Cars out there, something thats not celica Options

[NaderG]

So , what kind of car out there can be bought used for under 15k,that are reliable enough and have a minimum of 200 HP ??

[parriehunter]

So , what kind of car out there can be bought used for under 15k,that are reliable enough and have a minimum of 200 HP ??

i dont know about where you are but an altezza/IS200?

[bccentaur3]

WRX, IS300, RSX-S, SRT-4 and S4

[NaderG]

i am in California , US

SRT-4 isnt reliable one bit , RSX-S dont have 200HP sadly , Bugeye WRX are sort of ugly IMO and older lexus IS also looks kind of wierd ... and the newer ones for the WRX and the IS wont be for less than 15K.

A solara with a V6 or an accord with a V6 have some power , but i find them sort of undesirable

[celicadude04]

What kind of car are you looking for? Are you looking for a sports car, tuner car, family car, 2 door or 4 door?

[daazndood]

i am in California , US

SRT-4 isnt reliable one bit , RSX-S dont have 200HP sadly , Bugeye WRX are sort of ugly IMO and older lexus IS also looks kind of wierd ... and the newer ones for the WRX and the IS wont be for less than 15K.

A solara with a V6 or an accord with a V6 have some power , but i find them sort of undesirable

rsx-s are listed as 200hp

[spolski07]

205hp for the rsx-s

brand new accord coupe v6 is pure sex if you ask me
espically if you find a 6 speed one

This post has been edited by spolski07: Mar 13, 2008 - 12:54 AM

[NaderG]

i want to switch my car since i just realised i cant swap anything in it an make it legal ( except for V6 ) , and is currently way too slow for my liking. been thinking about this for a while now and i will buy something new if i dont have to move away for university , and decisions come out in 1 month. So basically if i get accepted in a far away university (UC Berkeley) i am keeping my car , if not , i will switch it to something else :

It is preferably a sports coupe , but 4 Dr wont be that hard to get used to, i do prefer smaller cars though.

and i always though RSX-S were considered slow , compared to the older Integra .. but i will def. consider one

[spolski07]

i want to switch my car since i just realised i cant swap anything in it an make it legal ( except for V6 ) , and is currently way too slow for my liking. been thinking about this for a while now and i will buy something new if i dont have to move away for university , and decisions come out in 1 month. So basically if i get accepted in a far away university (UC Berkeley) i am keeping my car , if not , i will switch it to something else :

It is preferably a sports coupe , but 4 Dr wont be that hard to get used to, i do prefer smaller cars though.

and i always though RSX-S were considered slow , compared to the older Integra .. but i will def. consider one

buddy of mine has a type s with a hondata reflash, aem v2 cai, and greddy cat back putting down 230 to the wheels
that thing is wicked fast, leaves s2k in the dust

[celicadude04]

boosted mr2, trd superchaged 7th gen or Scion tc, 300zx, maxima, rx8, 350z, or an american car like mustang, firebird, camaro

This post has been edited by celicadude04: Mar 13, 2008 - 1:03 AM

[NaderG]

boosted mr2, trd superchaged 7th gen or Scion tc, 300zx, maxima, rx8, 350z, or an american car like mustang, firebird, camaro

-Boosted MR2s are nice , but sadly way too over priced , i would feel bad paying 7-8K for a 92 with a whole lot of miles on it !!
-7th gen been circling my mind but i didnt know they can be supercharged , whats the power rating on it with the supercahrger ? is it smog legal in Cali ? , i had trouble fitting in the car but i'd adapt to that if its a good deal
-300zx are old man , and i hear that they aren't that good since they break down alot
- BIG no for the maxima lol , thats way too big of a car for me
-RX8s are awesome , would love to own one , but according to what i've read , the rotarty engine doesnt like going past 60K miles , and it starts doing weird things, anyone heard about this , got other info ?
-350Z is a major option , but finding a good one under 15K is hard , not to mention that i also heard some bad stuff about them
and american cars are just not worth it , not just reliability , but power/ fuel economy ratio is just horrible

[jason]

i honestly think you will be happy with the rsx

1. bought out right you will be happy with it currently

2. finish school, they are refined enough for you to still enjoy

3. have a huge aftermarket so theres plenty of room to expand

4. are pretty reliable AND fast & fun to drive AND fuel efficient.

i think you should find one with the tiptronic deal and plan to keep the car for a while. manual gets old when driving it everyday, and the rsx is fun to drive whichever you get.

