MS3 in on the Si psuedosport & I drove up to NH to look at the replacement for the Regal, an 88 Starion ESI-R. Haven't had time to take good pictures but have added one of each on the days I've got them to my garage.

The Starion will potentially be a future challenge car & I will be providing updates on that here & there. It's either too cold or dark so not much work will get done for a while.

sachilles wrote: Tune does help with subaru's, the stock tune tends to be on the rich side. Solid cars, but not the most fuel efficient, one of the drawbacks of full time awd.

going off-topic here, but the stock tunes on the 09+ wrx runs VERY lean in boost. I mean, UNSAFE lean, with much detonation. I can't believe they leave the factory like that, it's utter garbage. It's really not running rich anywhere in the range stock, IDK if the older subies are a different story.

Look at this crap from my stock baseline dyno:

you can see in the torque curve where it pulls timing big-time....yuck

compare to an OTS Cobb stage 1 A/F on the same car, same day:

/\

silverfleet - you need to tune yours now.

my '95 Impreza only gets 23 - 24 (during the summer) 19 - 22 in the winter... non turbo 2.2 ..... how much could a good tune do for it..?? or is there anything that can really be done for it ???

^^^

Those pics look familiar! Sorry I didn't get any full car ones. The car is sooooooo 80's! The HVAC controls are straight off of a microwave, the pop-up headlights rock, the seats are awesome, and there are more buttons and switches on the dash than on the bridge of the Starship Enterprise.

Best Part: There was a rattle in the dash on the way home. It was coming from the ash tray. I open the ash tray, and there's a pin-on button in there, face down. I pick it up, and it says "I've Tried Menage-A-Tois" on it. Maybe something to do with the 3 Diamonds?

I have renamed Ma$$hole's Starion the Menage-Mobile.

Oh, and yep, I need to do a tune on the WRX after seeing that! Problem is, I can't afford an Accessport or even a Tactrix 2.0 right now.

Thanks for posting pics Greg. I'll just leave the keys in it & you guys can go take it for a photoshoot.

Nice. Those seats look awesome.

That engine bay needs the Challenge treatment! Let's see some exterior shots.