Looking for a manual car because real men use three pedals!

[NeverLucky88]

Hi all, i have a similar question as OP as well. Can't create a new topic as i'm new to this forum, apologies. Thinking of buying my first car, budget around 30-40k and looking for manual cars preferably. With these 2 criteria in mind, i have shortlisted 2 cars - 2009 Honda Civic 1.8M and Subaru Impreza/STI (more out of budget).

1. For my first car, should i go for one with renewable COE (so that i can still sell next time) or just try try for 2-3 years and then scrape?

2. Any other manual cars available you guys would recommend? Quite hard to find manual cars nowadays...

Any help would be much appreciated, cheers!

[Volvobrick]

Almost no more manual cars nowadays. For first car and considering your budget, I would go for 7, 8 year old with guaranteed PARF and lower depreciation, as you may likely going to have knocks here and there. If anything too expensive to repair, you can always scrap it to get back the rebates. 

Civic, STi at the age you mentioned most likely have been thrashed by multiple beng owners.  Maybe multiple accidents and repairs before too. 

 

Edited July 3, 2021 by Volvobrick

[Mkl22]

  On 7/3/2021 at 7:48 AM, NeverLucky88 said:

Hi all, i have a similar question as OP as well. Can't create a new topic as i'm new to this forum, apologies. Thinking of buying my first car, budget around 30-40k and looking for manual cars preferably. With these 2 criteria in mind, i have shortlisted 2 cars - 2009 Honda Civic 1.8M and Subaru Impreza/STI (more out of budget).

1. For my first car, should i go for one with renewable COE (so that i can still sell next time) or just try try for 2-3 years and then scrape?

2. Any other manual cars available you guys would recommend? Quite hard to find manual cars nowadays...

Any help would be much appreciated, cheers!

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Only 1. Swift sport. 

[Ct3833]

  On 7/3/2021 at 7:48 AM, NeverLucky88 said:

Hi all, i have a similar question as OP as well. Can't create a new topic as i'm new to this forum, apologies. Thinking of buying my first car, budget around 30-40k and looking for manual cars preferably. With these 2 criteria in mind, i have shortlisted 2 cars - 2009 Honda Civic 1.8M and Subaru Impreza/STI (more out of budget).

1. For my first car, should i go for one with renewable COE (so that i can still sell next time) or just try try for 2-3 years and then scrape?

2. Any other manual cars available you guys would recommend? Quite hard to find manual cars nowadays...

Any help would be much appreciated, cheers!

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Please help give some suggestions, comments on the following to TS.😀

https://m.sgcarmart.com/used_cars/info.php?ID=1007692

[Confusedboi]

  On 7/3/2021 at 7:48 AM, NeverLucky88 said:

Hi all, i have a similar question as OP as well. Can't create a new topic as i'm new to this forum, apologies. Thinking of buying my first car, budget around 30-40k and looking for manual cars preferably. With these 2 criteria in mind, i have shortlisted 2 cars - 2009 Honda Civic 1.8M and Subaru Impreza/STI (more out of budget).

1. For my first car, should i go for one with renewable COE (so that i can still sell next time) or just try try for 2-3 years and then scrape?

2. Any other manual cars available you guys would recommend? Quite hard to find manual cars nowadays...

Any help would be much appreciated, cheers!

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Which subaru you are looking for, normal subaru impreza or subaru impreza WRX or subaru impreza STI ?

WRX/STI have higher running costs especially petrol consumption due to their turbos which give their engines much power and potentially higher insurance costs as well.

Civic 1.8M will have plenty of spare parts at this point since there are still many 8th gen civics around comparted to same year imprezas.

But the youngest of this generation of civic is up to 2011 meaning all the civics will be COE cars which no more parf already.

