Questin about cars

[Sunner]

Im planning on picking up a car.
Im looking for something that looks good and isnt too hard to mess around with(such as chaging/adding turbo's, intercoolers, etc etc, you know none of this modern crap thats virtually sealed).

Of course decently cheap is good, but car prices tend to vary depending on where in the world you are, so I guess there's no point in asking about that really.

Cars I've had my eyes on are, in no special ordre
Nissan 200SX(the 300ZX is very cool, but a wee bit too thirsty since fuel costs a fortune around here).
Mazda MX3/5, but Ive heard these arent too easy to mess around with.

You get the idea, cars that look sporty, and that can be fixed so they feel sporty when you hit the gas as well

 

[FlashG]

Anything from Honda or Toyota should fill the bill.

Prelude's are nice or tastefully Rice an Accord. I don't know much about Acura's but I think their parts are more expensive than regular Hondas.

If buying used remember to have someone check it out beforehand. Some good dealer's offer used car's with decent warranties. You pay a little more but it might be worth it in the long run.

Try to stear away from independent dealers unless they have a good reputation in the area. You take your chances with a private owner but you might finda diamond in the rough.

Don't buy a Rodded car. It probably has been beat to death and needs major repair.

Good luck

 

"Fixing" a car so it feels sporty sounds easy, but it's actually an expensive and painstaking process. There's not much your standard Joe can do to an import besides "riceing it out," which is pretty cheesy and doesn't really make it go any faster. All newer imports are hard to work on in the first place.

Good buys for performance/price: Honda Prelude, Nissan 240SX, Toyota Celica

Those are probably fast enough for you. If you want more power, look for something small with a 6-cyl. engine. All that "fixing" up a 4-cyl. does is get you high-rpm (unusable on the street) horsepower and that farty sound.

I have a Prelude, it's ok.

 

[atom]

Judging from your profile, I'm guessing your European 200sx comes with the SR20DET engine, correct? That engine is a very popular tuner engine in Japan, so I know a lot of parts are available for it. I've read about Japanese SX's doing 450+HP (street legal) with that engine, that should provide a good amount of go.

Dropping an imported SR20DET into a 240sx (USA's castrated Silvia) is pretty much the holy grail for Nissan tuners here so it must be pretty nice to get that engine stock.

All Mazda's here besides the long gone RX-7 suck as far as sporty cars go, so I don't know much about what kind of engines they have over there.............

 

[Sunner]

Bobtist, I know, but I know lots of people with lots of knowledge about that, so I wont be going about it by myself, and one of my best friends dad has a repair/tuning/styling shop, which Ill be able to borrow(well borrow space and tools etc, not the shop itself).

As for the 200SX, yeah, thats the main reason Ive been looking at it, its extremely popular for tunning arund here, problem is, its insurance will kill my wallet, but if nothing better turns up, it will be my first choice.

Thanks for the input guys.

 

[TrevorK]

Don't forget an Eclipse/Talon. Far and away superior for modding.

 

[lupin]

NOBODY mentioned BMWs??

Get a '88-'91 BMW 325is. Sporty, 2.5 liter inline 6 gives plenty of HP and torque. Very Reliable. (up to 200,000 miles) Handles well. Very simple design makes it very easy to work with. $10,000 or less.

or if you have the money, '88-'91 M3. $12,500 or less. The most successful touring car ever made. Inline 4 engine that shares the same block as BMW's inline 4 formula 1 engines. My friend has 175K on his 88 M3, never a rebuild. Running strong.

BTW,
BMWs come with performance straight from the factory. Most japanese cars, (except the sport ones like Z, RX7) you need to do much work before you can have fun with it.

 

[HKSturboKID]

Word of Advice. Be Careful.

I bought a use Nissan Maxima with 30 days warranty (LEMON Law is 30 days)
I talk to guy and give him a few extra bux and they give me 3 months.
I drive it everything was fine for the first 3 months. On the 2nd week after the 3rd month, my transmission went. Ok lets put it this way, the damn tranny cracked open. I was pi*sed. Since my warranty is over, there is nothing that I can do. Since the tranny is cracked, can't rebuild it. I did the second best thing, I called my mechanics and got a junkyard tranny and have them put it in for me for $1100 bux, which includes 3 months warranty. This time I was lucky, I was able to get 4 months out of this tranny and guess what, damn thing die on me again at this time I was super super Pis*ed. No warranty more money out of my pocket. This time I send it out to rebuild providing the the case did not crack. Cost me $1500 bux with one year warranty. I just got i back like about a month ago. Every thing seems to be fine right now. who knows what will happen next. I've the car for about 1 year and I put $4000 bux into fixing the cars....stock mufflers systems, tires, struts, shocks, tune-up and all the little stuff. On top of everything, guess what the damn SUNROOF leaks. One day I will go beserko and just light up my car in flames.

Well, unless you know that the car is 100% reliable and that you can trust the place or person you buy the car from. Save up and buy a new car. In the long run, it pays.

My2Cents

 

[Cable God]

I agree. I went new a while back.... I might have paid a ton more for my 2001 SS Camaro, but I have a 5yr/100K mile warranty to back it up