My friend's 96 Camry died "prematurely" last weekend -- tranny died at 130K miles. The dealer quoted him $3,100 to fix, which is just a "forget-about-it" thing.

He's thinking about a used car under $16K. He was thinking about the Civic at first but he's tired of the look already. He wants something manual, and with some sort of "sporty elements" in it, so I told him to look at the Scion tC. We test drove a 2006 with 18K miles on it and the car is surprisingly peppy for a car at this price range. It's also very roomy in the back seat -- my friend is like 6'1" and I am 5'8", and there's plenty of leg room in the back when he's in the driver seat. The downside is that the car is noisy. It's not the type of noise you expect from a open-trunk coupe. There's squeaking here and there that can be quite irritating.

I also tell him to take a look at the RSX Type-S and the Celica GT-S. Of course the mileage will be higher -- about mid 50K to low 70K. I assume they still run fine given the Toyota/Yamaha and Acura reliabile reputation. My concern is those two engines are rev-happy and I am not sure if it's still consider a "good engine" at that kind of mileage. Non Type-S and GT are not considered.

Anybody know if there's any particular issue among these three cars? I tried to go to those car's forum but didn't find anything serious, plus we all know that people will magnify the issue even though it's tiny on those forums . Other vehicle suggestions are also welcome.

 

hope this helps........................

 

I was going to say RSX-S but put a little more money and get new Civic Si.

 

buy a corolla and save more gas...he'll appreciate more for the scare we mite get this summer

 

He doesn't like the hatchback look of the last Civic Si and the current one is just out of budget ($21K north)

 

if he is looking at the gts tell him to get an 00-01 cause the ones after that the revs were lowered and the car doesnt stay in lift, the gt and base rsx is just as quick as the tc, so don't automatically rule them out

 

The main issue with the 2000-2005 Celica, especially the VVT-i GTS version, is that the ultra-high, Honda-style RPM redline caused some young owners to push it too far and damage the engine. I personally have seen several damaged 1.8L VTEC Celica engines in the shop. Usually I get the same story from the mechanis/technician working on it......some young guy maxed it out too far while drag-racing.

 

He needs to make friends with a mechanic, and suck up a $1k repair job.

If he just simply "wants a newer car" then I'd go with 1998+ Integra ITR. Great little car with excellent gas mileage, that can be mod'd to be quite the lil beast...

 

If your friend wants a stick (manual transmission) then go either with the RSX or an older Integra. No one in the industry makes a better, easier-to-shift FWD manual transmisson than Honda/Acura.

 

I just sold mine, and I loved it..

https://www.clublexus.com/forums/sho...d.php?t=265600

 

My cousin had a stick shift 2000 Celica GT and needed a new engine after a year because of numerous issues. Even after the new engine he needed major work within another 6 months and that was not even the top hp model. I have heard of numerous issues with the engines on the 2000-2005 Celicas and I would avoid them. For your friends price range and something sporty I would say a used Scion TC, Integra, RSX, Prelude, older 3.0 CL coupe model,Accord coupe, or maybe a Miata if he does not need a alot of room

 

There is a sport version that comes w/ a manual @ a price <$20,000. Mileage is 33/38.

 

glad someone brought up the prelude. Those cars handle amazingly well! Good luck finding one in good shape though.

if your friend wants to spend a little more time and money he could search for on the the tC supercharged units.

 

Yes, Prelude is good as long as it's not a Type SH, but we can't find one in our area that has decent mileage. They are all over 90K miles.

 

I had a 2000 GT-S 6spd for about 2 yrs. I loved it, no complaints or problems really. I think that any car that gets thrashed on by someone will suck, so just check the car out beforehand.