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Help selecting new car

turbo54

turbo54

Mr. 7mm
Full Member
Minuteman
Dec 10, 2010
4,995
30
43
Michigan
The time has come. I've driven my 95 Subaru for over 5 years, and although it still runs/drives just fine and has a quarter million miles, I'm sick of driving it. I intend to keep it as a winter beater, but I want to get something newer, nicer and more fun.

I like Subaru and strongly considered a WRX or an STI. The problems with these:

1. RICER
2. Insurance is ridiculous
3. RICER
4. Older ones are beat to piss and riced out
5. Newer nicer ones have a huge popularity tax
6. While these cars are well engineered, they are cheaply appointed. The controls, trim and overall decor scream "cheap". Understandable, because these cars are fairly inexpensive. Still, I want something nicer.

When I bought my current subie, I hated the concept of a wagon, but now I love it. Very useful.

I did own a 2006 Cadillac CTS-V for a short stint, but didn't care for it because it was a big fat pig and sucked down fuel as if you owned your own gas station.

I am an auto enthusiast and want a good drivers car, but I don't need a huge amount of power. Anything would be an improvement over my ~130hp Subaru wagon. Ideally, I'd like ~250hp or so in a ~3200 car.

No coupes. Prefer a wagon but am considering a sedan. Manual transmissions only. Don't really want to spend more than $10k, but could go a little higher for something extra interesting.

I'm thinking a 2001-2005 BMW 325i or 330i, I'm pretty sold on it but before I pull the trigger, I thought I'd see if any of my fellow 'hiders have any other ideas.

Let's here them!
 
If you can muster up an extra zero:p, we were very happy with our Porsche Panamera Turbo and DEEPLY regret trading it in.
 
be sure to check the headgaskets if you buy another subaru. The 2.5l mostly but we do see all of them fail at a higher rate than most cars. My shop averages 1-2 a week.
 
If you are wanting a wagon that is semi sporty, you may want look at the turbo forester. Won't have the ricer stereo type and has a little extra room over the WRX I believe.
 
For 10k, a wrx sounds to be right up your alley. You could get a older one 7-8k. The 06-07 ones have 2.5l engines and they're solid. The 2.5s that had notorious HG issues is old news. It was the EJ25D, those were in older 96-99 legacys and 98 impreza 2.5rs's. Unless you're in for a project car, I'd stay away from older Euros, especially after 100k. I picked up a 2002 325xi with 140k, I ended up replacing more crap in it in one year and than I have with all my other cars combined over the time I've owned them (240sx, civic, STi, tsx). Luckily I know how to fix cars, so the cost wasn't outrageous for me.
 
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Adam B said:
an Audi Allroad quattro 05-08 seem to be in your price range, my previous Audi drove like a tank in the snow
Click to expand...

I agree with Adam on the Audi. However the Allroads are bad ass cars but the 2.7 biturbo engine tends to need turbos around 100K and they are not inexpensive (around 4Kish). I have an 07 A4 with the 2.0T and 6 speed manual and I love it. I beat the piss out of it and it keeps asking for more. I should of bought the Avant (wagon) version but that will be my next car actually a S4 Avant. My Audi is a tank in the snow with regular 4 seasons and also does very well in mud as long as you don't high center it. It gets 27-28 mpg being driven like it was stolen.
 
turbo54 said:
The time has come. I've driven my 95 Subaru for over 5 years

1. RICER

3. RICER


When I bought my current subie, I hated the concept of a wagon, but now I love it. Very useful.


I am an auto enthusiast and want a good drivers car, but I don't need a huge amount of power. Anything would be an improvement over my ~130hp Subaru wagon. Ideally, I'd like ~250hp or so in a ~3200 car.
Click to expand...

You bought rice, and now call it ricer? Odd...


You have a $10k budget, which says you can only really afford another ricer. As to $10k buying a BMW, yup, can do it. As to being able to maintain it within a budget? Nope, ain't gonna happen. BMW parts and maintenance are expensive, cost prohibitively so for a 'budget'.


How to spend your $10 smartly:
Go through that Scooby you own and refresh the suspension, bushings, brakes and engine, then slap a turbo on it. Take off any wingy things, and drop it 2" on coils and make it a nice subtle tuner on the cheap.

OR

you can get the BMW and have guys like me in our stock looking ricer 240SX's slap that ass stop light to stop light(although mine is under reconstruction, it smacked BWW 3's all day long, as well as anything that had to wait for V-Tec to hit

PS the other thing you could do to that scooby is totally JDM it out Yo! Eat, Sleep, JDM

3818117582_d43c75b74b_o.jpg


th
 
Switchblade said:
You bought rice, and now call it ricer? Odd...


