03 Civic Si, 04 SE-R Spec V, or some other car under 20K?

[Storm]

Damn on carsdirect.com the prices for the MazdaSpeed protege are 24k thats close to 5k over the invoice price of 19-something. Either these cars are way better than the SE-R Spec V or its extremely popular for some odd reason and everyone is paying any price to get a Mazdaspeed protege...

At carsdirect.com spec Vs go for 16-something with standard options add some options it goes to 17.6k still 6k lower than a Mazdaspeed Protege... :Q

 

[Ryan]

The only thing I'm worried about when it comes to Nissans is the quality of the paint. A guy that my mom works with bought a 2003 Maxima, and after about 6 months, the black paint had faded big time, and the dealership said that it wasn't a defect in the paint, so they wouldn't pay for it. One of my friends owns a 2002 Spec V and the red paint is starting to fade too. 🙁 Some of the members of Maxima.org are trying to take Nissan to court due to paint defects.

 

[codeyf]

Originally posted by: BatmanNate

Originally posted by: codeyf
I REALLY like the Spec-V, but had I been in the same situation, I'd prolly get a '99/'00 Civic Si (the new hatches are booty IMHO). Save some $$ and throw in some basic bolt-on mods (Intake/Header/Exhaust) and some rims. You're not going to be breaking any speed records in any of them anyway, so I'd go for the cheaper, but still decent performing ride and make some visual/minor performance, inprovements.

Why would you even bother with the intake/exhaust crap on a Civic if you're not going to do something else seriously involved and expensive (like turbocharging) that might take slight advantage of those modifications? By themselves they aren't going to do much besides waste your money. If you want a fast car, but something else. If you want a reliable (albeit ugly) compact car with good gas mileage, then get it.

He could still turbo/super-charge it and be less than 20k. Young and on a budget, got for something cheap to maintain, good gas mileage, opportunity for improvements (if you're in to that). And as far as ugly goes, should we all go by what you deem is ugly?

Perhaps you should read the last sentence again????