Practical Car vs Fun Car as a second car! - Sub 20k or less!

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rmemedic said:
Until recently I hadn't really noticed them too often, but I've been getting in to the car thing this past summer (I'm restoring and modifying an 87 trans am) and have noticed they are all over the place. See a couple every week... And like I said, nobody knows about them so they are a sleeper. It will put those smug BMW drivers in their place.
Im headed in the "sleeper" direction with my car, so the next dude in a porsche that wants to feel good picking on a worn down 140hp 5.0 gets a little surprise.
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I think Ive only ever seen 1 of those GTO's on Canadian roads ever. There can't be that many around so if you want a more unique ride its a good choice. I see a good amount of G8's but not really any of the GTO's.

Clearly the aussie made cars did not sell well. Probably because giving the otherwise good looking Holden Monaro an ugly generic Pontiac front end just didn't make the car all that appealling to look at as it looks like every other pontiac.
 
mimico_polak said:
Well right now I got a nice little surprise that my wife's insurance may be VERY high due to her not being a long term driver, so we'll see what insurance says because if I need to pay $4k for her (Kanetix) on my Elantra...I'll be searching for something less than 10k instead of 20k!
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Ouch. I'm going to run into the same thing if my gf ever gets her license again. Even if we don't get her a car she'll probably end up having to be primary on one of my cars. I've heard insurance companies don't seem to like 2 drivers with 2 cars without one being primary on each. She's never been insured before so I imagine the rates will be terrible.

Even with my 2 cars she said she'll never drive either of them. Would probably have to get an automatic Corolla or some crap for her. I'd likely end up ditching the WRX.
 
unL33T said:
Ouch. I'm going to run into the same thing if my gf ever gets her license again. Even if we don't get her a car she'll probably end up having to be primary on one of my cars. I've heard insurance companies don't seem to like 2 drivers with 2 cars without one being primary on each. She's never been insured before so I imagine the rates will be terrible.

Even with my 2 cars she said she'll never drive either of them. Would probably have to get an automatic Corolla or some crap for her. I'd likely end up ditching the WRX.
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Yup, TD told me the same thing. Two cars in the house + 2 drivers = 2 Primary drivers. As a secondary on the car now she's only $300/year. They claim that it would count towards her experience but I don't seem confident. They'll just say 'Well we don't know if you put 5k, 10k, or 0k on that car, so you're a new driver in our eyes'. Insurance strikes again....
 
toshison said:
I think Ive only ever seen 1 of those GTO's on Canadian roads ever. There can't be that many around so if you want a more unique ride its a good choice. I see a good amount of G8's but not really any of the GTO's.

Clearly the aussie made cars did not sell well. Probably because giving the otherwise good looking Holden Monaro an ugly generic Pontiac front end just didn't make the car all that appealling to look at as it looks like every other pontiac.
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Can you even import them to Canada? I thought it was 15 years or older? I've seen three here and all of them were us plated vehicles.
 
Roomie said:
Can you even import them to Canada? I thought it was 15 years or older? I've seen three here and all of them were us plated vehicles.
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That's what I recall as well...all of them were US cars. Maybe if someone modified it to meet the Canadian laws vs US regulations they got around it? I think it was a bumper issue or something along those lines, wasn't major.
 
mimico_polak said:
Yup, TD told me the same thing. Two cars in the house + 2 drivers = 2 Primary drivers. As a secondary on the car now she's only $300/year. They claim that it would count towards her experience but I don't seem confident. They'll just say 'Well we don't know if you put 5k, 10k, or 0k on that car, so you're a new driver in our eyes'. Insurance strikes again....
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We had the same issues here, wife/me/21yr old son, 4 cars. He had to be primary on one, three others were manual transmission and he couldn't drive them if he wanted.
Same for wife, she had a scooter and M licence since scooter was a 125cc, she had to be on the policy for the other bikes even though she couldn't start any of them.
We thinned the herd because insurance for vehicles parked in the garage was getting silly.
 
toshison said:
I think Ive only ever seen 1 of those GTO's on Canadian roads ever. There can't be that many around so if you want a more unique ride its a good choice. I see a good amount of G8's but not really any of the GTO's.

Clearly the aussie made cars did not sell well. Probably because giving the otherwise good looking Holden Monaro an ugly generic Pontiac front end just didn't make the car all that appealling to look at as it looks like every other pontiac.
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Saw one at ikea in Ottawa about a month ago (deffinately was, had a nice exhaust and I was walking right behind it) and another at a Friday night car meet earlier in the summer. Both had Ontario plates.

mimico_polak said:
That's what I recall as well...all of them were US cars. Maybe if someone modified it to meet the Canadian laws vs US regulations they got around it? I think it was a bumper issue or something along those lines, wasn't major.
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It was on the "ban" list, but it was lifted for some reason. I say it's something to consider since it's "rare" here but won't be hard to get parts for... And lots of options to get some style and power out of the thing.
 
rmemedic said:
Here is the government site with the lists of allowed or Inadmissable vehicles. This is the GM list:
http://www.tc.gc.ca/roadsafety/safe...CHEVROLET___OLDSMOBILE___PONTIAC___SATURN.htm
States all from '98 up are ok from GM.

and they must be possible since a few are for sale in Ontario and I've seen it myself in person.
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Alright I'll have to look more into it. When I heard one roar by in buffalo I've always loved em! I also had a chance to check one up close in Oz and it's a brute!

My only issue is coming up with the full amount of cash. Banks are cracking down on loans for toys!
 
I like the 135i idea - engines are very strong and can put out some impressive numbers with a JB4 tune. If you know the car has been well maintained by your friend, $16k sounds extremely fair.

As another option, I picked up a G37S Coupe about 6 months ago and it has been very fun so far. There are some in your price range, though the 6-speeds can be tough to find!
 
GTA_6speed said:
I like the 135i idea - engines are very strong and can put out some impressive numbers with a JB4 tune. If you know the car has been well maintained by your friend, $16k sounds extremely fair.QUOTE]

I actually got some emails yesterday from my buddy explaining some of the electrical gremlins that were creeping up on the car and after we chatted more we both decided it's best to not do the deal. He's torn b/w keeping it and getting a used GTI, and I'm going to test drive the Speed3 tonight after work. There's a few around with good mileage/deals but a hair over 20k so I need to do some good negotiating.
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Drove the Speed3 today...wow! That thing went like a bat out of hell! Fun car but ridiculous for the street! Couldn't make a deal today so hopefully be able to sign tomorrow for it.
 
Well it's been a few months of searching, driving, putting a deposit and having a car flooded with rain and in the end I wound up with a 2010 Civici Si sedan in that funky Orange colour!

It may not be the fastest car out there, but it's sure fun to wind out, and on a recent trip to Montreal/Ottawa it averaged 7.5-8l/100km (with a few good rips here and there)

Thanks everyone for the recommendations, and I ended up driving almost everything on the list: Accord, Civic Si, VW Golf 2.5, VW GTI, Mazda3, Speed3, 1 Series, Elantra, Focus, A3, A4, but the Si is the car I always had a little bit of a soft spot for as it was my first car as well (2003). The Civic ended up doing almost everything I wanted/needed in the car, except RWD but ah well...can't have it all! And for $14k + tax, I went for it.

Thanks again!
 
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