Hey, I've been talking to my friend that has a lot of knowledge about cars. I go to the local races where I live every Friday and Saturday night and just love racing and driving. I'm looking to get a new car, not wanting to spend more than $12,000, under 80,000 miles, manual, and it has to be very clean and nice looking. My friend suggested just the regular WRX and just do some mods to it to improve the horse power. So far I'm really hooked up on the WRX, but I got really into drifting and RWD drives, but the only I found within those specifications was the RX-7 or the RX-8, but I have heard only bad things about them. I will be doing a lot more cruising than racing and drifting. If anyone has any ideas on what other cars that might intrigue me, please let me know. Thanks.

 

Well, a budget of 12K is okay, so let's see. A WRX is not the best for drifting as you can imagine, but it is good for cruising (good mileage, fits five, cheaper insurance than an STi, etc.). You'll find a bunch of good cars for cruising, especially under 12K (E36 BMW 3 series, Lexus LS400, Mustang, Camaro, blah blah blah). An RX7 under 12K and with fewer than 80K on the odo will either be heavily and possibly improperly modded or else a salvage title, and I've never seen an RX8 under 12K.

I would suggest figuring out exactly what you want out of a car, such as performance, aftermarket support, daily driver or track car, looks, dependability/reliability, price, and so on. Then take a look at what is for sale in your area. I have no experience with the Florida car market, but Id' think there would be quite a few people trading in nicer older cars for nicer newer cars, since image is rather important to many. But as far as good performance cars roughly under and around 12 (don't hold me to this list), early (AP1) Honda S2000 (rare at that price), 95-98 BMW E36 M3, Audi A4 1.8T, Subaru GC models, Mustang GT (late 90s to early 2000s), and more I can't think of right now. All of these are available with manuals, mostly 5 speeds, but may not have under 80K.

But since this is a Suby forum, all you'll find here is mostly happy Subie owners Good luck.

 

Yeah, well about a week ago I was set on buying just a regular WRX, since they are really fast and come stock turbo. I do want to do some racing, but not a whole lot. More cruising. I think still for the price, looks, and performance the WRX is the best deal for me.

 

youll be happy with a wrx. most bugeyes have dropped their prices to around 12k so thats perfect for you. just please do us all one big favor... don't rice it out.

 

You gotta watch any sporty car with higher mileage because people like to beat the **** out of them, then sell them. Make sure you look the car over really well before you spend any money.

 

If you can live without drifting...SRT-4 best bang for your buck..little money can make that 2900lb car a beast!

 

I found a nice 04 Silver, 85,000 miles, for only 11,988. That was the one I was most interested in. Private owner. I won't rice it out lol. WRX seems to be the best fit for me. I'm still open to any other types... I'm an import fan.

 

Wouldn't RWD be better for drifting?

 

Drifting is just something I'd like to do like once a while, but cruising and quarter mile races are more important. I can always drift after it rains >.<

 

Well an SRT-4 will give you alot more bang for your buck than a regular WRX...I like imports too but when i'm trying to get the most for my money i sure would roll in a SRT-4 over a basic WRX any day!! 2004-2005 would be good as 03 has diff head i think and 06 has a weak tranny or something.

 

you wanna drift or run a 1/4 mile get a mutang gt you wanna crusie get eh wrx,bottom line is what are you going to be doing 90% of the time, and how dediacted are you to building that vehicle.