Starlet GT/Glanza vs. B16 Civic etc. ADVICE NEEDED

[zebbie]

Afternoon all, i am a noob on PistonHeads but have been reading the forums for some time learning lots of new things. I figure if anyone can help advise me, its you lot!

from my own basic knowledge and information gained from other posts, i have come to the conclusion that i DONT want to make a sensible decision (and get a small engine cheap to run car with 0-60 somewhere in the 15s...) Im a 19yr old with 2years NCB looking for a car in my price range (that i am able to insure without breaking the bank). ive come to the conclusion that a pocket rocket would be best for me!

The list:
- Toyota Starlet Glanza V / older GT
- Civic B16 (have limited knowledge on this car but only heard good things... eg high red line, few breathing mods = fairly substantial increase in performance)

and thats pretty much all ive come up with haha. from reading this forums ive gathered that Starlet requires servicing every 6k miles... not too much of a problem for me as i crack about 6k miles per year anyway, and have a mechanic in the family that could take care of basic upkeep as well as mods (installation of LSD, shocks, springs, ungraded disks/pads, turbo extras like blow off/dump valve etc etc if i can afford all that...)

im not looking to buy before the turn of the year, basically im here to gain more knowledge... anything helps, basic japanese import knowledge - for instance knowing what to look out for when buying, what checks to make and HPI certs etc. im saving the £'s as we speak and have a MK4 Golf lump to sell (thinking i may get £2750 for it or around that mark) so budget is as close to £3k as possible... dont know if i can get any of the above cars in decent condition for that much so please advise.

anyhow whats the recommendation? which car(s) should i look into just under the £4k mark, wheres best to get them, what pro's and con's, what to look out for when buying, what mods can be made and what effect they will have on performance - plus cost etc. im swaying more to the toyota startlet side, based on reliability and pure speed even from stock! with the Civic also being a jap motor i doubt reliability is a serious issue with them, but i know their a second slower to 60 then a starlet & due to the lack of a turbo i would assume that mods are limited, please correct me if im wrong. remember that i am 19 and work 9-5 in a dead office earning an honest wage - so i would say that majorly expensive mods are out of reach =(

im 19yrs old, and want to make a stupid decision that i may regret. want to spend lots of £££, have a rapid car that i actually love to drive and would love to keep (cant wait to get rid of the golf its just a slug!) so i think my essay is over. advise away please! thanks, zeb

p.s. i got quoted £900 for a 2001 Toyota Celica 1.8 VVT-i which i thought wasnt bad. based on that do any of you have a rough idea about how much it would cost to insure a B16 or GT/Glanza? as on the insurance websites they rarely have the model or reg stored so i cant get quotes =(

p.p.s. im not one of those mugs that rags the car from cold and doesnt know how to take care of a motor. my dad is a car lover and i have been brought up watching him work on his every weekend just to make sure its in tip top shape - i have tried doing the same with my golf but its just out to fk me over to be honest. anyhow i want a fast car for driving pleasure, leaving people in my wake at the lights is probably a feeling that im really going to enjoy (i rarely feel it in my golf) but i know there is a time and place to put a care through its paces, and first thing on a cold morning or winters day is not the time... thanks agen guys

[calum_ek]

I've never owned or driven a starlet but I used to own an ek model civic vtis with the B16 engine in. That was when I was 18. Had it for a year and it was faultless, kept it serviced with oil changes every 3-4000 miles with decent fully syth oil and nothing went wrong ever.

Insurance was expensive (£1100-1300 cannae mind exactly) no points no ncb.

Civics that age are starting to show it though, rust etc and parts if a mind right are expensive.

What models you looking at?

[zebbie]

im thinking civic model from 92-99... that short back model roughly those years i think.

think i know which one you had, the mk up from that... or the one above (if i can afford it)

not too fussed about coupe or hatch, would prefer coupe to be honest (im a sucker for the 3 black ones in the first fast and furious)

[Xaero]

You can get a very good Starlet GT for £3k, I got a good one 4 years ago for that price, they have dropped a bit in price but not by much.

