Fun cheap used cars?

I

imported_MBenz

New member
Hey gang Im helping a friend pick out his first car and need some ideas.



Heres the situation:

-College kid, loves fun cars and motorsport, wants to be an engineer for prodrive.



-Working on a small budget 4k-6k range but very good with cars and can do all necessary repairs and maintenance on his own.



-Wants something "fun" with tuning/performance potential, manual gear box +++ but at the same time practical, safe enough to drive daily (probably not a mk1 mr2)



-If at all possible AWD as skiing is a weekend hobby



Possible cars that i have come up with are BMW e30's (maybe 325ix if he can find one), BMW e36,e34, Audi a4 1.8t, jetta 1.8t, Legacy gt, Egale talon, Volvo 850 turbo, Saab turbo's

He really likes the porsche 944 but price of parts are a major concern w/ that one.



Any suggestions or discussion on the matter?
 
Barry Theal said:
Don't buy a 944 thats the biggest waste of money.
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+1.



I'm a huge BMW enthusiast and my favorite BMW is an E36 M3. I've had a 328, M3 and 325, with an E30 325 between the M3 and 325. As much as I am biased, I'm also an extremely practical person and like the E36 as an all around car, not just few subjective things. Mechanically it's perfectly done and runs for a very long time if treated well, which isn't hard at all to do. You basically need less than $1000 every 50-80k miles to refresh the suspension, cooling system, etc. They're also extremely easy to work on, whether it's a simple oil change or an entire cooling system. My first time doing it, I spent only about 1.5-2 hrs doing the entire cooling system (radiator, all hoses, water pump, tstat, tstat housing, etc. etc.). After doing it roughly 10 times (on friends' cars along with my own) I got it down to 1.5hrs or less.



Aside from the perfect engineering :), I think it looks great and is a look that still hasn't shown it's age after almost 20 years now. It's fun to drive, handles well and even my 325 with 235k miles still purrs and pulls strong enough to be considered "quick". It's no match for today's 2.5-3.0L cars but considering it's 17yrs old and still fun to drive I can't complain at all.



My vote? Find a nice, clean 95 325 that has had a lot of maintenance done. I haven't looked too much into the right pricing lately, but 96-98 M3s are going for 6-8k with 150k+ miles and little maintenance, so finding a clean 95 with a refreshed suspension and cooling system for about $5-6k shouldn't be a problem. If you'd like any advice on finding one or working on it feel free to PM me as I'm all for talking about E36s!



Best of luck with the search.
 
If you want AWD, its hard to beat the value of an A4 with the 18t. Lots of mod potential and plenty reliable if maintained, though like all VW products, you will go broke trying to keep everything perfect. The BMW will be the better car but you will spend a lot to get more power out of the motor. A suby wouldn't be a bad idea either. i'd skip the Talon or Saab if you need reliable transportation.
 
Hey if he likes Porsche 924S, fun car, rwd, also considered sports cars, and fun track car. reliable too. (yeah i own one now and its better than my bmw e36 328ic) for now. they all manuals mostly. Am taking about 1987-88 924S not the base edition 924. (btw Ive been beating on this car since day one and don't have ANY major problems.
 
In that price point, Egale talon TSI, or Eclipse GSX is hard to beat. Finding one will be the hard part. I'd look for a 1st gen Talon TSI personally.
 
Noting that yeah, I know this is *NOT* what he wants...



If I had a kid in college I'd buy him/her a used Crown Vic Police Interceptor and put the real money into driver's training and leave the "fun cars" for post-graduation (both college and the driving schools).
 
RaskyR1 said:
In that price point, Egale talon TSI, or Eclipse GSX is hard to beat. Finding one will be the hard part. I'd look for a 1st gen Talon TSI personally.
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This one checks all the right boxes...



Cheap to BUY, not sure how it is to maintain

AWD available with a Turbo, pretty fast in its day

Manual trans



I would go with the 2nd gen, based mostly on my intense, unbridled hatred for pop-up headlights. :hmph:
 
EastsideAutoSpa said:
+1 on the e30 BMW fun as at gets for that kind of money
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-AND-



MBenz said:
-If at all possible AWD as skiing is a weekend hobby
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Much as I loved my Korman-built e30 M3, those cars aren't all that hot in snowy conditions.



So far most of the vehicles I've seen suggested (and I've had a lot of 'em) sound like bad ideas for a young guy who's still in college (think "priorities") with funding concerns. I'd want bullet-proof reliability and cheap-to-maintain.



