- Ow.
Woot.
The used car market right now,
wild, to say the least.
Like, even that is an understatement.
I mean, try to find a 350Z right now
that's like under 10K with a clean title. (fart sound)
It's just not gonna happen.
Trust me, I tried.
With some of our favorite cars
going for more than ever before,
it may seem that all hope is lost
for the next few years to be able to scoop up
another fun car.
But that might not be this.
So, even though pretty much everything
has been affected by this crazy surge
in used vehicle prices, some weren't hit nearly as bad.
And honestly, it might just be
because some people just straight up forgot about them.
And when everyone had some extra cash in their pockets
with all the stimmy checks the last couple of years or so,
these cars got left behind.
So good news, we were able to find
and put together a list of some of the cars
that are not only fun to drive and own,
but also won't break the bank,
on today's episode of Strapped For Cash.
(upbeat techno music)
Some of these cars on the list, I will admit,
do come from a personal experience
from owning them in the past.
And even though, they may not be the most
sought after cars of their type,
or maybe not the highest trim level that they could be,
they're still an absolute blast to drive.
The first car on the list falls right into this category,
which is the E36 generation of the 325i.
Rear wheel drive, straight six manual,
with just a little under 190 horsepower,
makes these things an incredible ton of fun
for not a lot of cash.
I'll be honest, when I picked mine up
for 230,000 miles for 900 bucks,
expectations were pretty low, but god damn,
was that the best winner beater that I ever had.
Might've had a pop the clutch like 80% of the time,
when I went to start it, but whatever.
I really did love that car,
even though $900 E36's are pretty much
impossible to come by today.
At least an operational ship.
You can still snag a pretty decent deal on the
E36 325i right now.
Now, if you wanted to go a step further,
and maybe find a 328i, you can also do that,
a little more power, but they seem to be going
for a little more money, as well.
Either way the E36 platform is a solid go-to
when looking to get into
an inexpensive rear wheel drive car.
The car is pretty much well-balanced.
And the suspension is quite a bit of an upgrade,
especially when you look at
the previous generations before it.
And not to mention, they can look damn good
with a nice set of wheels, and dropping ride height.
Maybe throw a little bit of arrow on it and call it a day.
I don't know, they really don't need that much.
I might be a sucker for like,
boxy Euro cars of the nineties, but so be it.
If you shop around enough right now,
you'll should be able to pull one of these
in anywhere between 5 and $7,000.
It may seem, if you want anything boosted
right now, that you're going to be offering up
some sort of internal organ to pay for it.
Unless you're looking for a mk4 GTI.
Now, I would have definitely expected
these things to like, skyrocket a lot more than they did.
Don't get me wrong, they were definitely affected
by all these crazy prices,
but not as bad as I thought they were going to.
Seems like everyone went for like something newer,
like newer than 2010, for some reason.
Either way, the mk4 GTI has been a pretty respected car
that has been around since the early 2000s,
The 1.8T, as troublesome as it may be,
still makes these cars incredibly fun to drive.
(cars revving)
I mean, the cars themselves are small.
And when it sounds like a tractor
with a jet engine strapped to it,
it's bound to put a smile on your face.
(car revving)
On the other hand, if you're not about the boost life,
you want a little more displacement,
maybe a little bit more reliability.
You can always get these bad boys
with a good old VR six, instead.
Now, like I mentioned before, these aren't really known
to be the most reliable cars in the world.
And these things get passed around more
than like a UV Blue bottle at a high school party.
Honestly, you might find some mk4 GTIs there as well.
Just make sure you know what you're getting into.
Don't just go buy one of these sight unseen.
That's how you have a bad time.
And that's how you go broke like really, really quick.
But, as of right now,
these guys are going anywhere between five and eight K,
depending on mileage and condition,
and of course, what engine is it.
To feed our liability and maintenance and
importance of past vehicle ownership,
where you get to the third car on the list,
which is one of my favorites.
Of course, the good old apex and coolant sealed,
blowin' RX-8, itself.
Why would I open it up with that statement?
I don't know, because if I didn't,
the comment section would just roast me anyway.
Jokes aside, the RX-8 is an incredibly
fun and underrated car.
You get the high revs,
and fun sounds of a rotary without dropping like,
20 to 50 K on like a FC or FD RX-7 right now.
