Hello all,
I'm in a situation here. I live in San Diego, and I have a thing for speed, however, I also have a thing for snowboarding, which means I have to do a lot of driving up to Bear (2 hrs) and Mammoth (6 1/2 hrs, 800 mi roundtrip). I have been in the market for an 2001.5 Audi S4 for a while now with no luck. So now I'm trying to consider other options after it dawned on me how many miles I really would be putting onto a vehicle with going snowboarding and all. I could go to bear 2 or 3 times a week and mammoth maybe twice a month. An S4 is very expensive if things break down, and maintainence itself is a killer. So I have a couple of options, but a couple of requirements, and I'm trying to decide what is the best choice.

*This vehicle would be my only vehicle, taking me to school on the days I'm not snowboarding
*I wanted something that isnt a POS, like some '89 Honda or something
*Less than $23k
*Good power/speed/brakes
*Low cost to maintain
*Reliable (don't want to get stuck in the mountains)
*Good gas mileage
*Can take a lot of miles

My options include an S4 (hard to find/expensive), 2003 Evo (why are 2003s unpopular?), 2002 Toyota Tacoma (no speed/brakes), 2002-3 WRX (fast enough?)

So where does that leave you guys?
I wanted to know if you think the Evo is my best bet considering all scenarios. Or, maybe you have a suggestion for a different car?

Thanks everyone!

 

*This vehicle would be my only vehicle, taking me to school on the days I'm not snowboarding

I don't see why not

*I wanted something that isnt a POS, like some '89 Honda or something

EVO's not a POS

*Less than $23k - I'm sure you can find used in this price range

*Good power/speed/brakes - yes/yes/yes

*Low cost to maintain - not sure about this one.... too many people are modded and there's mod addiction to deal with

*Reliable (don't want to get stuck in the mountains) - Mine has been

*Good gas mileage - no

*Can take a lot of miles - I'm not sure what the current number of miles the mile king has on his now, but he was at 100k+ on a 2003.

 

Subaru 2.5 RS. done.

 

Good gas mileage to me is anything above 20mpg, and the mammoth trip, and going to school are both freeway driving. The bear trip is on the Rim of the World Highway, which can really suck gas. Driving a honda civic, I get noticably better gas mileage going 71 than I do going 80, and I tend to drive 80+. Does anyone notice a significant drop off on MPG driving in that upper bracket?

 

wheres the speed, lol

 

evo's not a great skiing/snowboarding vehicle, let alone commuter car. bad mpg, high cost to maintain, need for snow (or all-season) tires, no pass-through from trunk, likelihood of getting tickets, etc. etc.

 

one more: no cruise control!

 

 

I can understand that a high-performance vehicle is going to cost me a bit more than some econo, but how bad are you talking about when you say high cost to maintain? Sched. maintenance expensive? How much longer are these 03's under warrantee for? I understand the clutch can get worn pretty quickly, but I'm not trying to drop clutch here
Lidatek+V1 = Your friends

Edit Sidenote: Moddings not gonna be too big of an issue for me, my finances go elsewhere. So modding a 2.5 isn't really my intentions. I like that you used Subigals car for reference though, lol

 

Not expensive to maintain?!?! You don't want an evo...

 

Premium Gas/Synthetic Oil Changes/4 Tire change no matter what...Etc...

 

Speed and good gas mileage are mutually exclusive.

 

I don't understand why people say the evo is so exspensive to maintain:
-Gas mileage is acceptable 17-24mph.
-Brakes, pads are a couple 100 and rotors are a couple 100 and can be changed by any novice mechanic. I've got 26k and my stock, original pads and they're fine.
-Tires are one of your only major cost. i got 14k on my stock advans. 1 of them blew out it was so warn, but the stock alignment has a lot to do with that. any awd car is gonna have to have all the tires changed at once. Not just an evo thing.
-Oil changes are about $25-$30 if you do the yourself.
-If you can figure out what to do with your boards, get a roof rack. I've seen Evo's with roof racks and they look pretty cool.


-Chad-

 

good gas mileage to me is around 30mpg highway

 

Haha, byron, I drive a 2003 Civic in the meanwhile. I don't hardly get 30 MPG driving the way I do, so if people are getting 18-24 and doing it with actual speed, good enough. My front brakes went south at 30k mi.
I would be getting a roof rack...
Hows the maintenance schedule cost?