What is a good cheap japanese daily driver for a young enthusiast?
Cheap daily driver
What is a good cheap japanese daily driver for a young enthusiast?
Whatever you're able to find for a good price really. Are you talking about a RHD JDM? Or are you looking at anything from a Japanese manufacture? Welcome to the site by the wayI'm also fairly new to using the forums myself. In general I imagine finding a Honda would be the best bet for your question. Cheap purchase price and very reliable! But I'll wait for a reply before I start exploring options aha.
I just mean japanese manufacturers and i know Honda is cheap and reliable but do you have a suggestion other than Honda?
Well it really depends on what sort of thing you're looking for.
1) Are you looking for an older car like 1990 to 2010? Or something new? Given that you said young enthusiast I'd have to imagine you're looking for something older.
2) Are you looking for something that looks good, or something functional? Like coupe vs say a sedan or wagon/hatch?
3) Do you want something with good aftermarket support that has a plethora of options for modifications?
4) Manual transmission or manual transmission?No shame in getting an auto but some cars have issues with auto trans giving out earlier then a manual trans. A good example is 97-98 Preludes the auto trans is notorious for failing. That problem was addressed for 99-01 but that fix only gave them a bit longer of a life expectancy before failure.
I'd have to say Honda and Toyota's would be an excellent starting point if you're trying to do your repairs and services at home, some Nissan's too like a Sentra. You'd be able to do minor repairs and what have you, while still being able to have a daily driver everyday. Personally I'd stay away from Mazda's I think they're a bit more advanced for learning things with. Subaru is like lego, so many interchangeable parts between their models. Looking forward to your answers though!
1) Doesn't really matter for meOriginally Posted by BO0O0O0O0O0O0
Well it really depends on what sort of thing you're looking for.
1) Are you looking for an older car like 1990 to 2010? Or something new? Given that you said young enthusiast I'd have to imagine you're looking for something older.
2) Are you looking for something that looks good, or something functional? Like coupe vs say a sedan or wagon/hatch?
3) Do you want something with good aftermarket support that has a plethora of options for modifications?
4) Manual transmission or manual transmission?
I'd have to say Honda and Toyota's would be an excellent starting point if you're trying to do your repairs and services at home, some Nissan's too like a Sentra. You'd be able to do minor repairs and what have you, while still being able to have a daily driver everyday. Personally I'd stay away from Mazda's I think they're a bit more advanced for learning things with. Subaru is like lego, so many interchangeable parts between their models. Looking forward to your answers though!
2) all bodytypes are good for me and yes I'm looking for something functional
3) Yes, I really want to get into the modding scene
4) Duhh manual transmission
Thank you for your great reply!
What sort of modifications are you looking into? Performance or appearance?
Mostly performance and a little bit appearance
Then you'll want to start looking for something that's older and popular, a car that has a wide variety of aftermarket support while still being functional and not too expensive... I'm heavily leaning towards something Honda. I've got a 2000 Prelude type SH myself and can say that it has a wide variety support for both performance and body parts. Can't say that it's a super functional car as it hardly has rear seats aha, really hasn't ever been an issue for me though either. Sadly the H22 engine is not and never really was as popular as a B or K series engine. That isn't to say there isn't support, just harder to find and likely more expensive as a result. The fourth and fifth generations are worth looking into however! Acura RSK have K series engines in them and they look a bit roomier in the rear too. Another Acura worth looking into is TSK (basically just a fancier looking Accord but usually better maintained as lots of owners tend to be a bit older and mature.) Not sure how much support you'll find for a TLX when it comes to appearance- especially compared to an Accord of the same year.
If we step away from Honda for a second though we can look at what Toyota has! The last generation of Celica has an absolutely absurd amount of aftermarket options! Earlier generations may have a bit less support though. I'm not too well versed with Toyota's but the Celica was very popular and also worth doing a bit of research into. A good way to know if a car has good aftermarket support would be to go on AndysAutoSport and see how many products are available for body parts, lights, wings, ect. That will help you roughly gauge if personalizing the car would be a difficult task or not. Another excellent candidate would be Mazda MX-5/ Miata. Depending on what sort of weather you will see most of the year. If you live somewhere snowy for a majority of the year then maybe shy away from this one as it's super light, RWD and it's not easy to get one with a hardtop. The support for MX-5s is endless.
Of course theres more boring options like the Corolla and Camry; it feels like you want something more sport oriented though. Another reason I left Accord alone is because the later 2000 models always seem to have unreasonably high asking prices.
I think you can pay attention to Toyota or Mazda. The only negative is hard to look for parts. When my transmission completely broke, I had to read monster transmission reviews to figure out what to do next
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