You have a $10k budget, which says you can only really afford another ricer. As to $10k buying a BMW, yup, can do it. As to being able to maintain it within a budget? Nope, ain't gonna happen. BMW parts and maintenance are expensive, cost prohibitively so for a 'budget'.


How to spend your $10 smartly:
Go through that Scooby you own and refresh the suspension, bushings, brakes and engine, then slap a turbo on it. Take off any wingy things, and drop it 2" on coils and make it a nice subtle tuner on the cheap.

OR

you can get the BMW and have guys like me in our stock looking ricer 240SX's slap that ass stop light to stop light(although mine is under reconstruction, it smacked BWW 3's all day long, as well as anything that had to wait for V-Tec to hit

PS the other thing you could do to that scooby is totally JDM it out Yo! Eat, Sleep, JDM
Click to expand...

I suppose any asian vehicle could be considered a "riceburner", and my subie certainly is. However, it is not a "ricer".
urbandictionary.com said:
(Ricer: from the latin word Ricarius meaning to suck at everything you attempt)

A person who makes unecessary modifications to their most often import car (hence the term "rice") to make it (mostly make it look) faster. The most common modifications are (but not limited to):

- Huge exhaust that serves no purpose but to make the car louder
- Large spoiler on the back that looks like something Boeing made for the 747
- Lots of after-market company stickers they don't have parts from, but must be cool
- Expensive rims that usually cost more than the car itself
- Bodykit to make the car appear lower, usually accented with chicken wire
- Clear tail lights and corner signals
- A "performace intake"- a tube that feeds cold air to their engine usually located in areas of excessive heat (behind or on top of the engine)
- Most of these riced cars (a.k.a. rice rockets or rice burners) are imports; Honda Civics, Accords, Integras, CRXs, RSXs, Del Sols Mitsubishi Eclipses, Lancers, Subaru Imprezas, however there are some domestics such as Chevrolet Caviliers, Dodge Neons, Ford Focus; small, slow, economy cars designed specifically to go slow. Please note that some Supras, Skylines, WRX's and other higher performance imports are designed to go fast, and are therfore not always considered rice. It really depends on the severity of the case.

The "ricer" attempts to make their car "performance" by adding the modifications listed above. These ricers are not confined to any one ethnic group or color, however different ethnic groups are known for certain styles.

Honda Civics with big spoilers and 4" exhaust tips are considered to be ricers.
Click to expand...

So no, my car is not riced out. It is a bone stock 1995 Subaru L wagon with 255k miles on it, with a perfectly quiet exhaust. Think Lesbian.

As for my budget. I could afford a $50k car, but I don't want to afford a $50k car. So it's not as if I'm strapped to make a $10k purchase.

You make a valid point about upkeep and maintenance of the kraut-wagon though. No doubt those cars require it. I've a couple friends with E36 and E46 BMWs and they've actually had pretty good luck with them. They have key trouble areas to include the cooling system which WILL fail at ~100k miles. It costs $500 in parts to replace the whole thing, which ought to be done every 75k. The powertrain and driveline is world class. If you keep them cooled and lubricated they're good for 300k miles. Parts are not Ford Focus cheap, but they're no more expensive than Subaru parts. Still, I don't know exactly what I'm in for in terms of maintenance if I choose the BMW. I think it's crucial to "buy right" and get one with service records. The manual transmission wagons and ZHP package 330i models are desireable and hold their value well. I figured if the car started to be a PITA on maintenance I'd move it along.

You mention going through my subie and refreshing the suspension, brakes, engine, and adding a turbo...

My car has lived in salty shitty Michigan for 20 years. Stop to think about that for a moment. It's rusty. I had to chop the bottom 1/3 off the front doors and weld in patch panels. It's got significant rot behind each rear tire. The uprights and control arms are all rusty as shit. Not structural, but just shitty. Could I mechanically freshen the car and go another 250k in it? Yeah, probably. Do I really want to drive this fucking thing for another 5-10 years? Fuck no.

I'm not a Subaru "guy", but from my readings, it is quite painful to retrofit turbos on them. I had looked into swapping a WRX engine into the car, but it is a complicated job in terms of electronics. I lack the motivation, especially for an old rusty hulk.

You mention wasting BMW's with your 240SX. Congratulations! I'd be totally satisfied with ~250hp, but even 200 would be welcome considering my Legacy is ~130 (was when new anyway, maybe 100 now, who knows?)
 
