This is where I commence negotiations with the wife. This is the most complicated part of the whole thing ha. See the company pays for it, I can buy whatever I want. But her stipulation is that it doesn’t increase costs for us. We already pay for gas out of house budget but anything that gets less than 20mpg (what my old Lex gets) or needs premium fuel, or comes with summer tires presents a problem for me.
Neither do I:) live in the apt building and no usual house related shit to haul.
Just got for the heck of it and now I realize that there is no Off roads in New England to be found:(
Far from it. At least the Sport trim. I picked it over WRX, Si and GTI.
Well if you drive an S2000 you got some cred…
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Edmunds moderator says .00108 MF is “good for tiers 1-8” on the Civic Si so that means I wouldn’t pay more, I’d either get approved or not? I hope I would be at least tier 8 ha.
The Corolla hatchback is a manual vehicle that’s a pretty fun drive, not sure if you’ve seen or tested them out. The Tacomas are a great deal as well that come in manual transmission. Documentation for Mass is generally $350-500 so your guess of $499 on the high side works but you shouldn’t see anything higher. Toyota also gives you 2 years of free maintenance so would help with overall cost, you’d prob only be covering a couple oil changes in last year of lease.
It is tough to work without a clear idea of the credit situation. Yes you should absolutely be discussing any prep/doc/miscellaneous as some dealerships have a lot of extras and some don’t so you’ll want to bring those up to find out what’s involved. Let me know if I can help at all!
Yeah, snap oversteer is something that I’m intimately familiar with 
Unless you plan on auto x (need an LSD), the Accord is a really good handler. Interior and 2.0T sold me over the Si. Based on my expectations going into the test drives, the Accord was the only one that blew me away. All good cars though, you can’t go wrong!!
take a look at how an Illinois dealership treated someone’s personal vehicle to abuse the stick shift.
If you can get an STi for the $300/mo he is shooting for, I am on my way.
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As I mentioned I read the cliff notes. My attention span couldn’t get through that post.
Mid 4s is no problem 
That’s almost Two Tacoma’s at that price:)
How are you dealing with the heat soaking issues on the K20C? Did you go larger intercooler? Running higher weight oil? I didn’t think the transmission on the cars (even the Type R) were rated for 400+ lb ft of torque.
IMO those are internet gossip “issues” relegated to people tracking vehicles in extremely hot temps. The closest I come to a track is a highway on ramp
No clutch slipping as of yet. If it does I’ll just turn the boost down. Lots of people running this tune and I haven’t seen any reported issues.
I think it’s more than internet gossip. I’ve had a stage II tuned GTI and that thing had terrible heat soaking and pulled timing after a few highway pulls. Cooling is integral to driving. You’re right though, if you rarely except max RPMs or go near redline, it won’t be an issue… but then why tune?
I especially am cautious about the tunes because of the thermal issues with the K20C in the Type R when it first launched. I realize there are some serious differences in the Accord like different tuning and a smaller turbo, but still.
Either way, best of luck with the tun. What’s the suspension geometry like on the on pulls? Get a lot of wheel-hop or torque steer?
You owe yourself a peek at the new Mazda 3 stick.
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Primarily because it makes my kids giggle 
Suspension is really well set up but no LSD, so I have to be patient and get the steering wheel straight before I really get into the boost. Hondata VASTLY improved the traction control logic. That’s the biggest benefit IMO. In stock form the tires would easily hop like crazy on dry pavement in 1st or 2nd gear. Now even in the wet they won’t spin. Honda still uses the same TC logic as in our 2005 Odyssey apparently.
Forgot about this one. Mazda3 looks tasty, I’m looking forward to driving one.
Cost cutting at its finest.
Thought I would update this thread. I worked with @Bostoncarconcierge as recommended here. I looked at a lot of cars, drove a lot and thought about what was really important to me. In the end, the lure of a great deal came along and suddenly I am comparing a GTI to waaaay nicer cars…thanks a lot Mike lol! Turns out I can’t afford to lease/buy a $32k car, so I had to lease a $50k car. Made the budget and $50 left over to help with the big first year excise tax bill. Leasing is so weird. It was a tough choice, the limited availability of manuals just kills me. I thought I would never say in a million years but I love my Volvo, sport chassis FTW!
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