Good Starting Car, 5 grand

[life is viewtiful]

Hey everyone! I'm new to the site, and this is my first post! Huzzah! Anyways, I'm looking for my first car, and after looking through the forums and hearing about this and that, I've kind of narrowed down the list to the following:

Eagle Talon
Toyota Celica 6th generation
Mitsubishi Eclipse
Honda del Sol
Mitsubishi 3000GT
Honda Prelude
Acura Integra
Nissan Maxima
Nissan 240
Chevrolet Cavalier
Chevrolet Camaro

If there's something really great that I overlooked, please let me know (considering it passes the following criteria, and also I have to be able to find it)

Criteria is looks, cost (including gas, insurance, etc.), and performance. 5 grand is about my limit, and of course cheaper is better. And also, I'm getting an AUTOMATIC, because there is an insane amount of stop and go traffic where I live. By the way, are autos really that much better in performance?

Also, I'm really new at all this, and if there's any advice that could help me out (modding, racing, etc.), that'd be great.

And by the way, I've never seen The Fast and the Furious.

[CaTasHtRoPhE 67]

Originally Posted by life is viewtiful

By the way, are autos really that much better in performance?

:

i though Manual was better for performance

[CaTasHtRoPhE 67]

Ok yah but what year for those cars are you looking

Integra and 240 and a civic would porbley have the lowest for gas, insurance and if your not looking for performace at all thin go with a civic,integra or the 240


Hope this helps

[kberk]

Eclipse/Talon good looks pretty good performance

Civic/Integra for reliability and cheap.. tons of mods, not performance unless new engine.

Camaro.. muscle, you can get them pretty cheap now, not my kinda car, but if you like it go for it.

3000GT - If you're only staying at $5000.. i'd avoid it. You'd get a pretty low qual one.

I don't know much about the other cars.

About having a manual.. guess it's all preference.. performance is a little plus, but it's mainly the factor of having more control of your car, thus more fun.

[life is viewtiful]

Originally Posted by CaTasHtRoPhE 67

i though Manual was better for performance

Whoops haha. Yea that's what I meant.

[life is viewtiful]

I'm not really sure on what years I want the cars to be, so if you have any suggestions on good years for the cars, that would be greatly appreciated.

Also, does anybody know how good the mileage is on the Eagle Talon and the Celica? I really like how those cars look, but have no idea on what it'll cost me to keep them.

And, what is synthetic oil? Is it something special? I'm looking at this Eagle (http://edmunds.autotrader.com/fyc/vd...r=&cardist=100) and it mentions it and 93 octane gas. Other than that, do you think this is a good deal?

[kman10587]

Manual is better for performance is you're gonna do autocrossing and/or track racing. If you're just gonna drag race, you'll be better off with a beefed up auto and an aftermarket torque converter.

[panchoman]

I'd go with the camaro .....wonder why.....,.hey catashtrophe im not much into imports but my cousin just got a car like urs ...RSX right?....they pretty fast?

[kberk]

Originally Posted by life is viewtiful

And, what is synthetic oil?

Synthetic Oil is higher quality and is made for somewhat low milage cars that burn at higher temperatures. With a turbo charger or anything of that sort you should always use Synthetic.

I'd recommend buying a car with a tad lower milage, but for the value of everything there, sounds like a good deal to me. Pretty cheap for a model with turbocharger, if you have $25 to spare, I'd also recommend doing a carfax report on it, or at least do a free check to see how many reports the car has.

[CaTasHtRoPhE 67]

Originally Posted by panchoman

I'd go with the camaro .....wonder why.....,.hey catashtrophe im not much into imports but my cousin just got a car like urs ...RSX right?....they pretty fast?

Hahahaha thanks but its not my car i change it becouse i had an is300 that everone like so much they thought it was fine so to set the record stright i dont have a car yet all have my license in november the rsx is just one of the car im looking in to getting

but thanks anyways

[panchoman]

well have luck trying to get one....shouldnt be that bad my cousin is 17 he got his 03 for like 13 grand ..not bad

[CaTasHtRoPhE 67]

yah i no i have seen the type-s 02 and 03 go for 12g-15g so it not that bad

[life is viewtiful]

Oh yea, another thing:

Are paint jobs expensive to get good ones? Because I want the car to look good, I want to know if I should give up on some things in exchange for the color I want.

Also, is there really a big difference in the different model types (like R-S, GSX, TSI, TSE, etc.)?

Again, thanks so much to everybody who's responding!

[kman10587]

Yes, there is.

Eclipse GSX/Talon TSi AWD = AWD and turbo
Eclipse GS-T/Talon TSi = FWD and turbo
Anything else = FWD and N/A.

Camaro base model = V6
Camaro RS = V6 with body kit
Camaro Z28 = V8
Camaro Z28 SS = V8 with minor upgrades

[panchoman]

wow that camaro sur does sound sexy...wink wink