Ya the csx type s. Great cars, but few and far between it seems, at least when I was looking.
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GTI gets my vote, can be easily tuned, ton of parts, reliable if taken care of and 4 doors.
No one mentioned Accord 6-6
The last great American muscle car.
I totally agree with the g37 suggestion. For the money, I doubt you would find better. You can even find examples with lower k for a great price. Awd system is quite decent. Doesn't really excel in many areas but is a very solid vehicle overall. From a performance standpoint, was even considered by some to be a close match to the 3 series. (Not quite). I personally like their blue gauges and the general look of the interior. Very reliable compared to other luxury (?) brands.
Wait 6 months and reevaluate the situation then. My opinion is that you will be able to buy a much nicer car.
Accord 6-6 is a great idea
The G37 seems like its a popular choice in terms of bang for your buck car. I figured I'd start the search early, as it's been mentioned a bunch of cars that have made the short list are harder to come by.
I've never been a Nissan fanboy but I guess I'll have to drive one if it ticks off most of the boxes.
My suggestion would be a 2007-11 Civic Si. Had my '09 for 8.5yrs and all I did was oil changes, MT fluid(2x) and brake pads. Bought it with 44k on the odometer and sold it at 220k-ish. Still had lots of life left. Did multiple trips to Edmonton, Vancouver and once to California.
Bah, wagon car is best car.
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I have a 2010 Acura TL 6MT AWD for sale.
Has the oil consumption recall completed, along with new cams, pre-cat deletes, takeda intake, and studded winter tires.
Mature owner, and I'm 6'3" 280 lbs, and it fits me (and my kids) great.
176k.
I'm asking $12,000 obo.
Something like 95% of G cars were sold as Automatics, to the point where 6MT became special order only as the dealers stopped bringing them in altogether. Might be really hard to find and if reliability is a significant concern, maybe not the best.
I'd suggest a 2012 Civic Si since you said reliability is a concern - first year of the 2.4L so it actually has some usable torque for normal driving without having to be at 9,000 RPM all the time (unless that is your style of course). Reliability is typical Honda and there is still a bit of fun factor. Seem to be easily found for $11-12K so $10K should be no problem.
I didn't think the g37 manual was unreliable. Is it? I know it isn't the best engineered transmission and tends to have a learning curve to get past the quirks, but did they actually crap out? I can attest to the automatics being garbage. Stomp on the gas, and wait 2-3 seconds for any actual power. Brutal.
Still, the car itself is pretty reliable and really is great bang for the buck. I am no Nissan fan either, but these were overall really good cars. Almost no aftermarket support or ability to tune though. The engine is pretty maxxed out as it is. One of the main reasons I sold my m37.
CSC, clutch slave cylinders, failures abound... the fix is replace the part with something better or do a delete, either way, tranny has to come out.
Another less common issue is oil gallery gaskets made of paper that leak.
Other than that they are one of the most reliable sports cars around.