I've been looking at mid 90's Subaru wagons as a daily driver. Not sure how they are with an auto though

+1
Good idea! :)

Regardless of thedaily car chosen...it's obvious you won't be driving the P-car for a spell. If you haven't already done so, hook up one of the auto shut off battery chargers.

If you only need a car for a few months while you recover, just buy some old e30 325i/is. 2-3k will land you in a really nice one. You can turn around and sell it without losing any money too. It only makes sense to lease a new car, in my mind, if you plan on driving the car for a while after you're able to drive manual. Do you want to do that?

As far as the GTI DSG goes, it is a good transmission and shifts quite quickly. My friend has one and it is fairly quick and fun to drive. My only gripes are 1. FWD and 2. one of the worst sounding stock exhausts I've ever heard.

well, I found a 2004 325ic, fully loaded w/SMG. I can take over the remaining year of the lease for about $400/mo. That's (hopefully) longer than I need to rehab, but it might be an entertaining car to keep around for awhile. I don't think I want to go on the hook for a full lease or purchase right now, unless it was a cheap used car.

So at this point looking for a decent auto e30 and pondering assuming a lease with less than 12 months left.

Careful to read the fine print in the lease. Document any dings, scratches and wear and get signoff from original lessor. Some lease companies will fuch you over for what you and I call normal wear items when you turn the car back in. Make sure there's no balloon at the end either.

What lender is the lease through? BMW Financial? Chase? US Bank?

Be very careful to read all of the fine print. There may be a disposition/termination fee. Make sure you won't have more mileage than the contract allows as that can get expensive (at LEAST $.20/mile).

As long as you know what you are getting into, assuming a lease can be a great deal.

Good luck

You can buy E36 BMW 3 series (92-98) for 5k all day long. With performance shocks/springs, they are fun cars. I have 268,000 miles on my '92 325i and it still runs/drives perfect. They have timing chains instead of belts like the "god awful to work on" Audis. I am highly impressed with the build quality of the E36 BMW's. The car burns little oil and still feels solid. I get nearly 30 mpg with mine and I intend to "daily drive" it for many more miles.

Seems like someone just came out with a book on these cars too!

Any with the five speed auto will be significantly more fun than the older four speed auto models.

But, that also means something from the late '90's. I'm not sure when the five speed automatics were introduced, but seems like it was with the late E36's or with the E46 3-series.

I thought the SMG was a M-series only option.

nope, for 2004 SMG was an option on all rear wheel drive cars. It seems that the SMG is not exactly the same as the one in the M cars though. I'll have to drive it to see if it sucks...word on the net is you either love it or hate it.

Why not an M car then? It shouldn't be too hard to find a nice`02+ SMG M3.

If not an M car, then I might look at `02+ Boxster S tiptronics.

There aren't a lot of either car in nice condition under $30k, but they are definitely out there. Good luck!

SmileWavy

Yes, the SMG in the non-M cars is technically SSG, and made some Italian company. Apparently the SSG is more in character with an automatic, but some owners consider it the best of both worlds - it's smoother than an SMG but does give you the control of a manual in that it will hold a gear until you shift it, all the way to redline; most paddle-shift schemes don't.

I've considered that trans for my next Z4 for a more prosaic reason - I want more foot room for my big feet!