What car should I buy? Am I missing any worth considering?

[xxForgedxx]

I am coming from a Dodge SRT-4 with mods. Crap on it all you want for it being domestic and being a Neon, the car was a sizzler in terms of power and it is one of the best handling FWD cars made, stock Quaife LSD, Viper seats and overall it was a STRONG car. I could beat it, beat it anddd beat it and it held up like no other even with climbing mileage. I have sold the car now and I initially was going to shoot for an EVO or STi however I found myself wanting something more out of a car than JUST sizzle and it seems like it is going to be pretty hard to do, and my list of consideration is mighty big...

BUDGET: $25,000 Tax, title, registered...

TIMELINE: Within the next 12-18 months (yes I'm starting early)

GOAL, What I NEED and do NOT need out of the car:

NEED:

-At least 16mpg without having to drive like a B****

-Can handle bad weather (snow/rain) and will allow me to drive it without having to cross my fingers due to a bad twitch of the wheel

-2 seats won't cut it

-Reliability!!! I can't stress this enough. It can't be FINICKY, UNPREDICTABLE, prone to BIG DOLLAR boo-boos, PITA to own, Can't stand up to the driving it was BUILT for in the first place. This leaves German cars to be VERY questionable on this list unfortunately

-German fit and finish or close to: I always liked how it felt driving say a Vdub with those bluey/purpley and red guages... Really nice and relaxing

-Fast stock (if it happens to suck at mod response) or can reach my goal with bolt ons, I don't want to have to dig deep to get where I want to be. Between 12-14 second 1/4 stock or can be MADE into one easily...

-Handles well, slush boxes are OUT

-When made into, or in stock form 12-14 Second car, it is STILL strong and true/reliable... for example, B5 S4 = no effing WAY!

THE LIST!:

B5 S4: I love the look of this car, the potential, the concept of having a TT 2.7L 6 with how it sounds, AWD... everything. Even the price, it's such a shame that they are hopelessly unreliable :( It's a fail.

MKV R32: I think this car could be a winner, as long as it doesn't have crazy resale value like the MKIV in which case I will rule it out because it simply does not perform well enough to justify the price tag. DSG reliability/longevity is a concern as is power and getting used to it too quickly and having to dig DEEP into the pockets for small gains.

EVO/STi: Performance no brainers, reliable enough even though things get expensive they still hold there own and what breaks is typically predictable and under what abuse. POWER is extremely cheap, an EVO can be made into a 4 door Mr. Nasty pretty cheap however that nice appeal is a BIG concern as is the mod bug. Same with the STi, I can see myself wanting that "oh this is nice" kind of feel when I'm tired and don't feel like tear assing around or being teh fastarrr.

s2000: I absolutely LOVE the car, however it fails in two extremely important catagories, SEATS and All season ability... if that were different this would be mine.

E46 M3: I love these damn things, the best of all worlds IMO however seasonability is questionable, as is the AGE of the car I will have to buy in my budget. I can find a nice one I am sure but it will take a lot of scraping and you can easily buy yourself into a headache if youre not careful... yikes.

B6 S4: This car scores big in everything BUT the reliability/maintenance. The cam tensioner thing, on top of random tid bits scare me to death. I see one and I see that smoking hot girl that deep down you know has got something and you know in the end will break your heart and your wallet! HaHa. I see myself looking at it in my driveway and wondering what is going to go wrong, how soon and how much it's going to cost instead of looking at it thinking "Ah I love you S4".

G35/350z: Doesn't respond to mods worth crap, cheapy inside and yeah no...

SRT-4: I love them, but no more FWD for me...

SRT-8 Series: I really fancy the Charger but with any of these winters are a NO GO so that makes this car a No-Go.

Acura: They all fail, FWD and nothing sizzle or fun about them

Volvo S60R: Hey great car but I have no reason to not want one other than, I justtt don't. They don't excite me...

Anything FWD: Never

Anything OLD: Unless you find me a nice nice NICE Supra TT for my price bracket (Which you won't). Forget the old stuff.

I really need help with this guys. What do you think?
[/B]

[CARTEL]

Kia with 100,000 mile warranty...

Have some money left over to invest.

[MattzWarsteiner]

^ or *cough* mod.

