Out of your choices s2k is the best...I used to own 8th gen civic and it was cool same as the rsx motors so either one is the same.....if your not worried about salvage or clean title you can win a s2k for 6g easy on auction or get from dealer use for 13k...either way s2k is cool

 

My econ prof in college had a saying, "There's nothing cheaper than the car you're driving!" Unless of course you would like to drive a beater like an '80s
Honda you pull out of a wrecking yard. Let's assume (hate that word) you need good reliable transportation and you'll have the G paid off in the near future (within 18 Mo.)....keep and enjoy your G!
Gary

 

im sorry to hear that you have to give up the G

but if i had to pick 1 of those 2 so with id say s2k IMO

 

03-04 mustang GT or cobra?

 

Everything you mentioned screams Honda.

 

i'll have to agree with the other peeps that are saying $350 isn't all that bad; it could be worse. but if you wanna downgrade, by all means, do so. i'd consider getting an rsx, mazdaspeed3, or civic si. whenever you do find the car you want, don't forget to order a professional car inspection for it. companies like aim mobile inspections and carchex offer this service at a reasonable price. it's a small price to pay for quality assurance. good luck shopping!

 

CHEAPEST solution is to refinance your G. You'll take a loss when you sell the G in this market, plus you have to pay sales tax on the new car, along with licenses and fees... chances are you end up with less car and a simililar payment.

 

No one's mentioned a used Miata? Those are very fun to drive.

 

^ everytime I mean EVERYtime I see someone in a miata they're always caucasian lol

 

Did you buy or lease the G? If you bought, you might want to sit down and crunch some numbers to see if it makes sense to buy a cheaper car, depending on how much you have remaining to pay off. If you don't go to the dealer, and learn to do basic maintenance yourself, the G can cost very little to own, it's a reliable car. Oil changes will cost you $25 if you use high quality non-synthetic and a decent filter, cheaper if you want to pinch pennies. Brake jobs with excellent aftermarket parts (DBA rotors, Hawk pads) cost much less than OEM, and there are far cheaper options, etc.

If you decide to go for a car that's cheap to own, just keep a few things in mind. First, the more fancy doodads it has, the more there is to break, so simple cars with few automated features are cheaper to own since there is less to break. You will probably go for a small engine, since big engines are expensive and generally go into more expensive cars. Avoid turbos and superchargers, they add non-negligible maintenance expense and break more often than other stuff. Buy a used car, so that someone else has taken the depreciation hit.

So, the way to have fun with an inexpensive car without huge power is to find one that doesn't weigh very much and spend as much money as you can on good tires. RWD, in my opinion, is also more fun than FWD, but generally more expensive, since manufacturers build FWD cars due to cheaper assembly cost.

Of the cars on your list, all could be fun, but I would avoid the VW, since their maintenance costs can be astronomical and they're kind of boat-ish, and the Pontiac since it's just a big, four door boat of a car. Older Subaru WRX's can be fun, relatively inexpensive, the AWD is great and they're very reliable.

Good luck to you!

 

I'm confused by this. The G35 is very reliable. What maintenance costs does your G35 have that some other car will not have? It's not quite at the Honda/Acura/Toyota/Lexus level of reliability, but it's more reliable than most of the cars on your list. If you're just looking at lowering your monthly payment, then you're going to have to buy something worth a lot less than the G, but that's going to mean more maintenance costs, not less.

Remember, you also have to factor in any taxes or registration fees on the new car. And the older the car is, the fewer years you'll be able to finance it for. Banks aren't going to give you 48 months on a 6 or 7 year old car. You'll be lucky if you can get 30 months. So your monthly payment may not drop all that much. And don't forget the cost of insurance on the new car, it may be higher than what you're paying now. Downgrading your car to save money on a monthly basis only makes sense if you can pay for it outright or put a large chunk of money down on it, which doesn't seem to be the case here or you wouldn't have started this thread.

I'd say stay away from the Mazdas and run as fast as you can from the VW and the GM products. Those will both have significantly higher maintenance costs due to poor reliability. Good luck finding an Integra that's in decent shape, they haven't been made since 2001. The only 2 on your list that have a snowball's chance of costing you less per month are the Civic and the RSX. Forget the S2000. They're fun if you can keep the RPM's high, but around town they aren't any better than the Civic, and they're completely impractical for daily use. And I wouldn't even think about a WRX. Insurance is very high on them, and while Subaru makes a good car, it's not in Infiniti's league for reliability. The AWD system is very expensive to get repaired. Stick to Japanese FWD.

Find a Corolla, Camry, Civic, or Accord, but forget about performance if you want to lower your overall monthly payments (financing, maintenance, and insurance).

 

I just came out of a 2008 Civic Si. I loved that car pretty fast handled better than you could imagine. Never had any problems and the factory audio system is great as well. So you would be looking at a nice sports car that will have little to no maintenance cost I definitely think this is the way to go. Now if you want leather interior and some more amenities I would say go with the RSX but you have to go type-s if you’re going to get one of those.

 

I would say to get an RSX-S very reliable car and can make it fly with a couple of minor mods.

 

where is the OP????

he has had no input

 

s2k, civic si, rsx-s in that order