Need Some Input About My Car

[Tiger Bass 5,000+ posts]

My '92 Sentra is undoubtedly on its way to being a junker. To give you an idea of whats wrong with it, the clear coat and paint is starting to fade off, the front passenger side quarter panel is dented, rear struts are starting to go, E-Brake is gone, front brakes need changed, and more and more shit starts to randomly rattle everyday. And these are just the things I can't readily fix myself.

I want a reliable car that can handle long distance drives (~275 miles) twice a month, is car audio friendly, decent interior, good gas mileage, haul a small amount of shit, and still has a little power under the hood.

Im thinking that a medium sized hatch will be best for this. So far I've been looking at the VW Golf, Ford Focus, and a couple Nissans (240sx, 300zx, SE-R's). My expected budget is about $4-5k.

So should I keep fixing my sentra or get a new car? I expect that anything I can find for about $4k will have something wrong with it also. And what are some other cars that will fit what Im looking for?

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[bigbangtheory 5,000+ posts]

I have a 2006 Ford Focus and I love it, but I see you wanted used and they have changed a little bit over the years. One thing I dont like about my Focus is it is very hard to get good sound out of it. I have had 2 12" Alpines in it and wanged in my cavalier, but didnt in my Focus and now have 1 12" FI Q and slams ok, but the sq isnt as good as I though it would be. I dont know if it is the sub, cause had many different sealed boxes in there and all sounded about the same, might try ported soon though.

Like you said Vdub might be a good choice, but if something needs fixed can be costly.

Maybe try to find a decent Honda Civic Hatch. Good for sounds and have some pick up and hold their value pretty good. Might be hard to find one for 5g's that dont have a shit ton of miles on them.

 

[kool-aid 10+ year member]

vw

 

[Tiger Bass 5,000+ posts]

I suppose a Civic hatch might be ok. They would be a lot cheaper to fix. I definently want to stay away from anything smaller than that though, like the CRX or Del Sol.

 

[azbass 5,000+ posts]

My '92 Sentra is undoubtedly on its way to being a junker. To give you an idea of whats wrong with it, the clear coat and paint is starting to fade off, the front passenger side quarter panel is dented, rear struts are starting to go, E-Brake is gone, front brakes need changed, and more and more shit starts to randomly rattle everyday. And these are just the things I can't readily fix myself.
I want a reliable car that can handle long distance drives (~275 miles) twice a month, is car audio friendly, decent interior, good gas mileage, haul a small amount of shit, and still has a little power under the hood.

Im thinking that a medium sized hatch will be best for this. So far I've been looking at the VW Golf, Ford Focus, and a couple Nissans (240sx, 300zx, SE-R's). My expected budget is about $4-5k.

So should I keep fixing my sentra or get a new car? I expect that anything I can find for about $4k will have something wrong with it also. And what are some other cars that will fit what Im looking for?

for what you are lookin for, id say NO to the 240/300

try an find a vw golf TDI (diesel engin, good power - great on gas) and is roomy

 

[Tiger Bass 5,000+ posts]

for what you are lookin for, id say NO to the 240/300
try an find a vw golf TDI (diesel engin, good power - great on gas) and is roomy

Just how costly is it to replace parts on your VW like brakes and clutch?

 

[bigbangtheory 5,000+ posts]

Just how costly is it to replace parts on your VW like brakes and clutch?

They sell that stuff on the black market, so you would have to kill someone to fix it. //content.invisioncic.com/y282845/emoticons/cool.gif.3bcaf8f141236c00f8044d07150e34f7.gif

 

[4runnercrazy 10+ year member]

VW ftw

 

[faulkton 5,000+ posts]

You are asking about a hatch, so remember bigbang has a sedan.

I drive a zx3 and while it wouldn't be the car i drove if i was rich, I'm happy as hell with it.

decent power, comfortable, and good mpg. Cant say much about reliability, because its less than year old, but i have put 25k on it in less than a year.

 

[kizzo 10+ year member]

My '92 Sentra is undoubtedly on its way to being a junker. To give you an idea of whats wrong with it, the clear coat and paint is starting to fade off, the front passenger side quarter panel is dented, rear struts are starting to go, E-Brake is gone, front brakes need changed, and more and more shit starts to randomly rattle everyday. And these are just the things I can't readily fix myself.
I want a reliable car that can handle long distance drives (~275 miles) twice a month, is car audio friendly, decent interior, good gas mileage, haul a small amount of shit, and still has a little power under the hood.

Im thinking that a medium sized hatch will be best for this. So far I've been looking at the VW Golf, Ford Focus, and a couple Nissans (240sx, 300zx, SE-R's). My expected budget is about $4-5k.

So should I keep fixing my sentra or get a new car? I expect that anything I can find for about $4k will have something wrong with it also. And what are some other cars that will fit what Im looking for?

I know a lot of people bash Hyundai but the Hyundai Elantra GT (hatch version) is a good car. I have 3 hyundai's in the house and every little problem on them was both very easy to fix and also very CHEAP to fix. MPG is above average and it has nice cargo room. The resale value on hyundai is low so you can get used ones for pretty decent pricing with under 75k miles on em.

 

[Tiger Bass 5,000+ posts]

The Hyundia's are pretty solid looking, but for the years that look like hatches, not just wagons, they are going to be over my price I think.

 

[terminal206 10+ year member]

240's are getting hard to find with the drifting scene picking up like it is... even the ones that are in bad shape are selling pretty high (for the shape they're in). Not sure you would be able to pick one up too easily.

 

[Tiger Bass 5,000+ posts]

You are asking about a hatch, so remember bigbang has a sedan.
I drive a zx3 and while it wouldn't be the car i drove if i was rich, I'm happy as hell with it.

decent power, comfortable, and good mpg. Cant say much about reliability, because its less than year old, but i have put 25k on it in less than a year.

At the moment, it appears that Im going to have an easiest time finding a Focus at a good price, given that my family has bought their last 3-4 cars from the same Ford dealership and they have good credit, never missed a car payment, etc.

240's are getting hard to find with the drifting scene picking up like it is... even the ones that are in bad shape are selling pretty high (for the shape they're in). Not sure you would be able to pick one up too easily.

Yeah, I just kind of threw 240 and 300 in there because I've always wanted one since I got my sentra and probably always will, despite that even if I do find one, its going to be a rust bucket.

 

[bigbangtheory 5,000+ posts]

Yeah I do have a sedan Focus, which could be why I am not happy about the audio, but seats do fold down and had the sub facing in sealed off from the trunk and still didnt sound right to me.

Also I wasnt aware from the original statement that he was just looking into hatches. My bad.

 

[Tiger Bass 5,000+ posts]

So the general consensus is sell of my PoS sentra as soon as I can get a newer car?