Vehicle recommendation (4 seat, sporty, manual, reliable)

[Sequoiasoon]

Budget? New or used?

CT5-V or CT 4?

Civic Si or R or the Acura Integra cousins. Subaru WRX. Jetta GLI. Hyundai Elantra N. Toyota GR Corolla. All 4 door with some having decent room in the back. With car seats and kids getting bigger I went from Corolla to Sonata at the time, even then sticks were getting more difficult.

The "fun" part not so much like the Camry. My '17 Accord 6MT is nice on highway drives, 4 cyl not so fast but no issues getting into traffic and up to past legal speeds. 4 adults comfortable good trunk and almost 600 miles on a tank at highway speeds. Some aftermarket stuff available for struts/sway bars with some larger rims, performance tires and it would probably do well. The kids/car seats/daily puts the factors in different priorities. My kids that were in the car seats in corolla and Sonata now drive my 6MT Accord.

 

[Astro14]

Knowing the OP’s budget would sure help.

New cars are expensive. A new 4 door manual with room for car seats takes you from Civic/Integra to BMW, or CTS-V, pretty quickly…with a few stops on the way - WRX, Golf, and Jetta perhaps?

 

[slacktide_bitog]

Sporty. But 4 doors FWD and room for 2 car seats. Oh and reliable with long term parts availability.

Pretty sure all those never existed in one car.

07-11 Civic Si 4-door and also the 03-06 Matrix XRS/Vibe GT

 

[SC Maintenance]

I guess my definition of sporty is too old school.

 

[goblin]

I’ll just leave this right here.

300HP AWD
Manual
Room for car seats
4 doors
Reliable

Also - room for cargo and gear
Big brake package (4 piston Brembos on all corners)

Mechanical parts are still widely available.
Trim parts less so

View attachment 269566

Hey ! No teasing !! He said - RELIABLE !!!

Joke aside - this one is an AWD.

In the meantime - as of last year, the Mazda 3 was still available in lower trim in both sedan and hatch, as a manual, with a 180+ hp engine.
It will take two car seats as long as we agree that they will be each on a side. One in the middle and one on the side will very likely not work.

The MY 2025 is autp-only, but older ones should still be available.

That, and the base Sentra, while it's still available in manual. Any 130hp+ manual car that doesn't weight two tons is sporty plenty.

 

[ecotourist]

My '07 Honda Accord V6 6MT 4Dr meets all your criteria. A rare car though. The 6MT 4 Dr was only sold for '06 and '07. A "Bob" participant recently reported putting 1,000,000 miles on the original power train of his '07 Accord V6 6MT 2Dr (same power train as 4Dr).

The Acura Integra and TL of that era would as well. Both were available with manual transmissions. All were nice cars.

Mazda 3s are sporty, front wheel drive, available with manual transmissions, and reliable (though susceptible to rust until quite recently). I like them a lot.

VW GTI and GLI would also meet your criteria. Though their reliability is sadly a question.

 

[ecotourist]

Hey ! No teasing !! He said - RELIABLE !!!

My '86 Volvo 740 Turbo 4MT + OD bought new was actually fairly reliable. Ready for a long trip whenever and wherever you wanted to go, but cost a lot to maintain (several water pumps, several exhaust systems, overdrive X1) over 18 years and 285,000 Km. I could have taken it on a 1,000 mile relatively trouble free trip on the last day I owned it - though the exhaust might have fallen off again (which happened twice before on long trips).

Go "turbo bricks"!

 

[goblin]

...

Go "turbo bricks"!

If it's to be a turbo brick - 244 or T5, thanks.

 

[Sequoiasoon]

@kehyler - random question. Why no RWD? I see MA so your concern is winter? My opinion, any vehicle you get should get winter tires for that season, for me especially as family hauler. All mine get true winter on all 4, safety investment.

My sister had a '90 Mustang GT 5 speed. Yup it was horrible on any light dusting or worse with the Goodyear Eagle Gatorbacks. She almost wrecked it starting from a stop light in a dusting. She came home crying said we need to do something. We put 4 good studded snows on it and that thing was awesome in winter. We lived in a very hilly area and people couldn't believe that she drove it daily even in heavier snow. The newer studless winter tires work very well and may open up thoughts to some of the others.

All the smaller vehicles listed are OK but the kids will get bigger and out of their car seats or even booster seats sooner than later. If you keep the car longer that leg room is important. I struggled with the Corolla ('93) even with 2 forward facing seats. The rear facing only fit in middle and I had to move seats up. The Sonata was a very nice functionality upgrade. I put my lights, tunes, tint, better tires and it lasted from them being 3 and 6 in car seats all the way through to 17 and 20 when the motor went at 220k. They both learned to drive stick shift in it.