After many years in small SUV's, my better half is now driving a Jetta TDI wagon. It's rated for about 48+- MPG, but she drives Interstate 50 miles each way to work and is doing about 51 MPG on average with it. In just the first year, she put 24K miles on it. Admittedly, she plays the MPG game and is not a speed demon. It's all about maximizing her mileage, which is kind of a game... but the car is a little tank. Lots of room, peppy, has been as reliable as gravity, almost no service bills and even *I* like driving it... And usually if it's not a pickup or a motorcycle, I am not interested.

Worth a look...

Cheers,

Sirhr
 
I drive 90 miles a day to work and back so MPG is important to me as well. I had an 01 Jetta TDI several years ago and loved it. It went OK in the snow and was very reliable. I used to use a cetane booster in it and could get a solid 55 MPG in the summer while riding it hard, but I don't know what it was doing to my cylinder temps. I was going to rebuild the nozzles, advance the timing, bump up the fuel psi, and put a larger turbo on it with a pyro and boost gauge but I was ran off the road and ripped it apart. I would like to find a Jetta III wagon with the old TDI and build the snot out of the engine, that would be cool...

But then again building big torque is what I do





Switchblade nice car, what are the specs?
 
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My 'other car' is a '95 Honda Accord LX wagon with just under 300,000 miles. Still being aggressively maintained, it soldiers on pretty effectively. I attribute a large part of its longevity to regular and timely oil replacement with Castrol 20W-50 High Mileage oil, or Wal-Mart Super Tech 20W-50 oil and High Mileage filters, which incorporate similar seals-saving technology.

My Dodge dealer recommends Pennzoil first and Super-Tech second, telling us that Wal-Mart sources its lubricants with high quality specs because they are serious about avoiding liability issues.

When the Honda eventually does go belly-up, it will probably be due to a timing belt failure.

We live in snow country, and the Honda has always gotten me there as long as I can remember it's a highway vehicle and not an SUV.

Ever since we got it, it has averaged 26MPG.

The first criterion I consider when looking at a car purchase is whether or not a 52" hard gun case will fit in the trunk area. I do so much hate having to take the buttpad extension off my match rifle so it will fit in the car...

Greg
 
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Ohhh, rust is the death knell of any car from upstate or anyplace with salt, sand and snow. Best bet is junk that subie and get what you can for it on the local craigslist or lesbian storefront(hahahaha, had to use that, couldn't resist)

If I had a $10k budget to buy any car, I would be hard pressed on totally rebuilding my S14 top to bottom, Nismo270R clone(only 33 were made in 1994, and followed by 50 more in 1995. 270R denoted factory front bumper and rear bumper covers, vented sideskirts, 270hp with a 'disco potato' and Top Mounted Intercooler, with interior upgrades, and R33 Skyline brakes, and Rays 5 spoke wheels).

The other option would be finding an old RWD car and rebuilding it, Nissan/Datsun, BMW, Toyota to name a few I just think are cool. I gave up ever owning that Cortina, Alfa 1600, or GTA a long time ago since they all went north of $30k as is


$10k buys a lot of really nice used cars. Take your pick. Me, I would, if money were not an issue, look at an earlier BMW just because they are so cool. Want a car that is known in teh Grassroots Motorsports communioty as 'The Shit', get teh e30M3 and rebuild it. Want 'The Answer', get a 1 gen Miata. For 10k THAT can go a very long way on a little go kart styled rocket



My S14 Zenki(model year 1996):
ZX300 MAF w/adapted Injen Intake, cold air ducted
Cat Back SS N1 exhaust(OEM was delaminated, cheap replacement, totally rice, but my 'parts car' came with a really nice, vintage 199x 2.5 SS OBXR Forza system that is 'the cat's ass' for this car)
Brake Discs spec'd w/ Stop Tech ceramic pads
Tuned ECU(THIS is where the real power comes from)
Sumitomo ignition parts w/ Taylor wires and Bosch Quad platinum plugs
Megan Short shifter w/Tomei synthetic anti heat knob
All told it puts out somewhere around 185hp. The delivery though, with the tuned ECU allows 7500rpm redline which is where the BMW's and Honda's fall off in second gear. from there, they just do not catch up. The smaller diameter OBXR exhaust will geberate about 10hp over what I have now due to teh higher exhaust velocity and all that bernoulli stuff over the current 3" system.
The car weighs 2572#, way less than the BMW or Honda's so the hp:# difference is where the car beats out the others

Adding when it comes from the body shop:

