The New Car Search

My mind has been a flutter for the past few days about what car I should get. Although I'm 25 and society wants me to grow up, I will try and stay true to a promise made to myself years ago not to get a 4 door car until I reached 35. The problem is: I'm picky as hell. Here's how.

The OH-NOES!!:

• Korean made: (ex. Kia, Hyuandai) Reason - shitty mechanical parts, good warranty. What good is a car if it is always in the shop?
• American made: (GM, Chrysler, et al) Reason - perpetuating the english standard of measurement. Their failure to advance engineering as a whole and lack of applying engineering ethics is deplorable. Ex. Chrysler transmissions - "hey to save some $$$, let's use last years transmission design that is 10 yrs old and breaks all the time."
• Volvo: Reason - Too mature looking for me. They just recently started making coupes in the past 6 yrs and carry a hefty price tag.
• Mercedes: $$$ You've got to be the Count of Monte Cristo to afford these. They actually have a line of cars in Europe called the A-Series, that is cheaper and marketed towards younger (read: less rich) people than their normal customers. Coupes are ~$30k+ used.
  
• Cadillac: I'm not that old or pimpin at this point in my life.

Realisticly eliminated:

• Ford Focus Coupe SVT: New. Ford has actually impressed me with the Focus. Their first successful paradigm shift interms of keeping up with the Japanese in manufacturing efficiency. Combine that with the SVT race engineering/innovation branch of Ford and we have ourselves an American candidate. Unfortunately, their reliability sucks ass (although improving through the years).
• Honda Prelude Type SH: 2001. An impressive car to say the least, but its fundamental flaw is that it carries the name Prelude. Although the curse that my car bears is a bit of an extreme, I've heard a lot of bad Prelude stories from pretty much every owner I've ever encountered. It doesn't help that most Honda mechanics will tell you straight away that Preludes simply just bong oil in their later years....all generations, not just mine. Sounds like a little bit of the American car manufacturer mentality got into the Hondas.
• Honda Accord Coupe: New. The car that replaced the Prelude as the heir to the Honda non-roadster sports car throne. All 5 generations of Preludes were built off of the accord frame, and throughout those years there was always an Accord Coupe. It was deemed the "Not Exciting Prelude" because of its lower power to weight ratio and its conservative exterior design.
• Acura RSX: Slightly Used. Suffers from the same affliction that many tall girls suffer from: Disproportionate Ass Syndrome. I mean, the ass is HUGE, but not Corvette Huge Ass HUGE. Other than that, it essentially has the body of a 4 door, but the designers thought that making the ass bigger and the door longer, and not calling it a sport sedan was a good idea. The Type S classification saddens me because unlike the original Type R class, this is just another line item package you can opt for when buying the car, and NOT completely maximizing every drive system with Acura engineer tested and approved performance parts.
• Acura Integra: Used. With the Ricer population being as big as it is, I don't want to drive the one car that is considered the lynchpin of their community.

My list of options:

Unrealisticly Wanted:

• Nissan 350Z: 2003. Even used, financing would require paying an assload for 60mo...but oh my god. The innovation in subsystem design is incredible, and hot dam is it sexy.
• Toyota Supra MK4: 1996. They stopped making them in 1998 And the used ones still go for entirely too much. '98s can still run you as much as a new 350Z. But I gotta have some incentive for Ryan to come over and butt hump me right?
• Honda S2000: 2002. Honda made this their only sports car when they retired the Prelude in 2001. When it first came out, it was said that the S2000 engine was the most efficient non-diesel engine ever produced, and could beat the Porsche Boxter (whoopie! you've beaten the woman's Porsche). I've sat in a BMW Z3 and a Mazda Miata...both were a little...snug. Oil me up and peel back the sunroof for some Jimbo Sardines.

Most Likely:

• Subaru RS: 1999. Frankly, I think the American WRX is an ugly stick slap in the face to what the pre-2000 Japanese version once was. In particular making it a 4 door car, but I can't argue with its under-the-hood design. A dealer told me that you could get a valve timing chip to up the horsepower by 100hp, and that they had to dumb down the performance for the US version because of some regulation. Must be the "Not Allowed to Out-Muscle and American Gas Guzzling Shitbox Muscle Car" regulation. Back to my point, Suburus are awesome cars. All wheel drive and turbo (or supercharged) standard on all models are killer selling points. The second best Subaru ever made in my opinion was the RS coupe. It's not as aggressive as the WRX, but its somewhat unassuming appearance and impressive performance gives it character.
• Toyota MR2 MkII: 1994-1995. One of my first purchases in my youth with my $0.25 allowance was my first matchbox car: A black Toyota MR2 MKI...and it was beast. I totally put lowering springs and performance shocks on it, and man did it handle through those little orange turns. Nah, but really. I remember when the MKII series came out and just being amazed at it's metamorphosis. My bro had MKI that he introduced me to at 50mph around 90degree turns. Utterly amazing. They say that the 94-95s are less "tail crazy" than all MR2 predecessors, and given my luck, I'll home in on the version that has the least potential of killing me every December.
• Mazda RX-7: 1994-1996. I've got one word, and one word only: Wankel. The trick with the rotary engine is that it is extremely difficult to seal the different volumes from each other during operation (controlled explosions is the name of the game in combustion engines). I'm impressed by the very fact that Mazda has stuck to its guns this long with a different technology other than the standard 4 stroke engine. Still researching maintenance costs on this one.

Don't Be Shocked But.... (I'm also considering some 4 doors)

• Mazda3s: New. I can overlook the fact that this car was once the Protege (even tho IMO the Mazda Protege 5 was pretty hot). The 3 is a little bigger, but more stylized and with more power than its previous Service Pack. A whole bunch of us spent a day race driving these suckers around the FedEx Field parking lots in last summer's Mazda Challenge. Not a bad drive. Although I've only driven the automatic, I'm not exactly enthused about it's low end torque...or its suspension for that matter. Even in the beefed up suspension race models we drove during the challenge, we still only experienced handling comparable to my Prelude. Still, for a 4door econobox, it's pretty smokin.
• BMW 323i: 2000. Yes, I know they are expensive to maintain, but many owners say that although repairs costs are higher than other cars, the rate at which you need to repair is lower compared to other brands. The 300 series is sleek (read: HOT), somewhat peppy, and it's a friggin BMW. I can atleast give the ladies a false impression that I'm loaded.

Other Considerations:
The Chrysler K-Car
The Dodge Omni
The Hummer H2: New. Actually no. Fuck you, your kids fuckin soccer team, and the fucking Tank you call the "Family Vehicle." Be sure to check off the "Armor Plating Option" for all of those roadside soccer balls that you might be hit by.