Looking For A New Car.

[tylerrice]

Hey all, Due to the recent few weeks and few problems with my Corolla i am on the hunt for a new daily. I'm running tight on the financial side so id say anywhere under the $5000 mark and would prefer not to have to pick it up from interstate...

 

I have done a little looking at this and that but not sure what to look at. I'm thinking a 4cyl that's sporty and has some power behind it.

 

so far i have aimed towards a Celica (Am loving This one)

 

what other cars would you recommend?

 

 

thanks tyler.

[ke70dave]

faaairrllyy broad question you got there.

 

plenty of choices, if your talking $5000 and sporty...ish, and relatively new (compared to the cars we play with) then you are probably looking at a FWD mid 90's hatch back.

 

the corolla of that era isnt bad, 7afe? (1.8 DOHC efi) thing, which has a bit of go to it, my mum has one of these, not a bad car, but not that sporty.

 

the celica of that era is the 5th or 6th generation, 5th being the one with popup headlights,6th being the one with the 4 round headlights. combinatinos of 3sge, 3sfe and 7afe here. the 3sfe i think is somewhat underated, mate had an st162 (4th gen) with a 3sfe, and it went very well for a "economy" engine. it went even better with the 3sge we put into it though. the st162 in particular handles VERY well in stock form. not a bad car to drive either. never driven a 5th or 6th gen, but I'm sure they go alright too.

 

but if your not locked into corollas,

 

the pulsar of that era was not bad, the SSS has the oh so worshiped sr20. mate had one of these and it went alright, plenty of go in a small car. but you may be hard pressed finding one that isnt thrashed.

 

best bet would be to run a car sales search for anythign between 4000 and 5000 and see what your options are.

 

hell you could even pick up a nissan silvia for 5000, plenty of non turbo ones going for that price in fairly good condition. or even a turbo automatic one is cheap now, then just convert it to manual if you want.

[altezzaclub]

Toss in a Cynos Beta, a Paseo over here. My son had one for a few years before he got the Levin BZ-G.

 

It was dirt cheap to run, 100% reliable and quick enough for fun until he drove the BZ-G!! Ran a 5EF motor at 100bhp.

[Jesseb369]

mitsubishi magna.

 

3.0 L V6

 

lower, rims. lovely

[Hiro Protagonist]

the celica of that era is the 5th or 6th generation, 5th being the one with popup headlights,6th being the one with the 4 round headlights. combinatinos of 3sge, 3sfe and 7afe here.

 

None of those engines you'll get in Australian-delivered Celicas. 5th and 6th Gens either came out with 5SFE (ST184, ST204) or 3SGTE (ST185, ST205), and the only ADM 3SGE Celica is the ST162 SX.

Edited August 15, 2010 by Hiro Protagonist

[ke70dave]

ah sorry my mistake, i was just reading off the wiki page, they must be refering to the jap cars or something.

[tylerrice]

yeah i think I'm leaning towards the 5th gen Celica, Plenty hanging around on Car Sales/Cars Guide for not much at all, little higher on the K's but read a review saying they are still reliable even in the high K's.

 

**EDIT: found a nice 6th gen Celica, for $6500 that seems fair good and the person funding me likes it so fingers crossed...

Edited August 17, 2010 by tylerrice