Need some opinions... Thinking about a DSM.

[Ice]

Ok. Well I'll be honest with you guys. I'm new. And I've got some questions... I've been reading around here lately, and have some knowledge. But not very much. Anyway, here it goes.

I found a 1997 GSX, 114,000 miles. 5 spd. They want $6990. It's a car dealer, so you could prolly get it for around $6000 or something(?). Anyway, does this sound like a good deal. Or is 114,000 miles to much to bother looking at it.. I don't want to have to drop a new engine in it for a little bit. It will be my first car. And my first car will need to last atleast 4 years. Maybe longer. (I do expect, that within those four years, I may have to drop a new engine in. But I should last atleast 2 before I need to consider it).

I have a '96 civic, with minor mods done to it. To compare performance with. Personally, I think the civic moves pretty fast. Fast enough, for 31mpg that it gets... How does a GSX compare with this? I know mpg will be lower, but some of you owners. Is the performance with the worse MPG?

How much are you guys paying insurence wise?

I have also found a 98 GST. Unknown miles. $7500.

GST vs. GSX. I know AWD would be nice in the snow, but I don't expect to be driving in much snow... I know AWD could have come in handy a few times over a FWD. But besides that, any other great thing of the GSX over the GST. Or is GST a little better then GSX?

Last, would a RS be better then say a civic? If I had an RS, no turbo would be going on it...

My friend should be getting a 'tegra. And know people with a civic, crx, 3000GT, and a couple others. I'd like to keep up/be able to beat a couple of them. (Mostly the tegra and civic. 3000GT would be nice to beat too... But I can wish)

Anyone's input? Price ranges for DSM's would be nice. I don't have much to go on...

 

[bluelightning92]

There are some facts to those questions and alot of opinons you have to ask yourself also.

first off, a 97 with 114,000 isn't really bad mileage, but its nowhere near low either. This doesn't go for just eclipses, but any car. IF the car has been taken care of, regular oil changes, all service done, not beat to hell, the car should be in good condition. Since i haven't seen the car, you have to find those things out. I would rather have a car with 150,000 that has been taken care of, rather than one with 50,000 that has been beat to hell with no service done.

In comparison to your civic...

haha that makes me laugh... in comparison performance wise let me tell you that the eclipse will make you shit your pants if you think your civic is fast... expecially being a gsx because of traction controll. I know that the mpg is lower, im guessing around 25-28 (guess) but in return the performance is well worth the gas.

Insurance wise, it will be ALOT higher since your going turbo and awd. But thats where opinion comes in. Do you want to pay more for a faster car, or go slow and be cheap.

I constantly hear people battling over awd vs gst. I think the general consensus is that gst will beat a gsx from a roll, but takeoff gsx is faster. Either way, there isnt really that much speed difference, besides the power loss through the awd, which is greater (more moving parts) But overall they are very close. In the end that is another opinion you have to choose for yourself.

The RS is decent in speed. ( for being NON turbo)

I had an 92 talon AUTO n/t and my buddy had a 95 civic 5 SPEED and i still beat him. So if you get a manual i bet your rs can take civics and slow integras. 3000 might need a turbo to beat. But like i said, do you wanna turbo with speed or do looks make a bigger difference. You can find a 97-98 non turbo for the price of a 95-96 turbo. personally i would go turbo, and about 90% of most people say that on this site because it makes your car so much better in speed.

When its all said and done, its all about how much money you want to spend. If you want speed, go with gsx. If your just for looks, a n/t will be cheaper on insurance and will still have decent speed.

Thats about all i can think of for now

Andrew

 

[deusxmachina]

It can be difficult to compare insurance prices between states. Just call every insurance company in the phone book and see what they say. If you're on the young side, some places might not even insure you with a GST or GSX. A GSX was 15 out of 16 or something on the insurance scale years back when I bought my first one.

A couple hundred bucks in mods will have the GST or GSX beating 5.0 Mustangs and older Camaros and Corvettes and things. Civics and Integras and the like will seem like toys unless they have some decent mods on them. If that 3000GT isn't the twin-turbo version, then that won't be any contest, either. There's a reason why the typical "fast" Honda or Integra is made fun of so much on DSM sites. It's because their owners often think their 15-second cars are actually fast.

Check edmunds.com for pricing.