What type of DD car should I look at? Opinions!

[Knucklehead97]

Howdy guys. With tax season coming up I'm planning to buy another car and get rid of my Contour (it is boring and sucks.). I'm wanting something fun to drive that gets good mileage but also can be customized. Planning for it to be stickshift. Initially I was planning to get a Miata NA (the first gen) but upon research they don't get fantastic gas mileage. Ranging anywhere from 19-30 from what I read. I still plan to buy a Miata one day. But I really could use something great on gas right now. I prefer early to pre 2000's due to the simplicity of working on them and the body styles. But I have no idea what type of car to look for... Honda Del Sol's peak my interest a good bit because of how they look and my brothers Civic gets amazing gas mileage. Something I love about the Miata is that it's RWD instead of FWD. I don't know. Just don't know much about car types. Opinions or suggestions? Thanks in advance! :D

[Wiggilez]

6th gen and older corollas.

I had a 91 gts with a 4age it was super fun it took corners like it was on rails and got decent milage.

[desbennett004]

I used to have a Series 1 Mazda RX7, 13b rotary and 5 speed. Super fun, and HUGE amounts of power potential. If you port it, though, it WILL have the worst mileage of anything you have heard of. Totally worth it though. I would have another one now, but Rotor Motors don't really like extreme cold.

 

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[88whitemanche]

Jeep jeep and more jeep!!!

Usually guys pick up a Honda Civic to save on gas to fund a jeep

[johnj92131]

You don't say how much money you are willing/able to spend.  Without that information, most suggestions are just off the wall remarks.

 

My advice:  Keep your Ford Contour for another year.  Keep you cash for another year - don't spend it on some other P.O.S.

 

Then hunt for the very best condition Miata you can find and buy it.  Most 1st generation Miata's have been thru multiple owners who have not given them the best of care.

Find one that is as near original as possible, then buy it.

 

I was in LOVE with the 1966 Lotus Elan when I first sat in it at the 1966 Los Angeles Auto Show.  When the Mazda Miata first came out in 1989, it was the closest thing to that Lotus Elan I had seen since 1966.  I should have bought it then.  Always regretted not doing it. 

[johnj92131]

I used to have a Series 1 Mazda RX7, 13b rotary and 5 speed. Super fun, and HUGE amounts of power potential. If you port it, though, it WILL have the worst mileage of anything you have heard of. Totally worth it though. I would have another one now, but Rotor Motors don't really like extreme cold.

 

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Having purchased a new rotary Mazda I can agree about the power and the smoothness of the engine.  But it would be foolish to buy an old RX7 for a daily driver.  The RX7 was a limited production SPECIALTY car.  As such you will find parts are available at fat premium prices and trained, knowlegeable service information is very hard to come by in most parts of the country.  A Mazda Miata is a much better choice for a whole host of reasons.  It is not even a close call.  With the RX7, be prepared to live with 15-17 mpg when the engine has new Apex seals at it's best.

[Wiggilez]

I used to have a Series 1 Mazda RX7, 13b rotary and 5 speed. Super fun, and HUGE amounts of power potential. If you port it, though, it WILL have the worst mileage of anything you have heard of. Totally worth it though. I would have another one now, but Rotor Motors don't really like extreme cold.

 

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Can confirm

 

I had a friend with an 85 (first year of efi i think) that thing as a blast.

[desbennett004]

 

I used to have a Series 1 Mazda RX7, 13b rotary and 5 speed. Super fun, and HUGE amounts of power potential. If you port it, though, it WILL have the worst mileage of anything you have heard of. Totally worth it though. I would have another one now, but Rotor Motors don't really like extreme cold.

 

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Having purchased a new rotary Mazda I can agree about the power and the smoothness of the engine. But it would be foolish to buy an old RX7 for a daily driver. The RX7 was a limited production SPECIALTY car. As such you will find parts are available at fat premium prices and trained, knowlegeable service information is very hard to come by in most parts of the country. A Mazda Miata is a much better choice for a whole host of reasons. It is not even a close call. With the RX7, be prepared to live with 15-17 mpg when the engine has new Apex seals at it's best.

Haha I DREAMT of 15mpg. Single digits, all the way.

 

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[gogmorgo]

HOW you drive has a lot more to do with fuel economy than WHAT you drive.

 

Like you said, the Miata ranges from 19-30 mpg. If you drive it like you stole it, you'll probably do worse than 19. If you drive it with economy in mind, you'll do closer to that 30 number.

