Mazdaspeed6 or Legacy GT.

 

cheap cheap?
Suzuki SX4..ive heard some pretty good things about them so far.

but other then that, a used evo or speed 4?

a used 3 series with the XI trim?
audi A4 2.0T Quattro

 

Go evo man those engines are bullet proof i had mine to 92,000 miles on her and they were hard miles and nothing went wrong on her till i crashed it that is

 

Alternatively, another good choice for you would be an R32 (the last gen with the manual tranny and sweet seats).

 

Love the MKIV r32s. EVO and STI seems to fit your bill nicely, I tend to prefer the STIs despite being a dsm guy (mostly because I'm skeptical if mits ever cured the crankwalk problem with the 4g63s), just love that boxer rumble and I like the package of the subie more. Can't go wrong with either though, long term durability is always sketchy from what I read, but when you got awd+torque can't really blame them.

 

subaru legacy spec b ??

 

The new base WRX now puts down 265hp and 244ft-lb...pretty healthy. And the MSRP is $24,995. Of course that is no options.

http://www.edmunds.com/new/2009/subaru/imp...9319/specs.html

 

/end of discussion

 

Most of the suggestions seem to be in the boy-racer ballpark. He didn't mention high-performance in his list of requirements so I think an A4, 3 series Xi, or Subaru Legacy might be a better fit for him.

Still reasonably fun quick cars, without the ricer looks and crap interior of WRX/STi/Evo.

I'd also consider how much you will need the AWD, full time vs part time. This will narrow your options down for you.

 

Thanks everyone for your input. my current list for potential test drives in order of what i think i'll like:

-used mazdaspeed6
-used 3series xi
-new wrx
-used evo
-used sti

won't pull the trigger for awhile yet most likely though.

....and seriously... what the hell is up with evo/wrx/sti owners thinking mods add 2k-10k to their car's value..?