Hi guys, i have had my driving permit for almost 4 months and november 21 i have an appointment for my driving license. So i want to buy a car.. preferably a lancer oz, 02-03, with not a lot of miles(below 65k) Also has to be standard. I always wanted a lancer ever since i saw the evo(which im gettin after i finish college i hope). My sister had an 02 es.. hence the username, now i would take her car but its an automatic, so i dont want it.

Now i will be lookin around for a used 02-03 lancer oz preferably modded or stock as long as it wasn't beat on.

Do you guys think that i could find one in a price range like that and would it be a good first car. I was also thinkin of buying a modded one or would that be a pain in the ***. Tyler(melaz425) is sellin is oz, but the price is kinda high for me 12-13k.

If you guys know anyone thats sellin an oz and is within reasonable driving distance from CT please post it here..

thx guys

 

N1te on the boards is selling his. It needs some love but it is a good car and I can say that all the work done on the car was good. I'd PM him to see what's up. I think he told me he is looking to get 6 grand for it.

Fox

 

I forgot to say that he has upgraded the pistons and the engine has less miles than the body. Helped him drop the new motor in a few years back when he ran into some trouble with the old motor. It's well taken care of... has some beauty marks on it that need some touch ups but for the most part it's a good solid car.

 

thx for the fast reply.. i quckly looked at a few threads n1te posted on his car and it looks like he had a lot of trouble with it... plus virgnia is kinda far from ct dude... 8-9 hours of driving...

 

haha... we drove it to meet with Melaz and Greenpsycho years back. I got my carbon fiber hood from Melaz I'm sure if you talk to N1te you'll find he might be willing to meet you. Heck a good car is a good car, right?

The problems with his car are all pretty much taken care of and he has it nearly back to stock. Only thing modified at the moment are the pistons. Other than that the car drives strong, no leaks, no issues that I know of.

 

The lancer would be a good first car. An 02 or 03 shouldn't be 12 or 13 thousand, even with a lot of mods. Check KBB and try to find a lancer around the suggested price range. Personally, I would buy a stock lancer because it probably has not been beat on as harshly and you'll know that every mod you put on it (if you want to mod of course) is your personal decision. It's a great feeling to have a car that you've put together yourself

 

um.. n1te's car is an es rite... i hate the gray interior hence the reason im lookin for an oz.. heh.. i want to buy a car that im going to like alot since im going to be driving it a lot.. u know... oh and also i think it would be better to buy a kinda modded car since my mom wouldnt let me mod the car right away anyway... (im a modder at heart..lol i always mod everything from my pc to bicycles and stuff... so car wont be an exception)

 

Shingen, so thats your hood in my garage... when tyler got rid of his cf hood he came to my place to pick up a yellow hood. he left a tg hood here with a rusty dent in it.. hehe.. i still have it. i might get it painted yellow if i ever want to go back to stock

 

Right.

I've taken a ride in his car a few years ago at a meet in maryland and i can vouch for the motor. It's very strong. He takes good care of that car so you won't be disappointed.

However saying that - a good used '02 / '03 OZ should only cost you about $7500 max. I would have to say that you're making a real good choice for a first car. 'Course, i'm kinda biased tho.

 

Haha... it must be. It's funny how stuff on these baords just gets recycled around.

 

have you driven manual before? In any case i think you should practice with automatic first and get about a year or two experience before taking on manual. Of course that's my opinion and it helped me a lot when i first started driving stick, since i was more comfortable with the whole driving on the local roads and highway etc etc. Then again I was driving an auto caddy and camry for about 5 years before i could afford my first car haha.

 

I'd say that driving a manual is better to start off with. You learn how to pay attention more to a car that can suddenly stall. I started off with a Jeep Wrangler and wouldn't have it any other way but a base lancer isn't like jumping into a high end sports car.

The best thing I've ever heard was from a Mazda driving instructor at one of their driving events, "driving an automatic is like driving a golf kart only larger... that's why people who drive automatics drive like $hit..." this was over a PA system as he was describing how to drive the Mazdaspeed 6.

 

My first car was a manual (escort zx2). Most people I talk to regret getting automatics as their first car because they were afraid to start with a manual, so as long as you can drive a stick shift, i say manual all the way

 

Lancer is a great car. Especially for me because my first car was a 96 saturn; the lancer felt pretty nice compared to that. Definitely get a standard because the car isn't that fast as is, and the 5speed makes it fun to drive. You should be paying way under 10k for an 02-03. The whole point of the lancer is that it doesn't hold value as well as civics, sentras, 2.5rs etc so you can get a reliable entry level car for a bargain price.

 

If someone tries to make you pay 10k for an '02 or '03 OZ then you should run the other way - when I bought my car back in '04 I paid exactly 10k for it.