mozzaITA

Hi all, which would you buy?, im not wanting to spend more than 2.5k and you can pick up all for pretty much that but the st185 celica will be harder to find for that money.

any opinions welcomed i.e perfomance/reliabilty etc..

cheers

Moz

fliptron

GT4 without a doubt

papascooby

all excellent, honda's prob. the most reliable, i think you'd be very lucky to get a gt4 for that money and the 200sx is prob. the best value.

it's more a choice between RWD craziness or plenty of understeer in the wet.

I've not much experience of GT4's

gt4drew

the st185 gt4's are really underpowered

my mate bought one - and sold it on within 4 months

gt4drew

buy my st205 gt4 if ya want - thou 2.5k wont get ya far

jjones

200sx s14 if you can find a half decent one for the money.
(owned a jdm prelude vtec for 2 years)

allywrx

Have never owned a Celica (though driven a few) they are Ok, but as gt4drew said do feel underpowered but that is easily remidied with it being turbocharged.

My mum had a 2.2 vtec prelude, fantastic car with good handling (4 wheel steering) and an awesome engine that just kept revving . Downside, it's fwd and non turbocharged.

Recently bought a S14 200sx and find it great fun due to it being a turbocharged and rwd. Has the sr20det engine (though quite different to the GTI-R's I have found out) and the scope for power upgrades outweighs the Honda.

IMHO, I think you should buy a 200sx S14 (if you can find one for £2.5k) but all are great cars.

jonc

Depends on what you want from the cars. Practicality? Well they're all coupe. Reliability should be a problem with them being Japanese. Performance wise, they're about the same. The only thing they differ is driving experience. 200sx would give you loads of fun with oversteer antics, GT4 for 4WD security and grip, the Honda its FWD but probabably has the best build quality. I would go with the 200sx, has more tuning protential and has fun RWD handling.

Midmotorsteve

200sx or the gt4, forget the honda FWD nonsense

GT4 being underpowered isn't an issue for £17 fcd + £17 G-valve, 15psi and 260bhp is yours.

kammy

OR 200sx s13 that comes modified already, visit www.sxoc.com. They look the best too! But yeah, 200sx all the way. Driven/ been in all the cars you mentioned (but 5th gen lude) and the 200sx is a top motor.
Kam

Stiff

Contemplated all these before getting the WRX.
Prelude- as said, great build quality etc but fwd put me off.
200sx- nearly bought a lairy black Touring but heard too many tales of nightmare handling in the wet (and sometimes dry!) hence top drift cars.
GT4- never driven one so can't coment. Love the look of 'em though.
Really wouldn't like to choose, but if pushed would prolly go for the 200sx. Hmmm (or maybe the GT4)

kayeabl

I am a bit biased after owning 2 GT4-ST185 but with a few small modifications you get a lot of car for your money. The one to go for is the ST185-RC which is the Japanese version on the Carlos Sainz model. A decent import with 60-70,000 miles should cost around £3k.

Then add fuel cut defender, relief valve and have it derestricted and your away. Closest car for handling to the Impreza that i have driven. Standard GT4-Type A is underpowered and lot slower than uk standard impreza though! Imports also all come with all the toys, climate control, electric seats etc


cheers

Ash

mozzaITA

Thnaks for all the replys!.... Well i really think its bout time i own something other than FWD, so a s13 200sx or gt4. I would prefer the car not to be an import as my insurance company dont like them, lots of the 200 sx's arnt are imports whereas the gt4 could be more likely be an import (especially if it was a st205).

Im not that interested on emulating an imprezas performance i just want a quick fun car which will be reliable and put a smile on my face. The car is really a stop gap car as im not in a position yet to go and get an expensive jap car.

Ive never really liked the s14 on looks alone as it just looks like a barge to me (sorry folks) but are there major differences between the s13 and s14 i know the engine is the same one from the sunny gtir, is it alot quicker then the s13?

Which out of the gt4 and s13 would be worst a fuel consumption?

many thanks

Midmotorsteve

gt4s do drink, well my mr2 drinks and it doesn't drag as much drivetrain and weight about. Don't know about the 200sx.

on boost i'd say it can go as low as 10mpg, off boost 27mpg if i'm cruising at 80mph on motorway only occasional boost the mr2 will do 230 miles for its 35 litre tank. Same engine as the gt4.

sterns

I own a 200sx RS13, so I may be a little biased.

If your after grip n 4wd drive then its obviously going to be the GT4, but they are a little heavy.
Prelude, very nice, but not my thing, not overly on the styling.

200sx, nice cars, obviously, if you have enough get a S14 or S14a, but me personally, i dont like the shape, tho, it is growing on me.

The S13 shape I like, but its getting dificult to find a nice one.

Cheap as chips to pick up and tune.
Im running 240bhp and overall so far its cost me 2k for the car n power.

Handling wise, i love it, Get a facelift (92 on) as the have a LSD, go to a trackday, learn to drift, and you will never look back.

but as mentioned before, go to the owners club and have a chat, same with all the other cars, and choose yourself


Tony

Jap2Scrap

My ST185 (which I traded in for 3.5k, so I think a good one at 2.5k is optomistic) didn't drink fuel at all and in fact a 225 mile M-way run would return better economy than my gf's clio 1.4.. They're not THAT quick though the ST185, the ST205 gen 6 is far, far superior with about 1.5 secs shaved off the 0-60 time in standard trim.

HTH

allywrx

The engine in the S14 200sx is not the same as the GTI-R despite them both having sr20det engine codes. Sunny has different manifolds, head, turbo, block etc. A bit like coke and pepsi if you like
Think the main differences are S13 is a 1.8 and S14 is a 2.0.
S14 has a lsd, S13 doesn't (good for the old one wheel spinning donuts )
Best to go onto www.SXOC.co.uk for more info.
Learned a lot from those guys

BrettC

MozzaITA

I drove all three of your choices last year, just as test drives so cant comment on what any of them are like to actually live with though.

GT4 ST185: I had always likes how they looked but was very dissapointed with the performance, very underpowered like has been said before but also that has been said before easily remedied.

S14.: lunacy in the wet but a nice car.

prelude: motor racing purists probably wont agree but in the short test drive in the dry it was the one that made me smile the most (and thats whats its all about isnt it). The revs and noise and the turn in i thought were great. As was fuel economy. i should point out that it was a jap spec 4ws with non standard exhaust.
The honda was also the cheapest!
also (this is second hand info) but my friends who have hondas cant praise honda dealers and specialists enough!

mozzaITA

Hmmmm, im hearing u, but the s13 is sooo cheap, lots of performance per pound!!... only thing bout the prelude is arnt the cheaper ones mostly imports? (£1000-£2000)

Is there a huge difference between the prelude and gt4? by looking at the figures there doesnt seem to be.

Ive mostly owned N/A cars with the exception of a supercharged corrado, really tempted to get sumthing with a turbo!

will start looking next week.

BrettC

Sorry mate. yep the s13 is really cheap I was comparing with the s14.
That turbo boost is really addictive especially when you start increasing it!!

Good luck with your search.

jurgen

i used to own a 304 bhp 200sx s13 , and boy are they fun it was awesome