I'm 99% sure... Options

[JBone]

That I'll will no longer be an owner of a DSM (even though i can't believe that car could be considered one). I am either trading in the beast or selling it on ebay and I am debating which car I should get. I have narrowed it down to a ~99-01 cavalier (or sunfire), Focus ZX3, or (Gasp) a Civic. Tell me which of these you think would do fo me.

P.S. Don't think this is easy for me. I consider any of these cars I get as me settling instead of getting a turbo'd DSM

[akamiami]

I agree with Dan 100% on this. If you buy a 'new' car it's going to depreciate the second you drive it off the lot. At least with a used car you're getting what you paid for.

If you want guaranteed reliability go get a hyundai with a 100K/10year warranty and forget about ever going fast or looking good. Period. DSM's look like they have terrible problems becuase nearly everyone that gets on these forums (particularly marcus, dan, and nate) is incredibly brutal on their cars and knows how to turn wrenches so accept breaking stuff as a fact and publicly gripe about their problems as a way of venting.

If you can avoid the mod bug, (and that's a huge 'if') these are excellent cars to own in terms of reliability, price, and performance.

It's going to take money to maintain any car well, so add up the cost of higher insurance, payments, and the price of knowing that some dealership just owned you and if you're okay with that price, then congratulations, you've just decided to drive a turd.

Since you're probably already dead-set on buying a new car at this point though, I'd say to pick up the focus. If I got paid to drive a cheap, boxy, 'new' car I'd settle for that first.