What's a Good Second Car?

It's Winter and I want to garage my Eclipse. I want a car that'll be a good daily driver, and stand up to Michigan Winters... Plus, it needs to be somewhat fun to drive! What do you all think would be a good choice? ...And don't say a GST! :tongue:

1993-1997 Oldsmobile Cutlass Supreme. I have a '94, and I literally beat the piss out of it, and it just keeps on going. Heavy enough to stay on the road in the Wisconsin winters with 6 in. of snow. Reliable as hell. Gas mileage is decent, and you can pick one up nowadays for like $1k in decent shape. :lol:

1985 5 spd. Ford Escort, fun little car to beat this shit out of during winter months, you would only be out like $200.

No Escorts. For the love of god no! lol.

88 Olds Cutlass Ciera. Mine has 52000 miles on it, and is in pretty good shape. Body is getting kinda rusty, but still great shape. Thing plows through the snow.

Of course, you could always get a 95 ESi........ MY 95 ESi......

i have a 92 eagle talon for ya, 5 speed...

Hah. If I was going to get something I could just beat the hell out of I would just get a civic. You can put like a million miles on them and just run the hell out of them. I would actually probably ram stuff with one of those.

Yeah, I'd get a Honda, they'll run forever and who cares if you fuck it up ;). My beater car once I get a DSM and I dont want it to be daily driven, I am going to get a Starion. Thats going to be my "budget speed" car. I am going to make an MBC, intake, exhaust, IC pipes, gut the hell out of it, and buy only a filter and a boost guage just to see how fast that car can be made with $300 or less.

Oldsmobile Bravada AWD :) Grips like hell, fun to drive in ice, snow, or mud. 1992 Toyota Crapolla, pretty quick for what it is, 37 mpg, and I hit a deer at 65mph and only broke the headlight and dented the fender. Beat the hell out of it and it just keeps going, and going, and going.....

paid $400 for it :p

My dads 1989 Honda Covic Hatchback just broke the 270,000 miles barrier. The only thing changed on the car was spark plugs, oil , brake pads, and new blinkers since I broke the original ones.
I swear this car is a tank. I used it for pizza delivery too and it held perfect. Man if just Eclipses had the same reliable engine as a Honda it would be just perfect. Oh yeah, I saw a 2G eclipse ( think it was a GST) but it had no stickers on it except one big one on the back and its said VTEC.
Honda's are gaining lots of fans around the world man. I hope Mitsubishi comes up with something new too.

92 Ford Probe LX, paid $600 for it and haven't had any problems with it it has 134K on it. I have had it for 6 months now. The engines are known to last well over 200K miles. Not to bad on gas either even though its a V6 i wish it was a 4 banger for even better gas mileage, but hey its treated me well so far.

Wow. I'm liking the ideas. I used to have a '91 Escort and that is pretty reliable... plus you can beat the hell out of it with no remourse. I never thought about a probe though! I'll update this with pics. lol Keep the oppinions coming! What about a Jetta TDi?

One of my friends rallies his Escort through snowmobile trails. He goes hardcore into trees and whatever else is in his way, still runs like a champ. Man that thing is a pile, its all dented to hell, but it holds up.

Last winter I had the 1 ton dodge doolly, turbo diesel with a 5" exhaust :D 6WD is the balls for new england winters... But at 20k used, screw that. The POScort was a good car, but had no power steering. Still got 37 mpg even hauling race motors back and forth from PA :) The 91 made a decent winter car.

Looks like I'm driving the EVO this winter. I'd get another car, but insurance is just too expensive up here...

I dunno, I had a 98 escort and man that thing was a big piece of crap. then again I did put like 30k miles on that thing in about 8 months.

Mine had 150k on it and it ran the balls. Like any other car, I'm sure there are some good ones, some bad ones, and everything in between :) I really do prefer 4wd or awd for new england winters though, especially since I live on top of a steep hill, so I wouldn't do the excort thing again.

Well, now that I'm at school the roads are always plowed... '91 Escort may be the way to go for $200. :lol: Maybe I'll throw my 20G on there. lol JK!! Actually, I could grab a 14b... Hmmm...

heh. If you did that. I would love ot see videos
considering my escort had a hard time going up a hill

My brother broke everything on his 89 escort. Broke the front axle on a busy street, and then blew the tranny. The thing sucked. Slow as all hell.

Hehe... this post turned from "What to get as a 2nd car" to a "This is the other POS I own!" lol

My brother broke everything on his 89 escort. Broke the front axle on a busy street, and then blew the tranny. The thing sucked. Slow as all hell.

Hehe... this post turned from "What to get as a 2nd car" to a "This is the other POS I own!" lol


LMAO :rofl:

2000 civic DX 40dr with ROLL-UP windows. Yep ppl, it doesnt get more basic than this. No tach either. I guess its amazing that it came with seats to sit in. Been driving it since the 3 months the eclipse has been in the shop. The spyder was a total attention whore...with the civic, no one even notices I'm on the damn road. Love the MPG though, and it's been running like a charm (auto). 130,000, got it brand new. So yeah, a civic makes a good beater car. A dsm does not, lol.

