need help choosing a new car!
 

so right now i have an 01 civic SI. before this i had a 92 integra gsr, which came to an unpleasant end. ive basically decided i need to buy another sports car, and i can expect to sell this civic for somewhere in the area of $9500. id like to buy the new car in the spring with the money from this car, and then basically work on it from there as cash comes along.

the big question is wether or not i can reasonably expect to find a car for that price, that is going to be reliable for me, and have the potential to become a car with around 200-250 hp without an engine swap.

up until now ive found either junk, or high mileage integras and the like. any thoughts on this would be more then welcome. even if it's "start saving"

Keep looking, you can find a 98+ integra gsr, 99-00 civic sir or even an integra type r or rsx type s if you save up a little more money (this is provided you want a honda)

You are not really going to find any stock honda car making 250.
At 200hp you can grab a prelude, the itr, or the rsx-s

You can look at some 97-00 Preludes in that range...200 stock HP, small turbo, supercharger, or NOS can put you in the 230WHP range on that motor and bring your TQ to 200 lbs/ft.

use the 9500 for downpayment for a 06 si!

im not set on any one make, or getting the 250 hp out of the stock engine. id like something that has a good ammount of torque in comparison to the HP. ie: rsx-s engine is all about hp, prelude has some torque with it.

and i dont wanna use the 9500 for a down payment, debt sucks. id rather pay cash.

Its Nitrous Oxide not NOS
lol

just yankin ya chain.

pickme:

^lol

nissan maxima my friend:)
vq power

prelude with stock motor + boost = BIG NO NO


H22's arent reliable to boost..

get an rsx-s.. and get a basic greddy kit.. at 6-7 psi they make 274-285 HP!

crazy ****

lol, I knew someone was going to come up with that comment :thumbup: :D

buy my 2002 SiR:thumbup:

imo i would just save my money on something else and keep my car...but that's just me u know.

well going from a done up GSR, to a stock civic hurts the team... neeeedd mmooorrreee poooowweeeerrrr.


what kinda torque numbers would the RSX-s with 6-7 psi boost put out?

2 words - Smart Car

I believe you are mistaken....I read an article on a 1997 Prelude with 100 lb shot of Nitrous Oxide (Team Rukus), it ran 200,000 km before it blew. Apparently he used it on a regular basis too. People don't realize that if you take care of a boosted motor properly you get a longer life out of it. That goes for any boosted motor. I saw a supercharged Prelude motor blow after a year because of too small injectors and improperly tuned.

Re: need help choosing a new car!
 

what's your definition of a sports car? a souped up economy import?

because most sports cars i know of come with more HP than that from the factory..

IMO prelude is a great starting point, 4 wheel disc brakes, 2.2L 200bhp and 161 torque, and sporty.

Yes its heavy compared to a civic but its comfy, powerfull and nice. Torque is enough I find with the H22A for daily driving. I've driven a Prelude SR-V alot and its torquey and nice as hell, i love em. Then I bought an EL because I couldn't find any nice SR-V's at the time and the EL/Civic's have absolute crap torque...even at 3000rpm.

If I had to re-do things, EG hatch with H22A and full suspension upgrades = best of both worlds. light and powerful with torque.


plus I believe SR-V 93-96 (92-96 for SR or S) are better for boost due to the closed block design. The 97-01 has an open block design H22A.

I am biased towards 92-96 ludes though...such hot ass cars, especially lowered, the look sleek and wide.

1987-1993 or a 1994-1995 5.0L Mustang. The motor is bulletproof and parts are plentiful and cheap.

here is a car i can sell you pm me for more details it's just alittle above what you have to spend.
pulsar GTI-R right hand drive 48,000 km
awd turbo lots of upgrades.
imported2nv@hotmail.com

hmm personally I would say a prelude... I'm biased though cuz I have one.. I went from a 02 SiR to a '00 Prelude, and there are no major mods on it and runs great... I've always had a heart for preludes, and like Michelle says (whether boosted or not) if you take care of your ride, it'll last... it's Honda man...

the pulsar gti-r would be a great car...it runs 13's stock...sr20det, my cuzin has one, those cars pull like crazy and doesnt need much to go faster.

he said he wanted a sports car, not a homo-mobile

for the price range, you have to prioritize your desires. put these in order of highest priority first and get back to us:

price
reliability
style
power
ride quality/comfort
cost of ownership (insurance and gas)
cost of maintenance
ease of maintenance
manufacturer (domestic or import)
age (date of manufacture)

Re: need help choosing a new car!
 

add on taxes to the purchase price too, 1 tax for private, both if dealer and that quickly adds to the price.

