Well I'm slowly climbing the latter of success, and looking forward to (hopefully) financing my own car. Been thinking about a used GSR for around $25k....but leaning towards an RA for cheaper price, cheaper insurance, SST (kinda a lazy enthusiast). SST is what will sell me though just cause in case my parents need to use it...no need to worry about them screwing up the transmission...plus its pretty damn fast in sport mode: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BZrM3oTjPs8&feature=fvw got my stop watch and got a 0-60 of about 4.94 sec...(depends on how fast I start the timer ) but I am impressed. I do hope to get things straighten out and hopefully get one by next summer or fall. I tried to see if I could get a drive, but no local dealers here and the one 3hrs from me does not get any in stock

 

If you get bored with the normal mode it is nice just pushing a switch and going to sport where it really comes alive. Manual mode is fun but I really think the car knows the best shift points. Good luck with choice.

 

During normal stop and go city traffic, I find the car is way too eagar to put it into 6th. As a result, it ends up shifting a LOT. Like, in the span of 5 city blocks with see-sawing traffic, it can go from 1-2-3-4-5-6-5-4-3-4-5-6-5-4-3-2-1. I usually stick it into manual mode and end up going 1-2-3-4-5-4-5-4-3-2-1. During spirited driving in sport automatic, the thing hits the correct places to shift better than I ever can.

OP: What do u have now? The RA is better in fuel economy, quieter on the highway because of the taller 5th and 6th gear (or actually the presence of 6th gear vs. the GSR), has fold down rear seats, and is less harsh at the expense of being down a bit in power, no AYC, and less responsive suspension. Fitting a 65" plasma tv into the RA is no problem. Plus the RA comes in a sportback, which I'm told can hold a vespa inside it while having the same performance of the sedan.

On the other hand, in this ecomony, you might wanna just use the pay raise to pay off the current car then save the $$$. That's what I would do.

BTW, it's ladder, not latter.

 

I actually have my sisters 03 corolla...so yeah I've been stuck with a hand me down for now which is not bad though, no payments. I really wish I could test drive one though...just got to save up for now.

 

meh... IMO, the TC-SST doesn't shift soon enough, and it shifts too often; if that makes any sense. It's definitely eager to go into 6th, but 1-2-3 seems like it wants to rev up to 3k if your barely touching the gas (normal mode). In LA rush hour traffic, I normally take over and shift at 2k - 2.5k to stay out of boost, and spend a LOT of time in 2nd and 3rd gears; mostly idling or just above idling in 2nd when going past downtown LA.

 

Parents driving the car? Currently has its sister's car?

How old are you? Keep in mind that if you finance a car, you are stuck with the payments for many year... Including when you get an appartment and then a house and so on...

If you live at you parents' expense, even a 12$/h job can be sufficient to pay a ralliart... But when you have to pay for rent, food, electricity, etc... The story is not the same...

 

lol yeah 23 and staying with my parents ( is that a bad thing ) ...I am thankful for my mom though, she works as a RN in the NICU. She got me the job as a medical clerk as soon as my last job was out of work due to no vehicles (was a vehicle evaluator) just waiting on the call this week. Once everything gets rolling soon probably by next fall start classes again, just took some time off of college.

 

I'd say drive the hell out of the corolla and save ur cash. That's my experience. I was actually in a similar situation.

Had a hand me down 1997 dodge stratus es. The only reason why I liked the car was it had a 170hp mitsubishi v6 (which at the time, was one helluva family sedan) with a huge trunk. Mileage was decent and it had the shiftable auto-stick.

I would not test drive one though. I went to test drive the RA on a whim for fun and ended up buying it the same afternoon on impulse...

I know it's tempting to have fun now but trust me, save ur marbles. You're probably gonna be saving like $600 and change a month in payments and insurance, not to mention a down payment. Just imagine, that's $7200 a year in cold hard cash. You can probably save up half the down payment for the car in like 2 years and you'll be on easy street. I lived with my parents till i was like 23-24 too. I'm 28 now and trust me, I wish I still lived back there. Though the wifey's parents have a huge house and wouldn't mind if we moved in lol.

 

Nothing bad about living at your parents' place at 23. I have some friends in the same situation (I'm not much older than you are). But the thing is, you have to know how long you'll stay there. If you plan to be there for the next 5 years (of whatever the length of your car loan) then ya, go for it.

But if you plan to get an appartment/house soon you better do a budget simulation. I don't know what is the cost of living in the US but here in Canada, it costs me a little more than 1500$ for very basic things (mortgage, food, electricity, phone). So that's more than twice the monthly payment of the RA here.

 

Yeah gonna save up for now and finish up school....heck maybe a MR will be cheaper by the time I finish....maybe :P

 

^good advice.

Ask your parents - they may agree with us (to get you out of the nest and on your own where you belong (vs. on the couch but with a nice car ) )

 

Just FYI, (for me) the GSR is only 40 dollars more a year for car insurance. I got a 2010 EVO SE quoted for compared to my 2009 Ralliart. So that increase is from the value of the car. So the Ralliart is going to very comparable to the evo in insurance now because AWD/TURBO.

 

Insurance is weird sometimes.

I used to drive a 2006 Saturn Ion (base model, manual, no A/C, etc) and when I switched over to my 2010 Ralliart, insurance went DOWN 500$ / year

 

I know from an evo 8/9 to a evo x the insurance is lower too. Just because of the better safety equipment. And all the extra airbags.

 

do you like stick or auto?