[lagos]

If I was on a 15k budget, Id get an SRT-4.

[NaderG]

If I was on a 15k budget, Id get an SRT-4.

My dad's friend is a car dealer and he have one sitting on his lot , it is basically mint condition , low miles and everything , but i just have trouble trusting that car as a daily driver , i hear it likes breaking down.

[Arniel]

300zx arent nececarily old, there are 96 models around for not much more than older ones, personally i enjoyed mine, never had a problem with it, actually considering a new one now, or maybe a gt4.. oh decisions...

[NaderG]

300zx arent nececarily old, there are 96 models around for not much more than older ones, personally i enjoyed mine, never had a problem with it, actually considering a new one now, or maybe a gt4.. oh decisions...

go for the GT-4 , doesnt require much thinking !

[MaskedMan]

You can get a Honda S2000 for under 14k. I did and I'm loving it. Here is a picture side to side for comparison. It's a little smaller than the Celica, but it's an extremely fun car to drive. It would be sad to see your celica go though . You have an amazingly clean Celica.

[808celica]

Go Sc400

[MaskedMan]

Go Sc400

SC400/300 is another good choice. Very dependable car.

[NaderG]

S2k is a good car , i am having trouble finding one with low enough miles , online searching that is.
i actually was thinking about the SC before i got the celica , but after i looked at it , it actually feels older than it is , beside , its not that good looking car.

My car is pretty clean , but sadly i cant do any mods to it and its pretty slow

[MaskedMan]

understandable. Have you looked into the older BMW M3 models?

[NaderG]

understandable. Have you looked into the older BMW M3 models?

sure did , BMW was always one of my favorites but i am not 100% on the reliability ..... also , i went to the insurance office and got some quotes for some of the cars that were mentioned on here , and well , it would cost ALOT !!! .... maybe i need to rethink the whole thing again !

[MaskedMan]

Well the most reasonable thing to do would be to wait and try to live with the lack of horsepower for a bit more. More HP will only get you into more trouble, aka tickets. Atleast you have something decent looking to drive around in the mean time ya know .



As for BMWs, I'm not gunna lie, I have one too and they are not that reliable. When things break on them, the parts are exspensive and most of the time need to be imported from Germany which takes several weeks to arrive. A lot of places don't like to work on them and I've been told European cars have more difficulty passing smog check. Every car has it's ups and downs. I just happen to know more of the downs of owning a BMW . But Bimmerforums is a good place to look for one if you are still interested in owning a BMW.

[mrgrape]

http://sandiego.craigslist.org/csd/car/600799960.html MR2 TURBOO!!!!
lol and i would also think 89 supra or rx7 would be a good deal if u can get one with low miles

[MaskedMan]

He has already mentioned that he would not like a turbo MR2 as they are overpriced in his opinion. Rx7? he said reliable. (sorry i just had to go there, I really really do like Rx7's but you know... ).

[NaderG]

well , honestly , i think i will have to wait it out a bit till i turn 19 which is in 5 month , then i get a couple more insurance discounts and i am no longer consider a teenage driver

however , i have to be honest though , the SRT-4 is starting to leave an impression on me , i talked to my dad's frined ( the car dealer) and he said he would sell me the 2004 SRT-4 for 14K , and it has extended waranty all the way to 2011 and 70K miles , and it only has 30K miles , and one owner ... considering that the engine has a tad bit more power than the bugeye WRX , reliability is not that big of a deal if its still under warranty , i know alot of people hate the look of the car and everything , but i used to like the car a long time ago from back home(Egypt) , back when i used to know nothing about cars

