I think I\'m well qualified to post in this thread because I\'ve been car shopping for about a year and a half. There are so many suggestions I could give, but I don\'t have time to write a book on the subject, so I\'ll just post a few points. Email or PM me if you want more.
Why are you against the Miata? Based on your criteria, I think this should be your No. 1 choice. It\'s more like a REAL sports car than any of the other vehicles you could buy on your budget. It\'s FR, a proven design, excellent handling, good power/weight ratio, and if you by a 1999 or newer, it will be very nice looking. The newer ones without the popup headlights really look awesome I think. The biggest downside is that there are so many of them on the road. Your car won\'t be unique, but it will provide TONS of driving enjoyment.
To be realistic, you need to maximize the value you get out of this $2,500 downpayment. The best way to do that is to buy a used vehicle. If I were you, I\'d look for a 1999 or 2000 Miata. You should be able to find one from a private seller for $12,000 - $15,000, maybe less, I don\'t know what the market is like in your city. Just do some searching on
http://www.autotrader.com and then compare the prices from private sellers ONLY to the blue book value on
http://www.kbb.com Get ready to bargain.
You better count on taking more than one day to buy your car. I guarantee that if you try to do it in one day, you will get screwed. You will definitely get screwed if you try to buy from a dealer in one day. They will smell the urgency on you, and they\'ll be looking for every opportunity to bend you over. I wouldn\'t recommend buying from a dealer anyway. I think you need to plan on about 2 weeks of shopping, and borrow someone else\'s car, or just us public transportation.
I think it\'s pointless to depend on insurance quotes from the Internet. The insurance industry is so full of shiat, you\'re going to find HUGE variations in rates between different companies for no reason whatsoever. You might use the online quotes as a means of comparison between vehicles, but they will probably be much higher than you need to pay. $2,800 per year for a Del Sol is outrageous, even for a 19 year old driver. Did you shop around for that? Admittedly Hondas are prone to theft, but even so that is unbelievable. You should plan on cutting $1,000 or more off that, and call 20 or more insurance companies until you find it. There are some cars like the ITR or Supra that cannot be insured that cheaply, but for any common, high production model, I think it\'s quite possible.
