New car with substantial future

so ive been looking into finding some more cars and have been asking around and it seems that the eclipse, 3000gt, and the civic are one of the prime choices for a beginner. but the thing is that i dont want a civic. i feel they are too played out. the problem i have with the 3000gt and the eclipse is that ive got to keep the car for atleast 6-8 yrs(wont be able to afford another one until i get out of college). then, i just dont think it will be that easy to sell it off. basically, selling a tuned eclipse and 3000gt is going to be challenge considering i dont see that many on the street and the crappy reviews people gave it.(not that i think its bad, its just a bad market for it).

so i am thinking that i should get a car with a long life and tunability and that even in maybe a decade, i wont have that much of a problem selling it. With that in mind, i figure that im probably gonna need a car thats harder for a beginner, but that would be fine considering ive got a lot of time to tune it. im thinking 350z cause ive got a friend who tuned (headers,cold air intake,catback exhaust,...not excruciatingly hard stuff) and he said that he could help me out.

any other cars you guys got in mind with any easy mods a 16 yr old can do with about 2 grand would help out. (ive got 10g for car and my parents said that they can help out a bit with money)

Thanks  

Along with the 350z, the Evolution and WRX have much better resale than the eclipse or 3kgt (though the evolution is pricey). An S2000 will also be very good, but I have no idea how cheap you can find them these days.  
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1994 GTO Twin Turbo
nothin wrong with front-wheel drive, I just refuse to own one

the evo is definitely too expensive to buy for me right now. the wrx is a maybe, i dont really like the style and since im not gonna be doing that many aesthetic modding, i want it to look good to start with.
how is the hyundai tiburon gt for my needs? i searched online and found one. its a 2003 model with about 70,000 miles and the guy is selling it for about $9,000. He had already put in a modded cold air intake and a Typhoon K&N filter. is that a good price for the amount of stuff he installed? and would it be a good tuner car to last me a decent amount of time? and will i be able to resell without too much of a hassle?  

Not sure if that's a good price, the intake and filter are inexpensive mods either way. However, I haven't heard anything good about this car, at least not the 4 banger. The v-6 isn't bad, but it's still a lot of money for a front wheel drive.  
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1994 GTO Twin Turbo
nothin wrong with front-wheel drive, I just refuse to own one

Yeah, i dont see that many hyundai's around so i guess thats why. how about the rx8? i saw one on vehix around where i live for about 9 grand. and it has around 60,000 miles? is that a good buy? its completely stock.  

scratch the rx8. i read some reviews about its crappy gas mileage and engine problems around 50,000 miles.
maybe an rsx or a toyota celica?  

Id say avoid the NA FWD's if your trying at all to go fast. The onlycelica worth tuning is the 87-93 Celica Alltrac.  

For that price range I wonder why people say WRX's or EVO's?! If you find one for that price most likely it's salvage and could cost you your life in case of an accident...

There are plenty of old-school badass cars from the mid and early nineties. Like an MR2, 300ZX, RX-7's or if you can't find either those a Sentra SE-R would do the trick really nice. Not as good as the Toyota or the Sentra's bigger brother, but it's fun. And if you find a turbocharged version of the Toyota, Mazda or the Z then more power to you, but those things are laggy so you'll have to find a newer technology turbo or make due with what you got. Either way with all vehicles with enough suspension tuning you could take out plenty of cars in the track whose drivers are all about power and have an OEM shock stuck up their ass.

Remember this: Those who control the car at the Apex control the race. (Cheesy I know.) But if you're into 1/4 mile get a Camaro or a 5.Slow and be like all the other wife-beating "All engine" knuckle heads.  

well im not actually gonna be getting the car until next year cause ive gotta turn 17 and all.(plus i dont think i can afford another distraction from school work) but driving wise, i find myself to be decent(not great, not bad) because my dad even told me that im better than he expected and that is a big compliment considering he is one of the safest(i.e. slowest) drivers i'll ever meet.
the only problem im hitting right now is that alot of these sport cars are 2 seaters like the 350z and the rx7. plus the insurance will shoot up so fast that i wouldnt be able to afford it. the wrx and the evo are super expensive so yeah, thats not gonna happen anytime soon.

so yeah, back to the old 3000gt and the eclipse. leaning towards the 3000gt. i figure that in 8 yrs ill be able to afford another car and then i can just hand this one to my little brother, who will be 17 then. (lucky for him)
are there any major problems i should know about this vehicle? and any mods that can be done to it?  

