JRock

I'm trying to decide what to do in the next couple months with my car situation. My goal is to keep costs to a minimum but also determine the best long-term choice. The CLS is paid off so currently the monthly payment is $0. It has 49k miles on it.

If I keep my CLS I need to:

-redo the suspension (bottoming these Teins is getting to be a bit much) ($800-1000 there for Comptech springs and Koni yellows plus labor)
-get an extended warranty (~$1000 right there)
+still get to drive in comfort and decent sound system
+Total cost: ~$2000

If I trade it in towards an RSX-S:

+better gas mileage (once I get better driving stick haha)
+Could do it for a small loan of like $6k (diff b/w RSX-S invoice and value of CLS) which is like $250/month for 24 months or thereabouts.
+future performance upgrade paths
+no more trans worries
+fresh 4yr/50k warranty
-Have to drive stick every day
-Needs a sound system in it
-Loud exhaust and engine sounds compared to CLS
-04 RSX-S will be out in October and I couldn't wait that long to buy. (What if it has good changes to it and I miss out?)
-Total cost: ~$6000


Any thoughts? Any other ~$20k or less cars besides the RSX-S worth trading in a CLS towards? Looking for fuel economy, reliability (no domestics), and mod potential. Don't want something slow that I can't make faster later.

DISRUPTV

used gs300

CLpower

okay, i have a question, how are your teins bottoming? Is the bottom of the car bottoming or is it just hitting the bump stops?


i've been thinking RSX for the last month, don't know why though, they seem like fun cars

DISRUPTV

ghander, they have turbo kits for the rsx that helps it make 360hp (at the crank) anda shit load more torque.


can u say PSSSSSSHHHHHHHHTTTTTT, jRock?

vinnydahitman

how about a wrx

CLpower

they have all motor kits that hit 280 whp! can you say 10K rpm redline




and vinny hit another one I thought about, wrx baby

sidemarker

dosent make sense to go from a cl-s to an rsx-s

i doubt you have to spend that much for suspension when you have the TEINS to play with

maybe you could trade with someone with comptech/konis plus cash.

since the tranny already has an extended warranty you might want to keep the money and use it IF you need to fix something.

i think the cl-s will be a good car to have for at least another 2-3 years. 50k miles on a 01 aint bad at all.

even if you went with the rsx-s how long you plan on driving it anyways? 3-4 years? you could drag out your current cl-s right now and the trade in value for the cl-s will be better in 3-4 years then the rsx-s. so you could get more while you save up to get your new car instead of making payments on the new rsx-s.

sidemarker

JRock

That sounds like good advice, sidemarker.

As for why the Teins bottom, most likely because the springs are so soft they can't support the weight of the car. And because Maryland seems to be full of shitty roads. I slammed the shit out of the front ones today on an entrance ramp and I didn't even see anything wrong with the road.
So annoying. At least they're strong and durable.

Hopefully I can sell them to make up some of the cost of the Konis/CT springs. =\

Anyone looking for a set of Teins with less than 10k miles on them? If you don't live in MD you probably won't bottom them, lol.
And if you do, you can get the upgraded springs for like $250 from blxmjx. I will say one thing, the Teins ride sooo nice.

Anyway, so I was looking over the extended warranty (3yr/36k from the day I buy it) and while it looks like it covers just about everything, and has no deductible if i use it at that dealership ($100 elsewhere) it doesn't cover stuff like charging the A/C system, so really I dunno if I should bother.

What's likely to break in the J32A2 between 50k and 86k on the odometer?

The peace of mind of a warranty is nice but if it's a waste of $1000 maybe I won't bother. I just have to decide soon because after 50k on the odometer the cost of the warranty goes up. I have 1000 miles to decide.

Moog-Type-S

Mazda 6

LegendC

Keep it.....its still going to be a reliable whip for at least a couple more years...ditch it before you exceede your tranny warrantee. Keep the money you save by not having a car payment and save up for something nicer later down the road.

mattg

your roads must really suck. my teins are turned almost all the way down (-3") and i can only remember hitting the bump stops once or twice.



as for the decision, it's pretty personal imo.

dbox

word em up!

thats what i did. i kept my cls though. gs is so much nicer...

Aegean_Blue6

Keep it a while - the only real reasons to switch are the mileage and the transmission, the suspension can be changed with a swap of the teins and much less cash than getting into the RSX. Unless you're really worried about the tranny, I'd stick it out, enjoy your CL, and save up for something bigger and better than the RSX in a few years. The CL is a better and more practical car than the RSX in many many ways, enjoy it!

Nicky Pass

An RSX is a DOWNGRADE.....life is too short to down grade. Although....RSXs do seem like they'd be fun to customize!!!

synth19

I agree. Dont get the RSX, get something at least in the same class of the CL......or I would just get the ext. warrenty and the other mods you listed for the CL.....

JRock

Yeah I think I'm going to just keep the CL and change the suspension... AGAIN. This will be the 4th aftermarket suspension setup I'll put on my CL.


Btw Mattg - mine are only at like 1.5-2.0" drop at the most. Crazy huh?

JZ

Don't do an RSX. Plain and simply--they're ugly.

Just pick up some comptech springs from someone on the site and bite the bullet for the konis.