There are advantages to hanging onto a car. You already know it and its faults. Getting another car, especially one of a performance nature, is an unknown. You don't know how it was driven, you don't know all the faults, and especially if you're comparing it to a non-performance vehicle, you probably will get a much worse example for the same dollar.

Unless you put hundreds of thousands of miles on it or it asplodes, the value of the Contour isn't going to change much in the next couple years. Hang onto it, save up. and buy yourself your dream car when you find the right example, don't just grab the first one you can buy thinking it'll be amazing. I made that mistake with my Niva. If I'd waited a week I would have wound up with a much better example for the same price, that had been looked after by a thoughtful individual, one with few faults and less rust. Not this one that I replaced the transmission, clutch, brakes, this summer and still can't drive right now because the engine is out, all of it because the PO was a dip$#!& and used the wrong fluids and overtorqued everything.

[Knucklehead97]

I did forget to add that I was looking to spend 3-4000. Sorry :D I've considered keeping the Contour for longer. But, it has 210k miles on it, no heat or AC, leaks oil, and the interior is trashed. Also only is getting about 25 MPG or so. I miss driving a stickshift is the main reason I'm searching for another car again. Theres been a couple REALLY nice Miatas for 3500$ lately but I don't have the money currently. The more I think about it the more I see the Miata being the best option even with the gas mileage not being the best. I might do like ya'll are suggesting and keep the Contour for another year and fix it up a little bit and toss the rest towards my Jeeps. If a nice stickshift Civic or Sentra popped up then my Contour would be gone in a hearbeat.

[Knucklehead97]

I did forget to add that I was looking to spend 3-4000. Sorry :D I've considered keeping the Contour for longer. But, it has 210k miles on it, no heat or AC, leaks oil, and the interior is trashed. Also only is getting about 25 MPG or so. I miss driving a stickshift is the main reason I'm searching for another car again. Theres been a couple REALLY nice Miatas for 3500$ lately but I don't have the money currently. The more I think about it the more I see the Miata being the best option even with the gas mileage not being the best. I might do like ya'll are suggesting and keep the Contour for another year and fix it up a little bit and toss the rest towards my Jeeps. If a nice stickshift Civic or Sentra popped up then my Contour would be gone in a hearbeat.

[Dzimm]

I did forget to add that I was looking to spend 3-4000. Sorry :D I've considered keeping the Contour for longer. But, it has 210k miles on it, no heat or AC, leaks oil, and the interior is trashed. Also only is getting about 25 MPG or so. I miss driving a stickshift is the main reason I'm searching for another car again. Theres been a couple REALLY nice Miatas for 3500$ lately but I don't have the money currently. The more I think about it the more I see the Miata being the best option even with the gas mileage not being the best. I might do like ya'll are suggesting and keep the Contour for another year and fix it up a little bit and toss the rest towards my Jeeps. If a nice stickshift Civic or Sentra popped up then my Contour would be gone in a hearbeat.

 

Yeah that's probably your best option. If you own a car that runs it is usually better to fix the little things to tolerate it a little longer until you just happen to stumble on something you want. You never know what problems you'll run into with buying a new-to-you vehicle and sometimes those problems are worse than the ones you dealt with on the old car.

[FrankTheDog]

Whatever you are looking for, try to find one that belonged to a long time first owner or a second owner that bought it with low miles and kept for a long time.

Don't be afraid of high miles if the condition is there.

If somebody keeps a car for a long time it's usually because it was a good one.

[Tex06]

Pshhh.....newbs!   If you're cool with 2 seats, want RWD, a decent trunk, fantastic handling, good to great gas mileage (20-36mpg depending on motor), and very very customizable (maybe more so than any other car), reliable, and easily available for under $5000, look no further!

 

Can you guess what it is?

 

Not Toyota.

 

Not Honda.

 

Definitely not European.

 

Think domestic.

 

Think cool.

 

Think Pontiac.

 

That's right, the Miata killer on the track, the Fiero!  I've got an '88 GT and not only is it a blast to drive, it gets great mileage and super easy to get parts for.  The 4-cyl models (I'd suggest '86-'88) get awesome mileage with the 4 or 5 speed manual transmission and the V6s get mid-20s and are a total blast to drive.

 

[Dzimm]

Pshhh.....newbs! If you're cool with 2 seats, want RWD, a decent trunk, fantastic handling, good to great gas mileage (20-36mpg depending on motor), and very very customizable (maybe more so than any other car), reliable, and easily available for under $5000, look no further!