I'd say something really reliable with some of the $ going into tires (e.g., snow tires) and driving schools (and I don't mean just a few weekends). What that "something" oughta be, well....that's a pretty personal question, I don't know the guy :nixweiss
 
Accumulator said:
-AND-







Much as I loved my Korman-built e30 M3, those cars aren't all that hot in snowy conditions.



So far most of the vehicles I've seen suggested (and I've had a lot of 'em) sound like bad ideas for a young guy who's still in college (think "priorities") with funding concerns. I'd want bullet-proof reliability and cheap-to-maintain.



I'd say something really reliable with some of the $ going into tires (e.g., snow tires) and driving schools (and I don't mean just a few weekends). What that "something" oughta be, well....that's a pretty personal question, I don't know the guy :nixweiss
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You bring up a good point that having a reliable car is more important than out right fun and performance. That being said he is willing to sacrifice some reliability and repair costs for a bit of fun. His choice on that and as a total gear head I can understand where he is coming from. He loves to work on cars so its not a huge issue but still something to be weighed in his decision. He has made good room in his budget for repairs and modifications. He understands that this is a low "initial cost"
 
mikenap said:
This one checks all the right boxes...



Cheap to BUY, not sure how it is to maintain

AWD available with a Turbo, pretty fast in its day

Manual trans



I would go with the 2nd gen, based mostly on my intense, unbridled hatred for pop-up headlights. :hmph:
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Definitely a possibility but from what I hear the reliability on these cars would not be up to par with BMW. Anyone have experience with talons that can comment on this?
 
MBenz- Glad I didn't come across as badly as I might have! I was sorta just projecting from how *I* was at that age... a bit too interested in cars and not interested enough in my studies :o



Sounds like he's given it some good thought.



I do think that some driving school experiences might influence his choice of cars though...when I got back from Skip Barber I was all hot for an M3, hence that e30 I had built. These days I'm actually loving my (highly modified) Crown Vic (of all things :eek: ) in great part because I've done so much training in 'em.
 
I vote E30 or E36 you may even be able to find an E46 for the higher end of the budget. If you can do your own repairs you will be fine, they are not difficult or over burdened with computers. They may not get the power like a Talon/Eclipse will but I think they will much more fun to drive especially for daily driving
 
sal329 said:
I vote E30 or E36 you may even be able to find an E46 ... They may not get the power like a Talon/Eclipse will but I think they will much more fun to drive especially for daily driving
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And they're nice and neutral handling...great tools for getting one's driving up to snuff as they generally do exactly what you tell 'em to do.



But I'd sure budget for winter tires!
 
Yep the e30's and e36's are at the top of the list. I have an e30 325ix and LOVE the car. They are rare and can be hard to find in reasonable condition. As far as handeling goes I think that they are a kick in the pants to drive. The 325ix tends to understeer at the limit like most AWD cars do and for the most part is very predictable.
 
JuneBug said:
What? no Benz on the list?
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Ha yeah, though I love Mercedes, their lack of manual transmissions and awd put them off the list. The 190e 16v is a super fun car to drive and very reliable. One of the only mercedes w/ a 5 speed but again no awd, very rare, and would be out of his budget.
 
I have driven many used cars in my lifetime, many best avoided, however equally as many worthy of purchasing. The following top twenty list is based on my driving experiences with used cars that can now be purchased for under $10,000. Each vehicle has been selected for my top twenty for their generous offerings of performance, style, accommodation, reliability, and many other attributes they offer to the consumer; taking price into major consideration (under $10,000). One should note that only production cars sold between 1989 and 2005 will be listed. Also, the years listed are models that I have been able to find under 10,000, i.e. I might list 1989-1999 of a certain model and not the 2000 model year simply because I have not found that year for under 10 grand yet.

Yes, the 1992- 1997 Preludes are by far the best value on the used car market. The Prelude is fun to drive, very stylish, gets nearly 30 MPG, and can scoot from 0-60 in only 6.9 seconds in latter years with its 2.2 liter 4-cylinder engine. The Prelude, while nearly 30 grand new (in latter models), can now be had for $5,000 for a 1992 model and only around 10,000 for a 1997 model. If you can afford the extra cash, I highly suggest going with the latest model possible, as these cars got to be so much fun before their demise in 2001.
 
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