good starter car

[Scotch]

didn't read much of the posts in here because I don't really care...

like moot mentioned. bmw 2002's are pretty fun, and classy. that's model 2002, not the year. twits. Though they are getting old, which means they break down more, and are harder to find parts for. my friend has one, it's really fun to drive, and the ladies love it.


I grew up on VW's. They're actually easy as hell to maintain and very good to learn basic mechanics on. Air cooled or Water cooled models... German engineering is pretty straight forward, and you can do a fair amount of tweaking to make it speedy (more than it already is). I bought a 84 jetta gli for $180, put a few hundred into it and some hours... ended up with a sweet little rally car that I sold for $1k after a couple years of use. My friend has a rabbit, three years older, that he just pumped up to 240hp....in a shell that weighs 1400#'s... vwvortex.com

[Sol75]

Really? hrm.. Well, I like mine, and so far the cousin likes his.. *shrug*

[moot]

Thanks Cap.. Maybe it could be worth it if Mason has friends or family in the business.

[CAP1]

Thanks Cap.. Maybe it could be worth it if Mason has friends or family in the business.

possibly.........but i misunderstood..i thought you meant model year 2002.

[moot]

No.. the BMW "2002".  Look it up.. Older car but very good driver's tool

[Xasthur]

Get something that is produced locally and about 10 years old.

My car is produced locally and is 15 years old.... It has been f - king fantastic... Reliable... cheap to fix on the odd occasion that 'stuff happens' and plenty of power.

I am selling it at the end of the year and upgrading to a Ford B Series XR8 (2005ish model), after owning my current car for 4 years.

I have loved it since I bought it and am only selling it because it's time to upgrade/sell before it loses all value.

[james]

Jeep wrangler. Its easy to work on and it'll track you the way around a motor. It also doubles as a convertable. When you want to go out with just your gf you take the back seat out so there's no room for passengers.

[Anodizer]

trying to get ideas for a car for me. will be a getting my permit mid to late fall (hopefully), and my mom and I can't seem to agree on anything for  car. she wants something safe, understandibly, as do i. however she just says safe like theres only a few safe cars to choose from. Ive done a few hours research, talked to my mom,dad and brother, and my brother and dad agree with me, i wont be needing a truck daily, and if i did I could ask them or my mom. anyway,  back on topic, Im lookin for somethin a little sporty (a volkswagen jetta, mazda, something like that) with a manual, good fuel economy etc. etc.  as I said my mom and I cant seem to see even romotely close to eye to eye on anything, and im out of options. any ideas or help?

Any Honda Prelude from 84 up fits that category(Sport with manual transmission that has great fuel economy).. 
Good idea for  Volkswagen would be a Scirocco or a Corrado..  Corradoes may be a bit expensive...  Any Jetta after 86 is made in Mexico IIRC..  I wouldn't bother with those...
Mazda has some good offerings....  Around 90's, they joined up with Ford and quality went down the tubes...  They were just Ford cards with Mazda bodies...  Junk if you ask me...
Don't see many on the road these days...

BMW's and cars of these nature are inherently expensive to fix....  While being good cards(Germans make good stuff!!), parts cost money and the guys who fix them usually
charge more.. 

The big question is, what are you allowed to spend??  You may be surprised to find a lot of these cars except for the late 80's early 90's models will still cost quite a bit...
It's not unheard of to see something like a 91 Honda Accord go for $6000.00 if it's kept up well... 

If I were you, I'd find the cheapest sh*tbox I could, drive the hell out of it, and get another one a few months....  $500.00  cars a plentiful and are much more fun to drive in more ways
than you can possibly imagine...  Especially for being your first car...  It will more than likely get dents, scratches, etc.  and I'm not referring to your driving potential..  I'm referring
to all the other kids around you who have cars...  You're going to drive the thing to school I assume...  You may be responsible as well as pay attention while driving..  Other kids
aren't so disciplined...  Something to think about... 

[Scotch]

While there were a large amount of VW's made in Mexico, Wolfsburg, Germany was still producing them too. The german ones have a badge with the wolfsburg symbol on it on the front drivers side. The little door card also says where it was made. You do want to avoid the Mexican ones when possible.

Corrado's and Scirrocos are sweet, but a little rare since they were only produced for x years. A corrado or a jetta from the mid 90s will fit all of your criteria. Golf too, if your mom doesn't freak out that you're driving a smaller car. Stay away from the Cabrio's...especially the automatic ones.

A honda or toyota is going to be cheaper and more reliable in the long run though. Even if it already has 200kmiles on it. The old vw's can hit 300k, but by then they've become money pits and a hobby more than a daily driver.

[Selino631]

Get this, it is 100% safe and doesnt take damage if your in a wreck so your insurance company will love ya!

[Raptor]

Get an older Jeep. I like the cherokee style cars. Very simple easy to maintain and they have a very very long lived engine in them (4.0 liter). They are fairly inexpensive and common vehicles.

"Sporty" is not something you need to be dealing with for a first vehicle.

I agree with this. My first car was a 95 Jeep Cherokee, got me out of several pickles (especially during winter in bad weather). You will get cheap (considering you're a boy 16-18 years old) insurance and your parents will love that. It is very safe, and more useful than a sportier looking car. I now have a small fuel efficient car and miss my jeep when I want to do something that requires going off of paved roads and requires extra space (kayaking, snowboarding, etc).

[Masherbrum]

Ok.    I know the BMW 2002 was mentioned as such.   But realize not only will they be "pricey", but wtf are you gonna do when you lose a water pump, etc?    You're paying up the arse for anything and that is IF you can find a reliable "parts source" here in the US. 

2000 Escort, late 90's Saturn (nothing older than a 98), or Mid 90's-2001 Jeep Cherokee.

[Scotch]

not disagreeing
 but germanautoparts.com is great for vw's, bmw's, Mercedes...

[moot]

Ok.    I know the BMW 2002 was mentioned as such.   But realize not only will they be "pricey", but wtf are you gonna do when you lose a water pump, etc?    You're paying up the arse for anything and that is IF you can find a reliable "parts source" here in the US. 

2000 Escort, late 90's Saturn (nothing older than a 98), or Mid 90's-2001 Jeep Cherokee.

IOW he needs to do the homework.. It's not a sure thing that it's good or bad choice. 

[CAP1]

not disagreeing
 but germanautoparts.com is great for vw's, bmw's, Mercedes...

HAVE A CUSTOMER with a 99 beetle. 1.8L turbo. the waterpump took a dump. same old VW bs. the impeller came off, just like they all do.
 only REAL problem though, was that this person drove it 10 miles whileit was over heating. it cost him a cylinder head.
 i let him get his own parts(which i rarely do). he got them at "autohaus" i think it was called. they're in arizona.

 be advised.....if you look at one of the lower end audis, they share the same engines as the vw's. they all suck. they have problems that they shouldn't have at times that they shouldn't have them.

 if you have to have a european car, then bmw is the ticket. other than that, stick to honda or toyota.