COMBINED CARS + MOTORCYCLES SUPER MEGA :awesome: THREAD

Every thanksgiving they have the Central Florida international auto show in Orlando which I live there. I sit in all the cars every time that interest me which I also sat in the mini as well. Only three cars that I liked that were within my wallet range at the time were the Civic Si, 500 Abarth, and F-RS/BRZ. I was looking at a cooper S but the dash was a little to weird for me. The cooper also has slightly less room then the 500 because its a lower and more confined cockpit like front area. The 500 is a little taller and more of a upright position.

Fast forward now looking to actually buy with a 20500 to 21500 price range before all the fee's and what not. Looked at the hyundia veloster spec R model but after sitting in it and looking at it some more it just felt really weird and rather cheap. I also never noticed that it has one door on the driver side and 2 on the passenger which is just freaking silly.

Also looked at the Ford Fiesta ST, was even in blue which is the color I really wanted. The big problem was it had no options and was 20800. really fun car but if I get a hatch it has to have 2 doors, 4 door hatches are just very confused sedans that think they are a hatch. Or in the fiesta's case look like a really tiny mini van. If they had the 2 door fiesta hatch ST, I would have bought one a long time ago but they don't have them here in the states.

Honda Civic Si was pushing it price range at 23000, that is if you could find one since they sell them within 1 to 3 days of getting them in stock and then when I did find them, the prices were always gouged a bit so 24000 to 25000 dollars starting.

I also already dismissed the 500 Abarth because they were also out of my range as well and then I saw they had huge rebates going on. Basically fully loaded at 26800 minus the 6500 rebate put it well into my range. Only thing that could have made it better would be if it was in white with white wheels instead of black, the black is growing on me a bit.

Nice video of the abarth, no commentary though.

 

Also a mini Cooper S.

 

Tax Refund came in today. Debating on what mods I want to do first. Thinking intake, engine cover, and front tower brace.

 

That turbo is bigger than my car.

 

Isle of Man TT practice this week and races next week!

 

that turbo is bigger than some peoples houses

 

Speaking of motorcycles, I sold mine this weekend which is now going to fund parts for the Abarth. Bought a exhaust, intake, and engine heat shield/cover. When school starts back up and I get my GI.Bill again I plan on getting pulley, downpipe, piggyback ECU, and front tower brace. Don't want to spend all my money at one time now, or do I.

 

So on a totally non-fun car topic, anyone have any good suggestions on a car that is not a minivan, can fit a bunch of stuff (specifically 2 adults, 2 small children, random crap into the trunk including children stuff like strollers and potentially seating for more family when they visit) and isn't a huge gas hog?

 

You could probably look at wagon versions of most sedans, limited as they are any more. The newer Focus wagon is a darn nice car, especially given Ford's past reliability issues. They have definitely made big strides in the last 10 years. I'm currently driving a Toyota Matrix and love it but that may be a touch small for a full family. You could also look at smaller car-based SUVs like the Toyota Rav4 or Mazda CX-5. Honestly Kia has come way up in the automotive world too, you could check out their Sportage.

 

Not a huge fan of wagons either, but I'll have to probably take a look at everything to figure out what works. A small SUV would be great also, just a matter of how much space there is on those. If they don't have much more storage than a regular large sedan there probably wouldn't be much of a point because its not like I can flip the seats down if there are kids in the back.

 

Subarus are good cars, but fuel mileage not so good.

 

Outback is rated 32 highway. Real world is more like 24.

 

My pride and joy, 2007 HD Street Rod VRSCR