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turboswede wrote:If it weren't for the air bags (why?) you could buy a good used 924 or early 944. Note: I said Good. Don't buy a cheap one as they will require a lot of work.
I still think a Miata with a hardtop is the best solution outside of a 3-series. The newer ones even have a folding metal roof.
Why chose an early 944 or 924 over a 968 or 951 or 944 S2 or 924S? As far as the Miata, I won't fit with a very modified seat. What kinda gas mileage does a 928 return?
924's were built for economy. The rest weren't.
A 928 is a 4+L DOHC multi-valve V8, I don't think it does that well on mileage ;)
I'm sure the specs are on the fueleconomy.gov website....
Yep, 14 and 18 for the 928, 14 and 25 for the 944 and 20 and 28 for the 924.
Only the early 924 and 944 had the oh-so-important manual rack you want. The 944 and 924S (944 narrow body) used power steering for most. Including the 951, 968 and 944 S2. Many of the racers covet the manual racks for the 944's, so they tend to get snapped up pretty quickly.
I can't find anything about a Porsche 924 on that site. The 911s fuel mileage is kinda in the middle.
You described a N/A MK2 MR2 perfectly, as someone else mentioned earlier.
Fun to drive Oh yes
Good Seats and driving position Among the best IMO
Good A/C Yep
Decent Gas Mileage (in the 20s at least) Low 30s
Manual transmission Yep
Easy to work on Clutch jobs are kind of a pain, but everything else is surprisingly easy
Reliable It's a pre-unintentional acceleration Toyota with a Camry engine
Fixed top (aka coupe, sedan, station wagon, etc) Most are T-bar but hardtops are there.
Things I would like but aren't required.
Manual windows, manual steering, power locks and alarm (I guess I can always add that), decent safety (aka seatbelts and driver and passenger airbag), low profile (aka not a cop magnet), disc brakes all round, compact, decent aftermarket Mine had all of this except mine had power windows and cruise control. Stock and driving resonably, cops will leave you alone.
96DXCivic wrote:I can't find anything about a Porsche 924 on that site. The 911s fuel mileage is kinda in the middle.
Yeah, I had to drop some google-fu to find some older specs for the 924.
Other than A/C, and airbags (I would also question that being an important requirement, at least on anything except an almost new car id prefer to not have them), my car (alfa milano) would fit your requirements too. I have put 40k miles on mine and it has only had a ride on a tow truck once, so the reliability isnt really worse than anything else.
Neon ACR with the base rack installed or a base Neon with ACR brakes installed.
The neon would work, although it fails in the decent seats area, and the aftermarket isnt anything special really, although better than some.
I autocross in FSP with my Neon and the stock seats are not that bad.
As I read your list I was thinking that my Neon Sport Coupe fits the bill almost to the letter, except for the seats, which as Travis said, are not that great. SRT4 seats go in very nicely if you can find some. The Sport models are often forgotten, and not always easy to find, but they are basically just overweight ACRs without Konis.
96DXCivic wrote:I can't find anything about a Porsche 924 on that site. The 911s fuel mileage is kinda in the middle.
My '90 coupe with the 3.6L gets 20city/27hwy if I keep the revs under 4k. That almost never happens but I still see a real-world number around... 20-22.
I "can" dip it all the way to 8 if I try hard enough.
NYG95GA wrote:As I read your list I was thinking that my Neon Sport Coupe fits the bill almost to the letter, except for the seats, which as Travis said, are not that great. SRT4 seats go in very nicely if you can find some. The Sport models are often forgotten, and not always easy to find, but they are basically just overweight ACRs without Konis.
R/Ts are overweight without Koni's. Sports had slightly softer springs. There were several different suspenstion packages. GRM did a story in the late 90s / early 2000s on the Gen I Neon. I still have it around here some place. The Sport got the touring suspension. The R/T got the ACR suspension wothout the Konis. In fact, before the R/T was out, the ACR didn't have Konis either. Original ACRs had Arvin non-adjustable (but stiff) dampers.
Also, if anybody wants good seats for a Neon sedan, I have a full factory leather out of a '95 Sport. They are much more comfortable than the regular cloth Sport seats, with deeper pocket and bigger bolsters for better lateral grip.
Ok so basically what I am reading is this car doesn't really exist. However the 80s Porsche 911 has been added to the short list of cars I will buy I have the money and the price is right. No offense to the guys that drive Neons but I will stick to my Civic over a Neon.
Neon, 318ti, and Mazda3 are my favorites so far.
Havent owned the 318ti (have thought about it..), but i know what the other two are good for. Between the neon and the Mazda3, id take a mazda3 in every case except 1. i couldnt afford to buy it (huge price difference) and 2. I planned to road-race it (and couldnt afford to lose it).
The first gen RX-7 has all of these things except airbags.
if you can live with power steering, then I'd say golf. Had one in the other day that was manual windows, A/C , power locks and alarm. felt pretty decent for the couple minutes i drove it. of course doing the condenser required pulling the bumper/core support assembly. but it wasn't too bad to do.
4cylndrfury wrote:MadScientistMatt wrote:Subaru Legacy GT - Like a WRX without the cop magnetism.
This!!!
I'll raise you one...
...I started a project (which I never finished- sold to someone on this board) with a WRX 2.0L turbo being dropped into a 2 door Impreza coupe.
Wish I'd finished THAT one!
SVreX wrote:4cylndrfury wrote:MadScientistMatt wrote:Subaru Legacy GT - Like a WRX without the cop magnetism.
This!!!
I'll raise you one...
...I started a project (which I never finished- sold to someone on this board) with a WRX 2.0L turbo being dropped into a 2 door Impreza coupe.
Wish I'd finished THAT one!
Moparman loves Subies too. Probably the best all around car we have owned was my wife's Outback. My daughter is in college and has a 98 Impreza wagon with just under 200,000 miles and it is still going very strong.
In reply to 96DXCivic:
I would vote for a MK2 or MK3 Golf/Jetta.
I recently sold a '92 Jetta. Fun to drive, manual, crank windows. It did have power steering, however.
I drove it like I stole it and never got a ticket.
Problem is - when you buy an performance option package - they often come with a bunch of gizmos that you may not want.
You can always restore and upgrade your Civic. K- series motor, new paint, new interior, brake upgrade, etc.