[tdn]

b7 a4. in a year from now, you'll find low mile b7's for 18k. with minor mods, they'll push 270chp, putting them into high 13's, low 14's. then spend the extra cash on a drop/wheels. or spend it all on going bt.

great looking cars, excellent quality, very comfortable, more reliable than previous a4s, good on gas, decent space and a diy friendly engine bay.

a b7 a4 is the only other Audi besides a b5 a4/s4 I would buy at this point as an enthusiast.

[pyro]

stay away from e46 m3's they are hit or miss big time.

[bob12312357]

B5 A4's take real well to mods. Got mine in mint condition with under 100K miles ,sport package, quattro celebration,Winter package for 5500, because the clutch was orginal and he thought it would need to be changed soon. The clutch is still holding and not slippin 30k miles later.With 14-18K left over to invest in the car I think you could make arelatively reliable beast as the block and internals are forged 350 hp should be attainable on a stock block. Honestly though, for the money and reliablity factor I would go for a Legacy GT.

[Tiesto]

Kia with 100,000 mile warranty...

Have some money left over to invest.

Agreed.

[xxForgedxx]

I want something attractive, nice and mild when I want it to be, performance business when I need it to be and not a PITA to own due to high maint/expense/repairs.

[vinny.dtw]

Get a higher budget then... You have to pay to play.

[Jung]

b5 s4 does not fail when it comes to reliability. I've never had mine break down or not start on me, and i've driven it for 11k miles chipped. You can find a decent stage III for low 20s, and that's well-maintained and it already should have a LOT of supporting mods, and should run high 11s/lowwww 12s on a conservative tune.

Just be aware that in order for it to be reliable, you MUST be someone willing to maintain the car. That means frequent VAGCOM scans, warming up/ cooling down the car (you should understand the importance of it already), fixing things when they need to be fixed.

[bigbro]

b6 s4

[xxForgedxx]

b6 s4

Read...

Ruled it out

[bigbro]

Even though he ruled it out it's still my choice out of the vehicles he picked.

[xxForgedxx]

Even though he ruled it out it's still my choice out of the vehicles he picked.

I'd like to know where that would matter in a thread titled "What car should I buy?"

[bigbro]

Misread I didn't realize you were the op. lol thats what a few drinks will do to ya.

[golovemd]

You don't find this car exciting at all?

http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/Volvo...=p4506.c0.m245

A friend of mine got one with the full factory body kit. He has an exhaust on it and nothing else I believe and it is fast. He has the auto also. In a manual would be sweet. I was in the market for one before I got my A6. They were twice the price I paid which is the only reason I didn't get one.

[xxForgedxx]

You don't find this car exciting at all?

http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/Volvo...=p4506.c0.m245

A friend of mine got one with the full factory body kit. He has an exhaust on it and nothing else I believe and it is fast. He has the auto also. In a manual would be sweet. I was in the market for one before I got my A6. They were twice the price I paid which is the only reason I didn't get one.

It's a nice car but it just doesn't have that appealing look to my standard. Some cars that are older do, some don't. I just don't like the look of the headlights, they are that cloudy non projection type deal. I don't know what it is really. Great car, I SHOULD want/get one but I just don't. Meh

[tdn]

^ I'm in complete agreement. They aren't bad cars performance wise, but they do nothing else for me in terms of looks and excitement. I've driven many of them and I'd easily pick from a huge list of under performing cars before I even consider an s60.

[b6quattro]

Just from reading your post it seems that the EVO/STI is the way you should go. You seemed to have said more positive about both of those cars. So my vote is STI, a friend of mine has one and its pretty sick out of the box... The EVO's just don't do it for me... Something about how the rear end looks, just unfinished. Good luck!

[Militant-Grunt]

Get a R32 and turbo the sucker.
That or a 1.8t A4 and build / BT the sucker. =D

[xxForgedxx]

Get a R32 and turbo the sucker.
That or a 1.8t A4 and build / BT the sucker. =D

A boosted R32 would be nasty but it is WAY over budget and I can't bring myself to buy a MKIV R32 for the $25,000 people ask with 30-40k on them... they where only $28,000 ish new and are NOT even close to a sparkling performer in comparison to an EVO/STi... the MKV R32 would be a different story, as long as they depreciated like a NORMAL car and didn't retain sickly resale value numbers like the previous gen. Sorry, almost 5 years old and 40k later you want $5k off original MSRP? F YOUUU

[cerfus]

I want something attractive, nice and mild when I want it to be, performance business when I need it to be and not a PITA to own due to high maint/expense/repairs.

then why would you even consider anything from germany? every single part will break your bank. Just get like an Evo 8 or a cheap honda, save yo dough, then when you have a higher budget you can get the car you really want(such as an M3, S4, Etc.) and not have to worry about the "can I afford the timing belt change" .

