We have one that we inherited when my uncle died and it runs great. I drove it a bit a week or two ago when the alternator on my Mustang died and it was fun.
Ours is a 90 or 91 and it still runs great. Shifts very smoothly and the clutch feels great. There have been a few bumps along the road but its been easy to keep it running well.
There are kits to drop a LSx into them without much custom work involved and the weight distribution is pretty much the same as stock but with a TON more power.
Our Miata is lowered a bit, which considering how small the car is to begin with makes it pretty tiny. The handling is awesome though, you can fly around some corners without the tires even trying to break loose.

I was surprised how many positive comments I got on the car when I was driving it too.




Ours has a hardtop, it definitely changes the look a lot.
Civic SIs are ok I suppose, but the Miata has a ton more potential if you want a drivers car (not really sure that OP does)
If performance isnt really a big factor than the SI would probably be my choice at that price range.

This post was edited by AXIS on Jan 14 2013 05:20am

lol..so your a college student, who is in debt college wise and motorcycle wise since you said your making payments, and i would assume you dont work alot beings your going to college. So in return, you wanna put a good amount of money towards a car, even though the one you have now is cheap, reliable, no issues, and gets you to point a to point b..

Sounds to me you should get some proprieties straight. Nice things come down the road. Work on moving out of mommy and daddys house and being an actual adult, put that money towards better things.

Being that "cool" kid with a nice car only is fun for so long.

Debatable. I bought my Mustang GT while I was in college and had it paid off before I graduated (granted I got a sick deal on it).
If he is working during college its not too hard to pay for a cheap car and not go broke. Than again I worked 35+ hours my first 3 years of college...

I still live at home though (graduated last month). Had a job offer already but nn $40k a year. Hopefully got an interview coming up again though! But I digress....

buy a durmax

I'd love one..



My trucks rear main seal is leaking oil. No room. Exhaust leak. Guy before me raped the clutch rebuilt paint coming off of fender. It's just not me.. I don't like it..

And soon I should be moving out.. But thanks for your input on how I love my life.
Also I was getting 30hoirs a week at work but new owner hired a ton of people.. Not trying to look cool or anything..

glad i could help man

vtech makes toys for children... They also made my son's learning laptop.

And a 2.2 extreme that's had its ass whooped isn't reliable with no issues...

dat lsiata though... 95 mx5 imo... then it's still fun to drive til you get a real motor in it. Only thing it needs from stock is sway bars and you got a dd that corners like it's on rails.

What did you go to school for? And lol @ all of these kids moving out right after college and paying rent for a shitty apartment or whatever....I stayed home for a few years after I graduated and saved up for a pretty big chunk of a down payment on a condo....I'm 25 and the thing is like half-paid for, a few more years and I'll own it....prolly turn it into a rental and move on to bigger and better things...but seriously being in a hurry to move out is pretty foolish without a game plan....I stayed home and paid a few hundred bucks rent as opposed to 1k+ a month for someone else's mortgage, why would anyone ever do that...?

Mechanical Engineering at Georgia Tech. Im not in a huge hurry to move out either but they job I'm hoping to land is a good 4 hour drive so Id likely have to. I wouldnt mind finding something closer to home to save up for a while though. The housing market is still pretty good right now and Id love to buy a house soon.

georgia tech is known for engineering!! and thats exactly what i am going to school for, mechanical engineering.