Learn me - sporty, AWD, reasonably priced

In reply to 92CelicaHalfTrac:

That certainly looks sinister enough .

The0retical wrote:

J308 wrote: Evo IX with Bilsteins and Swift Spec Rs. Best street sedan I have ever driven, by a long way, including the RWD ones. They are at the STi price point and are cheap to fix and amazingly reliable. The back seat is HUGE compared to the WRX. I'm 6'0" 220lbs, and I could sit comfortably front or rear without adjusting the seat. World beating handling, all weather dominance, and cheap horsepower... What else do you want?

Is it even possible to find one that hasn't been held down and had the snot beat out of it? Every one I've looked at under the 20k price point was iffy at best.

I found a one-owner, original Evo VIII from AZ last year, black in color, no accidents ever. I talked to the guy, he was 58 years old and loved it. It sold for 11k on thebay with 90k miles.

I just sold my Wicked White IX with 80k miles for less than 20, with the above suspension combo less than 150 miles old. Expanding family necessitated sale, and it was never crashed, had all VIN tags, and was unmolested except for an HKS intake and BOV (very old school, likely done by original owner as no one runs those anymore).

Stock VIIIs should be less than 15k, and stock IX's should be less than 20k. They are out there, although I have no problem whatsoever wanting a C4 as the 911 is my dream car. I guess it's a matter of 4 seats or 2.

Btw, from time to time stock Evos pop up on Evolutionm classifieds.

Subaru is the answer. You could buy a very well-done RS with an STi or WRX motor swap for that money.

FWIW, the Saab Turbo X is bad as hell.

Also, MS6s go for $6-7k locally, so they are definitely in the sweet spot of performance:dollar. I looked at them to replace my Evo, but all the local ones were purple.

J308 wrote: FWIW, the Saab Turbo X is bad as hell. Also, MS6s go for $6-7k locally, so they are definitely in the sweet spot of performance:dollar. I looked at them to replace my Evo, but all the local ones were purple.

What the hell? They go for like... $15k here.

Same out here, the cheapest ones that look decent-ish go for something like $12k.

BoxheadTim wrote: In reply to 92CelicaHalfTrac: That certainly looks sinister enough .

Turbo 2.8 V6, 4th gen Haldex AWD (supposedly incredibly awesome), 280hp, 295lbft, 6spd manual... YUM.

And... DAT ASS.

And i dig the interior.

If you can't find a real Turbo X (there aren't many, but there's usually a few for sale), the 9-3 Aero with the turbo V6 @ lower boost making "only 255hp" is also available with the same AWD and eLSD system as the Turbo X.

The only real change for power gain between the regular car and the Turbo X is the boost is turned up 3-4psi.

That SAAB is a sweet car, but man they are rare. I've never even seen one for real, let alone one for sale.

Javelin wrote: That SAAB is a sweet car, but man they are *rare*. I've never even seen one for real, let alone one for sale.

Oh you're going to have to travel for one for sure, but the plus side is that 1) Not much eats up highway miles like a Saab, and 2) These things were EXPENSIVE when they were new, it's highly unlikely that they've been ragged on.

My buddy about a year ago had this on his list with a few other cars, he managed to find 3 for sale within a week, closest one was two states away, could have done an easy weekend trip for it.

There does seem to be more of them in California for some reason, though.

The0retical wrote:

J308 wrote: Evo IX with Bilsteins and Swift Spec Rs. Best street sedan I have ever driven, by a long way, including the RWD ones. They are at the STi price point and are cheap to fix and amazingly reliable. The back seat is HUGE compared to the WRX. I'm 6'0" 220lbs, and I could sit comfortably front or rear without adjusting the seat. World beating handling, all weather dominance, and cheap horsepower... What else do you want?

Is it even possible to find one that hasn't been held down and had the snot beat out of it? Every one I've looked at under the 20k price point was iffy at best.

My friend has an Evo IX MR SE with the MR Bilsteins and the Swift springs. Absolutely incredible car, I drove it once and fell in love I was expecting a nervous steering and a laggy turbo motor and was utterly wrong on all counts. It was very tractable from low RPMs, handled great, had incredible grip, and I loved the steering (I was concerned about the quick ratio).

