I can't decide on a car!

Okay, I came here to ask probably some of the most knowledgeable people, whats a good starter car, I am 16 and I am not exactly rolling in the dough. However I am torn on deciding whats a good starter car that I could work on and upgrade to at least put up some competition in this world full of Stangs? So far I have a few slight ideas, such as Honda Prelude, Civic Ex, or even a Civic Del Sol or Acura Integra, but I am very unsure, can anyone help me?

How much money do you have to spend? What are your long term goals for the car? Street/Track car? Show car?

Ok , my I am looking for a used car, I have about $6000 to spend on a car. Maybe with a thousand over and under. I want to be able to go on street/track racing asl well. Not a show car but something you can add possible style to.:iceslolan :bigthumb:

Integra or Prelude.

Prelude = Larger engine, good if you get a VTEC model with a 5 speed.
Integra = Smaller engine than the Prelude, but has more parts available, also good with a VTEC.


Basicaly if you get a 4 door Integra, insurance will be MUCH less than a 2 door Prelude, you mentioned money is tight so I'd go for the 4 door Integra for upgrades and power, but the Civic will still be less insurance and such... though Integra's are indeed much more cool than Civics :bigthumb:

Umm what type of Integra would be best to race in? And no one has said anything about the del sol really? I am very confused :eek: can someone give me some info on potential capabilities?

Del sol is kind of hard to find parts, and also they were made for one model year, insurance will probably be very high.

Integra LS is good, any trim really, it doesn't matter that much.

Im soo thankful my mom made me start saving my money early. I just got my 03 V6 Six-Speed Accord Coupe today. Wow, its the car of my dreams. The Six-speed is very fast, plus its neat to know theres very few of them running around (1-2 per each Honda dealership in the US). God i hope i dont crash. The crazy thing was insurance was only a 400 dollar increase per year over my 93 accord. ????? go figure

Kamikaze how old are you?

get a civic coupe like cx base model with alot of miles and swap the motor out and lower it that would be alright speed and looks wise and still have room to add lip or body kit also engine mods

me? I'm 16

$400 increase PER YEAR? :eek7:

$4000 :eek7:

You are 16, how did you save up $26,500 in what realisticaly is 3-4 years(MAX atleast in most states) of part time jobs? Then have $4000 (every 6 months or each year I hope) for something like that :confused:

Are upgrades for the integra expensive? And what type would I be looking at?

Originally posted by KoRnboy
Integra LS is good, any trim really, it doesn't matter that much.


And no, upgrades for the Integra are common and should not run too much.

Ok, soo this is race worthy? Does the Integra have enough zip to compete? Thats why I placed it in this forum? :comprage1 Insurance is something most of my money is going to go to anyways so as lon as i pay a decent bit , I have a fairly good choice of car. Its the actual car and upgrades I am afriad of the actual upgrades!

yeah the Integra has a good engine, and it's also ok on insurance, you won't be disapointed.

integras r nice, but if u do go 2dr dont plan on fitting anyone in the back sit, unless they are shorter than 5'5"... 4dr is fine though. You were in the same jam i was in, but i chose a prelude. I just like the feel of it better during a test drive, part for the lude are out there, u just have to search a little more compared to the integra...
Depending on the upgrade it can be very expensive, if u plan to add a turbo or SC, u better have a really well paying job. I wish i had one that paid a little better :mad:
Just remember dont go rice, or u will be paying $50 for Type R gas caps and crap like that.

Kamikaze you are pretty damn lucky to be driving almost a $30,000 car when youre 16, but I definitely give you props for paying for it yourself, thats something 99% of us could never do when we were 16, so it sounds like you earned it:bigthumb:

you could get a 4th gen civic or a 2nd gen crx and swap in a b16 (or other engine of your choice) and depending on what engine you got you'd still have a lot of money left over and be able to take out the prelude and the integra.

how much does it cost for all this engine swaping and what not? Sounds like it would be hella pricy!:sly:

you can find a really clean rex on e-bay with a engine swap already and some work done to the engine for like 4 grand or you could find a beat up one with a swap for like 2-3 grand, or you can find a clean one with some apperance mods done to it for like 3 grand then you have to swap the engine, just look at ebay, they have some shit goin for real cheap, either way you should have about 2 grand to do some shit you want to it. and a b16 swap costs around 2 g's for the engine and mounts and all that good shit and about 500-600 bux in labor.

