Help me to choose a car. My budget is 200T-150T

**jeffcristobal** · January 29th, 2012 10:40 PM

Guys help me naman kung what car to buy sa budget ko na 200T-150T.

Im just a student so im looking for fuel efficiency and madali i-maintain na car.

Ngayon choices ko are:

Honda Civic ESI
Lancer MX or GLX - 00mdl
Honda Civic VTI

I accept suggestions.

)

**GTi** · January 29th, 2012 11:58 PM

Stay away from that generation of Lancer's dahil maraming reports of suspension kalampag yan. Honda Civic ESi is a good car pero napakaluma na... Baka mahirapan ka magmaintain ng maayos especially since baguhin ka palang and also because it has rust issues. Honda Civic VTi naman, makakakuha ka pero yung pre facelift lang na 1997 and below which looks quite ugly for me, although of course you can opt to facelift that sometime in the future. Pero dapat alagaan ng maayos yung kaha since this one also has rust issues (though much lesser heard of as compared to the ESi).

So among your choices, the Civic VTi is the best. But you may want to also consider the City VTi which will also fit your budget. You can get a much newer car as compared to the Civic VTi and its more fuel efficient, more economical to maintain and is almost as fast, if not just as fast, as the Civic VTi.
Here are some examples though some of them may require some haggling or you may have to add a bit (by a bit I mean less than 50k):
Honda City Type Z AT - 00 - Cars for sale NCR - AyosDito.ph
Honda City MT - 01 - Cars for sale NCR - AyosDito.ph
Honda City MT - 02 - Cars for sale NCR - AyosDito.ph
Honda City VTi MT - 02 - Cars for sale NCR - AyosDito.ph

**jut703** · January 30th, 2012 02:29 AM

Aside from late 90's Honda City LXis (only this variant is within 150-200k), you can also take a look at the Ford Lynx LSi. It's more spacious, with a similarly frugal engine, but the important part is that you can get a fresher car (2002-2005 model) for the same amount of money. Parts for this Lynx aren't that expensive, and are just about the same as similar Japanese sedans.

**Verbl Kint** · January 30th, 2012 06:50 AM

Originally Posted by jut703

Aside from late 90's Honda City LXis (only this variant is within 150-200k), you can also take a look at the Ford Lynx LSi. It's more spacious, with a similarly frugal engine, but the important part is that you can get a fresher car (2002-2005 model) for the same amount of money. Parts for this Lynx aren't that expensive, and are just about the same as similar Japanese sedans.

With a 200k budget going all-in, I would get a car from the 2000's instead of the 1990's.

With 150k budget and 50k set aside for maintenance and repairs, I would strongly consider an old Honda City or Nissan Sentra.

**GTi** · January 30th, 2012 06:08 PM

The City Type-Z VTi is a wolf in sheep's clothing. Imagine a 115hp car with a body weight of less than 1000kgs. That would mean a power to weight ratio higher than that of the current City! And then it has a 5 speed manual pa which the current City does not have. Which means the car is exceptionally fuel efficient and yet can still give dragster performance should you want it to do so. :devil: Having 4 wheel disc brakes is also a plus for safety as compared to the Civic VTi which still uses the old disc/drum setup.

You may want to consider the Lynx if you want a flashier/newer looking, more luxurious and more spacious car. However, the 1.6L gets pretty bad gas mileage for an engine of its size and the 1.3L, though giving adequate power, is nowhere as fast and/or as fuel efficient as the City.

Then there is the Nissan Exalta. Aside from the City, this is the newest car you can get for your budget. And unlike the rather bare City, this one's kitted to the roof having the full host of safety equipment, leather seats and even power moonroof for some models although this may also be a cause for many headaches in the future. The older B14 based Exalta (the one within your budget) uses the well known and respected, tried and tested GA16DE engine which means it has pretty satisfactory (though nothing exceptional) performance and, if bought with the manual, good gas mileage as well. The handling is not good though, as it has been especially tuned with comfort in mind.