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Get a Civic.

Get a banger. Theres no sense in ruining something reasonably new.

Carcrazy wrote:It's obvious this car is probably going to be wrecked or damaged in the hands of a new driver, but I'd like a car that I can confidently have repaired and keep riding it with no shame/regret. ^_^

I'm not even going to bother suggesting cars for you now that you've said that. You seriously aren't going to regret dinging a MazdaSpeed, WRX, Si, hell even a Maxima? Cause newsflash mate, you most likely will. In all of those cases. Get a fkn 1980's Corolla or something.

Yay for no airbags! \o/

Seriously, you CAN'T not love a car you own, in one way or another... but that's completely besides the point. >.<*

I'm agreeing with Haz and Bogan, that Si keeps looking better each day.

Don't get an Si if you're going to beat it up - just get a regular ol' Civic.

Ya, beating on a new car is just throwing money down the drain.

Man this topic is getting repetitive....

Just a 'lil bit.

I'm not going to "beat it up" in that context. If I really thought I was I'd go buy that 2005 Nissan Sentra downtown for 5k. What I meant was, when you drive anywhere from 60-100+ miles almost EVERYDAY, it puts a lot of wear on the car. Do this for a few years, and well, you get the point.

The Si is the most well-rounded car I can really find, or even think of. Reliable, looks decent, good mileage, has the grunt ready for when you want it, etc. I'd honestly have to say Bogan hit the nail on the head when he said Civic, (at least when the Si is taken into consideration.)

Seriously, if I bust a** for almost 12 months raising money, I want to baby that car for as long as possible - but when you're a new driver, **** happens. =S

I don't see your logic, you are talking about having to do a lot of miles and you want a sportscar (sporty car) those are in general 2 things that don't mix very well.
The Civic in general isn't a bad choice, but I really doubt that the SI is a good choice.

I use my diesel for work and I drive between 1000 and 1500 miles a week, and if I used the Civic Type R I would A: spend more time at the fuel station then on the road, and B: spend so much money on refilling the car that I wouldn't have any money left.

I don't know about the fuel price over there but what I do know is that if you drive 60 miles or more a day over here you would be stupid to drive a petrol powered car...diesel is the way to go.

But then you life in the US and they are afraid of diesel some how... and think it's only for hauling big cargo....

If you take care of a car the miles shouldn't be a problem, but the problem with a sportscar is that they need to be serviced more then other cars, and stuff in general wears out faster.

On my Type R the service interval is pretty short, and the costs aren't low.
The Verso diesel on the other hand is a different matter, even though the interval isn't as long as I would like needs a service every 10.000miles (but in general it's done every 12500) but only thing done is oil change and other minor stuff now got over 125.000 miles on it and still had only the stuff replaced that where dedicated on the service manual (cambelt replaced etc.) but nothing because it was worn.
In the Civic on the other hand the interval for replacing parts is a lot shorter, and stuff did need replacing because it was worn, instead of replacing it just in case....

I will btw sell the Civic this summer, no clear view on what I want to replace it with.

Quick question, if I were to get an 09 Corolla S, and wanted a slight power gain within the next year, (say 30-40hp, 20-30ft lb. torque,) how should I really do this? So far, all I've been able to find for it is a K&N Short Ram intake, which if I had to guess would give me, maybe 15hp, if I'm lucky.

It's a nice car, but 130hp is just really lacking to me. I mean, 160-170hp would make this car near-perfect, (besides the 4-speed automatic, but you can't win every fight.)

(Yes, I still want a Civic, dearly, but it is my parent's decision, and this car is about 8k off MSRP. All-in-all it'd be about 14k after tax and title... you can't fight that for a well-equipped new car.)

First of all, get a manual. Not only is it better for learning to drive but you can make better use of the power that's available.

Secondly, there is no easy way to get 30hp out of an engine like that. K&N pod will give you 1hp, if that. And it will make your car noisy as f-ck.
You can do intake, exhaust, cams, blah blah blah etc but it's just tossing money down the drain. As far as I know, Toyota ECUs are not reprogrammable at all, so anything you throw at the engine will be in vain (because you can't tune it).
The best thing to do is buy a new ECU. But do you know how much that will cost?

A lot.

It's your first car? Ok.

It's pointless to think too far ahead and get obsessed with reliability, power figures, amount of money you'll be spending, etc. You might get a car that's supposed to be reliable, but this particular one ends up being epic failure. The mileage you plan on doing might change quickly, just like any other factor you've brought in while considering a car.

Get a car that's a proper bargain with decent specs. Don't go overly obsessed with power, it's not like you'll be nailing it all the time. If you want to go fast, go downhill. Don't go all out on your budget, hold some money back for unexpected maintenance.

New cars are epic wastes of money and time. (Unless the crisis made a brand new car look like free) If you really want ''new'', get secondhand with low mileage. That will save you money and it doesn't need that break-in stuff for the engine.