[MaskedMan]

the SRT-4 is a quick car for the price. go for it

[NaderG]

i just read a couple of things about the upcoming Chevy Cobalt SS, now i am not Chevy fan , but 260 HP , some nice suspension and a track time better than GTI and Civic SI is pretty insane for around 20K , not to mention that GM is so desperate u can probably get it for less along with 0% financing and ofcourse the 10Yr warranty .......... i honestly don't like the look of the cavalier so much , but i'd get that cur just for how much fun it would be to drive it .
Also the Hyundai Tiburon should be a surprise , but nothing real officaly about those yet .... i guess maybe waiting would be worth it . i guess i wasted everybody's time with this thread

now i will go check my timing belt thread , i think my engine is toast lol

[Hanyo]

I'm on the same boat as you, looking for a fun car for less then 15k.

I've been looking for fast-"ish" rwd cars. No more fwd for me.
So far my major considerations are ( no paticular order)

1) S2000

2) 350z

3) 06+ mustang

4) is300

5) miata (you can get a CARB legal supercharger for them to get past the 200 hp area =) )

6) 1975 280z with crazy swap - 5k for the car 10k for the swap. =)

7) bmw 325i

8) 02+ mr2 only 160 hp but car only weighs 2200 pounds you dont need much hp to be fast.

edit: keep coming up with cars i've considered.

This post has been edited by Hanyo: Mar 14, 2008 - 2:16 AM

[NaderG]

I'm on the same boat as you, looking for a fun car for less then 15k.

I've been looking for fast-"ish" rwd cars. No more fwd for me.
So far my major considerations are ( no paticular order)

1) S2000

2) 350z

3) 06+ mustang

4) is300

5) miata (you can get a CARB legal supercharger for them to get past the 200 hp area =) )

6) 1975 280z with crazy swap - 5k for the car 10k for the swap. =)

7) bmw 325i

8) 02+ mr2 only 160 hp but car only weighs 2200 pounds you dont need much hp to be fast.

edit: keep coming up with cars i've considered.

Ditch the stang , those things have such a horrible quality

-Is300 is a good option and i think trd has a supercharger
-i didnt know that u can get 200HP legal on miata !! thats awesome , sucks that i dont fit in it ... only the model fits me (i am 6'3")
-BMWs are nice looking and powerfull , not reliable and lots of money to fix , as been indicated by MaskedMan
- who said MR2s had 160 ??? they have like 13x hp , i belive they have the 1.8 engine found in 7th gen Celica GTs , that engine has no torque what so ever
- 280Zs are NICE , i like that ca alot , but as for any swapped car , specially old(er) , reliabilty can be questionable

[GriffGirl]

This is not 6th Gen Celica related. Thread closed.

[D-Man]

This is not 6th Gen Celica related. Thread closed.

LoL!!

Really Hanyo, those moose-stangs suck. They were maid for one reason, and one reason only.

To turn profit.

Yes all cars are made for profit, but some cars are designed to be better than others, some are designed to last, some are designed to run on electricity, some are designed to be the cheapest peice of crap ALOT of money can buy so that FORD spends small amounts of money on supplies, while cranking up the price tag, all because of headlight placement!?!?! WTF?!?!!? Why do you think you see so many of em on E-Bay? Because of the crap that they are.

sorry, i'll get off my soap box now...

[NaderG]

after hours of extensive search , i found a couple of interesting cars , but this one caught my the most , now i know is a Hyundai but acutally the company's rep improved alot recently and the price is pretty nice. it also has the warranty which makes an exta plus


Car

what do you guys think ??

