What car? DD Sedan Forum Warz Edition - Devil's Advocate Inside...

First: P71 + Miata is a "no".

I need a daily driver to replace my DD, a 2001 MKIV Jetta 2.0 A/T bought new by my wife, now with 138k on it and no A/C, with all of her dents and in what the company I work for surely thinks is a ridiculous shade of Jazz Blue.

It must be 4 door+, preferably one that will fit two child seats. It must be reliable, reasonably easy and inexpensive to maintain, and fun. These will usually make them "forum cars".

Limit ~$12k... Preferably closer to $7k. Also, preferably closer to 30mpg hwy than 20. 99% chance the car will be rolling on Bilsteins after I buy it.

Current considerations include:
06 Acura TSX 6sp, responds well to header and tune.
B5 S4 6sp
B5 A4 1.8T 5sp
B6 A4 1.8T

Why the E36 M3 does the "return" key not do what it's supposed to do?

I'll freely shoot down some suggestions and tell you why, i.e. can't do a used G35 because I'm not a fan of the local dealer.

I need help, homies. The used car market is a freaking circus.

Fire away!

328iT manual. Forester XT manual

You aren't a fan of VAG products are you?

Mazda5

WRX! When I think 4dr. I automatically think Impreza.

The Acura seems like a good option. There isn't much out there that hits those MPG numbers and is as roomy.

Skip the Audis if you want a car that can be driven daily. You'll spend too much time in the shop or in a rental and maintenance $ is ridiculous.

The G35 is nice but hard to find in MT and is toward the bottom end of your MPG requirement.

Rear seats in the WRX is too small.

Mazda6 may be a good option MPG is not as good as the Acura.

Saab 9-3 or 9-5 - may be an option but I think I'd rather have the Acura.

Volvo V70R?

In reply to Teh E36 M3: 328iT, hate the E46 wagon looks. 330i sport would be ok, but subframe and ridiculous dealer prices annoy me. Forester is a possibility. Maybe I should've said lean more towards the sedan though, we have a minivan (gasp!) so mine will be work transport and minimal kid transport. As far as being a VAG guy (snicker) I've never owned one other than the one I inherited from my wife. 138k miles, nothing but fluid changes and a water pump... kinda converted me. I do like ze germans though, had e30, Z4 3.0si and 330i ZHP. Honestly I would absolutely convert her 2.0 GL Auto to a 200whp 1.8T manual if it wasn't such a royal PITA. Queue deciding buy 1.8T Jetta, queue checking out 1.8T A4s, queue checking out B5 S4s, queue posting "help!" on GRM.

In reply to Javelin: No to the 5. I like Mazda as a brand, but maybe I should've mentioned I already had a minivan, lol. I know there are some rad 5's out there though...

In reply to wrek496: grumble. Just ok for me. I've heard horror stories about the boxer engine, and the old dealer here is notoriously bad, although a new outfit moved into town or they got taken over. I searched for a WRX, then found out that there wasn't much jump to the STi, then I bought two Evos. A plain WRX would have to be DIRT cheap. Are they all AWD?

In reply to amg_rx7: TSX, I agree, but berkeley people thing these things are made of gold! There are a couple in the country right now that are less than 12k, for a SIX YEAR OLD CAR with 100k on it! 04-05 was the "beta" Call-of-Duty edition, whereas the '06 is how they shoulda been built. On the Audis, I feel that maybe these babies get a bad rap from lack of maintenance, am I completely wrong and these are all basket-cases? I would have roughly 3-4k to spread between emergency repairs, maintenance, and such, at some very good indys here in town, plus I could always keep the Jetta as a backup 3rd... WRX, you're right, small seats, way smaller than my Evo that would hold 2 6"ers. Mazda6 I've checked out. 17 engines, bland as a cracker, no local independent shops, shady dealer... Still a contender. Saab... no dead brands please, and never really been that crazy about them.

In reply to EvanB: No to the wagon (a bit too long & low for my driveway, Allroad and Forester are better suited, plus, already have minivan!), but you raise a good point with the S60R sedan. Just not sure it would be viable against a 330i sport/A4. I'll check the MPG and see if there are any indys out there.

