Help me Choose a Daily Driver

[mRodiek]

B5 S4... No one has suggested that? Prolly because one in your price range would require some maintenence

[merrrr]

do an e36 m20 swap

[nomansland92]

ya id just go with a e36 325/8i or m3, there actually pretty nice, i had a e36 325i and it was a nice little daily driver and i only paid 4k for it with 150k miles the only thing wrong with it was two smaller dents that could of been pulled, other then that very clean car kinda wish i didn't sell it. and then you would have a nice start for a s/m5x swap

[325ix]

Mazdaspeed 3? Or maybe even a mazda 2? Otherwise I would say wrx.

[brainspo0n]

240sx

s13 or s14?

[619E30]

240sx

[brainspo0n]

Mazdaspeed 6?

[TexasTerp]

What about a 4door e36 M3? It's still an e36 so that sucks but I love my 325i e36 as a daily. it's just large enough to fit everything I need and if taken care of it's no problem!

You should be able to pick up one for 6-8k depending on condition.

[JeffNJM3]

I'm in the same boat as you, except I must have a wagon. I know alot will hate, but i was looking at an 03 Saab 9-5 aero, 250hp/268tq, tons of room and really nice options(heated and ventilated front seats, etc) and since its a Saab, its cheap since they have bad resale. From my research they are pretty tough cars, not all that hard to work on. They do have a few quirky issues like any euro car does. Oh and 30+ mpg highway. You can even get the smaller 9-3, there is a Viggen version as well. Here's a pic of the wagon i'm looking at:

[merrrr]

get a literbike

[Brandon12V]

A MkIV GTI 12V VR6 is what you should look for if you want to go the VW route. In stock form, the motors are more bullet proof than the m20 and have a very enviable torque band(peak tqe @ 3k). great for a daily commuter. Add a TDI 5th gear and you will get excellent highway mileage. 24V VR6 is nice but parts are a little more pricey and twice as complicated. I am, at heart, a dubber, and I'm not a fan of the 1.8t. At all. The only preventive maintenance I would reccomend on the 12V is the front coolant pipe aka "crackpipe". It is plastic and prone to failure. 20squared tuning sells a billet crackpipe and youll never replace it again. Oh and avoid the 1999.5 Jettas/GTIs/Golfs!!!! They are retarded stepchild cars found stuck between the transition of the mkIII and mkIV. They have parts from both generations and are lemons. PM me if you go this route. I use perform maintenance as well as performance upgrades for these vehicles.

-Brandon

[Vtec?lol]

a civic..it has vtec..lol

see username...

[urbancynic]

So how is the reliability on the MKIV Gti's then? THe MKV is a little out of my price range still.

I had a mk4 GTI 1.8t for awhile. Bought it new, put 56k on it in the first year. It never gave me any issues, had plenty of power, was incredibly fun to drive, and was an overall good car.

Fuel economy was pretty good. If I drove like an old person I got mid to high 30's on the highway and about 30-32 around town. If I went balls out like a jack ass I would get about 28 around town.

Main areas of concern are the timing belt and oil changes. Timing belt is important for the same reason as it is on the m20.

The 1.8t CAN be prone to sludge, but if you change the oil when you are supposed to then it isn't an issue whatsoever.

When I worked at a VW dealer we had a lady bring in a Passat with the 1.8t motor in it. The car had 66k miles on it and ran like crap. I took a look at it and asked her when she did an oil change on it last. Her response was "Don't these do that on their own?"

She'd never done on oil change on that car since she bought it new.

[shiftbmw]

So how is the reliability on the MKIV Gti's then? THe MKV is a little out of my price range still.

[LuckyHenriksen]

MKV GTI/Rabbit/Jetta