Replacement Car? What should I get?
 

Long story short, my car was in a hit and run (I wasn't the one running) and I gotta get a new car _really_ soon. You can read my thread in the 944 forum here for the story if you want.

I'm looking for a car that is:

• reliable
• somewhat sporty
• under 100K miles
• at or under $10K
• 1990 and newer

It has to be something that'll last, or that I'll want to drive for the next 4 years, because I most likely won't get another car until I'm out of college. So far my choices are:

• Volvo S40
• VW Golf (VR6)
• VW Jetta (VR6)
• Subaru Imprezza 2.5RS
• Infiniti G20
• Mustang GT

Stickshift, leather, and rear drive are nice to have but I suppose I could do without them if I had to.

Do my choices suck? Got better ones? I'd love to hear them. Owned one of them and have comments? I'd love to hear them, too. I'm counting on you guys here:), what should be my next Daily Driver?

I recently bought a 1993 Miata. Hard and soft tops, leather, limited slip diff, yada yada for $4500.

A hoot to drive, and gets over 30 mpg.

my co-worker drives a pee out of a 2001 G20. he keeps it clean, and does the regular maint. i looks great and runs fantastic. i think he is approaching 100k miles.

fits 4, good gas mileage....

Yep, get a miata. I got a '97 with a the optional hardtop and 45K miles for $8K. They are ultra reliable (the bottom end of the engine is based on a turbo engine. They are inexpensive, rear wheel drive, fun, have a huge aftermarket following. You have tons of options from stock to spec racer.

I needed to sell my daily driver 911 for monetary purposes, so I needed to replace it with something reliable and inexpensive that would still be fun. It's hard to step down to a plebian car after a 911 after all. The miata fit the bill.

Acura Integra GSR sedan. When I was shopping for a new car back in 1997, this was the sportiest small sedan out there under $25K. I looked at an Audi S4, but did not like the reliablity record of the Audi/VW products.

I have beat the living piss out of mine for 130,000 miles(with only about 10,000 of these in the last 3 years) and it has never let me down. I had to replace the radiator recently, had a new timing belt and water pump put on at around 95,000. New brake pads around 100,000. Change the oil and put gas in it and go go go. FWD, 170 hp, sweet shifter, excellent suspension and an 8100 rpm redline, which it sees often. I love it.