The thing you might need to know is, is the 3000GT the base or the VR-4? Because those things are heavy really heavy. The VR-4 is the heaviest because of the All Wheel Drive it has, but it has two turbos to make up for it. On the other hand if its the base you have a really heavy FWD car so you have to think over things like that. One the Eclipse would most likely beat you if it were the V6 version since its lighter than the 3000GT and two parts for the 3000GT are quite expensive. 1,300 for a Cat-back...(ouch) Don't get me wrong the 3000GT is a gorgeous car. It kinda looks like a Ferrari P40, but its not very sporty since, its heavy and it FWD, and if you find the VR-4 it's gonna be really expensive for its age and those turbos are also kinda laggy and small and you can't launch off the line with the pop of the clutch like a regular car since the car will bounce off the line like a broken matress because of the AWD...

Have you tried looking into a late 90's GTI or Jetta VR6/1.8T? My friend bought a Jetta 1.8T for $3,500. Four door, so it can have a low insurance rate, sporty since the turbocharged engine and a well sorted out after market support. Not saying throw the Mitsu's out of the question, just saying look at the playing field. It's not only the Japanese out there.  

Yea the Jettas are nice realy smooth ride....also have you looked into any Acuras Integra etc?  Those are fairly cheap mods and acuras seem to have a pretty decent resale value on the streets  

The VR4 is definitely nice, but as mentioned, very expensive. My full exhaust cost me $1,100. On the bright side, it's fast as stock. But finding one in good condition is rare, much easier finding a 2g eclipse gsx in good condition. Either way I expect both to cost more money than others if you plan to keep it for 8+ years.

For me that's easy to dump money into my VR4, because I don't ever plan to get rid of it.  
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1994 GTO Twin Turbo
nothin wrong with front-wheel drive, I just refuse to own one

allright, let me get my thoughts organized. So what im looking for is a car that would last me quite a bit of yrs, cheap to maintain, stylish(not gonna do that many aesthetic mods, but must have 4 seats), and have quite a bit of tuning market.
So from what i gathered from reading the first car sticky and other peoples comments are that i should look for something light, forced induction, RWD, and manual shift(let me know if i left anything out).

So according to these standards, i shouldnt get a 350z(2 seater, super high insurance), nor rx8(crappy gas mileage, rotary engine requires loads of money to maintain).

The cars that are possibilities are: 3000gt, eclipse, integra, and jetta(maybe, looks sorta clunky to me).

3000gt: weakness: heavy, fwd, expensive to maintain
       strengths: stylish, fast as stock, has good possibility

eclipse: weakness: fwd, not as fast as 3000gt, not as sporty
        strengths: good beginner car, good possibility, fast?

i dont really know much about the integra and jetta except that the jetta looks a bit awkward and the dude that lives around the block with the cool integra is a d-o-u-c-h-e-b-a-g and a real f-a-g-g-o-t to anybody tht checks out his car.


If i missed anything and haha u guys can help me work out the jetta/integra section it would be great.  

oh and how do u guys find out if a car is fwd or rwd, or naturally aspirated or force inducted? like what site do u use to find that info?  

for cars that i'm not familiar with, i just google for "car name" specs. Also, the 3000gt/stealth and eclipse/talon are available in front wheel and awd.

3000gt base and SL are FWD
3000gt VR4 is awd twin turbo (stealth RT TT)

Eclipse GS/RS is FWD
Eclipse GST is FWD turbo (talon tsi)
Eclipse GSX is AWD turbo (talon tsi awd)

If you can't find a VR4 version of the 3kgt, i wouldn't bother. They are for the most part overweight FWD (but they look amazing). The second gen eclipse look great and are fast, provided they are turbo (GST or GSX).  
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1994 GTO Twin Turbo
nothin wrong with front-wheel drive, I just refuse to own one