 

Can you guess what it is?

 

Not Toyota.

 

Not Honda.

 

Definitely not European.

 

Think domestic.

 

Think cool.

 

Think Pontiac.

 

That's right, the Miata killer on the track, the Fiero! I've got an '88 GT and not only is it a blast to drive, it gets great mileage and super easy to get parts for. The 4-cyl models (I'd suggest '86-'88) get awesome mileage with the 4 or 5 speed manual transmission and the V6s get mid-20s and are a total blast to drive.

 

This is true and a very good point. There are fieros pretty common around here. Most are for sale too. No idea on condition though.

[Tex06]

There's a couple great forums that have checklists for folks thinking about buying one. Print it out and take it with when you go look at them.

 

This is probably true of nearly any car over 10 years old now that I think about it.

 

 

^if only this wasn't true.....

 

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[Knucklehead97]

Pshhh.....newbs! If you're cool with 2 seats, want RWD, a decent trunk, fantastic handling, good to great gas mileage (20-36mpg depending on motor), and very very customizable (maybe more so than any other car), reliable, and easily available for under $5000, look no further!

 

Can you guess what it is?

 

Not Toyota.

 

Not Honda.

 

Definitely not European.

 

Think domestic.

 

Think cool.

 

Think Pontiac.

 

That's right, the Miata killer on the track, the Fiero! I've got an '88 GT and not only is it a blast to drive, it gets great mileage and super easy to get parts for. The 4-cyl models (I'd suggest '86-'88) get awesome mileage with the 4 or 5 speed manual transmission and the V6s get mid-20s and are a total blast to drive.

 

I have to say... I have NEVER seen one of those before. But I am now in love. That car is SEXY. It's added to my list for sure. Driving my Jeep home from work today I realized there is a lot of stuff I could use that money on for the Jeep. Including getting the gas mileage up and the engine running perfectly. I think I'll take ya'lls advice and fix up the vehicles I have instead of getting another one. But if I find a nice steal for around 1000$ I'll probably grab it cause I like having extra cars :D

[Automan2164]

I would get a 2000's Corolla or Camry in a heartbeat. Rock solid, reliable cars.

GF has had a 2007 Corolla since 2008. It currently has about 245,000 miles on it. Other than a freak PCM at 70K covered under warranty, it has only received maintenance parts. Tires, brakes, oil changes... First set of rear brake shoes @ 240,000. First transmission service (ORIGINAL FLUID!!!) @ 240,000 and going strong. 6,000-10,000 mile oil change intervals with synthetic, and it comes out gold every time.

 

It has been wrecked and rebuilt a handful of times. It's on the third or fourth front bumper, and the second rear. My favorite time was when she tried to pass a semi doing 60 MPH. swerved to miss a racoon, hit the rear duals of the semi, and careened Dukes of Hazzard style down a steep embankment and 200 feet into a cornfield. The officer said something about a tow, but I just told him "Thanks, but with all due respect, I'm driving it home." Ripped off what was left of the bumpers, backed it out in its own ruts. Once the mud clapped off, the thing drove as good as it ever did! Steering wheel straight as an arrow.

 

The longevity of these cars is apparent in the JY. It took forever to find body color parts because a Corolla doesn't show up in the yard because it stopped running. It shows up in the yard because it's wrecked. If they did show up unscathed, they were late 80's or 90's models with a kajillion miles on them. I wouldn't hesitate to pick one of these up in a flash and drive it across country.

 

Pics:

 

 

 

After the JY parts and mule kicking the trunk inside out.

 

 

 

We joke about this being the car she can't kill. We've looked at newer Corollas, but this one is just the Rock of Gibraltar. It always starts, handles great in snow... Has some power to pass, and is a zippy fun little thing. I would be sad to see it go. We just put new brakes, tires, oil, tune up, and belt/tensioner on it. Should be smooth for another 100K. 

 

Rob

[xjustinx]

Acura Integra gsr. Sporty good looking car.

[Tex06]

 

Yeah, just be prepared to have everyone born from 1970-1983 stop you and tell you about their first car the Fiero and how much they love it.

 

I see them for under $1000 all the time near Atlanta. Just be careful of the '84 and '85 models, they had fire issues. Easy fix (I mean come on, you're a jeep guy) but make sure it's done if you get one.

 

Corollas are damn hard to kill, I'll second that. An ex of mine had a manual with over 200k on it, ran great!

