First Jap decision

[stedaley]

well after looking around and realising that european cars are money pits and Quite common in the uk, i have started looking to import or buy a japanese/eastern car.

So far ive looked at

Honda intergra type r dc5
Suburu wrxs 2.5 2009 hatch
Suburu legacy spec b 3.0r

Ive always been drawn to pocket rockets, with grip and performance always a keen part of these cars manufacturing and design from day one. Has anyone here had any experience with cars such as these?

The only requirements i have
Seats 4/5
Above 25mpg
0-60 Under 6/7 seconds (apart from dc5 i would like it quicker)
Very good fwd or 4wd (plan to be driving to/when skiing)

10k is what i have to play with, with insurance on the intergra @1000 with me at 23 with 1year ncb as a reference to be included in that.
if you have anything else that would be useful or fill my requirements let me know!

Ste

[TotalControl]

There's a whole heap of different cars you could go for. Just looking at FWD, you have:

Civic EP3 Type R
Accord Type R
Integra DC2
Integra DC5
Celica 190
Starlet Glanza Turbo

4WD, erm, not much bar the two obvious:

Impreza (Hatch/Saloon/Wagon - my choice would be the wagon)
Evo 4,5,6 or 7. Not sure an 8 is in budget any more.

Also, for 4WD have a look at the Celica GT4 ST205 and the Pulsar GTiR (if you can find a decent one left).

None of the other coupes are worth looking at if 4 seats is a minimum requirement.

[stedaley]

TotalControl said:

There's a whole heap of different cars you could go for. Just looking at FWD, you have:

Civic EP3 Type R
Accord Type R
Integra DC2
Integra DC5
Celica 190
Starlet Glanza Turbo

4WD, erm, not much bar the two obvious:

Impreza (Hatch/Saloon/Wagon - my choice would be the wagon)
Evo 4,5,6 or 7. Not sure an 8 is in budget any more.

Also, for 4WD have a look at the Celica GT4 ST205 and the Pulsar GTiR (if you can find a decent one left).

None of the other coupes are worth looking at if 4 seats is a minimum requirement.

With the subaru, wouldnt the forester be a better choice if you are looking for the wagon?

[danjama]

Loads of decent ST205's for sale at the moment. Check out the gt4oc on facebook.

You can also pick up good Glanzas for a quarter of your budget and they are brilliant fun, especially lightly/well modified.

You will not see 25mpg from a scooby or evo, but you will from the Toyotas.

If you want RWD consider a standardish R33 GTST.

Edited by danjama on Sunday 23 August 23:58

[paulmoonraker]

You could get a 2005 Impreza STi for that. Exhaust, panel filter, fuel pump and it will map to 340bhp. They are holding their money too.

[TommoAE86]

danjama said:

If you want RWD consider a standardish R33 GTST.

Edited by danjama on Sunday 23 August 23:58

These are brilliant cars, not that I'm biased However couple of points to note, you won't see 25mpg+ from it unless you are really driving off boost. I'm averaging 23.7mpg I think and I'm running completely standard mechanics. Also the back space is not suitable for adults over long trips, unless they are midgets. However you can get some ski roof racks which are made for the car (see the "winter sports" section of here: http://www.r33gt-r.com/p/nissan-oem-catalog-1995-r33-skyline.html

TL:DR - These are amazing cars, get a bigger fuel budget, and some smaller friends!

[Red Devil]

TotalControl said:

Also, for 4WD have a look at the Celica GT4 ST205 and the Pulsar GTiR (if you can find a decent one left).

Won't be easy. The transmission is a known weak point.

Edited by Red Devil on Wednesday 2nd September 13:02

[liner33]

TommoAE86 said:

These are brilliant cars, not that I'm biased However couple of points to note, you won't see 25mpg+ from it unless you are really driving off boost. I'm averaging 23.7mpg I think and I'm running completely standard mechanics. Also the back space is not suitable for adults over long trips, unless they are midgets. However you can get some ski roof racks which are made for the car (see the "winter sports" section of here: http://www.r33gt-r.com/p/nissan-oem-catalog-1995-r33-skyline.html

TL:DR - These are amazing cars, get a bigger fuel budget, and some smaller friends!

Stock cars do overfuel horribly though , my GTST would average 25-26mpg and give 28-30mpg on a decent trip, running 400hp or so with a decent map on it

Fuel cost is the absolute least of the concerns when buying a used Skyline though

[rb5er]

danjama said:

You will not see 25mpg from a scooby

Who told you that? Any experience?

Anyway yes you will see 25mpg from an impreza, in fact you might even see 30mpg but if you drive like a tit everywhere it could be 20mpg.

Mine always manages 25mpg.

[paulmoonraker]

rb5er said:

danjama said:

You will not see 25mpg from a scooby

Who told you that? Any experience?

Anyway yes you will see 25mpg from an impreza, in fact you might even see 30mpg but if you drive like a tit everywhere it could be 20mpg.

Mine always manages 25mpg.

My rebuilt mapped 2007 STi does 30MPG all day long at 70 (as measured by a Scan Gauge 2). 25MPG is easily achieved. Drive it hard then it will return poor MPG, but so will any decent fast car.

[TommoAE86]

liner33 said:

Stock cars do overfuel horribly though , my GTST would average 25-26mpg and give 28-30mpg on a decent trip, running 400hp or so with a decent map on it

Fuel cost is the absolute least of the concerns when buying a used Skyline though

Yeah agree with you on the fuel comment. I was actually glad to be doing the figure I quoted as I thought I'd be down in the teens

[danjama]

rb5er said:

Who told you that? Any experience?

Anyway yes you will see 25mpg from an impreza, in fact you might even see 30mpg but if you drive like a tit everywhere it could be 20mpg.

Mine always manages 25mpg.

Fair enough, in all honestly I was going off of a friends experiences with two modified classic Imprezas.

[AJCars]

stedaley said:

With the subaru, wouldnt the forester be a better choice if you are looking for the wagon?

+1 for the Forester STi. Not sure whether you'd be able to get insurance under your £1000 target price though?

[dufunk]

With that kind of budget you could get a very well looked after ST205 GT4 or MR2 Turbo Rev3-5, buying a bit of heritage with great pace, handling and fun, personally for me things went tame on jap front after 2000.

[rb5er]

dufunk said:

personally for me things went tame on jap front after 2000.

You obviously haven't been in or driven an evo 9 fq360 or impreza STI then.