well, as the title says, I'm starting to look for a car. I'm looking for something RWD (don't particularly care where the stick the engine as long as the rear wheels are the ones providing thrust), manual trans, reasonably good handling, easy to work on, reasonably good on gas, relatively light and small (no bigger than a new Mustang basically), reasonably practical (thus ruling out a Miata unfortunately), preferably a wagon or a hatch but I'll take a notchback coupe or sedan if it's an otherwise nice chassis, and the rear of the car needs something sturdy enough to mount a trailer hitch receiver to, bonus points if it's rather oddball or rare. I'm a big mountain biker, and the rack I have is a hitch-mount. mom has a Jeep now, but I'm a sports car guy and I don't think she would enjoy me borrowing the jeep every time I want to go out biking. oh, and a budget of $10K, unless it is a REALLY nice example of a nice car.
right now I'm thinking a VW Type 3 (any of the body styles that the T3 came in) or maybe a super beetle, a Mitsubishi Starion, a Toyota AE86 or a KP61 Starlet if I can find one, an early RX-series (RX-3 probably) Mazda, maybe a Vega or a Monza, perhaps a Fox body Mustang (not as light on its feet as the rest, but that can be remedied with a $10K budget I think), other than that I can't think of anything off the top of my head. any suggestions?
Focus ZX3/5 with a Kugel V8 swap?
Early models should leave you enough budget for the swap
Sonic
Dork
2/5/10 9:17 p.m.
E36 318ti, with or without a 6-cyl sway from a 325/328/M3
the 318ti is an interesting idea, but the focus is sorta out because this needs to be a daily driver. although, a V8 focus is an interesting prospect...
I dont see any daily drivers in the list you gave in the original post, except for maybe the AE86, some type of e36 bmw sounds like a decent idea though.
well, we have a Jeep Liberty ('08, manual trans) for hauling big stuff, but I want something small-ish that I can haul me and maybe 1-3 other folks in and a bit of stuff, and then fab up a trailer hitch receiver and put the bike rack on for trips up to Snowshoe or to local trail networks. I'm not at all opposed to a car with a rather spartan interior, since I've never driven anything with even a CD player, certainly never had anything but cloth buckets, so I can't say I'd really miss many of the creature comforts found in a lot of DDs.
I love my Ti.. it is lowered on Bilstiens PSS9 coilovers, all polybushed, wider and lower M3 rims and tyres.. it sticks like nobody's business (and has surprised at least one E46 M3 in the turns) and still manages to bring back 30+mpg on the highway (I have seen a high of 36MPG according to the usually right OBC) when driven sanely and I can cram an ungodly amount of stuff in the back without issue.
the only problem you might have is the hitch. The spare tyre is UNDER the car (you drop it to the ground via a small hole in the floor of the hatch) and that might make putting a hitch on it hard. I am sure they have them, but you might have to source one from europe
$10k is gonna get you a LOT of foxbody.
Plus, you can get a hatchback. With the seats down, they'll swallow a LOT of crap.
Figure $3500 for a clean car, $3500 for suspension, $2k for power, and $1k for the inevitable speeding tickets.
$10k is gonna get you a LOT of foxbody.
Plus, you can get a hatchback. With the seats down, they'll swallow a LOT of crap.
Figure $3500 for a clean car, $3500 for suspension, $2k for power, and $1k for the inevitable speeding tickets.
$10k will get you an E39 525iT an E46 325iT. BMW wagons are sweet. I picked up a loaded '05 325XiT (AWD) with 43k on it for 15k in Jan of '09. I had my pick of earlier RWD cars with higher mileage for 9-11k a year back then so adjusting for the crap economy and passage of time there are cheap sub-100k mile cars out there in really nice shape now.
I have a 74 RX-4 coupe that I could be talked into selling if the price is right.
lewbud
New Reader
2/7/10 4:19 p.m.
+1 What the good Reverend said. A whole lot of Fox body, not quite as much New Edge (not a fan of SN95). Get a new bike rack and you're good to go.
well, I'm definitely leaning towards the Fox body. recommended year to go for? ideally I'd have a V8, but I don't want a rare trim level or combination of parts because it won't stay stock for long, and I might even get parts lined up for it (not necessarily bought, just looking to buy) before it was in my driveway
10k and a miata is out because it's to expensive??? You should be ableto buy as nice a miata as you want and still have some leftover to buy a beater truck so you won't have to borrow moms jeep!
Joey
10k and a miata is out because it's to expensive??? You should be ableto buy as nice a miata as you want and still have some leftover to buy a beater truck so you won't have to borrow moms jeep!
Joey
lords no, a Miata is out because while it IS possible to carry a bike on one, it would be a royal pain in the ass to carry two bikes AND me + my girlfriend AND basically full moto gear for two AND two full face moto-style helmets AND 4 or 5 changes of clothes for 2 people for a trip up to snowshoe. it might handle amazingly nice, but overly practical it isn't, and we don't really have the driveway space or the insurance money to have 3 vehicles on the insurance with a teenage guy listed as primary driver on two of them
1995 subby legecy wagon, under 1500 to buy, takes lots room and you can upgrade the hell out of one plus the beathy of awd....you can mod to rwd and be done with in that budget though....
I've often thought of a small harbor frieght trailer for bikes and gear, trunk for luggage and seating for two...probably still not the most practical, but it's an idea.
Joey