I know they're hard to find, my friend found one in Ohio and did a fly 'n drive back to NH.

964 C4's had one of the worst awd systems out there. Heavy, complicated and expensive.

I know I'm the GRM board Audi fan boi, but I've put 100's of thousands of trouble free miles on A4/S4's. Just like any other car, you need to find one that's been properly maintained.

Proper maintenance for an Audi (from the owner's manual):

Is your Audi still in warranty? (select no)

(No selection) = Please travel to your nearest Audi dealer and trade in your vehicle for a new one. Thank you.

I enjoyed my 05 Legacy GT but reliability was a problem (new shortblock anyone?). That said, I test drove a Volvo S60R of the same vintage and wasn't impressed. It felt heavy.

In reply to docwyte:

The problem is that I don't like their smaller offerings and the ones I would be interested in like the A8 or the S6 with the A8 drivetrain seem to be very good at developing expensive problems even when they're well maintained.

DaveEstey wrote: I enjoyed my 05 Legacy GT but reliability was a problem (new shortblock anyone?). That said, I test drove a Volvo S60R of the same vintage and wasn't impressed. It felt heavy.

Given that I'm the guy who's heard his trusted mechanic say more than once "funny, I've never seen on of these fail", I should probably steer clear of Legacy GTs after all.

I'm telling you Tim, try the MS6 and the S60R. One of those will be your answer.

While we don't have an R version, my general thoughts regarding big Volvo's is while they can be driven with enthusiasm, they're not in their element doing so.

Most cars posted here have drawbacks on some level... but if I were looking for a big-ish AWD sedan with a manual transmission and gas mileage wasn't much of a concern, then I'd probably go shopping for a recent generation 5-series.

Javelin wrote: You'll need a bigger Suby fan than me to answer super-specifics, but if I'm remembering right, we got the good Legacy Turbo (2.5GT) from like 04-08ish. I know the the turbo/6-speed/wagon format was only 1 year (06?), but the sedans were downright "common". We even had a super-special one with some STi bits and killer shocks that was rare (500 or so?), I can't remember what it was called. But the Legacy 2.5GT definitely sounds like something you could use.

2.5 gt spec b o n my really short list (new boss has suby dealer)

92CelicaHalfTrac wrote:

J308 wrote: FWIW, the Saab Turbo X is bad as hell. Also, MS6s go for $6-7k locally, so they are definitely in the sweet spot of performance:dollar. I looked at them to replace my Evo, but all the local ones were purple.

What the hell? They go for like... $15k here.

Yeah, my bad. Seems like they are in the 9-11k range here. The only one that is still for sale is $11k locally...

Here it be. But it's purple also!

I don't think it's been said yet, but Subaru Forrester XT? More room than a legacy, awd, turbo, 5 speed is available. It's a total sleeper.

jrw1621 wrote: I think the Matrix w/ awd requires the auto trans.

well damn. maybe i got xrs and xr mixed up in my head =/
xr is awd, no man trans unfortunately
xrs is fwd with a man trans

speed6 or s60r!!

J308 wrote:

92CelicaHalfTrac wrote:

J308 wrote: FWIW, the Saab Turbo X is bad as hell. Also, MS6s go for $6-7k locally, so they are definitely in the sweet spot of performance:dollar. I looked at them to replace my Evo, but all the local ones were purple.

What the hell? They go for like... $15k here.

Yeah, my bad. Seems like they are in the 9-11k range here. The only one that is still for sale is $11k locally... Here it be. But it's purple also!

where in the hell is fuquay varina, and thats a deal!

I'm seeing AWD 225 HP Audi TTs for cheap lately. It kills me that everyone says that they're the ultimate high-maintenance mistress.

I vote X-Type. Nothing wrong with a little Jaguar goodness.

So i saw a TurboX on the way home from work last night, strangely.

I about peed myself it looks so scary in real life. Pictures don't really do it justice. It's a much more svelte looking car in real life. The pictures make it look really "thick and blocky." It's not.

"Sinister" is probably the best word for it.