Need some recommendations for g/f's DD

Protege +1.

02-04 Elantra. Sedan or Hatch. Both are tremendously durable, economical, cheap to fix and maintain.

Ok, no Subarus? Another vote for the Protege then. I've never heard of anyone that's had one have any issues with them.

I vote no to the Corolla. A friend of mine bought a 1996 years ago, and it was a complete POS. They are not very durable. He bumped his garage wall in the thing (he just barely touched it) and it ended up costing him about $300 to fix the damage. The headlights are housed in a paper-thin plastic frame on each side, instead of being attached to the core support like most cars. That whole thing cracked apart, and the headlights were held in by nothing due to that less-than-1mph bump. I helped him replace it all, and when we took the headlights out, the wiring harnesses both fell apart! I never want to touch one of those again. He bought a ....guess what... Subaru Impreza 2dr with the 2.2L not too long after that, and it's been bulletproof.

njansenv, lolol, does your wife drive a jetta?

Vulcan powered Taurus=FTW appliance.

Coming from the only person on this site to admit to missing a 3rd gen taurus

vulcan tauruses have treated me very well. They're ugly & common, & therefore cheap. The motor sounds like poo but I can't recall a dead one. A neglected tranny will die, but they're also cheap & no bother if you service them. Loads of car for the money. $3000 will get you a nice 99-ish one with well under 100k. At least where I live.

protege's are good too. Overlooked a little. I'd prefer one over a corolla & even up for a civic though you'll find the mazda for less. A good choice.

how are 300m's? they depreciate like crazy and drive pretty nice...

Just to give another opinion on them..

They're pretty nice for what you can get them for. Unlike lesser models on that platform with the 2.7L, the 3.5L is damn reliable and will go forever on basic maintenance, keeping in mind that this does include a timing belt and water pump every 80k or so.

Also, disregard the 150mph comment made previous.. i can tell you for an absolute fact they wont do much more than 135 on flat land at sea level.

In sum, i like them..

I second the Saturn S-series thing, as always. Depreciation and the fact that they don't make them anymore is your friend. Except when you can't find parts anymore, which won't happen if you're near a junkyard, because most junkyards have more Saturns than Chevy Cavaliers at this point.

Or a Protege or Escort or newer Honda. Those would work too.

in no particular order: Altima
G20t
I30t
Maxima

All of them can be bought cheaper than their HonYota counterpart and are every bit as reliable, plus they all have timing chains rather than belts (VG powered maximas excluded, but you don't want one of those for many reasons)

careful relying on the speedo at speeds that high...the error increases as speeds increase. it could easily be 10mph or more off at that point.

also, unless you live in the desert i really hope you're not doing ~150mph on public roads in the US.

There are not many high 15 / low 16 second cars in the world that can go 150 mph.

In fact, i cant think of one.

As a former modded 3.5 LH owner.. im pretty happy that i got mine over 130. I dont feel any urge to pad that.

in very particular order: Maxima I30t G20t Altima

Fixed it for ya

Vigo wrote: There are not many high 15 / low 16 second cars in the world that can go 150 mph. In fact, i cant think of one. As a former modded 3.5 LH owner.. im pretty happy that i got mine over 130. I dont feel any urge to pad that.

in very particular order: Maxima I30t G20t Altima

Fixed it for ya

I30t is actually my fave, "t" means VLSD. Big enough to ride nice, suspension was good enough to handle most of what I threw at it. Can't say the same for the brakes though

grimmelshanks wrote: njansenv, lolol, does your wife drive a jetta?

Nope, but she's (rightly) somewhat sensitive to people talking about "girl's cars". She daily drives an E30, intends to auto-x a C4 corvette (manual) this summer once she's recovered from a C-section, and wouldn't own a mustang without the "big motor".

Back OT: Overall, our 2k3 protege has been good. It DID injest screws from the intake (there's a TSB for the 2003), but seems to have survived. The motor is rather...unrefined, but while it sounds rough, it just keeps going. They are quite fun to drive, and handle surprisingly well. If I were to buy another, I'd get the wagon/hatch, as they don't carry the price premium they used to.

WilberM3 wrote: she hates wagons.... i'm workin on her on that too. though the subaru idea makes lots of new england sense, its inefficient compared to fwd and she drives a lot, plus from what minimal subaru searching ive done in the past new englanders beleive their subarus are all worth gold.

I can do you one better. Come to Atlanta and pick up my '93 Subaru Legacy turbo. It's not a wagon, and the undersides aren't rusted out of it. Plus, it's one of the few Subaru sedans that the back seats will actually fold down in!

thanks for all the responses, got a few ideas to look more into and a few to stay away from.

i was just talking to a local guy from whom friends have purchased cars, usually in the $5k-$35k range but he's got a 1999 saab 9-5 4cyl turbo, auto, 138k, looks good aesthetically but ive never been a big saab fan so i dont really know whats saab, whats gm, if any of it is worth looking into further or if i should run away. any opinions on 9-5 2.3T cars?

you could not pay me to take an old Saab with an auto tranny. Seriously, i've heard awful things about 9-5 automatics.

Saabs are great cars. Saabs are terrible cars. Both of these statements are true.

My wife had a '99 9-3 for about 5 years ('03-'08). Depending on the day of the week she either loved the car or hated it, which is par for the course for Saabs.

In summary: fast, safe, quirky, great on gas, comfortable, incredibly practical, expensive to fix when it does break (and it will). i would buy another 5-spd turbo in a second, esp given how cheap they are. but it's a good idea to have a backup car.

I've never heard of automatic transmission issues in 9-5s. The auto will definitely sap some of the fun of driving the car, but I don't know that they're failure prone...

^ that is what I have heard. I have an 03 Aero and it has been a good car, we have put about 20k on it in the year we have had it. With that being said be sure to get it checked out by a SAAB shop before you buy it.

Just don't go to the dealer for parts and you should be fine.

^ that is what I have heard. I have an 03 Aero and it has been a good car, we have put about 20k on it in the year we have had it. With that being said be sure to get it checked out by a SAAB shop before you buy it.

Just don't go to the dealer for parts and you should be fine.