That $9500 now becomes either $8800 (one tax) or $8250 (both taxes) unless you mean $9500 before the tax

$8800 will not buy alot, EK civic, 92-96 Lude (a nice one), 97-01 Lude (beaten on maybe, $8800 is not alot) and it certainly gets rid of cars like SIR, Spec-V.

Modifying a car into a sports car is no problem, but the risk of it getting stolen and/or insurance not covering it in accident or stolen increases.

200-250hp without a swap, that limits IMO to a GSR B18C1 engine modded or a Prelude H22A modded. No one in their right mind can say its cost vs benefit effecient to try and make 200whp out of a B16A, plus thats a swap or the SIR which is more then these prices. Pretty close way to find the whp is take the bhp and minus 12%, it gives you an idea of the wheel hp.

Without a swap, that gets rid of all civics right off the bat, so its GSR or Lude only.

Of course another option is Mitsubishi Eclipse Turbo. It comes with the 4G63 2.0L Turbo engine and can make obscene amounts of HP, has AWD or FWD (GSX is AWD, GSX-T is front) and is sporty, but they are hard to find. These can easily be 12 second daily drivers

ooook. so, the $9500 is what i expect to get for my civic, so thats basically what i have to spend.

on the other hand, my fiance has fallen in love with the latest generation of preludes, which might mean we both sell our cars (hers worth about 8500 realistically) and buy a lude. regardless, here are the priorities


1.manufacturer (domestic or import) - IMPORT ONLY!
2.reliability
3.price - like i said, 9500 needs to pay for the whole thing. unless its a lude and i can convince the fiance to sell her car. thats 50/50 chances realistically
4.power
5.style
6.ride quality/comfort
7.cost of ownership (insurance and gas)
8.cost of maintenance
9.ease of maintenance
10. age isnt an issue to me in terms of needing to drive a 2006 car. i just need to know that it isnt going to die on me in 3 months because its on it's last legs. but the other categories cover those issues.




my insurance was $227 with my 92 integra GSR, and now its $225 with my 2001 civic si,with 1 speeding ticket for 15 over the limit. i checked out a Spec-V a while back and it was in the same ball park, give or take 3 bucks a month kinda idea. i dont remember exactly what it was.

id like to get away from the idea of taking an economy car and making it a sports car. i want a car that has seats that hold you in when you take corners quick, and has some level of sporting performance involved in it's design - unlike a corolla or my civic.

im not going to be able to afford a lot of mods right away when i buy the car, so it needs to have some balls. but i cant imagine leaving the engine stock, so i dont want to pay out the ass for parts when it comes time do bring things up a notch.


oh, and i dont think i wanna drive a RH car ;)

really that only leaves you with the one option, a Honda Prelude. They feel WICKED, are really well built, have extreme reliability (as far as sports cars go), and it's more or less in your price range.

but seriously, I recommend you drive one, you'll fall in love for sure.

right on, thanks man

this guy is offering you a crazy car here that will kick ass. he stated in another thead that it cost 10000 tax and shipping included i believe and you will have a rhd car that appears to be fast and will be unique to this area. what more could you want? oh yeah a hot roded tin can civic, never seen one of those round these parts...you?

AWD too.....turbo.....go get it guy. maybe i should

i guess the problem would be for parts when stuff start breaking on the nissan gti-r.

i duno.. some ppl have access to fabrication..someppl dont.

i hate dealing with busted cars, not so much for expense, but for inconvenience. i dont want to deal with the mess for hard to find parts. i had that experience when my 92 GSR motor went, and all the wreckers and hotlines and calls to 'the guys who can get anything' told me there was only 1 gsr engine in north america, and it was going for something retarded like $2800 with over 230,000km on it.

i dont like driving a car as blatantly common as a civic or f-150, but i dont feel the need to have a rare car again thats for sure.

parts for the pulsar are not hard to get and if it is my contact in japan will make sure he gets me the part i need.
now people please dont pm me for parts i do not import them only for customers who purchase cars thanx.

gsr motors are not rare. u could have gotten 1 of the million in canada. tonnes of them around.

have you ever looked for a 92? there weren't a lot of options.

whats wrong with your 01 SI by the way? Or you are just bored and want something new?

man get a 3 series...parts and maintainence will kill you but you dont have to do anything at all to that car...its fairly quick, it'll last a while if u take care of it...and its a BMW...not a honda