As a current COE civic owner myself, I will recommend the civic 1.8M if you can find one that is still in good condition and not heavily modified😆

I searched civic 1.8M and out of the few results that came out, this one looks the "least" modified and better condition but can only drive less than 2 years. For the auto versions there are much more choices in the market to look for provided you can give up driving manual.😅

https://www.sgcarmart.com/used_cars/info.php?ID=1009213&DL=1045  

Edited July 3, 2021 by Confusedboi

[NeverLucky88]

  On 7/3/2021 at 11:21 AM, Confusedboi said:

 

Which subaru you are looking for, normal subaru impreza or subaru impreza WRX or subaru impreza STI ?

WRX/STI have higher running costs especially petrol consumption due to their turbos which give their engines much power and potentially higher insurance costs as well.

Civic 1.8M will have plenty of spare parts at this point since there are still many 8th gen civics around comparted to same year imprezas.

But the youngest of this generation of civic is up to 2011 meaning all the civics will be COE cars which no more parf already.

As a current COE civic owner myself, I will recommend the civic 1.8M if you can find one that is still in good condition and not heavily modified😆

I searched civic 1.8M and out of the few results that came out, this one looks the "least" modified and better condition but can only drive less than 2 years. For the auto versions there are much more choices in the market to look for provided you can give up driving manual.😅

https://www.sgcarmart.com/used_cars/info.php?ID=1009213&DL=1045  

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I'm looking more towards the normal impreza due to a lower price point but really don't like the looks of it as compared to the civic 1.8M. Would you recommend getting a COE civic 1.8M personally? Even though there's no renewable value. Personally, i don't mind the modifications, i'm more worried about condition of the car. Understand that the civic community is quite big and has a somewhat bad reputation for being an "ah beng" car, just hope that the car isn't used and abused.

[Confusedboi]

  On 7/3/2021 at 11:44 AM, NeverLucky88 said:

I'm looking more towards the normal impreza due to a lower price point but really don't like the looks of it as compared to the civic 1.8M. Would you recommend getting a COE civic 1.8M personally? Even though there's no renewable value. Personally, i don't mind the modifications, i'm more worried about condition of the car. Understand that the civic community is quite big and has a somewhat bad reputation for being an "ah beng" car, just hope that the car isn't used and abused.

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Well I would recommend getting Civic 1.8M provided you can live with the following-

your fuel consumption is not going to be great, manual versions should be averaging 10km a litre of petrol roughly depending on your right foot.

Your road tax will be higher each year due to penalty of owning older cars 🤬, Annual Road Tax Surcharge of 10% for more than 10 year old cars,20% for more than 11 year old cars, 30% for more than 12 year cars, up to 50% surcharge for more than 14 year car, meaning once car is 14years + onwards, road tax surcharge of 50% each year until end of car COE.

Finding spare parts wont be a problem since there are still many civics of this era running around on the road.

As for finding good condition one is really heng suay, your best bet is to try and find 1 owner car only or maximum of 2 car owner and then send the car for inspection at places like AAS ( Automobile association Singapore). Costs about 150 SGD but their report is quite detailed and can point out many potential red flags before you proceed to finalize buying the  car.

That being said the civic 1.8 engine is rather rev happy  ( 140 bhp) with century sprint about 10 sec which is why many pple tend to whack the car especially so when using manual variant. For its day back around 2006-2011 when launched it was the class leader for japanese compact sedans without turbo charging.

 

 

[Mkl22]

I would rather a k20 2.0 civic manual. Else I would be asking myself why didn’t I get the next model up. IMHO pTax and consumption would be negligible. 

[Hamburger]

CL7 Euro R manual. Top of my list. 

[Confusedboi]

  On 7/3/2021 at 12:54 PM, Mkl22 said:

I would rather a k20 2.0 civic manual. Else I would be asking myself why didn’t I get the next model up. IMHO pTax and consumption would be negligible. 

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lol  true but not easy for TS to find 2.0 civic manual non type R within his budget of about 40k. most off the 2.0M are Type R's which cost much more, very few 2.0 K20z manual versions.