That Civic is simply put, amazing.

They had a Blue '07 Sedan with everything from a spoiler to a sunroof, and GOD was it gorgeous. It also cost just under 16k, however, and had just below 40,000 miles.

So we went back and looked at/drove the 09 Corolla S, and while the steering completely sucks nuts, it wasn't as bad as I expected. Once we got the price down to 13,864.50 , it was a done deal, especially once you consider I can get a Toyota serviced less than a mile down the road from my house, but the nearest Honda dealer is 60+ miles away. =/

Still, a car's a car. Especially when it's cheap. =P
(MSRP was 19,946, i think.)

The steering is because it's has electric steering and you have to get used it it, it just drives differently.

And about the performance stuff it's not worth it, the low cost options don't do anything usefull and just like Bogan said they won't give a noticeable gain in power, if any at all.
It is the auto or a normal lone?

4-spd auto

It doesn't bother me as much as I thought it would, it just takes getting used to.

All in all I like the car and I'm lucky to get one like it, it's just bittersweet after that Civic.
...and I didn't totally get to look over everything while we were test driving it. I would've liked to try the stereo a bit more and sit in the back seat, which for some reason I didn't think to hop into, but hey... 5k off MSRP. =P

--EDIT--
Wait, it would be more than 5k... we got 4600 on a trade in via the CARS system, the 09 models had a 1000 discount from Toyota, and we haggled the price down almost another thousand. So more like 6-7k off. The MSRP may have been 21k... there were two S models, and I may be getting them confused.

I feel sorry for you. I truly do.

Get a Civic. Pre-owned. Manual. Nothing fancy, nothing gimpy, not under-powered, not over-powered, good, reliable, cheap to maintain. Chances are you're not going to treat your first car well, and you'll regret getting a nicer car, down the line, when you do realise that you've not been too friendly. Lord knows I wish I treated the Miata a little better. Chances are, though, you're not going to miss a Civic.

F***, I miss the Civic now, but it would've cost more, used, than the Corolla new.

Besides, it's a new car for a new driver... if you bi*ch about it, somethin' ain't right in your head. =P
(The other thing is with this, if I save one to two-hundred dollars a month, I should have plenty of money for a 'project car,' so to speak, come my senior year... Just something cheap to play around in on the weekends, that wouldn't run over 5k.)

The Corolla's material's seem decent, the dashboard is MUCH nicer than in the 9th generation and offers the same visibility as a Civic, with the only draw-back being the rear-windshield limiting visibility. They get the same mileage within 1 MPG of each other, the Corolla not only cost less but can also be serviced locally.

As weird as it sounds, the Corolla was actually more practical. And it smells new.

It's a decent choice, you could've done worse.

Try learning to service the car by yourself. Modern Corollas are hands-down the easiest car to service, I could do it in my sleep.

Carcrazy wrote:F***, I miss the Civic now, but it would've cost more, used, than the Corolla new.

Besides, it's a new car for a new driver... if you bi*ch about it, somethin' ain't right in your head. =P

I don't know if they'd actually be in your price range but you should have looked for a Type-R. EK Civic or DC5 Integra/Acura RSX Type S.

What are you prices in the 'States/Auz/Europe like at the moment? Here in the UK it's so hit and miss- one day you'll see a 60k mile 2003 BMW M3 in a desirable colour for about £9k, the next someone will be expecting you to pay £7 for a Golf TDi. Madness.

steelsnake00 wrote:What are you prices in the 'States/Auz/Europe like at the moment? Here in the UK it's so hit and miss- one day you'll see a 60k mile 2003 BMW M3 in a desirable colour for about £9k, the next someone will be expecting you to pay £7 for a Golf TDi. Madness.

people are paying new car prices for used crap. 25K for a 97 Ford F250 stock.

Why would anyone pay big money for a truck? Totally mad. I hate this US "my truck is an extension of my penis and it's MAAAAHOOOSIVE" thing. I was in DC on business a month or so ago and I saw almost nothing but pickups driven by fat mid-20's man-children, scrawny bleach-blonde wannabe gangsta wiggers and fat beardy wankers. All were terrible drivers, and people who own them in the UK (where they don't really even fit on the roads) are even bigger tits.

[/rant over]

Sorry. As you were.

LOL.

Living in NC, I can say this...
It's a redneck thing. =P

We have everything from 12-inch lift kits to Dixie horns at my school. It's frickin' hilarious.

@ Bogan: Yeah, I probably am, as I don't feel like paying someone $80 to change my oil when I can do it myself.

On the other hand, I think I'll want to change it to synthetic after I break the engine in, (meaning by the first oil change.) Is this too soon, or is it better to go ahead and do it? Also, what brands should work well for it?

We do wanna see pics, you know that!