Well the pricing goes like this:

Ive been working summers since i was 13 and this year i got a part time job during the school year and ive saved 5,000 dollars. I sold my 93 Accord to a friend for 5,000, and with a 10,000 downpayment the monthly is about 300 dollars. I get 100 a month from my parents for mowing the lawn and all that junk, 100 a month for mowing my grandmas yard every week, and I make about 350 a month from working. So 300- the 200 from allowances leaves me making a 100 payment. the extra 250 will be used for gas, and the extra each month will be going towards improvements in the car. My mom is fine with still paying my insurance and registration since i'm buying the car myself.

Originally posted by KamiKaze Accord
Well the pricing goes like this:

Ive been working summers since i was 13 and this year i got a part time job during the school year and ive saved 5,000 dollars. I sold my 93 Accord to a friend for 5,000, and with a 10,000 downpayment the monthly is about 300 dollars. I get 100 a month from my parents for mowing the lawn and all that junk, 100 a month for mowing my grandmas yard every week, and I make about 350 a month from working. So 300- the 200 from allowances leaves me making a 100 payment. the extra 250 will be used for gas, and the extra each month will be going towards improvements in the car. My mom is fine with still paying my insurance and registration since i'm buying the car myself.

:worshippy :ylsuper: :bigthumb:

Ok at first I figured you were spoiled or something, now I have to give you props, that's pretty damn good, and one lucky son of a bitch to get that kind of cash at your age for work, hell I'm 17 and still trying to find a good job in my town :bloated:

But I DO have to pay insurance and all that too so that really limits me on what I can do right now, and in 5 months I'm out of school and have a break before college :bloated:

I applaud you for your hard work and all round luckie-ness :bigthumb:

thanks a lot for all your applause. I live in a fairly wealthy area, with kids driving all sorts of cars, from accords to slk 230s. Most of them are rich spoiled assholes who will never have to work a day in their life. Id rather have worked for my car and earned it over getting one for free any day. It makes you love a car so much more when you know its the fruit of all your labor and hard work.

My hard work is my awesome skills at negotiations :lol:

Like I said jobs are slim these days... otherwise I'd have the same motto, I actually passed up $20,000 from my grandmother for a car :nutkick: ... eh, I'd rather know I paid for the bulk of my $3700 car :lol: plus I take very good care of what I have so that part was easy to clear all the mods and such and the car I wanted :bigthumb:

But once I get it (should all be said in done next week) I can get a job and actually be able to get around, it's also hard to find a job with out a reliable source of transportation. I figure I deliver pizzas for the next 4 months till my birthday ($10 an hour plus tips!) then I can get a real job I have companies who want me (for my computer skillz :D) but they can't hire me till I'm 18 :wtf: Oh well.

Edit: Well I could have a much nicer car, but that'd tap into my college money that I need in a few months :icon16: Atleast my insurance won't be that bad :bigthumb:

i worked and saved for my car and to get my new motor so it feels much better doing it your self then not haveing to do shit for what you got. it gives you more pride in what you do.

Yeah, i definitely agree.

Ok, and this helps me on deciding a car how? Or should this motivate me to car jack Kamikaze's?:bigthumb: Well thats cool man, I wish i could do that, but I live in this little dinky college town, soo all the jobs are taken by 20 year olds, u know the ones that normally belong to teenagers (like sacking groceries)...anyway?



Integra you guys say? (I still think the del sol looks soo coool) Ummmm, soo what would be like the first in expensive upgrades? Would I need to drop it low? Get tires? Better Exhaust?

go with the del sol than just get the b16 version its pretty quick and they are nice and light cars. especially if you were to slap a turbo on it.

if you get a prelude get a vtec because if you do internals thers like crower and je if u get a H23 and thats it.i got one and its a bitch.i got a block from jg engine dynamics and i getting a turbo when it comes out of the shop(i blew it up the day after i quit my job and ive been left to hang for almost 6 months lude less because of money but its finally there and almost done(1-2 weeks))