 

Maybe TS could consider this type R below, looks promising and within budget also. ( CRAZY depreciation though)

 

https://www.sgcarmart.com/used_cars/info.php?ID=1004091&DL=3337 

Edited July 3, 2021 by Confusedboi

[NeverLucky88]

  On 7/3/2021 at 12:54 PM, Mkl22 said:

I would rather a k20 2.0 civic manual. Else I would be asking myself why didn’t I get the next model up. IMHO pTax and consumption would be negligible. 

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Yup i would prefer that too but after searching the market i realised that it's a pretty rare model, there are actually more Type Rs out in the market than FD2s. Their price points are actually quite similar so i think people didn't mind to top up a little more to get the Type R. I would get a FD2 too but it's just v hard to find one that is not a Type R and within my budget. Cheers!

[NeverLucky88]

  On 7/3/2021 at 12:59 PM, Hamburger said:

CL7 Euro R manual. Top of my list. 

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Agreed, another solid car from Honda but perhaps quite off my budget too hahaha. I guess beggars really can't be choosers hahaha.

[Ct3833]

  On 7/4/2021 at 4:57 AM, NeverLucky88 said:

Agreed, another solid car from Honda but perhaps quite off my budget too hahaha. I guess beggars really can't be choosers hahaha.

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You are not alone, everyone also wants a car that is off their budget. Just buy what is financially  comfortable  to you and enjoy the convenience of having   a car.

[Aventa]

  On 7/3/2021 at 7:48 AM, NeverLucky88 said:

Hi all, i have a similar question as OP as well. Can't create a new topic as i'm new to this forum, apologies. Thinking of buying my first car, budget around 30-40k and looking for manual cars preferably. With these 2 criteria in mind, i have shortlisted 2 cars - 2009 Honda Civic 1.8M and Subaru Impreza/STI (more out of budget).

1. For my first car, should i go for one with renewable COE (so that i can still sell next time) or just try try for 2-3 years and then scrape?

2. Any other manual cars available you guys would recommend? Quite hard to find manual cars nowadays...

Any help would be much appreciated, cheers!

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I've never owned or driven it before but you can consider Mitsubishi Colt 1.5M too.

[SiLangKia]

  On 7/4/2021 at 4:51 AM, NeverLucky88 said:

Yup i would prefer that too but after searching the market i realised that it's a pretty rare model, there are actually more Type Rs out in the market than FD2s. Their price points are actually quite similar so i think people didn't mind to top up a little more to get the Type R. I would get a FD2 too but it's just v hard to find one that is not a Type R and within my budget. Cheers!

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You must also factor in the fact that FD2R , compared to a regular FD, is quite hardcore, very unforgiving factory suspension (most owners swap for coilovers), less sound insulation (iirc), more a raw driver's car, so for day to day usage you must be able to accept. I've owned a FD1 1.8 and driven a friend's FD2R quite a few times, really quite different.

So please test to see if you and your family can accept it as a daily

[NeverLucky88]

  On 7/4/2021 at 5:06 AM, Ct3833 said:

You are not alone, everyone also wants a car that is off their budget. Just buy what is financially  comfortable  to you and enjoy the convenience of having   a car.

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Yup will do, cheers!

[NeverLucky88]

  On 7/4/2021 at 10:03 AM, Aventa said:

I've never owned or driven it before but you can consider Mitsubishi Colt 1.5M too.

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Thanks for the suggestion!

[NeverLucky88]

  On 7/4/2021 at 10:09 AM, SiLangKia said:

You must also factor in the fact that FD2R , compared to a regular FD, is quite hardcore, very unforgiving factory suspension (most owners swap for coilovers), less sound insulation (iirc), more a raw driver's car, so for day to day usage you must be able to accept. I've owned a FD1 1.8 and driven a friend's FD2R quite a few times, really quite different.

So please test to see if you and your family can accept it as a daily

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Don't think i'll ever consider the FD2R given my budget but yes, i've heard of it's track-focused aspects. Thanks for the heads up though, cheers!