Axiom Home Page Forums General Discussion The Water Cooler Small Car recommendations...

...and speeding tickets.

I love car shopping and spending other folk’s money!!

I need a very firm, no BS budget to work with. Everyone has a “would like to spend” number and a number in the back of their head somewhere that they know they will cough up. Knowing that at the onset would help. If you are considering used, be very careful with regards to buying used performance cars. You have two types of buyers. 1) Those who can’t drive and buy them because they want bragging rights. You are usually OK with buying their rejects, but make sure you have a mechanic buddy look them over real good. 2) Those who buy them to drive them like they stole them. Some of these actually know how to maintain them and drive the hell out them without destroying the drive train. Some know how to drive, but couldn’t care less about maintenance. Be cautious with this type of previous owner.

Do you want four doors, or are you OK with a two door? Do you really want room for four adults, or two, or more? What do you consider fun? My idea of fun is probably different than yours. For instance, I will not consider driving a sports car with a slush box, even if it has a manual mode and steering wheel mounted paddles. Yuck, manual for me to have fun. When I shift and accelerate, if the passenger can raise his / her arms, then it’s under powered. You said you like convertibles, really?? If so, get one and don’t settle. I love rag tops and am more than willing to put up with cons to having a convertible. This want, unfortunately, reduces the playing field and most high performance cars do not offer a rag top option (Z06 vette for example). Also, don’t believe all the BS that you have to buy an import to get quality or performance. You usually hear this crap from folks who get their information from magazines and don’t actually know squat or have real hands on experience. Also, with regards to imports, if it’s used, it probably does not have a warranty. If it breaks, be prepared to cry when you get the bill. Audi is extremely expensive to repair. A friend of mine just paid 12K to get the transmission replaced on his A6. Audi used to be very reliable, not so much anymore. You might be better of with a VW. They are basically the same car.

I feel the same way. The funny thing is that those paddles come from the F1 world, which I consider the ultimate sporsts cars.

The paddle shift was first used about 100 yrs ago at LeMans. Porsche advanced the paddle shift on their 956/962 Group C cars in the early 80's long before F1 adopted them as standard practise in the mid 90's(unsuccessfull attempts in the early 70's).

I've never driven a car with a paddle shift, and don't even know how they work....

::holding out my Man Card to be taken from me::

Just looked it up on Wiki...

::Putting the Man Card back in my wallet and shutting up now::

Thank you, gentlemen. I knew I could count on your wisdom.

Ken, I'm talking about spending more than I've ever spent on a vehicle before. It's a LOT of money for us. I suppose it is a prideful thing, but I want to feel happy and excited to drive this car for a long time, and I'm just not sure that a Legacy is going to get me there. A WRX would, but is probably out of my price range and is also probably too small. Plus, they're ugly.

Well, Mike, aren't you helpful?

I'd like to spend $19,000 but would probably go up to $24,000. Used would need to have <50k miles. I don't need four doors. I don't need room for four adults, but it might be nice to be able to get me and two kids in there (but I'm not married to that either). I have to have a sunroof, but might be willing to get a convertible (although I'm scared of "what the hell was I thinking?"). I MUCH prefer a stick, but am having a lot of trouble finding well-appointed cars so equipped.

Mike, your definition of "fun" is a much higher standard than mine. A stick with good torque and a sunroof is fun. If I have to get an automatic with a manual mode, I want some luxury to go with it.

No VW's. I've never sat in one for more than ten minutes that didn't give me agonizing back pain. Seriously.

I'm a little concerned about cost to insure true sports cars.

I need to "fit" and be comfortable. I'm only 6' tall, but I drive sitting up, so head room is an issue.

For a while, I thought I wanted a Mazda 3 (full circle on this thread) but it's just a little small and I absolutely hate the front end styling from the last couple years. Looked at a 2008 or 2009 Mustang and didn't like the way things worked inside, and would have to get a convertible since the coupe roof is so small and virtually round.

Okay, so here's a list: Acura TL, Civic Si, Accord Coupe, 350Z, Miata (probably don't fit but will try again), S2000, G35 sedan, Mustang convertible, Camaro.

What am I missing?

A used Mini? Mazda 6(used ones not so economical)? Mitsu Eclipse?

Mazda RX 8?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MQZ_n3mbsng