[El_Chapusca]

Evo or Sti Should be your best bet even thou evo 9's had a recall about the gear 6th malfuctioning at high speeds. Make sure to check up on that.

[bigbro]

then why would you even consider anything from germany? every single part will break your bank. Just get like an Evo 8 or a cheap honda, save yo dough, then when you have a higher budget you can get the car you really want(such as an M3, S4, Etc.) and not have to worry about the "can I afford the timing belt change" .

I strongly agree with you there. A neon to the germans is a big step.

[BavarianAudi]

Evo or Sti Should be your best bet even thou evo 9's had a recall about the gear 6th malfuctioning at high speeds. Make sure to check up on that.

get the GSR(5speed) the MR(6speed) has a weaker gearbox, most ppl who want to mod a EVO get the GSR.

[le91688]

TL Type S

[FITZ TITS]

TL Type S

Torque steer like a mother...

[Krendor]

FWD FTL

[Tiesto]

TL Type S

Interesting how you found that on "familycar.com" that's all that Acura is anyway.

[xxForgedxx]

Interesting how you found that on "familycar.com" that's all that Acura is anyway.

It is a family car, however FWD kills this one otherwise it'd be a serious contender.

[1000songs]

Are there no used Mazdaspeed6's out there? Did mazda really not sell ANY of them? I test drove one when they were FOB - that car was a sleeper.

[B597]

if your looking for something more refined look at the subaru legacy

[Overboostin]

saab aero

[b6onboost]

This looks pretty simple. Based on your feelings/demands/opinions....

B7 A4 2.0T Quattro 6M or a Sti/Evo.

If you want more performance and are willing to give up luxury...get an Sti or Evo. If you are willing to give up some performance for a more luxurious car...get the A4.

[a4wheelin]

Legacy GT! Much more comfortable than an EVO or STI, but great power and performance on tap. Small mods, big gains! Plus they depreciate like crazy the first year so you can pick up a barely used one for less than 20k!

[xxForgedxx]

Legacy GT! Much more comfortable than an EVO or STI, but great power and performance on tap. Small mods, big gains! Plus they depreciate like crazy the first year so you can pick up a barely used one for less than 20k!

A buddy of mine had one, I have ruled it out because it is a mod bug vehicle. I wouldn't be able to stop I don't think and it does look somewhat bland.

[moses0324]

i would recommend a subaru...you have dismissed almost everyother suggestion or contender based upon cost and awd capability

[GunSupplier]

i would recommend a subaru...you have dismissed almost everyother suggestion or contender based upon cost and awd capability

This.

You say you don't want FWD ("Never") [funny, coming from an SRT-4 owner. No more FWD?]
You say you don't want RWD ("Omg snow")
You've really narrowed it down for yourself with the AWD preference.

WRX/STi, Evo, Legacy GT, MazdaSpeed 6, B5 A4/S4, B6 S4, B6/B7 A4, S60R, R32, "X" 3-series, G35X. Those are the choices. Pick one. The "old timers" are also the Eclipse GSX, and the 3000GT VR-4. [but I doubt you're interested, because they aren't "sedans"]

Outside of that sphere, you're really not going to find many AWD "really sporty" sedans.

[bigbro]

get a GTRS b6 A4 and call it a day 300awhp, 30mpg, and awd.

[xxForgedxx]

This.

You say you don't want FWD ("Never") [funny, coming from an SRT-4 owner. No more FWD?]
You say you don't want RWD ("Omg snow")
You've really narrowed it down for yourself with the AWD preference.

WRX/STi, Evo, Legacy GT, MazdaSpeed 6, B5 A4/S4, B6 S4, B6/B7 A4, S60R, R32, "X" 3-series, G35X. Those are the choices. Pick one. The "old timers" are also the Eclipse GSX, and the 3000GT VR-4. [but I doubt you're interested, because they aren't "sedans"]

Outside of that sphere, you're really not going to find many AWD "really sporty" sedans.

Well after getting some insane insurance quotes it is actually looking like the C6 Corvette is the cheapest to insure... cheaper than an M3, cheaper than an EVO/STi/R32 and everything on the list besides an A4. Don't know WHY but hell I'd rock a C6 Vette and keep my winter beater.