Originally Posted by
TMonk
For the longest time I wanted to purchase a mid-level speedy little compact sedan with a turbo and stick shift. Preferably hatchback but not necessarily. I don't go on long drives often so I wanted something I could put more stuff in than my Corolla and enjoy driving within the county. Mazdaspeed 3, Focus ST, Civic Si, something like that.
big john do you have an recommendations for models like that???
The reality is that I'm not rich and while my 07' Corolla has some chipped paint and unflattering appearance, it works fine. It's got 130k on it and honestly it runs just fine, covers my needs and doesn't cause problems. I only drove it about 10k last year. Something would have to happen to my Corolla for me to purchase something else.
I have a Gen 2 (2010) Speed 3. I've had it about 9 years, put about 90k miles on it.
I've loved it. It's tunable and customizable if you're into that, but it's pretty fun stock too. They're not that expensive, especially these days.
Mine has some simple, cheap, low hanging fruit done. Short ram intake, turbo inlet pipe, plugs, AccessPort tuner (really fun if you like tinkering with computers), high pressure fuel pump (required if you do any tuning at all or it'll run lean and you'll end up venting the block), rear motor mount, short shifter.
OK, writing it all out sounds like more than it really was. It makes somewhere around 300 horsepower at the wheels, pulls as hard as I need it to.
Can't go wrong with any of those options though, I think they're all pretty well liked (plus the GTI).