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Posted by: untamed May 3 2016, 12:47 AM

Howdy! I, a few hours ago, just bought myself a 2002 GT. I'm stoked.

I just recently got my licence and I've learned to drive on and have been commuting with a $900 (CAD) beater '97 Ford Escort. Generally runs well and has been maintained okay by previous owners but still 281k km on it.

On Saturday something gave on it. Obd says it was a misfiring cylinder, and later a stuck intake solenoid. I'm not much of a mechanic so I fiddled a bit and just decided was time toto get something new that I wouldn't need to worry about stranding me halfway to work one morning.

I'm not rich, was looking for a car in the 5-7k (CAD) range to last me for a few years solidly. I was mostly eyeing up the Dodge Calibre, as they come in stick, are practical, and I really like the way they look. I actually at one point clearly stated to my partner that 'I don't want something ugly like an Elantra' remembering some crappy rental we had that looked and felt cheap.

Anyhow, we find a Calibre on Autotrader located not too far away and in my price range and we book it out there before they closed. Calibre was a bust. It was okay shape but the basic of the basic. No a/c, which I wanted for certain after last summer in my beater.

Turns out there were a lot of affordable manual cars on the lot. After looking and weighing some ooptions we spot a pair of Elantras: a 2004 sedan, and the 2002 GT hatchback. The sedan was priced more and had more km (199k) than the '02 (174k).

I took the '02 for a spin and fell in love immediately. Such a beautiful smooth ride, and buttery steering, lovely clutch, and smooth shifting. Brakes were bit spongy, but minor complaint. I was ready to walk out with it. Luckily for me there was no insurance issuer that late, so I booked it for Monday (today) to go back and purchase.

I spent the time inbetween rigorously looking up info on the car. That led me to here, and a few other places. I learned about the recall issue for the rusty control arm, as well as a good handful of other helpful tidbits. Made myself a nice checklist to go over when I saw the car again.

Now today I'm eager as all shit to get there. I decided I would test drive the 2004 Sedan so I could compare the brakes, as I couldn't determine anything solid online (air in lines? master cylinder?). Well the Sedan was terrible, creaky, poor handling, and not really smooth. Brakes only slightly better, so I suppose that it just how they are (to some extent).

Back to the GT... Another drive... Wow. Unfortunately no sunroof/lesther seats, BUT what was drawing me was how well this thing had been taken care of. A FAT stack of receipts with maintenance, including a few thing completely overhauled just over a year ago, like steering column, and some other stuff (my head is full, details escaping me), not to mention a decent 2009 Pioneer touch screen DVD player.

I checked under the car and the control arms are solid and seem to be the new ones with the drainholes. Minor rust elsewhere, and a rustly painted corner or two.

Ticked all my boxes, drove away for $2000 CAD. What a bloody bargain. Rear mirror came off when I adjusted roughly, but honestly if I need to put a a little effort or a couple thousand dollars into this car over the next couple years for brakes, whatever, I'm not going to balk at it.

So, that was waaaaaayyy longer than expected, but I'm honestly just very excited. Hasn't really sunk in yet! Oh, and the blue dash lights with red arms look great.

Pic:
https://imgur.com/zGGg29o


Cheers