Do you want to talk about cars that skyrocketed?
It was those two mothers right there.
Now it may not be the fastest car in the world.
It definitely isn't the most reliable thing
out there, right out of the gate.
But the driving experience is absolutely incredible.
Getting the revving out to 9,000 RPM
and everything just feels smooth.
Everything's smooth, no vibrations,
no rattles, just pure rotary goodness.
The suspension setups on these things,
absolutely incredible.
Getting you quite the connection with the road,
being able to rip through the corners really nice.
The only downside is the fact that it is,
unlike any other engine platform,
and requires you to care for it
unlike any other engine platform.
There are things that you can do
to prolong the life of the engine.
And a lot of people have reported some
pretty good luck with a lot of that
preventive maintenance and modifications
to get the longest life out of them as possible.
Would recommend getting a manual version,
since they are a little more powerful than the automatics.
As the manuals came with the six port version
of the Renesis, and the automatics only
came with a four port.
Also the S2 generation seems to be
one that a lot of people go for,
versus the S1, which can also impact price a bit.
But, typically you're looking
anywhere between five and nine K,
which is what you're going to be expecting
for a Mazda RX-8 right now.
And if you get one, let me know,
and we can go like cruising the mountains together,
the valleys together and make the countryside
smell like burning oil, it would be a great time.
The Euro cars, by far, have taken like,
ownership of this list, I'll just get that out right away.
We get it in car number four,
which is the first generation of the bubbly Audi TT.
The only all-wheel drive car on the list.
Now, I'm not going to lie.
These things didn't really age
the greatest over the last 20 years or so,
but they can still be incredibly fun.
And it's pretty quick, honestly.
(car revving)
And you know, they can make them
look pretty good too.
Riley, who works here, used to have one.
I think he did a really good job with it.
You know, that car looked really good.
Anyway, the first gen TT sports, of course,
the 1.18T engine, pumping all that 180 horsepower.
The thing is really like, just around her,
all-wheel drive GTI.
I mean, it's even got a hatchback.
I really think it does come down to like,
the stock looks of these things
that really kept the price down,
and had a lot of people looking at other options
over the last few years.
But to be honest,
they can be a pretty great buy,
and definitely something you don't see everyday anymore.
For around seven to nine K you can
scoop one of these up for yourself,
and have something with a little fun,
and a little different, to rip around in.
Now the last car on the list, honestly,
took me a bit to find, and I really didn't know
what I was going to put on this list.
And really came down to a couple of different options.
But I remember that this one car
really is kind of what got me into cars in the first place.
My cousin owned one, and I thought, man, you know,
this seems kind of really cool,
whenever we'd go for a ride somewhere,
I always really enjoyed it.
And the last car in the list today,
is going to be the Acura RSX.
Now, these cars have a lot of good things going for them.
Their reliability and aftermarket support of a Honda car,
as well as the appearance, and to be honest,
a pretty dope interior.
A lot of people appraise cars like the FD RX-7,
and the mk4 Supra for having like,
a driver focused interior.
And some of those attributes can
kinda be found in the RSX as well, not a ton,
but some subtle amounts.
Powered by 200 horsepower vtec K20a series engine,
the type S of the RSX is notably the most sought after.
I think these cars age pretty decent,
as I still absolutely love the looks of them today.
And paired with a six speed manual.
it also makes it really enjoyable enthusiast car to drive.
I will own one of these, at some point in my life.
I can promise you that.
I don't know why, but I just want to.
And maybe I should act soon because, you know,
even though these cars are floating around
at seven to eight K price range right now,
doesn't mean that they're not
gonna go up in the near future.
So let us know what car you're gonna snag
on Listless before, you know,
they go skyrocketing in price.
Or if there's something that we missed,
make sure to let us know down in the comments below.
But if you do pick something up,
make sure you go snag some wheels, tires, or suspension,
over on Fitmentindustries.com for it.
Get that thing looking nice and good.
And then make sure to like tag us on Instagram,
and add it to the gallery,
and all that sort of good stuff.
But I'm Jess from Fitment Industries,
thank you guys so much for watching.
Don't forget to subscribe.
We'll see you in the next one. Peace.
(mellow electronic music)