Note: I know I seem picky, but I really appreciate all your suggestions. I need discussion here, I am beyond the point of being able to hash this out myself. B5 S4 gets favorably weighted due to being a car that I've always wanted, being kin to our low-maintenance Jetta and appealing to the enthusiast in me that loves M-cars, P-cars, Muscle Cars, etc. That certainly doesn't mean it will win if it's basically the devil in sheet metal.

The more I think about it, the more I'm just kidding myself about some of these performance cars. I sold my Evo because it was too much $ and overkill, FOCUS Jay! (squirrel!)

The TSX is what I have been looking for, it's new, reliable, can have 200whp fairly easy from the 06, it's just un-berkeleying-available. I'd pay my 12k tomorrow find a manual.

This is what I want to do to my Jetta, sans full race prep and big wing:

I know my wife's Jetta is COMPLETELY rust free/ unwrecked, period. Never been anywhere but NC and the cosmoline goo is still trickling down the rockers, hah. Too bad it's an act of God to swap the 1.8T in, wait... is it that hard to swap the VR6 I wonder...? Still, gotta be cheaper to just buy one, and sell my wife's. Dang.

I vote TSX. They make a wonderful daily. Seats are second only to Volvo, nice and quiet, row your own gears with a nice precise shifter, pretty good handling(tho rather soft stock), tastefully understated styling, and more reliable than everything else mentioned so far.

My sister got rid of hers because she's obsessed with AWD and was looking for something more sporty. So she got an AWD 325. I'd rather have the TSX..

Fly and drive! Though sadly this example is less than ideal...

http://chicago.craigslist.org/wcl/cto/2943468050.html

not mine etc..

Good luck finding a TSX in your price range. I was shopping for a DD for my wife and wanted to be in the $6-8,000 range, like you. It's quite difficult to find something there. I ended up more at your $12K range. I liked the Mazda 6 (08-09), Sonata (06-10), TSX but none in price range, Fusion (08-09), Altima (07-09), Civic 2006 on but prices were an insult, and then the real surprises were a 2010 Kia Forte and Kia Optima (07-10). The year ranges were important as many of the pre-08 cars had lower safety ratings than I wanted. I was shocked that I could get Kias that new in the price range. I ended up buying a 2009 Hyundai Sonata with 38K miles. 32 MPG highway, awesome safety features and ratings, back seat is bigger than my Outback, still under warranty. For 2009 the Sonata got a revised interior and upgraded from 4- to 5-speed automatic for a 2 MPG improvement on the highway. It's not an exciting car but it is a very competent family sedan.

David

An Evo is too much money and you want a VAG product.

I own a Yugo, Spitfire, a Yamaha enduro which is almost impossible to find parts for and just got a W123 and I won't go near a new VAG product.

my last car was a 99.5 A4 1.8T with quattro and a 5 speed. very enjoyable when it was working. which it wasn't all that much, by the time i got rid of it. i can go into more detail if you want, but for now i'll just reiterate: don't do it. aside from the mechanical aspect, the back seat isn't very accomodating.

back seat in the Impreza won't work. the Forester XT won't hit your gas mileage needs and is still a little tight in the back but a Legacy GT might...they're closer to 26-27 mpg highway and have lots of back seat space. i've seen nice ones around $10k-ish.

TSX should be a great fit, but if you can find one, the Accord V6 6-speed sedans are out there too - i think it was the 06-07 model years? super sleepers and Honda reliability.

i was going to mention the Maxima but it sounds like the local dealer is a big PITA so i suppose that's not gonna fly.

Yeah, seriously, VAG products out of warranty SCARY!

Anyway, The TSX is good, I prefer the Civic Si Sedan. It's not a "luxury" brand, but the sedan defeats the boy-racer thing and it really is a fun car with a jewel of a motor and a slick gearbox that will cost you next to nothing to own.

J308 wrote: Why the E36 M3 does the "return" key not do what it's supposed to do?

Strange quirk on this board...if you want something single spaced, you have to hit the space bar twice at the end of a sentence before hitting the return.
Without the double hit of the space bar, everything will remain on one line.

1994-2001 Integra GS-R Sedan.

As close to the perfect compact four door as there is. Quick, nimble, easy on fuel, reliable, cheap parts, vast knowledge base.

In reply to clutchsmoke: Yeah, TSXs are hard to find, and all the ones for sale online are northern state cars. In addition to being rusty, the owners think I'm kicking tires when I talk about flights.