 

 

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[gogmorgo]

Buddy of nine picked up a '85 Fiero that had been sitting pretty much abandoned for $500, made it run and drive for a while, then in started running kinda rough, and he found chunks of lists ring in the oil. He swapped in a 3.4 from a low-mile write-off Alero (sound familiar to a Jeep guy? Lol) and damn it's a fine ride now. He preferred driving it in winter to his 2wd XJ just because the balance was so much better, and tbh mpg probably played a big role there too.

[Knucklehead97]

I'm building a list of manual cars that I'm on the lookout for to buy if I see a good deal turn up (just as reliable gas savers). It now consists of

 

Honda Civic

Chevy Cobalt (friend has one that is SUPER sharp)

Nissan Sentra

Toyota Corolla

Maybe a Ford Escort. The 2.0 engines just haven't impressed me with my Contour though.

[johnj92131]

I did forget to add that I was looking to spend 3-4000. Sorry :D I've considered keeping the Contour for longer. But, it has 210k miles on it, no heat or AC, leaks oil, and the interior is trashed. Also only is getting about 25 MPG or so. I miss driving a stickshift is the main reason I'm searching for another car again. Theres been a couple REALLY nice Miatas for 3500$ lately but I don't have the money currently. The more I think about it the more I see the Miata being the best option even with the gas mileage not being the best. I might do like ya'll are suggesting and keep the Contour for another year and fix it up a little bit and toss the rest towards my Jeeps. If a nice stickshift Civic or Sentra popped up then my Contour would be gone in a hearbeat.

 

If you just want another car, then buy one.  But don't try to fool yourself that going from a 25 mpg car to even a 40 mpg car will make economic sense by the time you pay $3 or 4K for your next car.  Here in San Diego gas costs $2.50/gal right now.  At 25 mpg, gas costs you ten cents for each mile you drive.  At 40 mpg gas costs you six and a quarter cents per mile.  So if you drive 100,000 miles you will save $3750. in fuel costs.    How many years will it take you to drive 100,000 miles?

 

If you want to save gas money, take your $3500 and put it down on a NEW Honda Fit.  You will have to make car payments, but you will have no repairs/worries for many years and you will not be driving a P.O.S. car.  Something to think about, right?

[Dzimm]

 

 

I did forget to add that I was looking to spend 3-4000. Sorry :D I've considered keeping the Contour for longer. But, it has 210k miles on it, no heat or AC, leaks oil, and the interior is trashed. Also only is getting about 25 MPG or so. I miss driving a stickshift is the main reason I'm searching for another car again. Theres been a couple REALLY nice Miatas for 3500$ lately but I don't have the money currently. The more I think about it the more I see the Miata being the best option even with the gas mileage not being the best. I might do like ya'll are suggesting and keep the Contour for another year and fix it up a little bit and toss the rest towards my Jeeps. If a nice stickshift Civic or Sentra popped up then my Contour would be gone in a hearbeat.

If you just want another car, then buy one. But don't try to fool yourself that going from a 25 mpg car to even a 40 mpg car will make economic sense by the time you pay $3 or 4K for your next car. Here in San Diego gas costs $2.50/gal right now. At 25 mpg, gas costs you ten cents for each mile you drive. At 40 mpg gas costs you six and a quarter cents per mile. So if you drive 100,000 miles you will save $3750. in fuel costs. How many years will it take you to drive 100,000 miles?

 

If you want to save gas money, take your $3500 and put it down on a NEW Honda Fit. You will have to make car payments, but you will have no repairs/worries for many years and you will not be driving a P.O.S. car. Something to think about, right?

 

The problem with this is that with the car payments you lose your extra spending money. And by the time the car pays for itself at 100k miles, it will have gone through enough other parts and problems that it basically equates to keeping your current car running and by the time you sell it/make your money in gas back, all the value is gone so you actually lose money in the end. In the grand scheme of things if you have a decent running car it's more cost effective to just keep it even if it gets slightly lower gas mileage. Buying a car NEW is a complete waste of money IMO, especially if you have the knowledge to fix things yourself. Unless it's a toy and something special I just can't justify it.

 

And holy crap I wish gas was that cheap. It's in the $3.50 range here.

[Hippie66]

I'm with you on avoiding car payments. In the past 5 years, I have bought 4 daily drivers for a total of $5,300, sold 2 of those after a year each, got back $800. I still have my '97 ZJ and '89 MJ. No payments, no need for full coverage insurance. That's less than $1,000 per year, plus repairs, which have been minor.