You narrowed it down to what?

So I've been trying to find a replacement for my wrecked focus, and being that its winter time in pennsylvania most of the interesting cars seem to be in hibernation somewhere. I have looked at a 98' Trans am, which was fast but the interior reeked of cheap and the owner turned town $8k. I looked at a 99' miata which was cheaper, and had a nicer interior but lacked room and proper maintenance. After that it snowed, and on sunday pennsylvania won't let you buy a car.

So I need to open up my choices if Im going to find something in a reasonable time frame. I was willing to sacrifice interior quality for the ls1 but other than that I want something nice to live with that handles well if I can't get power. I have a max of $8500 to spend, must have a manual trans, and want to keep under 100k. And it must exist and be for sale somewhere in PA-MD-DE. (Damn west coast GTO prices!)

That lead me to Mazda3's (04-05), Maxima SE (02-03), and a (03-04) wrx if I can find one that hasn't been abused. What else can I open my search up to that gets me the most GRM car for my new found money?

$8500 will damn near buy an E36 M3 in nice shape and will easily cover a "needs love" example. I think it will buy a pretty clean E46 325i.

$8500 will buy 4 Miatas, 4 1/2 E30s, or 8500 focuses.

BMW 3-series? Audi S4? Toyota MR-S? Toyota Celica GT-S 6sp? Acura RSX-S?

Got any other characteristics you need?

Oh yeah... my completely irrational choice:

You could EASILY get a beautiful clean low miles 90-93 Celica AllTrac for that money...

A late C4 maybe? LT1 instead of LS1, but it's still pretty nice.

'04 SVT Focus? 66k mi, fresh top end, clutch, etc. Ping me if you're interested.

04 GTO all the way

Maybe a RX-8?

I don't know where some of you are getting your prices, but I'll just say, not in this area you can't.

tuna55 wrote: A late C4 maybe? LT1 instead of LS1, but it's still pretty nice.

• 1..make it an early one and swap in a truck LR4 with a cam and intake.

there's a couple of 2.5l boxters on fleabay at $8k

http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/1995-Chevy-Corvette-6-Speed_W0QQitemZ130364293045QQcmdZViewItemQQptZUS_Cars_Trucks?hash=item1e5a513fb5

I recently bought a 99 Z28 hardtop with 62k on the clock, in great shape, and fully--I mean FULLY--prepped for ESP autocrossing (full Strano suspension, SFCs, LS6 intake, long-tube stainless headers, tune, etc). It also came with a second set of 315mm Hoosiers and 17x11 wheels for $8750. If you want such a car, they're out there in your price range for sure.

This kinda seems like to opposite of narrowing....

Duke wrote: I don't know where some of you are getting your prices, but I'll just say, not in this area you can't.

Airplane tickets are cheap, have an adventure!

Sn95 mustang prices is absolutely rock-bottom for the past year or so. You could get a 96-98 cobra, around 50k miles, lightly modded, full receipts, great condition etc for around $8-9k.

And don't limit yourself to such a small 'shopping' area, traveling costs money, but you'll possibly loose out on a car that will save you significantly more in the long run.

CRX - buy it cheap and use the rest of the money to put it back under 100K miles. http://pittsburgh.craigslist.org/cto/1564542913.html If I could see past those rims I'd kind of like the rest of the styling.

Giant Purple Snorklewacker wrote: $8500 will damn near buy an E36 M3 in nice shape and will easily cover a "needs love" example. I think it will buy a pretty clean E46 325i.

Looked for some M3's I found 2 but the miles were higher than everything else I was looking at, and one needed new door panels? 120-130k Miles.

93celicaGT2 wrote: BMW 3-series? Audi S4? Toyota MR-S? Toyota Celica GT-S 6sp? Acura RSX-S? Got any other characteristics you need? Oh yeah... my completely irrational choice: You could EASILY get a beautiful clean low miles 90-93 Celica AllTrac for that money...

Audi/VW, don't they have some electrical gremlins in the early 00s? Let alone crazy maintenance?

Celica GT-S and RSX Im holding back on b/c I can buy a 00' GS-R with 105k for $5000 from a friend, leaving this as a back up plan if I run out of time. I figure I can get most of the performance of the celica and rsx for $3k less.

RossD wrote: Maybe a RX-8?

Great platform but not good enough on gas.

SupraWes wrote: Airplane tickets are cheap, have an adventure!

Too Busy with school at the moment, Id love to try the road trip though.

I test drove a maxima (gle,,,auto) and a mazda3 tonight as well. The mazda was nice because it was newer, but the maxima was much more impressive. I just just did a massive search for 6spd SE maxima.

Two favorite deals right now

1998 Z/28 100k $4800!

2003 Maxima SE 114k $4800

Nitroracer wrote: Celica GT-S and RSX Im holding back on b/c I can buy a 00' GS-R with 105k for $5000 from a friend, leaving this as a back up plan if I run out of time. I figure I can get most of the performance of the celica and rsx for $3k less.

You should be able to haggle a Celica GTS down to $6-$7k, depending on prices where you are. I saw one for $5500 here a couple weeks ago in nice shape.

Im a big fan of 02-03 6spd maximas.

I also like mazda3s but honestly its hard to be picky about one at $8500, they resale too high (because they are good).

The camaro is powerful but i hate everything else about it. I bought a real nice v6 firebird for $400 that could have been ls motor swapped for probably $3k TOTAL, but after driving it i realized.. that i hated the size, the weight, the seating position, the interior, the engine bay, the storage space, etc etc etc so i flipped it for $1200.

I love my 03 maxima. 140k now, & it's needed a battery, brake pads, tires, & acc belts. The vq is just amazing.