someone decided to turn in front of me and I was not able to stop in time, so now I have a whole lot of nasty and painful bruises, but luckily no breaks

and now I need to start looking for a replacement (I have plenty of options of cars to borrow till then)

want to stay under 15k (but would prefer the 5-10 range)

I'm just under 6ft, and have a huge ass and long legs, which means the padding sets me up higher, and more forward, making head room a bitch and hard for me to shift in many cars (like I know I can't drive an eclipse)

some things I like the looks of...

vehicross (yeah, I know, bad fuel mileage)
mini
galant vr4
protoge5
94-99 celica
rsx

too bad the new genesis coupe isn't out yet, even if I couldn't afford one, I might get one anyway

I'm glad you're basically ok after the wreck !

You have several cars on that list that I consider maintainance nightmares. Anything Isuzu or Mitsu, not so good.

I have several customers with Minis that are pretty happy. The Celica sounds too small. The new Mazda 3 seems to be a big hit with good performnace and reliability...so far. Price is a bargain for the car . Subaru is great for reliability. I just put a fuel pump in an old Leggy that is on a mail route....277K and counting. The fuel mileage is slightly less than other imports due to the AWD I think. The new Impreza is close to your upper figure and has a 2.5 engine.

We bought a Scion TC new in '07. Lot's of room, great power. A good used one is in your price range.

Hyundai is the great buy up here. Affordable, reliable and Oly has a good dealer. Kia not so good due to a crappy dealer...same with VW. You probabaly have a wider assortment of dealers down there though.

2 good used values are the Focus , lot's of room, decent reliability and the Cavalier/Cobalt. Both cars suffer from being undervalued on the used market. Saturn oddly enough is a POS.

Agree on the Focus. LOTS of room. Decent poop. The 03 models started coming with the excellent 2,3 Duratc motor which is essentialy the same as the Mazda 3 and Mazda 6 motor. Strong MTX75 gearbox. Very nice steering, and really undervalued for what it is.
And Ford parts are cheaper to buy, available everywhere.

---

John Vanlandingham
Sleezattle, WA, USA

Vive le Prole-le-ralliat

www.rallyrace.net/jvab
CALL +1 206 431-9696
Remember! Pacific Standard Time
is 3 hours behind Eastern Standard Time.

I've got a friend who is selling a 2000 or 2001 Ford Focus ZX3 that has something like 7500 original miles on it. I think he's asking $7500. It has some engine mods.

ooooh, why didn't I think of a scion, it's one of the cars I'm always suggesting to other poeople

thanks for the input

as for the focus, I respect the car, but I don't care for it's styling, and yes, that's important to me


Gene, mistu I've got Lengacher and Bosch to help me out

gotta go, company, will finish typing this up later

I got sent a pic

Buffum could fix that up real quick! I think Noel Lawler did worse to a Tibby on a transit!

=)

In terms of serious thoughts for another car. I enjoyed the one time I drove a Protege5. If the second Subaru dealer I went to insulted me before I even started to negotiate like the first one did, I'd probably be driving one today. But the Legacy was a bit roomier and good for hauling dawgs, although slower and a bit more ponderous. But it gets me where I need to go, in whatever weather I need to get there.

But the Protege was more fun to drive. Focus or Mazda 3 are also probably good choices.

From what you've picked, I'd go in this order:

Protege5
Acura
MINI
Scion, which one? (saw you added this)
VR-4 (it's just getting old for a daily driver)
Celica
Vehicross

But that's just my opinion, and we all know what those are like.

---

Andrew Steere
Lyndeborough, NH
KB1PJY

Speed3! or GLH-T , if you still have rust free one out there.

---

Ted Mendham
www.rensport.net

after playing around on CL and ebay and just looking at things and styling, I am really leaning towards a protege5, I know I'll need to drive one first, I may not like them, but the more I look at them the more I like what I see and what I hear about them

I guess it's just really going to come down to what's available, how much I want to borrow from my credit union, etc

that and there's not a lot of protege5's around, elusive little things

Get a Volvo 240 Turbo, shove a 16v head on it and have a NICE FAST car for 1/5 what you're thinking of spending.

---

John Vanlandingham
Sleezattle, WA, USA

Vive le Prole-le-ralliat

www.rallyrace.net/jvab
CALL +1 206 431-9696
Remember! Pacific Standard Time
is 3 hours behind Eastern Standard Time.

John, there's plenty of "what I'd want" and "it could be fast" but what I need and what makes sense is a nice little daily driver that gets good fuel mileage but I can still have a little bit of fun with. My Tiburon was perfect for that. I liked how it looked, and it mostly kept me out of trouble, but it was still fun on occasion.

What I really want, is another Corvair, and I found some amazing looking ones on CL around the NW. Those 12xalt plates started life on a 65 Corsa 17 years ago.

My tibby was very low maintenance and got up to 35 mpg. If I didn't want to experience something new, I'd consider just going out and getting another one just like it.

and I'm sorry if I'm coming across cross, I feel like crap and the pain killers tend to make me kinda bitchy

all in all, this whole thing just really sucks

heymagic Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------

>
> Hyundai is the great buy up here. Affordable,
> reliable and Oly has a good dealer.


I just sold my 300hp engine swapped, gas guzzling Impreza wagon and bought a 08 Accent. I love it. Fun to drive at LEGAL SPEEDS, ZERO percent intrest rate over 5 years and it has a 7 year warranty. Base models are $9995 here. I had to get the "sport" package so the wife could have a/c though. Japanese quality at Korean prices.

---

Gone fishing

david amor Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> heymagic Wrote:
> --------------------------------------------------
> -----
>
> >
> > Hyundai is the great buy up here.
> Affordable,
> > reliable and Oly has a good dealer.
>
>
> I just sold my 300hp engine swapped, gas guzzling
> Impreza wagon and bought a 08 Accent. I love it.
> Fun to drive at LEGAL SPEEDS, ZERO percent intrest
> rate over 5 years and it has a 7 year warranty.
> Base models are $9995 here. I had to get the
> "sport" package so the wife could have a/c though.
> Japanese quality at Korean prices.
>
>

I really did love my tibby, it was a great commuter car that allowed me to autox and rallyx it for years. Even someday if I'd gotten a new car, I doubt I'd have gotten rid of it.

david amor Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> heymagic Wrote:
> --------------------------------------------------
> -----
>
> >
> > Hyundai is the great buy up here.
> Affordable,
> > reliable and Oly has a good dealer.
>
>
> I just sold my 300hp engine swapped, gas guzzling
> Impreza wagon and bought a 08 Accent. I love it.
> Fun to drive at LEGAL SPEEDS, ZERO percent intrest
> rate over 5 years and it has a 7 year warranty.
> Base models are $9995 here. I had to get the
> "sport" package so the wife could have a/c though.
> Japanese quality at Korean prices.
>
>

There have been a few amazing " I get it"s from car manufactures over the years. Honda got it in the late 80's and never looked backed. Hundai got it around 1998 or so. I like the look of some of the Kias better, but the Oly dealer is so awful I never recommend them around here. We just sold an "01 Accent with the mediocre 1.5 in it. It had 150k on it, ran great, good mileage, still drove smooth. Hyundai definitely gets it.