Fuck that get a Dodge Omni YES!! I want one my self good little sleepers you can just beat up on.

My beater is a '74 Mustang II.

A little rusty, but great for parking in downtown Harrisburg every day.

Another good car, decent on gas is a 2002 chevy cavalier. WOW that car will withstand anything, I am constantly pulling the handbrake and trying to drift in that car (Yea I know it FWD)

That car is so much fun to just fuck with, and nothing at all is wrong. The only maintanance is oil changes.! LOL the "Cool Cav" RULES!! LOL

I'd like to avoid Civics and Cavaliers... The more I think about it, the more I like the idea of getting a '91 Escort or something. I like the idea of getting an old Probe until I raced one today... I beat it badly at only 4psi... wow My old '91 Escort would have killed it!! Whatever I get, I'll probobly throw the 20G on it. lol

you probably raced a 2.2 N/A Probe which = SLOW AS HELL lol! get the 3.0 like mine or the turbo charged 2.2 they aren't to bad. Its good enough for winter lol and my probe could BEAT an escort lol!

Get a suzuki samurai. They sell for like $400, 4wd, good mileage...and you can beat the living hell out of them :D

89 Ford Tempo. Best winter car I've ever had. I never plugged it in once last winter. It was kept in a horribly insulated shed and started right away every single time in -30 F weather. For only $400 you can't beat it.

Get a suzuki samurai. They sell for like $400, 4wd, good mileage...and you can beat the living hell out of them :D

LOL yeah the whole 66hp and 76TQ they have???? LOL SCREW THAT! Im sure he doesnt want to have to push his car up every little hill there is.

LOL like i said get an Omni

Hey guys, I don't have a dsm but I've been looking on here, and DSMtuners for a while and I really want one. Ya bla bla I'll probably end up getting one in a year or two hopefully, but my question is should I get a second car? I'm only 16 so it would be soo nice if I didn't need one. Then again these cars don't sound too reliable. Plus I was just thinking about tuning and stuff, and I think I'm going to end up getting a EVOIII but that requires supporting mods and tuning...so how would I get around until that's done? Or can I just put the supporting mods on and wait on tuning...I don't know what do you guys do? lol Thanks..

I'll probably get rid of mine in a year or two...

DSMs are funny animals. My gsx is my only car and it has taken me from Florida to Boston 8 times now. I bought it with 119k miles and it's pushing 150k now. It still drives great. It all depends on maintence, how hard you drive it, how modified it is...yada yada. With regular maintence a little bit a luck, it will last a long time with relatively few problems (just like any other car).

As far as modifying goes, most modifications that people do are just bolt-ons. With bolt-ons people can put these cars into the 11s. I have been adding piece by piece since I've owned the car and its my daily driver.

Almost everybody here will tell you that tuning is the key. You can throw a bunch of go fast parts on but tuning brings it all together. That said, it's pretty easy to be passive about tuning. Everyone that has a tuning device will tell you that it is an absolute must before all other mods you're considering. Everyone that doesn't have a tuning device, is "in the process of getting one." You can make the cars fast without tuning but you run a greater risk of damaging your car. I read post after post after post about being able to run the Evo16g at 13-14psi safely on a rewired stock fuel pump. Turns out though, that my setup only allows me to run 12 before I start getting knock.

What's my point? DSMs can be as reliable as any other car. The more go-fast parts you add, the less reliable the car will become (and your fuel economy will take a dump on your wallet). Everybody on this forum will advise you to get a tuning device (or at least a logging device) early in your modding process. It is perfectly fine to mod in a piecemeal fashion.

Hope this all helps.

LOL yeah the whole 66hp and 76TQ they have???? LOL SCREW THAT! Im sure he doesnt want to have to push his car up every little hill there is.
Point well taken

With any car you plan on modded it would be nice to have a second car, not just dsms. Sometimes stuff takes longer than expected and youll be without it for a couple of days. I just use my parents car if I really need to and sometimes Ill just ride my bike or whatever.

Ya I know what you mean, like if something breaks, or you need another part. Honestly I'll probably beat on it every once in a while but not nonstop, but I'll take care of it too. I didn't even think of my parents car. I think it will be ok without mods and stuff up until a new turbo, but another question is how long would it take to tune the car so it was safe enough/drivable enough to take to work or whatever? I could just take my parents car if I had to though. Thanks alot guys

I merged the two threads about a winter/second car. Didn't think we needed two of em.

Ya bla bla I'll probably end up getting one in a year or two hopefully, but my question is should I get a second car? I'm only 16 so it would be soo nice if I didn't need one. Then again these cars don't sound too reliable.

From everything I've heard, an unmodded Eclipse will easily last 150k with propper maitenance... But who wouldn't want to make their Eclipse faster when it's this easy! ;-)