[hongkongnerdboy]

are you keepin the celi

[NaderG]

are you keepin the celi

can't have two cars , infact , my dad doesnt want to buy any car before i sell mine ... i love how the 6GCs look , but with mine , i had more than one disappointing event , i got it painted and the paint wasn't as good as i expected it , i cant do any mods , and now i had my timing belt screwed up ... overall i am totally angry at it and can barely stand seeing it in my garage .... but i blame myself for that of course , i messed up owning it

[rudeboy3d]

foxbody ford mustang

[jason]

tinuron's are nice, i like them

as for reliablilty... if you were to get an srt-4 like the one you said... how reliable it is relates to how you treat it.

alot of the inexpensive, fast cars - dsm's srt4's cobalts etc, get the bad rep from young kids who can afford the small payments. young kids + fast car = somthing breaking - law, car, other drivers, tree's

if you enjoy it when you can, but baby when you should, it will last!

tiburons are nice, i presume less insurance, not a fast or handling as an srt, but will last you alot longer, easier, with less attention required than a turbo car.

you can always look to get a better condition 6gc down the road, possibly when you have more money saved up to invest more in upgrades to it.

[NaderG]

tinuron's are nice, i like them

as for reliablilty... if you were to get an srt-4 like the one you said... how reliable it is relates to how you treat it.

alot of the inexpensive, fast cars - dsm's srt4's cobalts etc, get the bad rep from young kids who can afford the small payments. young kids + fast car = somthing breaking - law, car, other drivers, tree's

if you enjoy it when you can, but baby when you should, it will last!

tiburons are nice, i presume less insurance, not a fast or handling as an srt, but will last you alot longer, easier, with less attention required than a turbo car.

you can always look to get a better condition 6gc down the road, possibly when you have more money saved up to invest more in upgrades to it.

-i disregarded the srt-4 because of insurance ... came out to be a bit over 300$ a month , just because its "turbo" .... no logic in that since a V6 putting the same power would cost less to insure ...
-the tiburon is nice as well , good enough for me , but it gets bad MPG so i have tot hink about it a bit

--> my car wasnt in bad condition, in fact its pretty clean but i just had really bad luck owning it , first it got dented badly in a parking lot , then in my own garage ( by my sister ) , then i had the dents pulled and the car painted ( the paint wasnt in tip top shape ) , now the body is dent/ding free , the cloulor looks great and shiny away from sunlight , but once it gets direct contact with sun it looks a bit more brown than black , almost like faded black ....... and then the engine started idling roughly , a tune up and seafoam helped reduce that by about 70% but i wasnt satisfied so i decided to do the timing belt since i had no idea when was it last changed , and thats when the engine started idling like crap ( i have a thread about it ) ... right now i am just collectively disapointed with my bad luck with the car and just want to get something else

-another 6gc is a possibility , but i doubt i will be getting one ..... i will always be in love with the car's styling and the car's nice interior

[Rayme]

WRX are very reliable if you dont beat up on the transmission.
And you can get alot more HP out of them easily.

You said no to most cars everybody mentioned for various reason, you will NOT find the perfect car you know?

[99Celica]

dont' rule out the wrx wagon either.

Also i've been watching the G35's and they're starting to come down in price. I plan on getting a G35 or IS300/350/250 down the road. I get to drive them a lot and they are very nice cars.

Definitely stay away from the BMW's unless you got the money because they can be money pits.

you gotta decide what's most important for you. reliability, speed, or looks. You can't have all of them at the price you want.

I think you can easily fix up the celi to make it reliable and looking good and that should hold you over until you're ready for something new and are in a better situation with money.

[NaderG]

i guess i am being way too picky with this , but i am just trying to get a car that i can be satisfied with. i know budget is not that great.

WRXs are also expensive to insure ( and buy) , so i cant have one .... my options are very limited and it seems like the only cars that i can buy and not worry about reliability are Hondas and Toyotas lol

[NaderG]

well , looks like i am NOT getting any new car ... i started making more per month , about 300$ more so i thought i can afford buying a car , but apparently the increase in insurance is just insane ! even for the hyundai , its like 240$ and i tried 5 companies ... so i guess i am keeping the Celi !! which is good news ...somehow ..

thanks for those who tried to help , and sorry to waste your time , guess mods should just delete this thread

This post has been edited by NaderG: Mar 18, 2008 - 11:06 PM