Mine was reliable, and most people I knew with them (and a lot of people I know locally have got them since I had mine) have had no big problems. Most common one is probably turbo seal (white smoke out of exhaust indicates this). Usual wear and tear items bearing in mind age of car too (CV joints on mine started to go nearer the end).

Also if you fancy tuning, a exhaust/induction kit on either car won't do much at all other then make more noise, it does help for future mods though, the Civic is expensive to get much more power out of as its very good for a n/a engine. The starlet however is easily tuned to get more power. Mine got up to 170bhp with a few mods, which makes them very quick. The turbo gives good torque too, so you certainly feeled like you are being pulled along compared to the Civic which imo felt weird as it accelerates quick enough, but just doesn't feel like it is.

If I had the choice I'd pick the Starlet again.

[GravelBen]

Considered an MX5?





(well someone had to say it)

[mr2-turbo-gar]

for 3k id plug for a jap import eg civic sir even an sir II if you could find one for that price,
www.pistonheads.com/sales/558559.htm
something like this one, not sure how much it was could have been nearer 4k tbo.
170bhp standard, NO rust cause its from japan, as reliable as a diesel golf imo,
there is only one choice!!!
used to have an ek9 type r (first gen jap only type r civic(the proper ones!)) when i sold it after 2 years of ownership it had 106000miles on the clock and had never not once missed a beat apart from a flat battery.
get a vtec everybody should have one at least once!

[Marf]

+1 for the civic.

I had an EG6 VTi with a stainless exhaust, induction kit, Quaife ATB and Prelude VTi front brakes and loved it.

Although more tunable, the Starlet likely wont be as reliable. As said above if you have £3k to spend try and find yourself a JDM SiR, it'll likely be in better nick bodywise than a UK delivered car.

[mdm123]

I've had both. both were modified. speed wise there was very little between them, same goes for fuel. I liked both but for different reasons.

I loved the starlet because it was small, had good mid range and it was a turbo plus it was better spec'd

The civic on the other had felt alot bigger. it also has one of the best engine about, having a car pull to just under 9000rpm is unreal, it sounds like nothing else.

both the starlet and the ek civic I had, had lsd and coilovers, the civic was with out a doubt the better handling car, around roundabouts very little kept up,

both were as reliable as each other, couldn't say one was better than the other. O and both have st brakes, 10 minutes of hard driving and there were cooked.

Tuning wise there's very little in them. Just because a starlet is turbo doesn't mean it going to cheap to make quicker, if anything the civic will be due to the big market for them in the USA.

either way I would go for a civic again. with the right set up it one of the best handling cars about.

[zebbie]

thanks for all the advice guys.

my cousin had one of those civics, whether it was b16 engine im not sure but ill ask.

the car posted above (blue civic one for sale) i was looking for the mk up from that, but not sure how much £££ it would cost...

any idea on insurance if i got quoted £900 for a celica vvti 1.8?

[Marf]

zebbie said:

any idea on insurance if i got quoted £900 for a celica vvti 1.8?

No idea, just get a quote..?

[zebbie]

cant seem to get one for the starlet GTs or Glanza's as they are imports.

i would check for the b16 civic but i was looking for an imported one of those and i understand that insurance can greatly differ between imported cars and standard UK ones... so was just looking for a rough idea really.

[Marf]

Try ringing Adrian Flux, A-Plan, and Sky Insurance.

[Wadeski]

And Admiral. but they dont tend to like mods (as in, if there is not a box to check for that mod, they will say they cant insure it!).

but if stock, they can be 50% less than flux and the other specialists if you are a young driver.

[Kozy]

Why don't you just get a quote on a UK Civic then? It'll be expensive, but probably still cheaper than an import Glanza.

Oh and if you want a Civic, you can buy mine...