Newbie ?s

I am new to the whole import modification scene. I have friends at school with very nice souped up imports. Of course, many of them have parents that are loaded. I want to get into the scene and get my own car. I've got a few questions though. What in everyone's opinion is the best car to get between 7,000 and 10,000 if I want it to look nice and have decent speed after I modify it? Also, I've been hearing about getting a civic and doing an engine swap. How much would that whole process cost(including the engine cost and installation)? I know the major things mods you can do to a car from reading other posts, but I haven't seen many costs. How much does stuff like intake, exhaust, headers, lowering, rims cost? Responses to any of these questions and any other thing a newbie should know would help me a lot. Thanks. :rolleyes:

If you wanna start right, choose from these models to begin with:

Prelude
Eclipse
Integra
GTI
Jetta
Civic

These are just some of the ones that come to mind right now for that price range. Not that these are the only ones. I would go with the prelude more, but that's just me.

Isnt the prelude pretty expensive? Id think it would be hard to get one between 7000 and 10000 but maybe not. Thanks for the help. Anybody else wanna help me out?

impreza. wrx's are fetching around £7-8k (about $10k) now. i know they r harder 2 get in the states than over here, but i hope 4 ur sake they are fetchin the same money as over here.
Also, buy from a car auction, much, much cheaper

Originally posted by Pennzoil GT-R
impreza. wrx's are fetching around £7-8k (about $10k) now. i know they r harder 2 get in the states than over here, but i hope 4 ur sake they are fetchin the same money as over here.
Also, buy from a car auction, much, much cheaper


WRX's are $30 some odd thousand Canadian

I think he means older model WRX's.

I'm not sure if they were called WRX's but I'm prettty sure they ahd a turbo model a few years back.

For the love of god, get a RWD or AWD car. Then you can make fun of your import friends with front drivers, and comment on the superior handling of your rear driver. Just my 2 cents :)

Have you considered a Nissan 240SX? These are very nice cars, there is a huge aftermarket for them... An 89-93 is in that price range, and they are really great cars.

To clear up a little confusion, in North America, the rest of world spec 180SX is called the 240SX, but it is built on the same platform as the S13.

You could probably find an 89 Iroc Z or Trans Am GTA for that range. Thats a car packin I think 240 hp. Not bad for a first little hot rod.

Nissan 240SX, like was said thats a pretty nice car.

Originally posted by CAptynCrunch
I think he means older model WRX's.

I'm not sure if they were called WRX's but I'm prettty sure they ahd a turbo model a few years back.

actually, you are right, i was wrong to call them the wrx, dunno why i did. they were just called the Impreza Turbo. i looked up the prices in the trade book and they are even cheaper here than i thought, starting at about £5k ($8k ???) for a 94-95 car. of course the rarity of them in the US could make them more expensive. They still have AWD and a decent power, but arent quite as quick as the wrx. They are charachterised by having a small rear wing.

You can get a Subaru 2.5RS for around 10k. AWD, good looks, 4door or 2 door, about 160hp and 160 tq.

Get a 1987-92 Toyota Supra Turbo, Mint condition should run around 4 grand now days. Drop another 4-5 Grand in upgrades and you will be able to smoke all your friends cars. For still under 10K.

my 2 psi.

well i would suggest a nissan 240sx. either a S13 or a S14. i'm not picky. actually i am, i would prefer my S14 over a S13. if you want a car with true potential. and if your willing to swap engines. all you have to do is swap it with the japanese spec engine. blackS13 has a S13 with a SR swap and he was able to keep up with a dodge viper r/t 10 at 18 psi's of boost. lets see a honda do that with a swaped engine. plus its RWD. if you want a sports car get a car thats built right. front wheel drives are generally known for economy cars. when you acelerate with a front wheel drive car. your taking the weight off your drive wheels as the weight shifts to the back. same thing with down force when you put a wing on a front wheel drive, the down force is lifting the front of the car up. plus front wheel drives under steer alot when your acelerate during a turn. when rear wheel drives over steers. and you can do a controled slide. plus i love S14's. if they didn't look sooo down right handsome and mean, they would make S14 conversion kits for acura integra's and honda civic's. and they look like mini skylines!

well i would suggest a nissan 240sx. either a S13 or a S14. i'm not picky. actually i am, i would prefer my S14 over a S13. if you want a car with true potential. and if your willing to swap engines. all you have to do is swap it with the japanese spec engine. blackS13 has a S13 with a SR swap and he was able to keep up with a dodge viper r/t 10 at 18 psi's of boost. lets see a honda do that with a swaped engine. plus its RWD. if you want a sports car get a car thats built right. front wheel drives are generally known for economy cars. when you acelerate with a front wheel drive car. your taking the weight off your drive wheels as the weight shifts to the back. same thing with down force when you put a wing on a front wheel drive, the down force is lifting the front of the car up. plus front wheel drives under steer alot when your acelerate during a turn. when rear wheel drives over steers. and you can do a controled slide. plus i love S14's. if they didn't look sooo down right handsome and mean, they would make S14 conversion kits for acura integra's and honda civic's. and they look like mini skylines! if your goin start. you might as well start off on a good platform..

I would suggest my car but,

A. You couldn't find one.

B. You probably don't like it.

So instead I would suggest one of the DSMs, a Fairlady Z, or a Supra.

Wow that does look like a Mini Skyline......cool pic.

Well if i cant turn you to american muscle then i would suggest a rwd car. Nissans are good little cars, or mazda rx-7!

yup yup since i can't afford a "real" skyline i'm goin to have to make it look like one. hehe

I suggest looking into Z cars... the older models (240z especially) are classic lightweight sports cars...

A nice condition 240z would probably be in the price range and you could drop a v8 in it and be running 12s, 11s, or 10s depending on how much you wanna spend...

Z cars are bad ass, the only bad thing is there isn't much of an aftermarket for them... and the aftermarket that is there is really overpriced *shrugs*

My 280zx turbo was $950, we replaced some parts (+/- $1000) and it keeps up with most ricers without any problems... beats most of em too :)

-Grendel

I would recomend a nice mustang GT. The 94-95 should fall into your price range. It has about 215 hp and 280 lbtq. Just do not get an auto. Stock, you should be able to show your import friends what torque is. There is also a large selection of performance parts at a low cost.