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OT Sad day at moonlight machine

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moonlight machine

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Nov 19, 2007
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marysville ohio
Yep, end of an era, my 1994 Acura Integra GSR got a new owner. I have had it 25 years and it has been a great car, never left me walking once, pretty fast, revs to 8,000 rpm anytime 5 speed manual, handles great, fun on a cloverleaf 60 - 70mph tires give you a little howl lets see if I can hold it to a constant sound all the way around. Brings a smile to my face just thinking about it. Alas time had caught up with it, rusty as hell and the end came when it was parked at the bank and some little old lady who could hardly see over the dash board of her luxo barge piled into it on the driver side hard enough that the door is destined to never open again. So, what to replace it with? Small, sporty, 2 door hatchback coupe. Plenty of power, 5 speed manual trans. 5 or so years old or so. Does this car exist?
 
Except for the hatchback part, all that comes to mind is:
Mazda Miata
Saturn Sky
Pontiac Solstice
Porsche Boxter
Subaru WRX
 
Not really. Six speed trans, MAYBE. Even then you’re probably gonna need to open your search up by a couple years. The third pedal is going the way of the dodo and fast. This list is by no means definitive, but I know these were offered with manual gearboxes into the last decade:

Audi TT

Chevy Camaro

Mini Cooper

Honda Accord Sport

Honda Civic SI

Honda S2000

Hyundai Genesis Coupe

Mazda Miata

Nissan/Infiniti 350/370

Subaru BR-Z/Scion FR-S

Subaru WRX

Volkswagen GTI

There may be a few other options I’ve missed, but even among the offerings I mentioned the manufacturers just aren’t making manual transmissions anymore. Some are doing automatically shifted manuals, Volkswagen does their DCT... most have just quietly erased the option all together.


Best of luck in your search.


Be safe and stay healthy



Jeremy
 
Mazda 3 hatchback.

MazdaSpeed 3, but not sure they came in a hatchback.

I daily drive a 6 speed 2014 Mazda 3. Only 150hp, but that's 50 more than any car I've owned before (I drive econo boxes... I get my thrills on motorcycles), and it's a hoot.

If you get a MazdaSpeed 3 with the turbo, you get a bit more HP and torque.

My Mazda has been bulletproof, I'd put it up there with Honda in terms of Japanese reliability.
 
I had it a Mazda 3 and it was a blast, right up until the dealer forgot to put oil back in after a “free first oil change”


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk Pro
 
I know diesels are not popular in the US, but I'm a convert. I owned gasoline cars and trucks my whole life until I got my Dodge Dually and now a New VW Beetle with a 1.9 liter diesel. I will never go back to a gas car for the street. Diesels are smoother, more economical, more tank range and have gobs of low engine speed torque. They are better in every way. Further, they are easy to hot rod. They can be tuned to very high levels of power and still remain economical, which is not possible with a gas motor.
 
Ford Focus RS. It will not be an easy car to find. Made in Germany and Ford only brought them to US in 2016 and 2017. Wife and I each have one. 350 HP, 6 speed, brembo brakes, Recaro seats with blue stitching. Driving modes of Regular, Sport, Track, Drift. All wheel drive hatch. Drift mode sends most of the power to the rear wheels, but enough to the front so you can steer.
But at 350 HP it is the least powerful car I drive, and currently only turbo car. Stealth gray, wife has Nitrous blue.

Edit. Just looked it up on cars.com. Looks like my $40,000.00 car has a resale value almost equal to what I paid for it.:drool5:
 
Problem with diesels in the states is really that Volkswagen is really your only option for a car diesel and they probably only shipped 1/4 of them with the manual. They are RARE! And EXPENSIVE!!! The combination of Volkswagen buying back a ton of them and not making that many with the manual makes those ones especially rare. That said, I had a 6-speed Golf for a while that would make it from Atlanta to Cincinnati and halfway back on a tank. I was getting nearly 55 mpg on the open road. I kept the car beyond “diesel-gate”, but when a guy caught me on the street and offered me $2k over what I paid I couldn’t turn it down. I put 30k miles on it and in under two years and likely should have continued to do so.




Be safe and stay healthy




Jeremy
 
I have a 2008 BMW X3 3.0L Strait 6 with a Manual 6 speed as the shop delivery/pick-up vehicle. 260hp.

It's small and nimble, but has some space inside. Also, is fun to drive surprisingly.
 
moonlight machine said:
So, what to replace it with? Small, sporty, 2 door hatchback coupe. Plenty of power, 5 speed manual trans. 5 or so years old or so. Does this car exist?
Click to expand...

I've had eight VW GTI's going back to '78 and they've all been great but this latest Golf "R" is really amazing. All wheel drive, 300 HP, 300 ft-lb outta the box, 0-60 in just over 4 sec. And comfortable enough on a long trip, very quiet and smooth in comfort mode.

The MK8 is coming out in '22 so many (including me) will be selling their MK7's, mine's a black 2016 and was one of the first to hit N. America when they came out.

USC50VWC262A121001.jpg
 
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