If manual tranny is not necessary then there are many depending budget. Sporty definition? Fast off the line and out of corners? Canyon carving handling at limit? I always liked many 4 door BMW's but haven't owned one. When my kids did the StreetSurvival class it was nice watching the kids with the BMW's in the slalom, emergency lane change etc. The stayed flat and just looked that drivers type car as opposed to many others there (including my Sonata). But then again all the others and Sonata made it safely through with maybe a bit more squeal and a bit slower.

 

[kehyler]

The Toyota Corolla GR is catching my eye.

Just to add price point <$50k.

 

[tbm5690]

The Toyota Corolla GR is catching my eye.

Just to add price point <$50k new.

So new? If so, you have about 4 options that meet all your wants and needs:

Corolla GR
Jetta GLI
Civic SI
Elantra N

The GR and N are going to be a notch above as far as performance out of the factory, but the GLI is very easily and cheaply brought right into the mix...not sure about the SI. As the owner of a GLI and father of a car seat dweller, it will offer considerably more room than the GR...it's closer to a midsize than a compact.

 

[kehyler]

Sorry, edited. Doesn't have to be new -- I was typing fast.

 

[JRay’07]

My '86 Volvo 740 Turbo 4MT + OD bought new was actually fairly reliable. Ready for a long trip whenever and wherever you wanted to go, but cost a lot to maintain (several water pumps, several exhaust systems, overdrive X1) over 18 years and 285,000 Km. I could have taken it on a 1,000 mile relatively trouble free trip on the last day I owned it - though the exhaust might have fallen off again (which happened twice before on long trips).

Go "turbo bricks"!

I admire the extra qualifiers in your post like “fairly reliable” and “relatively trouble free”. Sounds like something I would say to describe my vehicles.

 

[JRay’07]

Acura TSX wagon.

 

[Skippy722]

2011-2014 Dodge Charger R/T AWD, yes they’re real and they were AWESOME. Or a newer V6 AWD… still ~300HP. Or a 300.

I miss my 300… just wished I had gotten AWD after moving.

 

[snarl]

https://www.cargurus.com/Cars/inven...ryEnabled=true#listing=408276882/NONE/DEFAULT

https://www.cargurus.com/Cars/inven...yEnabled=false#listing=404718192/NONE/DEFAULT

https://www.cargurus.com/Cars/inven...yEnabled=false#listing=410716384/NONE/DEFAULT

 

[ecotourist]

I admire the extra qualifiers in your post like “fairly reliable” and “relatively trouble free”. Sounds like something I would say to describe my vehicles.

The Volvo cost $1100/year from new for all maintenance (tires, batteries, overdrive rebuild, exhaust systems, etc). At least double that in today's dollars. Volvo cleverly put the oil filter (for the turbo models) where I couldn't get at it from above or below, so even the every 3 month oil changes were done by the dealer (and later by the Volvo specialty shop). The filter had to be replaced from below, on a hoist, by feel. They moved it into the open for the '87 models.

"Reliable" is a relative term. But my wife still talks about how great the Volvo was. I liked the '00 BMW 528i better and it actually cost less to maintain.

 

[jsean]

Hi Guys,

I've got an older Prius that I'm creating a list of replacements for when the time comes (it's not urgent).

Here's my current desires, I'm not brand loyal.

Soft requirements:

• Prefer manual, though not a dealbreaker
• Somewhat sporty, want something fun to drive on my daily commute with a long section of highway

Hard requirements:

• 4 seats with enough room for 2 carseats
• 4 doors
• Reputation for maintainability (parts availability) and general reliability. I like to buy common cars, or ones with a big after market enthusiast market
• Not RWD, needs to be FWD or AWD

Any ideas?

-kehyler

Another vote for a Volvo wagon - @Astro14 beat me to it . Anything after a 1998 MY V70/XC70 are awesome. Just keep in mind, the 2nd row leg room imo isn’t the most practical for 2 baby seats if they’re rear facing.

You can also look at S80s with the 3.2 engine - same-ish rear leg room though about 35”.

Possible options:
1. Buick Lacrosse would be a good sensible choice. Relatively fast, has phenomenal rear leg room and is a great cruiser without the Avalon tax. Plus it’s got rear folding seats.
2. Passat with the VR6 or with the 2.0 Budack and an APR tune or the older 2012-13 with the 2.5.
3. 2017-18 Sentra SR Turbo or Nismo with the 6spd manual only. Potential for a tune based on what the juke guys do.

 

[kehyler]

Ok guys, that's a lot to think about. I'll probably filter the list also by say still currently being made (makes me feel better about parts availability, I suppose). I put a link to this thread in a little document I have listing a few options when the time comes.

 

[CheezWhiz]