Whats a good first car?

[JustAnuddaYoungun]

I was just curious of what a youngun like me should look for in a reasonable price range for a good car, any help would be wonderful, thanx.

[boingo82]

OK..you have to give more info:
What, to you, is a "reasonable price range"?
What do you intend to do with this car? Drive to work/school, or race, or both, or go off-road?
Do you plan on any modifications to the car?
Will you regularly be carrying 2 or more passengers?
How important is gas mileage to you?
Do you prefer stick or auto tranny?
2 doors or 4?
FWD, AWD, or RWD, or 4WD? What's your preference, and how important?
Is reliability a big factor for you?
Which brand do you prefer?
Is insurance cost important?
Are you concerned about crashworthiness?
Which safety features do you require the car to have? (ABS, dual front airbags, side airbags, traction control, active headrests, seatbelt pretensioners, etc.)
etc...

[mnd643]

Hmmmm, you sound like a volkswagen person to me. How about a 1969 VW bug.....paint that bitch yello, add some pin stripes and you'd be the talk of the town.........

[JustAnuddaYoungun]

Impartial on All Front of Rear wheel drive
something under 8 grand preferably, driving to school, racing in the future when im more experienced, manual, 2 door, 4 is fine, insurance and gas mileage dont matter a whole lot, somewhat reliable, willing to work on it and learn.

[JustAnuddaYoungun]

i am indeed a vw person, was thinking about a jetta, not sure if its a good idea or not and what year is best.

[mnd643]

Originally posted by JustAnuddaYoungun
Impartial on All Front of Rear wheel drive
something under 8 grand preferably, driving to school, racing in the future when im more experienced, manual, 2 door, 4 is fine, insurance and gas mileage dont matter a whole lot, somewhat reliable, willing to work on it and learn.

LOL...that sounds a lil bit like something you would see in a personal add....not what why wrote, just the format that you wrote it in..hahaha. Yea I got a friend who just bought a jetta gls, its not a bad car for the money...

[Neutrino]

IMO a good first car would be an eclipse gsx. AWD and a turbo 4 banger for starters should be good for you and later you can do some mods since this is a very mod happy car.

[boingo82]

Originally posted by JustAnuddaYoungun
Impartial on All Front of Rear wheel drive
something under 8 grand preferably, driving to school, racing in the future when im more experienced, manual, 2 door, 4 is fine, insurance and gas mileage dont matter a whole lot, somewhat reliable, willing to work on it and learn.

OK...there are a LOT of cars to consider in that range...

So, here's what Consumer Reports had to say:

Recommended used cars
LESS THAN $6,000
Ford Escort ?97-98
Geo Metro ?95 ? Prizm ?95-96 ? Tracker ?95
Mazda Protegé ?96
Mercury Tracer ?97-98
Subaru Impreza ?95
Suzuki Sidekick ?95 ? Swift ?95
Toyota Tercel ?95

$6,000?$8,000
Chevrolet Prizm ?98
Ford Escort ?99-00 ? Ranger (2WD) ?95-97
Geo Prizm ?97
Honda Civic ?95-96
Mazda B-Series (2WD) ?95 ? MX-5 Miata ?95 ? Protegé ?97-98
Mercury Tracer ?99
Nissan Altima ?96 ? Sentra ?97
Saturn SL/SW ?98-99
Subaru Impreza ?96 ? Legacy ?95
Toyota Corolla ?95-97 ? Tercel ?96-97

$8,000?$10,000
Buick Century ?98
Chevrolet Prizm ?99-00
Ford Crown Victoria ?97 ? Escort ?01
? Explorer (2WD) ?95-96 ? F-150 (2WD) ?95
? Ranger (2WD) ?98
Honda Accord ?95 ? Civic ?97
Infiniti G20 ?95-96
Lincoln Town Car ?95
Mazda B-Series (2WD) ?96-98 ? MX-5 Miata ?96-97 ? Protegé ?99-00
Nissan Altima ?97-98 ? Maxima ?95-96 ? Pickup ?95-96 ? Sentra ?99
Saturn SL/SW ?01
Subaru Impreza ?97-98
Toyota Avalon ?95 ? Camry ?95-96
?Celica ?95 ? Corolla ?98-99 ? Echo ?00-01
? RAV4 ?96

Reliability risks
These cars have shown several years of much-worse-than-average overall reliability. AWD stands for all-wheel drive; 4WD, for four-wheel drive. Listed alphabetically.
Cadillac Catera
Cadillac Seville
Chevrolet Astro
Chevrolet Blazer
Chrysler New Yorker, LHS
Chrysler Town & Country (AWD)
Dodge Caravan (4-cyl.)
Dodge Dakota (4WD)
Dodge Durango
Dodge Grand Caravan (AWD)
Dodge Neon
Ford Focus
Ford Windstar
GMC Jimmy
GMC Safari
Jeep Grand Cherokee
Lincoln LS
Mercedes-Benz M-Class
Oldsmobile Alero
Oldsmobile Bravada
Oldsmobile Cutlass
Plymouth Grand Voyager
Plymouth Neon
Plymouth/Chrysler Voyager (4-cyl.)
Pontiac Grand Am
Volkswagen Jetta
Volkswagen New Beetle
Volvo S80

[GTi-VR6_A3]

Originally posted by JustAnuddaYoungun
Impartial on All Front of Rear wheel drive
something under 8 grand preferably, driving to school, racing in the future when im more experienced, manual, 2 door, 4 is fine, insurance and gas mileage dont matter a whole lot, somewhat reliable, willing to work on it and learn.

well from what i hear here the vw bug plan actually fits in very very well. it is everyone of those things that you named. im talking old bug btw. you can find em forgreat prices do all of your own work. and there are plenty of parts available. i want to own one someday for just driving around. not extremely fast though, but can be made to be like almost every car can. but get a pretty nice one paint it black and put on soem nice wheels clean it up. damn man now i want an old bug... i would lvoe a 50's one but those are hard to come by and cost $$$ aim for 60's-70's

-GTi-VR6_A3

[JustAnuddaYoungun]

thanx guys, time to go buy myself a jetta or eclipse..i been thinkin maybe both is an idea

[Drfthis]

A Volks Wagen 1967 bug with a 1600cc engine then bore it out to 2500cc =somting like 200hp and add a torbo with an intake and you will be puting out 500hp you can get a bug for about $1500+ and there stick shift

[zyajzarc]

Originally posted by Drfthis
A Volks Wagen 1967 bug with a 1600cc engine then bore it out to 2500cc =somting like 200hp and add a torbo with an intake and you will be puting out 500hp you can get a bug for about $1500+ and there stick shift

riiiight... 500+ hp?!!..u gotta be kiddin' me.. oh and that stick shift... yea.. might as well rip it out before you drive... rather than gettin shafted by 500+hp . BTW... that would be SOOO cool!!!

[Drfthis]

hey a 580hp sand rale with a vw motor is true and so is boring out a 1600cc motor to a 200hp monster is a 100 percent true. no bull

[Drfthis]

and almost all vw bugs were manual

[DeViL]

I would say a good first car is, any car with mileage under 90k, you can afford, you can afford to fix if something breaks, and has some power to get out of its own way. I'm talking at least 150 hp.