At the end of this summer, I'll be looking to sell my 2001 Chrysler 300m (should be able to get ~$14,000 for it), and am looking to put that straight into another car with little or no extra cost. Looking for something sporty and fun. Always have had a thing for Corvettes as a kid, and am looking at a 95 in my price range. But, you all have probably had experience, so what would you suggest?

I have a beat up '97 Mustang that I might be able to let go for $14,000...

sure, you may be able to afford the car, but now can you afford to maintain it? also, with these gas prices, unless mommy and daddy pay for everything, i'd get something a little more feul efficient, IMO. there are plently of cars that get good gas milage and have some-what of a sport feel...*cough*...ricers...*cough...

You could get a brand new chevrolet Cobalt for that price. I drove my cousins the other day, and it has a sporty feel and is great on gas.

Well, if you're gonna be permanently living in Rolla for the next three years, how much gas are you going to be using anyway? I don't think mileage is going to be a terrible problem when getting ANYWHERE around here takes no more than 5 minutes.

Spending too much time on eBay again, are we?

I'd rather be a ricer in a reliable, economical car who can get 35mpg than own some fast car that only gets 15mpg and breaks down all the time.

If I were you, I'd probably get an 06 Civic. They look nice, reliable, great gas mileage, and as long as you don't add a fart can and giant wing, you're not a ricer for owning one. And for a bit more money, you can get the Civic Si. I think it's right around 200hp.

What car are you talking about?

Nothing specific. It just seems a lot of cars that have been modded to be fasterr are more likely to break down due to the engine not being able to handle the added power, or the person who installed said mods fucked something up.

I've already covered school (my parents aren't paying a dime), so they agreed to cover insurance and gas until I'm married (next summer). So, I'll at least have an expectation of the costs associated with the car when I do take over financial responsibility. Every once in a while there pops up a high miles C5 (and yes, it does get around 26 miles per gallon) that's in good condition for around $14,000 - $15,000. Bear in mind that I barely get 20 mpg in my 300m, the car I would inherit if I didn't sell it for something else. So almost anything is better than that.

EDIT: Oh, and I want something completely stock. I don't trust anyone else in their ability to mod a car. If I decide to do something to it down the road, fine, but I don't want to have to deal with more problems than I'd have to initially.

Well, in the course of one day, I switched my train of thought. What is everyone's opinion of the SRT-4?

they arent too bad but in my mind they are still neons

they do make pretty kick ass rally cars though

Mazda 6. Check it out. It sells itself.

I looked at Mazda 3's and 6's when I was shopping last summer. They are good cars, but the real reason to buy them is because you get some really good financing options at certain times of the year.

I have an '05 Civic (yes I drive a ricer - no it's stock and probably will stay that way to preserve resell value) ... I financed it through Honda, rather than through the dealer, because Honda was trying to move all the civics out at that time to bring in the '06. So another good avenue for a new car is looking for models that are going on. If you can find any still on dealer lots, you can probably get a new loaded 'EX for around 15 and a half. I financed my car + tax, title, liscence cost + some extra options. It's good - I'd reccommend finding one. It ain't fast, but it's fun to drive and it's probably got the slickest, most positive feeling 5-speed I've ever driven in an FWD car. It gets fairly good mileage - ~33 on the highway as opposed to the advertised 38 because the final drive is so short - it turns about 4 grand at 80mph ... I'm guessing the drive is shorter than 4's which they are on the '06 (like 4.51:1 on the 06's).


If you want GM small block power I'd pick a late F-Body LS1 over a C4. Their are plentiful parts for these and if you keep your eyes open you can find a late year SS or a Trans-Am WS6 with low mileage. They have the same T-56 style 6 speeds as the C5's so you get great mileage on the highways for 350 cubes. Just my opinion though. If you are gonna do club sport weekend autocross, C4 would probably be a better bet.

As for the SRT-4 ... meh. They are hard to find for cheap because they are so new. I'm sure you can find one with quite a few miles on it for around your price range. If you can get past the looks you'll be alright.

Oh, I've been toying with a late year LS1 F-body for quite some time. When I orignally started looking for cars, 2001 SS's jumped out at me at first. However, I lean more and more lately towards finding something relatively small and manageable. And it's not really a stretch to find SRT-4's for cheap. Quick search on Autotrader.com finds a plethora of sub-$14,000 SRT-4's.

i drove a mazda3 over this past summer and i must say it was a lot of fun to drive. most of them have an inline 4 2.3L and its a fairly small car.

from what i can tell SRT-4's arent bad, they have 2.4L inline 4's but use premium gas. i think they are turboed as well