[basketball]

I will be purchasing a vehicle soon. It will be my first one. I had a lot of cars in mind but with the help of one generous head-fier I have eliminated quiet a few. Things to note are that I am looking for a fun and reliable car. My budget is 5-7k. I would like a good handling vehicle. It must be Front-wheel drive or All-wheel drive because I live in Canada, and the winters are tough. So Far these are in my mind:
 
-2000 Honda Prelude SH (Has the ATTS torque system)
-2001 Honda Prelude SE (The prelude has been said to be a girls car?)
-1999-2003 Nissan Maxima (Drawback is it takes premium fuel)
-2000 Acura Integra GSR
-1997-2000 Honda Civic Si 
-2003 and Lower Acura RSX 
-2002-2004 Subaru Impreza (This would be hard to buy within my budget)
 
Feel free to add any suggestions. 
Keep in mind all the vehicles above that I am considering must have manual transmission. 
I am not looking to mod any of these vehicles. 
 
If you been in or driven in any of these please share your opinions. 

 

[RoMee]

My first car was a 1985 nissan maxima. Bought it back in 1993, I loved that car.
I had a huge PPI amp powering three 10' fosgate subs.
 
If it was me I'll go for the integra. The stock GSR is the perfect building block, and aftermarket parts are plenty and cheap.
I live in Minnesota, so the winter is pretty tough too, and my integra has no problem on days when it snow 3-4 feet
 
I think you should consider the impreza 2.5 RS. The 1998 model. Bigger displacement and Sti parts should fit easily.
 
EDIT:
I just read....
 

I am not looking to mod any of these vehicles. 

... and I still recommend the integra and impreza

 

[MomijiTMO]

My first car was a handy down. A 1993 Daihatsu Charade. Oh yeah no power steering or air con. 1.2L engine. I was very nervous when I got my Golf GTI.
 
Sorry not adding anything to the thread.

 

[basketball]

The thing with older subarus is that most of them are high milage. And their AWD coule be prone to break.

 

[basketball]

Anyone?

 

[senson]

I don't think Subaru AWD could be prone to break if it has been taken care of, I had 02wrx with 180000 miles and never had problem with drivetrain. of course Regular imprezas & WRX don't have heavy duty drivetrain like STI but personally I think they are still better then Drivetrain in FWD cars.
I've had
2005 Nissan Maxima
2000 Acura Integra GSR
2003 Honda Civic Si
2006 and Lower Acura RSX
and 3WRXs(02,03,06) + 3 STIs(04,05,06) among your list.
 
IMO if you want to save money on gas, get FWD other wise get awd.
You look like you want to have fun with cars awd will give you more fun, if you just want to have good looking japanese imports than it's defferent story

 

[basketball]

Dude all the cars you have above are ones im interested in!
I would get an impreza but im not sure i can get it under 7 grand with descent milage. 
Honestly I only care about gas milage to a certain point. I dont want to get worse than like 18MPG.
Can you tell me more about the acura gsr, whats good and bad about it? and whats good about the civics?

 

[senson]

If you are only cares about gas milege you should go with FWD among your list. However non-turbo Subaru will get you decent milege as well.
and about gsr and si, if I remember correctly in US they used same bottom end with  different head on top(I could be wrong), mostly you won't get any benefit in normal driving, unless you drive aggressivly.
about Hondas(*this is my personal opinion other might feel differently)
 
Good
Reliable(when it's stock)
High Rev limit(Fun)
Decent handling for FWD
Lots lots of cheap replacement parts.
 
BAD
FWD!!!!  Torque Steer even though it doen't have a lot of torque
High engine compression ratio (it's not bad if you plan to keep your car stock)
 
I personally had no mechanical problem with both car but I didn't own it for long time because I couldn't stand torque steer on both cars(main reason I do not prefer FWD cars)
 
As you can see in my "HAD" list, I tried to get out of Subaru league but I always ended up getting another Subaru lol

 

[NewOne17]

Lucky you. I won't be able to get my driving licence and my first car at least for another year and a half. I hope, I will be able to afford VW Golf Mk5 TDI or at least VW Polo Mk5, as my first car.
I hope you will pick the right one, enjoy your first car, and travel safe with it.

Sent from my LT18i using Tapatalk 2

 

[senson]

Yeah My first cars was 99 hyundai elentra. lucky you Basketball

 

[basketball]

Well I wouldn't say I'm lucky. A lot of teenagers spend their money buying designer clothes like true religion jeans, Lacoste and what not. While I still do buy nice clothes it's not that expensive....I save a lot.

Back to the subject. I don't think I'll buy a Subaru for my first car. I'd like something very reliable and efficient.

As my second car though I'd consider it. Because itd be perfect for those ski trips!

I heard the sti's are high maintenance because they are driven "hard". I was told only to buy one with low milage and from someone who didn't drive is hard and abuse it. Since you've owned one, is this true?

 

[DougofTheAbaci]

My first car was a 1987 Saab 900 S 16-valve. That car was awesome... Stick, of course.
 
As someone who grew up in Vermont, Subaru's will get you just about anywhere but so will a good VW (and they get good gas mileage). Then again, so will a Honda. In fact, just about any fornt-wheel drive car will get you to and from a ski resort with little fuss as long as you drive intelligently and have winter tires.
 
One thing to remember about fuel economy is it has more to do with the way you drive than the car you drive. For example, you can drive a Prius in town and get worse fuel economy than a BMW M3. Not joking. Anything this side of a racer is going to get alright gas mileage as long as you're smart. My Saab could get into the mid-thirties and that car wasn't rated for nearly that high. It's the same way the VW Jetta TDI was able to get 50 MPG when it's rated for the low 40's.
 
But yeah, as for the snow thing it comes down to having at least front-wheel drive and snow tires. Do that and it doesn't really matter what you have.

 

[senson]

Quote:

I heard the sti's are high maintenance because they are driven "hard". I was told only to buy one with low milage and from someone who didn't drive is hard and abuse it. Since you've owned one, is this true?

I would say yes(only for turbo models) but it's same as every cars you mentioned in your list. I bought all my Subarus Used and only problem I had was stock suspension.
I still think it's way better than used Hondas, Evos and 240sx.

 

[RoMee]

Quote:

 about gsr and si, if I remember correctly in US they used same bottom end with  different head on top(I could be wrong), mostly you won't get any benefit in normal driving, unless you drive aggressivly.
about Hondas(*this is my personal opinion other might feel differently)

That's wrong, They're two different engine
The GSR is a B18 vtec engine and the 03' Civic SI use a K18 i-vtec engine. The displacement is the same but it's a whole different block/engine.
Even if you're talking about the older civic Si, they use a smaller 1.6 B16 vtec engine.
 
I know for sure a GSR and Si can beat an impreza any day. The Sti is a different story though.

 

[fatcat28037]

My first car, 1954 Buick Super. Mine was maroon & white