Tein gold springs(2" drop, about where the sidewall meets the tread, no retarded stanced look, just a sporty drop) w/KYB GR2 shocks(6mos old off the parts car)
The OBXR Forza system
ICW Racing 17x7.5's with ZIEX 502's, 205-40F, 215-45R, slightly stretched, maybe 1/2"
NASCAR styled spoiler, no drift wings or overly large BS, just a nice bit of downforce to keep the ass planted in Auto X, or back roads
ACT XTSS 13# flywheel, XTSS Clutch

Some day after I graduate school, get certified as an MLS, I'll tear it apart and rebuild it from the top down, give it a turbocharged 425hp, and go hunt Mustangs.
For now though, it is almost done being reconstructed(front right, passenger side, impact that damaged the section of frame under teh core support, adn knocked the front bumper stuff toward driver side...$4500 damage to a $7000 car. The exterior was restored, all new windows, seals, new BASF Onyx A20 red paint, adn very very STOCK on Ebay 1" drop springs(how I got it). I added teh ECU, intake, MAF, exhaust, upgraded brake stuff, and ignition parts. The front was JDM with a SILVIA grill, and th eback has teh JDM tails. I was actually waiting, still am, for some JDM badges for the rest of the car. Now I am back to square one, with paint being an issue. No way I can match the A20 red again, and especially not with a total resto of the ONYX base 3 step system.
Thinking of sanding flat, the red, and going with a yellow/copper metallic, black roof and C pillars and mirrors to match the wheels(gold spokes are getting 'gunmetalled' with Duplicolor wheel paint.

It's not the fastest 240 in town to be sure, but it is 'very well tuned' for it's horsepower and gearing(4.08:1 VLSD, 5 gear) and weight, enough so that anything that waits for V-Tec to kick in, or most older BMW's gets left behind. It's a fun car to drive, I like it. It took me all the way to Indiana in the snow at New Years, and when it got hit, was just sitting there idling with her little whup whup whup whup exhaust note
 
240's are fun cars. I just picked up my second one with 81k miles for $2600 from an 84 year old man :) So far I have only put coilovers on it.
 
Love my new Land Rover LR2 to get me out to remote desert shooting areas. 2013 got 2.0l Econoboost Ford engine and great Entertainment-NAV system upgrades. Car smarter than me. $50,000 and high maintainence, but solid and goes almost anywhere off road. Older full sized LR4 is a tank and would hold all your weapons. Diesel version would take you anywhere in any conditions, but now as luxious as Range Rover Sport.
 
My first inclination on the wagon front would be to recommend a Dodge Magnum R/T. Mopar quality is hit-and-miss on other models (sometimes mostly miss), but the LX platform seems to have blessed with the attention of people who really gave a shit. In 101,000 miles, my 300C SRT8 has required very little in the way of repairs: three outer tie-rod ends, and a set of cooling fan blade assemblies (about $250 total). Fuel economy will be determined by powertrain choice; SRT8 models will be similar to your old CTS-V (which is to say that it ranges from poor to abysmal), but the base Hemi V8 provides pretty decent numbers.

Ain't much wrong with most of the Subaru line-up (older 2.5L head gasket issues aside), so if that is working for you, I see no reason not to do more of the same. Something like a Forester 2.5XT with a few tweaks could be practical and fairly entertaining.

E46 3-series remain great cars; the major concern I'd have here would be finding an example that was well-maintained and hadn't spent too much time in the Salt Belt. This is definitely a case where spending a few grand more for a good example would be money well-spent.

My wife's Ford Flex w/ Ecoboost is kinda like a hot-rod school bus - it moves much more quickly than it has any right to, can fit a ton of gear, is capable of almost-respective fuel economy if the fun pedal is operated with restraint, and handles winter roads with ease. But it's not exactly a "driver's car", and it probably won't fit your budget.
 
Talk to Jbell about hooking you up with one of those CATs. Retrofit to your present Subaru and your good to go. I promise you wont see another one like it at the drive in.

Ryan
 
Cartman said:
If you don't mind made in Asia the Ford Focus has a hot-hatch model.
Click to expand...

I don't quite understand what you mean by this statement, but I believe that the ST model is built at Ford's Michigan Assembly Plant with the rest of the Focus line-up.
 
Cartman said:
That's really impressive. My wife commutes a butt-load and probably should have this. A cheap way to get German car feel as well. And we'll never own a Pius.
Click to expand...

If you drive it carefully (ie. play the MPG game) the VW TDi smokes the Prius for MPG. And it's got lots of torque and pep. When you give it some pedal, it snaps. The Jetta or Golf TDI's are both hot little cars that will go 300K miles (they will rust away before the powertrains die if you maintain them) and deliver unreal MPG.

