It's that time where I'm almost finished with college, and will be going away to Air Force Pilot Training in the next few months. That said, my time as personal chauffeur to my girlfriend is coming to an end; seeing as she has no car and will soon be without me and the SRT to wheel her around.

Either way, we've been shopping around for several days for a car for her. We want something sporty, with moderate mileage, dependable, and for about $15k. We've driven several cars so far and here's our take:

Honda Accord Coupe V6: Nice, does everything well, but does nothing amazingly. Just kinda dull; very well done dull though.

Scion tC: Cute, but that's about it. Basically trash.

Mini Cooper S: Cool, really neat interior and exterior, but S version only comes in stick, so she's not keen on having it in Atlanta traffic.

Volkswagen Rabbit: She grinned the entire test drive. I knew we were onto something with this one, so we later stepped up to a sportier model since she liked the quality and road feel of the VW.

2005 Jetta GLI: Hot little ride, we liked this one the best by far of anything we saw all day. Exterior is great, nice fender flares, 18 inch BBS wheels, body kit... Interior; Recaro buckets, monsoon sound, ..... Pretty much the nicest sportiest car of anything we've looked at. And it hauled a$$ like no 180 horsepower I've ever felt.

We're gonna go drive some GTI's and maybe another GLI today. We both fell in love with the VW's instantly, and are leaning heavily in that direction.

I just wanted to poll the group and see if anyone had any experience with other sporty cars in the same price range that we should take a look at. And before you say, "Get her a Crossfire!" I'll just say that she likes it, but is uncomfortable driving it with the visibility issues.

What do you guys think? What else should we take a look at?

 

I would say it is between the VW, and the Honda coupe. If it were me, I would take the Honda.

 

15k? get her a crossfire, like twins.Woody

 

Check out the Honda Civic Si. Sporty and versitile.
I was seriously considering purchasing one of these when I found the SRT6.

There are 2008's w/ about 20-25K miles for <$15k.

 

Get her a scooter and a raincoat and use the savings for the Crossfire mods! JK. It depends, if your thinking about dependability or when it comes time to sell and recouping some cash, get a Honda. If you want her to enjoy the car get the VW. My wife only cares if it has "all the powers" and won't strand her.

Les

 

Buy the Mini Cooper.

Avoid VW's....ANY VW's. Buy a BMW, Mercedes, Honda, Toyota, anything. Anything but a VW!

If you do buy a VW, my advice is to sell it off within 3 years.

 

My good friend Angela owns the Rabbit, and loves it. Yes, the car

I gotta agree with sonoronos, however. Lease new, and get rid of it before the maintenance becomes your baby. My buddy Stephen has a 1.8T Jetta, heavily boosted, and is constantly making repairs. It's faster than a Capitol Hill bill-signing once it's operational, however.

I think either a Mini or a NEW Rabbit lease would be the winner. If she's into modding and plans to keep it forever, get the Mini.

 

My wife has driven several cars in that price range, and she likes the Audi A4 the best. It's sporty, AWD, comfy, power everything, great sound system, etc.

You can get an '04 for around 14k. The Mercedes C230 or C240 is great for that price. The SLK is an awesome car, and IMO much better than the Mini. The Mini is fun, but gets on your nerves after awhile. She also had a Jetta, and it was okay. I hated it.

good luck

 

I have nothing but good things to say about my Hondas. Currently, I have a 2001 Accord that has ~105k miles on it with absolutely no problems.
I get what you mean though. It is a great car, but it is not really exciting to drive, but I'll take reliability over fun for a daily driver.

 

I vote Honda SI, or a fairly new Limited Crossfire. I've never had a Honda break down on me. Hard to beat the gas mileage too.

 

Thanks for the comments guys. We just got back from driving a couple more VW's. We like the new GTI's a lot, and have found some used ones for very reasonable prices.

She's still several weeks from making a purchase, so we're definitely gonna go drive a Civic SI and maybe an Audi A4. The more I read about the VW's the more I'm thinking that the reliability problems have been remedied for the most part. The cars from the last few years have gotten great reviews for long term reliability.

Oh, and she doesn't want a Crossfire. Sorry. She does kinda have a weakness for German Engineering though. lol.

 

Jonathan - before you buy anything, check THEIR forum.

One of the reasons I bought my SRT6 was that the only consistent b1tch was a measly cupholder!

 

A Miata should do the trick. Also consider a MazdaSpeed 3.

 

http://www.carsurvey.org/reviews/volkswagen/gti/2002/
http://www.carsurvey.org/reviews/volkswagen/gti/2001/

I wouldn't trust any reviews made in the last three years. Any new owner will give glowing reviews about their new car.

 

get a used saab 9'3 convertible! those are fun and kind of girly cars to drive.. should be around 15k i think.. friend has a 9'3 convertible aero and i absolutely love it

 

okay guys, but we're talking about a 'girl' here.

the scion tc.

every girl i know thinks these are cute. it's a toyota-derived car(celica i believe) very reliable, and her friends will like it

and that's really what it comes down to, isn't it?

it's the same reason my girl drives a lexus SC430, it's underpowered, overrated but it's SO 'PRETTY!!!' trust me, for the same price we all would have bought a used E55 or similar supercharged AMG!!!!

her friends will NOT 'oogle' a GTi. trust me.

 

Avoid a VW, avoid a VW, avoid a VW!!! These things are so bad that we are actually thinking about not financing them anymore at my bank. Our VW loans have a much higher rate of repossession for mechanical issues than any other brand. All we do is car loans and all of these cars have electrical issues. If she has to have one .... lease it!

 

Must be because of the ELECTRICAL GREMLINS they install in them in Mexico

 

What about a Porsche Boxster. Sporty, fun to drive, and they come with automatics (some). They're expensive to keep up though, unless she's willing to do some work herself.

 

If were talkin convertibles I think the best bang for your buck would be the MR2 Spyder. Its a four cylinder midengine sports car. Theres not to many on the road anymore so you would stand out. Just a thought