Fun daily ideas?
Hi everyone, Single 23yo guy here, looking for a new ride. Currently driving a 2016 2 series. Love the car but it’s getting up in mileage and I figure it’s probably about time to part ways. Budget is around 34K. Probably planning on buying used to get more…
Hi everyone, Single 23yo guy here, looking for a new ride. Currently driving a 2016 2 series. Love the car but it’s getting up in mileage and I figure it’s probably about time to part ways. Budget is around 34K. Probably planning on buying used to get more car for the money. Looking for something fun to drive that I can still drive daily to work and stuff. Not really any constraints on practicality. Test drove a VW GTI yesterday and really liked it but I am trying not to get tunnel vision and only look at those. Any ideas are welcome!
Collected discussion
You can get a decent ford focus RS for that budget. Honda civic SI brand new are $30k, they’re more tame but can still be fun. The VA generation of Subaru wrx sti’s (2015-2021) are right there in price as well.
Thanks! Probably should’ve mentioned this in the post though… embarrassingly enough as of right now I do not know how to drive stick😭
lol fair point, if you’re willing to learn it doesn’t take long. I bought a wrx never having driven stick before, and in less than a week I was very comfortable doing it. If you prefer automatic that’s fine as well, but some of the more enthusiast picks don’t have auto options. From my 3 picks, the SI is the only one without an automatic option
Stiff suspension in the RS is worth noting, but OP is 23 so I wasn’t too concerned about his spine yet lol. As far as the head gaskets on the STI, that’s pretty much solved before the VA generation. Most reliability issues for the EJ’s sunset generation are from people trying to push 600hp through an engine that simply can’t handle it
350 horses and awd in the RS is a riot, just know the ride is punishing if you're commuting on rough roads every day. i test drove one a couple years back and my spine still remembers it. the civic si is the responsible pick that won't beat you up, but coming from a 2 series you'd notice the drop in torque right away. those engines need to be wrung out pretty hard to get moving. the sti has the character and the noise, just budget for head gaskets if you go higher mileage cause that ej motor is a ticking clock sometimes.
If you liked the GTI you can look into S3s. Plenty of 8Y with lower mileage in that price range. Just make sure maintenance looks good and you’ll have a pretty fun/reliable/efficient vehicle.
It's your life and your money, but my advice would be to drive your current car into the ground and to save your money, unless you truly need a new vehicle. The types of cars you're looking at won't be materially more fun than the car you currently have.