Whoever above said "This post screams VW TDI"... right on!

Cheers,

Sirhr
 
E. Bryant said:
I don't quite understand what you mean by this statement, but I believe that the ST model is built at Ford's Michigan Assembly Plant with the rest of the Focus line-up.
Click to expand...

I thought it was one of those assembled in America deals with less than 50% of the parts actually made in the USA. If that's changed that's fantastic -- though I don't think he's buying a new one for $10K. Then again, even assembled here is great these days. When I bought a pickup the F150s I looked at were made in Mexico. In fact, I may be wrong for assuming they make most of the parts in Asia, it could be Mexico. Sorry for the error.
 
Cartman said:
I thought it was one of those assembled in America deals with less than 50% of the parts actually made in the USA.
Click to expand...

Attempting to figure out the exact country of origin is pretty much a crapshoot nowadays. That being said, per NHTSA, the Michigan-assembled Focus has 40% "domestic" (USA or Canada) content, with no other country providing the 15% threshold required to be listed separately. The ST's engine comes from Spain and the transmission from Germany; this is pretty typical business nowadays.

About the only cars that are "pure" in origin are some models from Nissan, Mitsubishi, and Toyota which are assembled almost wholly of Japanese-sourced components. Even the big German luxury brands (BMW, Porsche, and Mercedes) top-out at around 75% German content; if you buy a Porsche with a manual trans, the transmission comes from Japan, and Porsche diesel models have engines that come from Hungary.

Sorry about the threadjack... back to the regularly-scheduled discussion.
 
Cartman said:
That's really impressive. My wife commutes a butt-load and probably should have this. A cheap way to get German car feel as well. And we'll never own a Pius.
Click to expand...

Absolutely. I convinced my lady to get one instead of Altima and she couldn't be happier. Just over the weekend I drove from Baltimore to Pittsburgh and back on one tank.
 
I've got the Jetta TDI and peppy is right + plenty of room. The rear seat of my 74 Bronco fits in the trunk with room to move around. If you purchase a car without driving this one you are cheating yourself.
 
E. Bryant, I was racking my brain trying to think where I got the Asian connection for the Focus so I did a little google-fu, which I should have done first, and think I must have read an article about the new Focus factory in Thailand and Ford's push to source parts from Thailand at some point. I think that's just for the Asian and African market, however, but didn't remember any details at all when I posted. My bad -- I should have checked first.
 
VW TDI is great on fuel. A guy I know has one and got 57 mpg on a 3.5 hour trip. He was running on biodiesel at the time which I don't know how much that effects mpg but even it it added 5 mpg it would still be impressive getting 52. As for sporty you can get bigger injectors, turbo and all that which makes them a little quicker.
 
Cartman said:
E. Bryant, I was racking my brain trying to think where I got the Asian connection for the Focus so I did a little google-fu, which I should have done first, and think I must have read an article about the new Focus factory in Thailand and Ford's push to source parts from Thailand at some point.
Click to expand...

No sweat, man - it's pretty tough figuring out where things are built nowadays, and with the move to "world" platforms, car makers can ship stuff from a plant in one region to a dealer in another if demand requires it. For example, BMW has apparently certified cars from its South African plant for sale in the US (we know this because it has shown up in NHTSA Part 583 documentation); I don't know that it has actually brought any over yet, but it could be done in a pinch.

Now, as far as everyone's recommendation on the VW TDI goes - that is an attractive option, if indeed diesel fuel prices continue to run somewhat close to those of gasoline. If we see another significant discrepancy - as has occurred many times in the past 5-6 years - then suddenly some of the more efficient turbocharged gasoline engines start to look better on a cost-per-mile basis. Don't take this as a knock (no pun intended) against diesel; any technology that allows me to pull down ~19MPG in a 7600lb truck (and run 13 seconds flat in the quarter in the same vehicle) is damn near miraculous. But if that cost penalty gets back into the 20-25% range again, a compact car with a gas motor that get "only" 40-45MPG starts to look very attractive (and if you open yourself to this powertrain option, then there are far more options than one would find in the diesel niche).

At some point, my dumb ass will need to purchase a more efficient vehicle (I drive 25,000+ miles/year), so I'll be wrapping my brain around a similar decision.
 
I just got a '13 Passat TDI manual. I love this car. The new Passat is actually rated higher mpg than the jetta. I've been averaging 46 with some highway runs well over 50. There's something about nearly 800 miles/tank that makes me smile for such a big car. My gf has a 07 2.0t and is averaging mid 20s.
 
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