what car to buy?

[michaelalex17]

hello. i am in the market for a new car and was wondering if you guys could help me out. the car i get needs to be certified pre-owned or new if its a good price. my budget is no more than 30,000 dollars. the car needs to look good, be pretty quick and either rear wheel or all wheel drive.

cars i looked at:
mercedes c300
subaru brz
mazda mx-5
hyundai genesis

the c300 was a little pricey and felt to slow.
the brz is my first choice but it is a little small.
the mx-5 just seems a little girly to me
the genesis seems good but a little numb feeling to drive but i liked it.


what other cars should i be looking at? thanks


*edit- forgot to also mention that i drove the infiniti g37 coupe and liked it a lot but it was a little to pricey.

[Red Bread]

One of these is not like the others.

I've owned a Miata, I'm 6'2" and it required a little surgery on the seat foam to make it comfortable, and ditching the sun visors, but it was a great daily driver and track car. If you think it's girly, you just need to take one to the track for a weekend.

One thing about a Miata though, if it's your only car, it's comically impractical. I would just pack directly into the trunk, no bags. But a normal trip to the grocery store would require using the whole trunk and the space where the top folds plus having the wife put a few bags at her feet. Buying large objects required awkward maneuvering around back streets and low speeds.

But I loved that car and miss it more than most things I've sold. The BRZ feels like a more practical solution, albeit with much less track support, but I'm sure that's coming soon.

The Hyundai is too big and heavy, with some peculiar electronic nannies and a rubbish manual transmission. The MB is a small taxi.

[DASHOCKER]

infiniti g series.

[michaelalex17]

Originally Posted by Red Bread

One of these is not like the others.

I've owned a Miata, I'm 6'2" and it required a little surgery on the seat foam to make it comfortable, and ditching the sun visors, but it was a great daily driver and track car. If you think it's girly, you just need to take one to the track for a weekend.

One thing about a Miata though, if it's your only car, it's comically impractical. I would just pack directly into the trunk, no bags. But a normal trip to the grocery store would require using the whole trunk and the space where the top folds plus having the wife put a few bags at her feet. Buying large objects required awkward maneuvering around back streets and low speeds.

But I loved that car and miss it more than most things I've sold. The BRZ feels like a more practical solution, albeit with much less track support, but I'm sure that's coming soon.

The Hyundai is too big and heavy, with some peculiar electronic nannies and a rubbish manual transmission. The MB is a small taxi.

i know the miata is also a great track car but like you said it is not practical. the brz is on the edge of not being practical enough for me so the miata is really to impractical. the brz has a good trunk size but the back seats are really small which is the major draw back for me.

[michaelalex17]

Originally Posted by DASHOCKER

infiniti g series.

i added to the original post that i drove the g37 and loved it. it was just a little to expensive. i would even look at a g35 but they dont have warranty so that is out.

[Red Bread]

Originally Posted by michaelalex17

i know the miata is also a great track car but like you said it is not practical. the brz is on the edge of not being practical enough for me so the miata is really to impractical. the brz has a good trunk size but the back seats are really small which is the major draw back for me.

Check out the Inside Line blog, they seem to think the BRZ trunk is pretty small, and the back seats appear to only be there for insurance purposes. The Genesis may be your best bet of your initial list. What about a 135i? Of course it's not very different from your current E92.

[S_M]

You have 30,000 cash? or you want to finance/lease with a cap cost of 30,000?

$30,000 can buy you a whole different variety of cars depending on how you're going to use it...

[lcrain]

Originally Posted by DASHOCKER

infiniti g series.

I think the interior of the g series is atrocious for a "premium car" not to mention it is ugly. I would vote BRZ out of those, under your price range and should be a very fun car.

You can get a new 128, or a CPO 2010ish 135 that will have similar warranty time frame to a new car, for 30k.

[sporttuned]

A few others you might consider:

- Ford Focus ST (if you have time, wait for this car and drive it, it's going to be awesome)

- VW GTI / GTI R (new GTI is about 30K, new R is outside the budget) I know VW has certified pre-owned

- 350Z/370Z (used certified will probably not be possible on 350)

- Mazdaspeed 3 (car is a lot of fun, in the price range)

- 1 Series, but will be smaller than BRZ

Hope this helps. If you wanted to look outside the certified pre-owned arena, then this site searches all forums.

http://www.lionseek.com/cars

Given most forums have enthusiasts like us, you'll find some cool already modified cars on it.

[michaelalex17]

thank you guys all very much. the car is not actually for me, its more my younger brother so i am just helping him out and i am the real car lover so i have gone with him for all the test drives and helped with the research. so the guy who said it wouldnt be to different from my e92 its not really relevent since its not for me. my bad for not mentioning that earlier. also as someone stated the brz back seats are very small which really is the one draw back for my brother. the trunk wasnt as small as we expected it to be actually. and the genesis is nice but as i said earlier we just felt it was kinda sluggish feeling around the bends. it was not nimble and was very numb. the mazdaspeed 3 is a good option as well i will look into that. thank you sporttuned.

[sporttuned]

No problem, the Mazdaspeed shouldn't feel sluggish in the corners, Mazda builds pretty good chassis.

Based on your list I was/am a bit confused as the Miata MX-5 and C300 are VERY different cars. Not even the same sport. If you like German over Japanese, then I was going to mention the Audi TT as well, even a used S4 could be a nice option.

[DASHOCKER]

Originally Posted by lcrain

I think the interior of the g series is atrocious for a "premium car" not to mention it is ugly. I would vote BRZ out of those, under your price range and should be a very fun car.

You can get a new 128, or a CPO 2010ish 135 that will have similar warranty time frame to a new car, for 30k.

the coupe with the sport pack looks good. G37 coupes can be had for under 30k used. 08-09 models

[dtwyim]

Originally Posted by sporttuned

A few others you might consider:

- 1 Series, but will be smaller than BRZ
.

I am not sure about that. The 1 is not that much smaller than the 3. There is acceptable rear passenger space once you are back there. You will be surprised how much can be fitted in that trunk.

Originally Posted by sporttuned

Based on your list I was/am a bit confused as the Miata MX-5 and C300 are VERY different cars. .

What I was thinking also.

[michaelalex17]

Originally Posted by sporttuned

No problem, the Mazdaspeed shouldn't feel sluggish in the corners, Mazda builds pretty good chassis.

Based on your list I was/am a bit confused as the Miata MX-5 and C300 are VERY different cars. Not even the same sport. If you like German over Japanese, then I was going to mention the Audi TT as well, even a used S4 could be a nice option.

good point. the c class is my moms car thats why he drove it. and my brother liked the audi a5 but it was a little pricey. i found a few 09 audi S4's that are not to expensive. what do you guys think of those?