Hey guys,
I have had so many problems with my CRX recently that I am sinking about 300 a month into the thing, and I am not doing that anymore. My parents are going to help me out with a loan which I'll pay back to them over the year.

Heres why i figure asking you guys is a good idea, I alway buy something and work with it and then say damn I wish I gotten XXX instead of YYY. I know a lot of you are older than me and have a lot more experience in the world of motorsports than I do. So in the range of 6-8k what would you guys suggest for a car?

The things I'm taking into consideration are
A. I will be running about 5 or 6 autocrosses a semester down here at school
B. I will be running two track day sessions this year
C. It's also my daily driver so I want it to have AC and windows and that kind of stuff since i never have in any of my other cars.

I am not set on a honda, although i like them and know the most about them, I would consider something else. It has to be either fron or all wheel drive, theres no way i want to mess around with a RWD in a MA winter, although im down in SC now.

Here are some cars I am considering now:
92-95 civic hatch/coupe with some nice suspension mods and low mileage
94-00 integra although these are more expensive, prob and LS or a GSR if I could find one in really good shape
1990-94 Nissan Sentra Se-R

Any input would be really great, I switch cars a lot and I need to just buy a car and stick with it for once in my life haha. Thanks a ton guys, just let me know what you would do with your money!!!

Thanks again guys,
Matt

 

If your in or near FL my brother has a decent GS-R that will fit that budget of yours. It's MR, 130k, I forget what coilovers it has, AEM v2 intake, Rota c8's in bronze, it's my old car before my ITR. But of those you listed my first choice would be the hatch.

 

Unless the body on the CRX is a hopeless case, you could make it into one helluva STS2/daily driver car for half of the budget you mentionned. :idea

 

You could buy my car (see signature for info)

Christian, who's car has AC and full interior along with all sorts of go-fast goodies...

 

ya, whats wrong with the CRX?

 

I hear supercharged E36 328's are only around 6k...

I'd go for a 96-97 328i. By the time they get to 100k miles, they've had all the nitpicky **** replaced and are good to go for a while without any repairs. Great cars for the money, one of the best buys going IMO. Snow tires make just about any car a hero in the snow, and they're cheap, as are spare sets of 15" E36 wheels.

 

I was going to suggest an E36 too, but the RWD was nixed...

Of the cars you listed, i'd probably go with the GSR. most fun/comfortable in street trim.

 

how about a newer Celica GT? They're proven to do well in autocross and I don't see a reason why it wouldn't serve you well as a DD.

 

Miata?

I think Diane (r2x) has a nice R package for sale, already has the rollbar and other bits you'd want to autocross and HPDE.

 

I would look to the 90-93 integra, these are dirt cheap and great cars. reasonable to drive an a daily basis and decent room. Same goes for 94-01 if you can afford one. Both make great track cars and I am sure they Autox well also.

 

323GTX if you can find one?

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by White98LS &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">323GTX if you can find one?</TD></TR></TABLE>

Wont be better than the CRX in terms of busted chit and working on it all the time though.

 

... Not sure why you're dropping 300 a month into the upkeep of a CRX. What are you doing to it?

 

I do have my Miata still, and it's still on the market. Has everything you want...

Mostly stock, only would need a OEM clutch to be ES legal. Has the equipment needed for track days. Has cold AC, windows. Gets ~30 mpg if I'm not running over 75mph. It lives in MA. It's never been any trouble for me.

See the link in my sig, and/or e-mail me for more info. (r2x@mindspring.com)

Diane

 

Why not a 240 if you can find a decent one?

Edit: OOps, I didn't quite read your description saying no RWD's. What about a mid to late 90's GTI?


Modified by Utilitarian at 5:53 PM 8/25/2005

 

Do you want something to race and daily drive? I would say Diane's Miata is a good buy if you live in a no or little snow place. Or a GSR would be a good buy too.

Or you could spend $10k and buy a Hyundai Accent GT. 2280 lbs and 106 hp... would make an interesting car.

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by 94accordsedan &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">Or you could spend $10k and buy a Hyundai Accent GT. 2280 lbs and 106 hp... would make an interesting car. </TD></TR></TABLE>
Just my opinion... spending 5 digits on a FWD stock econobox with 21.5lbs/hp does not make for an "interesting" car. An old Civic hatch for 1/4 the price would have a better power/weight ratio, better suspension, and likely better reliability (although not a better warranty). Unless you were kidding... I'm a little tired right now...

 

Im just looking for something comfortable to drive that isn't a total pig, I'll be modding it slowly but surely but it will prob stay stcok for a while, I love the miatas and would pounce on them if it was my own money but like I said my parents are loaning me money and no rear wheel drive allowed which is absurd to me but oh well, whar can you do.

 

In that case... Subaru 2.5RS. High side of your price range, but you can find them for under 10 grand now.

 

I'm agreeing with Rich on this one. The Impreza 2.5RS is a great car, and if you can find the '98 version, that's even better.

Too bad you (your parents?) nixed RWD. 3-series BMWs are great (which do come in the AWD "ix" versions, btw), if you can avoid the dreaded 2-1 shift, and fourth gen LT1 Camaros are a blast for all-purpose driving. Of course, I don't know what's wrong with driving a Camaro in snow... you just get snow tires for it, right?

Karen

 

I would suggest the obvious: some kind of hybrid hatch.

Good speed/mileage/reliability/driveability.

 

i'd suggest the 91-94 sentra se-r. you could pick up a pristine one for around 3k and mod the hell out of it. i used to be a chronic malcontent and switch between cars until i got mine

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by TeamSlowdotOrg &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">In that case... Subaru 2.5RS. High side of your price range, but you can find them for under 10 grand now. </TD></TR></TABLE>

That would be my vote.

 

In that price range, you can get a really nice 4th (93-96) or 5th (97-01) gen VTEC Honda Prelude. Sporty, fast, comfortable, reliable, and unique.

Andrew

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by CamaroFS34 &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">if you can find the '98 version, that's even better.
</TD></TR></TABLE>

Whys that? They had some head gasket 'issues' until 2000.