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As you can see, i'm in the market for a new car. I'm more interested in finding a car that has the best bang for the buck. Ideally, i'd like to spend some-what little over $10,000.
My general criteria
- Would like to find something on the newer side
- manual transmission
- has quite a bit of power under the hood
- good reliability
- decent gas millage
- requires basic attention (maintenance)
- lastly, most of all. the lower the mileage, the better!
Few of my fellow friends have mazdaspeed3, Hyundai Genesis, and one has an wrx sti. I've driven those vehicles and they are quite fun to drive. STI were my first choice, however i know that i wont be able to afford it sadface.
Now, i'm not an mechanic and i'm not super knowledgeable about cars. Hence i came here to see if i could get some help.
Does the Subaru wrx have good reliability? I was under the impression that WRX and WRX STI models requires extra attention. Does any one have an comment about this?
What are the other cars i should look into? Maine has limited selections on trucks and cars. I might will end up buying an out of state car.
How about the best Miata that you can get for your budget? Not the most powerful car but a lot of fun, meets all your other needs.
Do you have a garage? If not I would avoid any ragtop models, more recent Miata have the retractable hard top, but in any case a good fun car really should not be left on the street when parked IMHO.
I'm guessing you are in Maine from your post - do you want a summer-only car and have something else for winter, or do you want something that's both fun and winter-usable?
You'd have to get a pretty high mileage WRX to get it for 10k, stay away from heavily modified ones with young drivers. Honestly, and I know this is kind of crap advice, but I'd save up a little longer, you'll get far more car for $14-16k.
I smile every time I drive my 2005 GTO. Probably can't be had for $10K, but you might find a 2004 headed down towards $10K.
Very different from the Miata I suggested, the GTO is another viable choice for sure, leaning more towards the traditional "muscle car" experience than the traditional "sports car" experience. More room if you care about that, thirstier, but not so thirsty as to be rediculous if you keep your foot out of it (mostly).
Instead of a depreciating late model you could get a restored or semi-restored classic, an older Corvette, etc. although these are more practical as summer-only cars.
Maine is not the motorhead Mecca that the South and West are.
Yup i'm from maine plan on moving out of here after i get my degree. The main reason why i wanted to get a new car was because i'm getting rid of my toyota 4runner. It's an 98 with 120k and the gas prices is starting to scare me. So, it would be nice to have it winter friendly. I'm willing to give up the off road fun and have a nice street car.
So i figured a Subaru would be fine because of the awd. My other thought i could look for is an 03ish model beamer? I dont think this would be practical up here due to the roads. It's a nice car, i wouldn't want to ruin a bmw. I'd like to try find something on the lower miles side. I do plan on keeping it for a while, if you know what i mean.
Honestly i dont mind getting a small loan so 10k is not my limit. I can try do 13ish maybe. Depends on how much of a loan i can do (mo. payment).
I do have a garage, however it's not heated. Not even connected to my house sadface. I saw the scion tc, Toyota Celica, 350z. Those look like little fun cars. I've never been in those, I think i'll have to stop by nissan/toyota and test drive.
What about buying an used car and do an make over? (redo the drive train, motor, tranny etc...) This route would require more $ i bet. Just a thought lol.
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sadface. 
plan on moving out of here after i get my degree. The main reason why i wanted to get a new car was because i'm getting rid of my toyota 4runner. It's an 98 with 120k and the gas prices is starting to scare me. So, it would be nice to have it winter friendly. I'm willing to give up the off road fun and have a nice street car.
