I currently drive a 04 civic, but I cant stand the fact that it's soooo slow. It probably has less than 160hp, and I get made fun of all the time by my friends who have a 99 Mustang, and 06 Jetta. So the cars I was lookin at are the Honda civic Si 197 hp @ 7,800 rpms / 139 torque 6,100 rpms Chevy cobalt SS (supercharged) 205 hp @ 5,600/ 200 lbs torque at 4,400
HONDA HONDA HONDA HONDA HONDA dude I am not old geezer, I used to be street racer back when I was stupid New Civic SI kicks ass, never forget quality of honda but if you want to a patriot, go for other one me personally, I pay my tax, I am patriotic in that way but when it comes to my ride, its honda well actually Acura, but its the same thing
You have to go with the Honda. Check out the most reliable cars from Consumer Reports. http://money.cnn.com/popups/2006/autos/reliable/index.html Chevy Cobalt was one of the least reliable small cars.
Or for the price of a nice civic SI or cobalt SS, you can buy a older model civic hatchback/eagle talon TSI and mod the fuck out of it. If you just want a nice new ride that can compete, the new SI and SS are decent, but just saying you have options. BTW, keep in mind with the SI you will need to rev up high to make power. With the SS it's more off the line.
There is an huge industry that just deals with high performance upgrades for small Japanese cars. Air filter, chip, manifold, exhaust mods that can turn your civic into a rice rocket. All for less than a new car if you properly research it. Catch this show next year to see the incredible range of possibilities. http://www.semashow.com/main/main.aspx?ID=/content/SEMASHOWcom/HomePage
New MazdaSpeed 3...............DONE! http://www.mazda3forums.com/index.php?topic=61562.0 Car mags are raving over this new hot hatch! http://www.mazdausa.com/MusaWeb/displayPage.action?pageParameter=upcomingMS3
I only have one word of advice: Camaro. Get a 92 Camaro, v6, 5 speed, take it to a speed shop and have the suspension upgraded to do 1G turns. The V6 is small and light and krammed right up against the firewall, all the weight in the car is at the center of the car, I can make lane changes by getting completely sideways at freeway speed and just crank the wheel a tad and I'm perfectly lined up in the next lane. I get 26 mpg too. I'm in Southern California where half the drivers are illegals that can't drive when they are sober and they are drunk on payday, and they get paid daily, and they certainly are not insured. If I crash my $3000 buck Camaro I can get another one, buy the wreck from the insurance company and retrieve the suspension parts, wheels, tires, spare motor, spare tranny, spare rear end and I'm good to go in no time. I'm 350,000 miles down the road with this plan and never regretted a minute of it. Front wheel drive sucks btw, you should figure that out at some point.