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Thread: Buying first car

  1. #16
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    You shouldn't do that much damage; clutches are a pain to replace, but that is the worst case scenario. Just find yourself a parking and begin slowly letting out the clutch. A lot of stalls later and you'll be able to drive stick.
    "Kimi, can you improve on your [race] finish?"
    "No. My Finnish is fine; I am from Finland. Do you have any water?"

  2. #17
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    What a twist! So it looks like I may very well be in the market for a car in the $2K range in the near future.
    I'm dropping out to create a company that starts with motorcycles, then cars, and forty years later signs a legendary Brazilian driver who has a public and expensive feud with his French teammate.

  3. #18
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    Why is that?

  4. #19
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    It would cost me about $1200 in insurance to drive my mother's late-model Camry for six months. At this rate it would come out to be $2400 a year for insurance alone, not to mention fuel and upkeep. My father wants me to get driving experience as I haven't driven since I got my license and it seems like this is the slightly cheaper way to go; the $2000 cars have insurance bills 1/2 that. Even an Integra GSR would "only" cost $900 to drive for a year.
    I'm dropping out to create a company that starts with motorcycles, then cars, and forty years later signs a legendary Brazilian driver who has a public and expensive feud with his French teammate.

  5. #20
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    How insanely stupid would I be if I were to buy a vintage GTI? It's probably ridiculously unsafe, expensive to run, and my parents would quash the idea because it can't really survive crashing into a Chevrolet Suburban at freeway speeds, but still...

    Insurance is also much cheaper than that of a GSR (as expected).
    I'm dropping out to create a company that starts with motorcycles, then cars, and forty years later signs a legendary Brazilian driver who has a public and expensive feud with his French teammate.

  6. #21
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    A vintage GTI would probably not be stock; dunno if that is desirable for you or not.

    I would stay away from a 30 year old car for reliability's sake. It doesn't sound to car-guyish to say this, but the primary purpose of a car (especially if you only have 1) is to actually get you places. It makes a bit more sense if you can do a bulk of the work to keep it running yourself, but still, I would go for a reliable and fun car, not something that old.

  7. #22
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    Has anyone ever owned/bought an AE86? There was a pretty nice one being sold 60 miles away in somewhat alright shape for $1000 less than what another seller wanted for the same car. Still, questionable mechanicals (I'm 99% sure I saw that car for sale from another seller with something about oil leak) and lack of time meant I didn't get a chance to go for it.

    Please tell me that I made the right choice by not buying it.
    I'm dropping out to create a company that starts with motorcycles, then cars, and forty years later signs a legendary Brazilian driver who has a public and expensive feud with his French teammate.

  8. #23
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    You don't want a car with questionable mechanicals, unless you have a pile of time and money with which to fix it up.
    Life's too short to drive bad cars.

  9. #24
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    So an update:

    Now that it's been one full year I've joined the local car sharing service. For $25/yr and $7-9/hr I get to have my pick of a Mazda3, Civic, Prius, Insight, CR-V, and a Focus hatchback/sedan.
    I'm dropping out to create a company that starts with motorcycles, then cars, and forty years later signs a legendary Brazilian driver who has a public and expensive feud with his French teammate.

  10. #25
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    Sounds not bad. Are you still in college?

  11. #26
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    After almost two years after the start of the thread, I've gone and acquired an Integra GS-R sedan (that's VTI-R for you Aus/NZ people). Don't worry. There'll be no boy-racer fantasies on my part because I've already gotten my need for speed in a Prius (I may have touched 91 mph on an empty stretch of highway...)

    [ame="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q8t8LP3-LTk"]インテグラTypeR DC5 CM 土屋圭一 ãµã¿ã£ã± - YouTube[/ame]

    I CAN FEEL ZA BITEK COURSING THROUGH MY VEINS. UP TO TEN THOUSAND RE-BUS. UP UP SECOND!

    The EggNog shall wait a few weeks as the car's at home with the parents and school doesn't let up for another few weeks.
    Last edited by kingofthering; 05-21-2013 at 09:38 AM.
    I'm dropping out to create a company that starts with motorcycles, then cars, and forty years later signs a legendary Brazilian driver who has a public and expensive feud with his French teammate.

  12. #27
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    Congratulations on your purchase.

    It seems Japanese cars are quite popular on UCP.
    Lack of charisma can be fatal.
    Visca Catalunya!

  13. #28
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    I love my Japanese car, but I ****ing loathe my Japanese electronics!
    My starter's been only working intermittently so I pulled it today to perform a few diagnostics and such. The garage I was working in, our FSAE garage, has no lift so I was zipping about the floor underneath the car on a creeper. Then it started to rain quite strongly, and due to my school's impeccable engineering credentials, the building flash flooded with about 2" of water. After sloshing around for a while I got fed up and had to walk home through the storm and rain.
    Add the starter to a list of pretty much every conceivable electric subsystem on car having something wrong with it. All the mechanical parts of the car are near impeccable, just the stupid electron-powered ones get in the way of my fun.
    /rant
    "Kimi, can you improve on your [race] finish?"
    "No. My Finnish is fine; I am from Finland. Do you have any water?"

  14. #29
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    'Grats! Many happy miles!

  15. #30
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    So, after two months of ownership the car is still safely in my possession. No modifications yet and I don't see any for the car in the near future, just ones the person behind the wheel. Alright, I might do coilovers or a Type-R brake conversion.

    I didn't exactly drive it for the first three weeks of ownership. As I still had school it sat outside my cousin's shop in the parking area for weeks. So it was filthy, but nothing a good cleaning could fix.

    The car has held up well despite kissing a curb when it rolled forward while parking (bumper mount was broken before I bought it, I swear!), many rev-matched, engine-braking downshifts, fat-fingered shifts, the odd stall, and other such youthful endeavors.

    Despite 18 years and 114,000 miles the car still hauls ass. It can pass slow-moving vehicles at speeds that would make my insurance agent choke on her latte. Too bad the same can't be said of the interior. Lots of trim is cracking and falling off.

    Still, I wouldn't have it any other way. There's a certain visceral joy piloting a tinny, whiny machine with a steering wheel about crotch height and thin pillars all around. It's about a foot smaller than my mother's 2009 Camry but the light weight and awesome engine and transmission combination make it feel a lot smaller and more personal. Besides, who needs all that MP3 bluetooth crap? All I need is a good air-conditioning system and a working AM/FM radio.
    I'm dropping out to create a company that starts with motorcycles, then cars, and forty years later signs a legendary Brazilian driver who has a public and expensive feud with his French teammate.

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