JRock

The STi (and the WRX for that matter) is out because it has a heavy clutch pedal I want no part of for a daily driver that involves stop-and-go driving.

I'm fairly new to driving stick and I want a manual car as my next car so I can get better at it, but even so I don't want one that will frustrate and tire me quickly when it's my only car.

Also the WRX seems to have lots of issues with its 5speed so that is out for that reason as well.

Which sucks because I love WRC and I'd love to own a rally-bred car, especially for the AWD and the turbo, both of which I would like on my next car (hence why I'm looking at the Evo).

My budget is under $30k and preferably under $25k. I like Japanese makes, don't care much for domestics, and German cars are out because they're all over-priced and once they get into high mileage they're maintenance nightmares.

So I'm looking at second-tier (non-luxury) Jap brands like Honda and Toyota and the only car there that interests me is the s2000 and that's not really practical for a daily driver in an area of the country where we do get plenty of snow and as an only car I would need to use to lug groceries or whatever in.

Looking at third tier non-luxury like Nissan and Mitsu, there's the 350Z but that car has soooo many little issues with it right now I wouldn't go near it. The Evo really sounds like it has too many issues to be reliable enough for my daily driver, not to mention lots of ****ty service experiences at dealerships.

My experience with cars has been GM and Acura. GM is what I grew up in and they were always mediocre and right now their designs are all ugly and underpowered junk. Acura has been excellent in just about every way but I want a change. The RSX-TypeS is a possibility but it's just so wimpy-looking stock, and FWD is not gonna be much fun even with a manual trans, I don't think.

As much as I hate to say it I wish Ford sold a rally version of their Focus here for like $27k because even though it's a Ford I'd be attracted to checking it out. Sort of like a mouse is attracted to a nice fat piece of yummy-looking cheese on a mousetrap.
But they don't sell that, so no worries there.

I really don't think I could stand to just go conservative and spend $19k on a Civic Hybrid and put the rest of the money in the bank. No temptation to mod that and excellent gas mileage plus a tax break at the end of the year. Tempting. And I could spend a couple Gs on a big screen TV and a rally game for my XBox and pretend I'm in a rally car when I'm at home.

Hahaha yeah right. F that. I want a car with performance that's still a comfortable ride, an easy clutch, and a solid gearbox/engine that has decent interior build quality. Such a car should be able to be had for around $26-28k but apparently it simply doesn't exist.

OCDwithEvo

damn i was gonna say you can check out the focus...but i guess you cant . i heard a lot of good things about the s2000 as well but yea, you have good points for that one as well . did you happen to look at the mazda protege ES? dont know if you'd like it but i was interested for a while so maybe you wanna take a look. again dude, good luck with anything you decide on.

EVO_RPM

iTrader: (2)

In every car I think you will hear some problems. Before I bought the RSX there were alot of problems that almost pushed me away from buying it. Then I looked at every other forum and you will see some problems too. I then looked at the good things about the car and it convinced me to buy the car. But performance wise, at this time it doesn't satisfy me at all unless it is really modded. The interior is nicely designed but alot of the plastics are really cheap and the seats are not even full leather.

My girlfriend bought her BMW 328ci for over $30k and some of her trims are pealing off and some things are falling off. I'm pretty sure not all BMW's are experiencing her problems but probably a small portion are. Just like the EVO, some people arn't experiencing any problems at all and some are.

I just hope that when it comes time for me to decide on buying a car that it won't be that problem car.

JRock

I've heard REALLY bad things about the Mazdas, being built in Mexico, and falling apart.

The Focus in the US doesn't have an AWD turbo version does it? As far as I know it doesn't, but I haven't followed Ford enough to know.

I will test drive the Evo today so hopefully that will help make up my mind better.

GPTourer

You just answered your own rant. You want top notch build quality, daily driveability luxury, Evo class performance and absolutely no quirks or faults, all for $28K or less (or 25K like you said earlier)?

there has never been a car like that because:

A: the Evo is the first car sold here to deliver Evo class performance at an Evo price.

B: Acuras and Hondas don't deliver Evo performance at ANY price.
Even the NSX can get bested by an EVO in some areas, and it doesn't have four doors and room for five.

I don't think you'll be satisifed with any car if you expect all of those things at your price point, and even if you had an unlimited budget, I think it is unrealistic to expect ONE car to deliver all of those traits.

JRock

Well I'm open to modding, and a modded RSX at least offers 13-second 1/4 mile performance for around the price of a base Evo.


Btw, the dealership STILL hasn't gotten their Evos PDI'd.

MeddlingKids

The only bad thing about modding a RSX-S is that you will not recoup that money you sink into it. Here's an example. Let's say you purchase a RSX-S for $23,000 and an EVO for $28,500. To get the RSX-S into the performance range (which it will still fall far short of), you put $5500 into the Acura. So, now you have an RSX-S that can run 13s, but still isn't at the EVO level in other respects, but also cost you $28,500. If you want to sell after a year, though you hopefully wouldn't want or have to, let's assume the value of the cars drop 20%. Also, realize that you can't get money back from your mods, usually, when you sell a car. In fact, you may even have MORE trouble selling the car. So, you sell the EVO for 80% of 28,500, or $22,800 and the RSX-S for 80% of $23,000, or $18,400. Also, in all fairness, we'll assume you can sell your aftermarket parts for $1500, so that brings the selling price up to $19,900. Therefore, using these assumptions, which are fairly accurate, you lost $5700 on the EVO and $8900 on the RSX-S. The EVO is more car for the money, and a better investment than the Acura, in my opinion

EVO_RPM

iTrader: (2)

You said it exactly right! Thats why i'm really really concidering on selling my RSX-S for an EVO. the amount of money I spend on the RSX won't compare to an EVO (who can make 200 additional welds just on a door of an RSX like on the EVO). It will never perform like an EVO or anything like it. If the EVO was in the market when i purchased my RSX i def would have gotten the EVO.

dsm

go for the evo

EVO_RPM

iTrader: (2)

My question is, is the interior really that CHEAP. Does everyone experience peeling anywhere in their dash or trim?

BIgDaddy78660

I will agree the RSX seems weak after driving the EVO but Honda and Acura have a much better resale value than Mitsh.

N10S

iTrader: (4)

My EVO has over 8500 miles on it with absolutely no issues to date. It has been used as a daily driver alternate to my Syclone, and see's its share of interstate travel, city stop and go, and twisty back roads driving.It has been much more reliable than most of my german cars, thats for sure!

As far as the interior I have owned an M3, an MCoupe, 2 S4's, and various other german cars. I am very particular about how solid a car rides and how its interior looks. The Evo may not have leather, but to me the whole black and titanium trim interior w/Recaro's results in a nice interior that I certainly am willing to put up with for the overall package.

my .02

Jeff

50cal

iTrader: (1)

I agree, after sitting in and test driving the Evo several times, the interior overall does not seem cheap to me (just plain).

Chrome interior door handles and nicer A/C knobs are two small things I would like to see added.

JRock

I have to say I'm disappointed the OZ Rally Lancer gets cooler, sportier looking gauge faces than the Evo.

drmosh

Uh... I hope you aren't serious, the STi and WRX's clutch is relatively light. You must be a n00b when it comes to performance cars... go drive a Z06 or Mustang, then you'll know what left leg cramp is all about.