Advice on a new car.......

Alas, I am hopeful to be getting a new car soon. My budget is not really set in stone, but would like to keep the initial cost right around $7k(U.S.). I'm looking for something that pretty much is the best of everything(hope that made some sense..).

Demands:
1. I definitely need reliability because I have not much tools and lack garage space.
2. I also ask for a car that will average better than 18 or 19 miles per gallon when driving softly because I drive 20 miles one way to school.
3. Fun to drive.
4. Decent amount of power. Needs good tunability and have a decent amount of aftermarket support.
5. I dont really have a definite preference to whether it is an import or domestc, but I don't think I can really afford repair/maintenance on a German car.

This car will be a daily driver and a weekend warrior...

Now, any suggesions?

Get a corolla/civic/focus...etc...They should get you pretty good gas-mileage and they're very reliable cars. You can fetch a decent mileage one for around 7k and that's not too old (maybe 1999 or something).

Here's the best buy of 2003:
http://auto.consumerguide.com/auto/new/index.cfm/act/rating/ratingyear/2003/ratingtype/1.htm

Maybe you can find an older model of these cars that's around $7k.

The only problem with the civic/corolla/focus is the lack of power.... unless it's a civic with a swap or f/i. But keep in mind that I live in CA, and would like to not have to pay off someone every 2 years to pass me for smog. Power and speed are quite important as well as the 4 other points I listed.

Reliability (along with gas milage) and power on the budget you have are diametrically opposed. You are going to have to sacrafice a bit of one of them. You are going to have to go with a small car for the price and gas milage. Very few small cars have much power (that are old enough to hit your price range) Neons and Sentras can be nimble with decent milage.

With your budget you are not going to be able to get everything you want.













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Yogs is right...with your budget, don't expect a great performing car with low gas mileage. Others that come to mind is the late 90's Accord or the Mid 90's Camry V6s...which are quite responsive.

On the other hand, you can get a mildly high mileage 1990 300ZX which will no doubt woo ladies. Another is the Porsche 928S (I love these) in the 80's...but these things will eat gas for breakfast.

How about DSM's?