I'm not letting go of the Cressida, this is my final thought on that subject. This job has given excellent insight of how new cars drive these days and only a few have managed to grab my interest but I still feel the 22 year old Toyota is better. That leaves me with a problem, eventually it will get to the point where the Cressida will be very old and more difficult for it to maintain daily driving duties. Sharing this duty may end up for the better but my choices for cars is getting even more picky since.


Heres what's on my mind:


A Toyota MR2 particularly an AW11, 1984-1987


Pros: Mid-engined, RWD, very light, 4A-GE engine, unique styling, a car that's primarily designed to take corners, no Initial D/Fast and Furious inflation to its price, theres a supercharged version


Cons: I heard the ride is really stiff, another old car not that much older/younger than the Cressida, the mid-engine layout looks like a pain to work on, my parents won't get in the back, rear fenders susceptible to rust and are extremely expensive to repair.


Toyota Celica All-trac/GT-Four any version


Pros: Fast, powerful 3S-GTE engine, turbocharged, AWD, excellent handling considering they're made for the WRC, styling for Celicas for me is pretty good, no Initial D inflation...yet


Cons: Extremely rare and difficult to find, most be imported from US, parts likely to be extremely expensive


A MazdaSpeed 6


Pros: Newer than the Cressida, turbo, AWD, extremely fast for its cost, most powerful car in the family, I really like the base car, properly tuned to provide great track performance, properly mid-sized(not the NA definition being fat and long), a decent 5 seater


Cons: Special version of a car means $$$ to maintain, I'm not rich so even a $20,000 used one is a lot of money, I dislike the grille and would need to replace it with the regular current 6's grille to retain stock look, mixed views of Mazda's long term reliability


Current Subaru Legacy


Pros: Newer than the Cressida, AWD, modest performance, interesting engine, heard it drives pretty good, I like its understated looks, also properly mid-sized, a decent 5 seater, heard Subaru's are extremely reliable


Cons: Very expensive compared to equivalent cars, difficult to service since there isn't a Subaru that close, never driven a Subaru of any type(unlikely possibility I might not like it).


Summary:


I dumped the Toyota Corolla GT-S because of the Initial D inflation to its prices. The cheapest stock-ish one I've seen was going for $7000, a car that's at least 21 years old is just too expensive. It will only go back on if the prices on a good one goes for reasonably money. If you noticed I only selected RWD or AWD, I do not like FWD even in great cars like the Mazda 6. The elimination of FWD means almost all Hondas(bar S2000 and the NSX), all new Toyotas are out, the Hyundai Tiburon, most affordable VWs, along with several American cars. Money is an issue so it leaves out Lexus, BMW, Merc and Audi and anything really cool like an NSX. Reliability is a issue, Mitsubishi for some reason hasn't done well even though I like some of their cars and I'm not convinced of Nissan's quality particularly those from Mexico. No Supras either, I essentially have a Supra so it doesn't really change much if I get one, I want something different but good. I want something that handles properly, leaving out cars with live rear axles like the Mustang or massively heavy Chrysler RWD cars. That said the idea of saving another Cressida would appeal to me since they don't get as much love.