I'm looking for a replacement for my 09 Crown Vic. I found an NC Miata in my price range but not sure if I could live with such a low slung car on a daily basis. So I am looking for a few suggestions. I should add that I am moving from a large city to "the sticks" of central Florida so that whatever I find must be reliable and/or can be easily maintained.
No SUV or CUV, but otherwise anything that sells for $22K plus or minus a few thousand dollars. (New or used)
Have you driven a Focus ST? The seating position is pretty high for a small car. Quick, fun car with hatchback practicality.
6th-gen Camaro 2.0T. In your price range both new and used. Lightweight, nimble Alpha-chassis with a 276hp 2.0 turbo 4, plus a 6-speed manual transmission
I just had a stupid fun week driving around a 2009 Civic Si sedan. Way way way below your price range and reliable as gravity. Calm when it needs to be, 9k rpm pulls when it doesn't.
I have a Matrix XRS 6 speed that's very useful, economical, room for adults in the back seat and "reasonably fun"
2700 pounds, 180 horse NA 1.8 VVTLI and lead footed driving gets 23 to 25 avg of premium. I got my 03 for $3200 And its easy to get in and out of.
PS: "the sticks" is where it really shines
I’d say plenty of corvettes you could find at that range but may fall under your low slung but I’ve ridden in my dads 03 zo6 and found it comfortable.
$22k
-$1500 1st gen Focus Hatchback
-$300 SVT suspension kit
-$4000 FS turbo kit
---------------
$16200 Profit? Fuel? Race fees? Repairs?
More fun than a worn out cop car leaves a pretty good selection, but that's only my opinion, I could be wrong.
Low slung = bad makes most of my suggestions moot, but most of my fun takes place on pavement. Something like an AWD S60 Volvo could be lots of fun, and if you make sure the transmission shifts nicely and there isn't a bunch of slack in the angle drive before you pony up the dough, it won't be too costly to run.
Edit: Missed the 22k comment. Buy an S60, an R, and an XC90 for the cross country trips and keep $10k.
$22k that's alot! Buy someone's locust clone and turbocharge it... And buy a raincoat....and another interceptor
Mazdaspeed3s can be had for less than that and if you leave the suspension alone it has pretty decent ride height. The Focus ST is pretty much the same story.
The S60 idea is pretty good too.
The easy button would be a 2013ish S197 Mustang GT.
You could probably find an STi in that area as well.
A suspension refresh and boost on the cop car?
Interesting so far. My comments: I've been passed on the street by a turbo 4 cylinder Camaro. A Camaro should NOT sound like that at speed.
I did look at an 09 or thereabouts Civic coupe. Having owned 4 Honda products, I am a bit prejudiced towards them. The coupe seemed low slung, I assumed the sedan would be too.
Have considered the Focus and Fiesta, as I will be about 20 miles from a Ford dealer. The Focus gets poor marks on carcomplaints.com, until the last year or two. Though most complaints seem to be associated with the automatic transmission.
Also considered the Fiesta, ST and non ST. Living in the sticks, fuel economy is important. STRONGLY considering a Fiesta S and with the money saved over the ST, make wheel/tire/suspension mods.
Brand new VW GTI is $25,500. That comes with a 6 year, 72,000 bumper to bumper warranty...
Offroadster? 
docwyte said:Brand new VW GTI is $25,500. That comes with a 6 year, 72,000 bumper to bumper warranty...
Impressive warranty. I’d burn through that warranty in 28 months. Still, I’m impressed.
Nissan G35/37. RWD and manual.
$22K? You can easily find a new Korean in that price range. Elantra Sport or Forte5 SX. Both have ridiculous warranties, both fun and both have good ground clearance. THen again, if you think a stock Civic is "low slung" and not livable, I don't know what to suggest other than a lifted 4wd.
Carsandbikes said:Also considered the Fiesta, ST and non ST. Living in the sticks, fuel economy is important. STRONGLY considering a Fiesta S and with the money saved over the ST, make wheel/tire/suspension mods.
No, no no. Buy the ST, it's so capable in stock form that you won't need to do anything. On any other model, you will have to lower it to make it handle. If you are going to be using it on gravel roads, just add Rally Armor Flaps and some decent gravel tires.
Seriously, Fiesta ST
See? Even against a prepped rally car, the ride height is the same.
Carsandbikes said:I'm looking for a replacement for my 09 Crown Vic. I found an NC Miata in my price range but not sure if I could live with such a low slung car on a daily basis. So I am looking for a few suggestions. I should add that I am moving from a large city to "the sticks" of central Florida so that whatever I find must be reliable and/or can be easily maintained.
No SUV or CUV, but otherwise anything that sells for $22K plus or minus a few thousand dollars. (New or used)
Without narrowing down your criteria more, you're going to get answers all over the place, as you're seeing above. It's a nice budget, but what else do you want? Sedan, coupe, hatch, wagon? Do you want to spend that much, or are you looking to go as cheap as possible? Narrow it down some.
Did I mention that you could get a 2014 model for like $14K and have plenty to invest in tires and Florida Man stuff?
I have no idea if these are actually good or not but I decided the other day that it looks like an interesting concept, and surely they're cheaper than 22k.
HHR SS.
Daylan C said:I have no idea if these are actually good or not but I decide the other day that it looks like an interesting concept, and surely they're cheaper than 22k.
HHR SS.
I believe they use a lot of the same bones as the Cobalt SS Turbocharged, which was by all accounts a pretty damn good car. I too have developed a strange interest in these as of late. Fun fact: they had the longest automobile name that didn't involve a number or vowel.
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