> I'm in the process of buying a new (used) car because my current one is trash. I've got a maximum of US$5000 to spend, and I'm looking into getting something fairly sporty (which tends to limit my options to 80s Asian cars). Right now I'm heavily considering the Nissan 300ZX in the 85-89 range... anyone have any thoughts?
>

Well, I'm just going to babble off at the mouth here, because buying a car according to its looks is really a matter of personal taste. It might be better to check out how it scores in industry repair reports, and how *much* the repairs will cost (used cars always need more maintenence). The problem with Japanese or foreign cars is that the replacement parts themselves are more expensive than the equivalent American car parts.

(Plus, I think other folks on this board might know more about cars than I do :-)

I was going to suggest the type of car we have, in any model year after 1995 (Z22 Chevrolet Cavalier), because all the guys in my family agreed it has these things going for it: 1) real cheap, runs well. Ours is already 160,000 km with no significant car repairs, and it even still has the same factory-made muffler and only 3 changes of brake pads. 2) looks really sporty, even with the low-slung spoiler option. 3) great gas mileage. 4) very aerodynamic -- you can drive this baby at highway speeds through a torrential rainstorm with the windows rolled completely down, and no rain gets in! 5) plus the usual stuff on the basic model... airbags, ABS brakes, fuel injection, etc.

And its mass popularity in Canada would make it the ideal dream car to resell, if it didn't depreciate like a ROCK (and score zero on the side-impact survivability tests, but you can't have everything).

But, aside from the Chevy Cavalier, I found a U.S.-based Used Car Calculator that had some eye-popping deals. There's a lot more out there; this is just the first one I fingered. Mind you, these are all USED sporty cars for sale; you'll have to look in your area; you'll need a qualified mechanic to check out any car before you buy it, etc.:

1998 Red Pontiac Grand Am / / / / $1,115 / / / / Mileage: 53,974 / / / / Owner: Merced,CA (US)

1994 Blue Ford Taurus / / / / $2,977 / / / / Mileage: 154,232 / / / / Owner: Norco,CA (US)

1994 Green Chevrolet Beretta / / / / $3,995 / / / / Mileage:117,182 / / / / Owner: Pasadena,CA (US)

1994 White Chevrolet Beretta / / / / $4,650 / / / / Mileage:69,230 / / / Owner: San Jose,CA (US)

1995 Black Chevrolet Cavalier / / / / $4,995 / / / / See Details / / / / Owner: Davis,CA (US)


Wolf "what will he think of THAT?" spirit