In reply to DWNSHFT: Good luck indeed. I'll need it. Hyundai and Kia have come a long way, and no doubt 3 years from now I could actually find something really fun to drive in my price point. It's just a case of wrong place/wrong point in development cycle for used from them right now.

In reply to 93EXCivic: Yeah, you got me there. I'm done shopping VAG at the moment.

In reply to ScottyB: That's pretty much it exactly. Only honestly, if I were getting an Accord, I'd lease one for $200 and re-evaluate in 3 years.

In reply to ShadowSix: I've been looking for one of these to debadge for a month. Stupid prices on the used market considering I can go order a brand new, 0 miler for 22k.

In reply to jrw1621: Thank you. It was driving me nuts, and no one wants extra stress in the middle of used car hell.

In reply to chaparral: Whoa, this thread just jumped the shark! hah. The GSR motor has long been a favorite of the swap crowd, but this would be a perfect storm of project-car-hell, and no way I'm getting in the middle of that. These are far too small/old/dented/molested etc. to fit my needs. It'd be a good project sedan for quirky track duty, but SWMBO says "no projects", though I'm sure I could make it a fine car. She'd take one look at the old metal and veto it as a kid-hauler.

Got into a small disagreement last night, and anything that might need repairs suddenly turned into "project cars". Also, anything that might need wheels and a front lip is cause for concern. So fast forward to today and I have a small update: I sold my Heep today, so I've bought a stay-of-execution from SWMBO...

I also went car shopping, of sorts. Decided to hit the local Honda and Acura dealerships, didn't make it too far before I got sidetracked...

Details to follow soon, but needless to say, all of my original requirements will not be met, and I won't be getting exactly what I want. This is mostly my choosing, as SWMBO raises a good point about family first, but certainly a compromise. Maybe I'll be regrouping into a challenge-budget fun car in a couple of years.

That's not to say that I can't have a little fun in the meantime.

I had a B5 Passat and I will grow the list of people that say stay away.

A Jetta with a 1.8T - now that is a fun car.

NGTD wrote: I had a B5 Passat and I will grow the list of people that say stay away. A Jetta with a 1.8T - now that is a fun car.

Yeah, it's a shame that VW doesn't share Honda's view towards modular engineering. Virtually nothing is the same from the 2.0 to the hotter engines. I have a completely rust free, non-sunroof body that is practically begging me to swap in a 1.8t or VR6 with a 5-speed + LSD, Bilsteins and springs. This would be a $2k weekend swap in a Honda, but in the VW, it's way cheaper to just buy a 1.8t car and sell the 2.0, which defeats the whole purpose of keeping our solid, one-owner Jetta.

I'd love to get a DD and reward the Jetta for it's many years of reliable service, but realistically there are cheaper, better performing projects that can be done down the road.

Astro. Remember thy Holy Trinity.

Appleseed wrote: Astro. Remember thy Holy Trinity.

Word.

Used WRX is a really dangerous proposition anyway, especially at $12k. Way too much chance the previous owner either street raced the crap out of it, or beat it up slogging around in the snow.

I just sold a Civic Si sedan and was really disappointed with it after three years. It wasn't fun enough to justify its image. It held value well, though, I got 16k trade-in with a cracked taillight and foglight and a couple body scuffs. I think I'd rather have the nicer interior and stuff of a TSX.

In reply to Appleseed: I agree. Problem with Astro, is I got a clean-as-new Windstar with 48k on it for peanuts, from my wife's grandfather's lady-friend at the retirement community who can't drive anymore.

I already have one-third of thy holy trinity... hah. I'm working on another .5... but not sure how it will shake out quite yet.

Max_Archer wrote: Used WRX is a really dangerous proposition anyway, especially at $12k. Way too much chance the previous owner either street raced the crap out of it, or beat it up slogging around in the snow. I just sold a Civic Si sedan and was really disappointed with it after three years. It wasn't fun enough to justify its image. It held value well, though, I got 16k trade-in with a cracked taillight and foglight and a couple body scuffs. I think I'd rather have the nicer interior and stuff of a TSX.

Yeah, definitely no interest in WRX, for all the reasons you mention, plus access for repairs, but the main thing that rules it out is the way-too-small back seat.

Legacy wagon?