Or, why not pay the 250$ for the upgraded springs from blkmjx?

Rod

I say you go teat drive an RSX-S, Mazda 6, and any other cars you may be considering, if you haven't already done so, and then decide. If you really like one of the cars after driving it and picturing yourself with it for a couple years then consider trading, otherwise keep the CL until something better comes along. If anything, just upgrade the springs as JZ mentioned.

I couldn't really see myself making the payments on an RSX, I checked the car out and just didn't like it much for some reason. I'm also considering getting rid of the CL, mainly to lower my monthly payments, but to me it wasn't worth going to an RSX.

DISRUPTV

tsx?


that has alot of modding potential

KCPreki11

Where is everyone finding GS300's for less than 20K? High mileage? I know Dbox got a GS300, but he traded in a friggen S2K for it.

Keep the CLS.

darrinb

dont get the comptechs jrock, they dont drop it much unless u get the adjustable koni yellows

mattg

the yellows for our cars are all adjustable.

TypeSKid

Tru Tru, getting the RSX would be a mistake. I don't think you'd be happy with it long term, at least I wouldn't, but it's up to you. I couldn't imagine going from having plenty of room, and space, to a cramped little hatchback.
They're decently fun to drive, however the car you have is awesome. Plus, no payments. Why go back to having payments, and why do it for a hatchback w/200hp stock?

:P

And about the MD roads, they totally FUCKING blow. They still haven't fixed all the potholes from when it snowed this past winter.

hemants

Trading a used car for a new one is seldom an economically sound decision. The only reason to do that would be if you want the new car more.

Tiens on the highest setting are giving you problems??? In any case, I'm sure you could flat trade for Comptechs/Koni's so no cost there other than labour.

synth19

I'm not sure if I necessarily agree with this. What ppl dont realize is that when you trade in, you only get taxed on the difference. It saved me like 2g's (which I would have made if I sold the car privately). So as long as you get a GOOD trade in value for your car, then it's just as good as selling privately. For me, it was a matter of getting rid of the car fast.......and trading is sure quicker then selling privately.

TypeSKid

Yeah, but doesn't carmax give you blue book on the spot for used cars?

I don't know from personal experience, just know of a few people that have needed to get rid of a car quickly, and had good experiences with them.

JRock

I recently learned to drive stick and I like it but I'm not sure I'd want my only car to be stick just yet.

As far as just getting the upgraded springs well I don't want to spend the money getting and installing them and finding I still have the same problem (probably won't but it's an uncertainty) versus getting the konis/ctsprings and knowing I won't bottom anymore.

JZ's got the CTsprings/KoniYellow combo, IIRC, and he's never had any issues with them. Although he maybe never has ridden some of the roads I do. Who knows.

As for the size/luxury comparison of something like the RSX-S, well I don't really care about size as long as I fit, which I do, but I would definitely miss the luxury of the CL. But I'd gain a lot of performance potential.

Bluto

I think you'd need and SUV to survive on these roads. :o


I swerve all over the place avoiding crap. People probably think I'm drunk.

RSX is a nice car. I'd consider it. But, don't know if I would want to deal with the boy-racer stigma and attention. Lots of potential NA ->>>> hytech

hemants

"I'm not sure if I necessarily agree with this. What ppl dont realize is that when you trade in, you only get taxed on the difference."

What I meant to say was that changing cars after two years is a financially expensive strategy because you have paid the lion's share of depreciation and non-refundable taxes (road tax, tire tax, pdi, etc.).

For example, a 4yr old car may be 90% of the value of a 2 yr old car, but a 2yr old car will only be 80% of the value of a new car.

Bluto

road tax? tire tax?

LOL


Just 5% sales tax, once. Taxes differ state to state though.

JRock

Rt29 up towards where it hits 70 is so F'ed up right now. I had to drive that yesterday on my way to an interview.

Then getting on Rt100 over by Coca Cola Dr I bottomed HARD on a fucking ON RAMP. Wtf is that crap. The road even looked fine. Ugh. How am I supposed to get up to speed if there's going to be something I have to slow down for near the end of the on ramp?

And if I work over there I will have to use that ramp every day.

Time for a suspension change. Someone in an area with better roads would love the Teins. They're such a smooth ride.

synth19

I've had friends who got ridiculously LOWBALL offers from Carmax.... at least in chicago.....

Zapata

Jrock,
if i had to switch to something, right now it's probably be for an RSX-S or a WRX. Loud and not very comforatable but whatever... I say go for it.

vinnydahitman

ive driven both the rsx-s and i now have a wrx... the wrx is much sportier to drive without any mods... with mods it can get rediculous with reguard to handling and 1/4. just drive every car in a certain price range and go from there... i still say wrx!

CLASSYCLS

ok, well you have a big decision, I say keep the CL-S, spend the money for moddification, but you have to realize, you have ZERO (0) payments, and have a great car!! why risk losing the power, comfort, luxury feel for another vehicle, yeah the RSX is a nice car, but its just a night to day difference, in my opinion!! Damn your car is paid for, shit I have a good 4 1/2 years left, DAMN THAT SUCKS FOR ME!!...anyway good luck with your decision!!