Book's vehicles thread: Now with Two Different Wheels-Post 339

  • Thread starter Thread starter TheBook
  • 342 comments
  • 57,414 views
Grades? Not a problem, A's are normal for me.

I've seen a couple Civics for sale, but all but about 3 haven't been completely riced out. Most of the others were DX's or similar, though. Oh well, I don't need a WHOLE lot of power; too much+inexperience=FAIL. :lol:
 
ty00123
I'm liking the idea of a Neon or a Grand Am. I also had a suggestion of a '02-ish Ford Taurus, but that may be a bit out of my price range.

I wouldn't want to buy a Subie, as there probably won't be any around here that haven't been beaten to 🤬 in my price range.

A decently new Civic ('99-ish, I'm thinking) might still be in decent condition yet, and would probably be a good price.

As for VW, my friend has a '97 Jetta. I'll see how his does this winter (just had our first major snowfall here). Although parts may be a bit on the expensive side.
Click to expand...

My first car was a '99 Grand Am GT coupe. While it was a good car, it did have two rather major repairs done in the 2.5-3 years we owned it. First, at around 100k miles all of GM's 3.4L V6s will blow their intake gaskets. Expect about $500 to get that taken care of. Pay extra for the metal gaskets, don't use the same plastic **** from the factory. This will happen, so plan on it. Watch for that check engine light.

Second, just a little while before I traded it off on my Civic we went through about a week of problems. It was idling really rough but seemed okay once it was up past 1700rpm. Our mechanic checked the intake gaskets again and sure enough they were blown. He had never seen the metal ones blow out after being replaced (yet the plastic ones will keep blowing about every year). Replaced those, two days later the temp gauge shoots off the charts (it goes up to 260F but went from the usual 200F to the top of the gauge in about two seconds. Killed it and coasted to the side of the highway...This time it was misfiring and the oil level had crept well past full. In the end it turned out the head gaskets had blown, resulting in the extra crap. Luckily our mechanic is a great guy...He didn't charge me for replacing the intake gaskets the second time as he figured he could make the company cover it. The rest ended up being $800 for new plugs, antifreeze, oil, head gaskets, and of course labor.

But consider that second problem to be out of the ordinary. If you get a Grand Am make it the last generation and get the GT (or at the very least a V6 SE). You'll be stuck with an automatic but I don't think you want the four cylinder model. You might be surprised at how quick they are, having 210ft-lb of torque.
 
I don't think you can get a previous gen grand am for the 5 grand limit he has. heck, I can't find a 10 year old car around here for less than EIGHT. (and if their are any, they're so beater, they need 2 grand in replacement parts)

I'l add a warning for Ford's 3.8's, which have the same rep as descibed above.
 
Ford 3.8s eventually kill head gaskets.

Series II Buick/GM 3800s kill intake gaskets.

Pre-series I 3800s go forever.
 
Not only that, the transmissions on Ford 3.8's (at least in the mid-late 90's) are junk. I'd go for the 3.0 in this case.

I've seen GM 3.8's come in (I work as an oil change tech after school) with loads of miles on them and still in good condition; most of them are Series II, though. +1 for them still.

And around here, Grand Ams/Grand Prixs go for $3-4k usually.
 
YSSMAN
There are a lot of people here in Grand Rapids (especially East Grand Rapids and Ada/Forest Hills) that love them, so my guess is that here (and probably Holland) would have the most. That, of course, does not translate well to the rest of the state...
Click to expand...

There are five or six Scoobarus in the Seminary parking lot across the street. Other than that I haven't noticed too many more. But that could be because Forest Green 1st gen Outbacks rival the total number of Camrys on the road in Seattle. But I do see them running around from time to time.

buickgnx88
If anything, you'd most likely want a FWD or AWD if you are concerned about the winter weather (especially if there are hills in the area).
Click to expand...

I have yet to see a hill that would be worry some in the snow in this part of the state. But he knows his town better than I.

ty00123
Oh well, I don't need a WHOLE lot of power; too much+inexperience=FAIL. :lol:
Click to expand...

You'll probably learn pretty quick though.
 
Jim Prower
Can you say, "Worse Lift-off Oversteer than a '79 Porsche 911 Turbo"? Oh, and "Engine turns the wrong way"?
Click to expand...

Steal the rear diff too then.

And, err, lift-off oversteer just means the car hits whatever it's going to hit engine-end first, which is, if you think about it, the normal way.



That said the comment was made in a mostly-joking manner. If one could be found for 3k, so be it, perfect winter car. Thing is it won't be found sooo...
 
Rotary Junkie
That said the comment was made in a mostly-joking manner. If one could be found for 3k, so be it, perfect winter car. Thing is it won't be found sooo...
Click to expand...
Partly my fault, as my comment was also meant as a joke. That's a problem with the Internet; you can't tell the feeling behind the comment.
 
You could find lower mileage cars for that price. Maybe try a Ford Probe/Mazda MX-6, a Mitsubishi Mirage, Eagle Talon, Mitsubishi Eclipse, or maybe even an Accord
 
The only problem with those is that outside of maybe the Eclipse and Accord, there aren't any around here. Maybe I'll do some more looking and see what I can dig up.
 
Eclipse does have somewhat of a rice-boy following. Might avoid Turbo models for insurance reasons.
 
this was my first car..
P1010176.jpg
1.6 ford focus. Easy to work on and it will go anywhere.. has enough power to get you about will do 115 mph and i can vouch for this. Not sure if they sell them where you are tho. Selling her next year for a MX-5 or RX-8 haven't deiced yet i do love the RX but running costs are a bomb
 
The smallest engine Focus we got was a 110hp 2.0L.
 
[epic bump mode]
And it's my 16th birthday. Yay! :cheers:

As a present/temporary solution to my "lack of vehicle" problem, I can drive the family's 1990 Chevy Blazer. (We had parked it for a while due to gas prices.) Pics below.

DSCN0096.jpg

DSCN0097.jpg

DSCN0098.jpg


However, this spring, I'm going to start seriously looking for a car of my own. For now, this'll get me around.
[/epic bump mode]
 
Last edited:
Hm, not a bad looking truck actually. Looks to have a bit of scuzz on the bottoms of the doors and rocker panels but it's not bad.

Good luck on the future hunt.
 
Only major rust problem with it is that the rear floorboards are completely shot, but I'm fine with that.

Wonder how hard it would be to fix that...
 

Latest Posts

Back