Opinions on which I should buy?

[an0n33]

Hey. I'm kind of a newbie, 17 years old and looking for a first car.

Getting a starlet gt turbo for a first car would be a dream come true. I came across one that was heavily modified, had a subaru turbo, bigger and better front mounted intercooler, a honda radiator, swapped forged pistons and connecting rods along with a lot of other stuff such as an aftermarket clutch and suspension components.
The owner of this one offered to tune it to "tune" it to it's minimum for me as it is my first car and I won'tbe using the car's full potential. (This will be done by for example restricting boost to 0.40bar or something). I fell in love with the car and the guy is a long-time mechanic and his work looks VERY clean and he sounds a lot like he knows what he's doing.

I also found another one that is a 1000euros cheaper, completely stock, with more than 365000km on it. This would be the better option, however, I was also told by a lot of people that if I go with this option I will end up spending more on this one in the long run due to the need of for example the turbo going bad, suspension components going bad, etc.

What would you do?

 

[Jay]

First thoughts- check the insurance costs.

With the best intention, these aren't a very good first car. All sorts of carnage is possible. Worth finding out if you can insure a modified import before buying one.

In general, miles wouldn't scare me, as with most vintage cars its more about condition than anything else. If its been looked after it should be a good base.

Keep us posted on progress!

 

[SKINY]

3 words,
Insurance Insurance Insurance

And you would have to declare everything

 

[gv1.3]

You wont want to hear this...
Get a stock 1.3 starlet and learn how to drive in it and tinker with it. When the time is right upgrade it to a GT and it will all look and feel very familiar to you but will be a more powerful beast. You will be safer in it and will enjoy it and appreciate it all the more.

I wanted a Glanza for ages and ended up starting in a 1.1l pug 106 which I ended up sticking in the back of a golf a few days after I got on the road. It was the worst thing that ever happened to me at the time but it turned out to be the best lesson I ever learned. If I had gotten the Glanza as my first car I dread to think how that would have ended up. All that said though... if you went back in time and tried to have this conversation with me I knew everything and wouldnt have listened to logic and reason... hopefully you have more sense than I did

 

[an0n33]

Hey thanks for all your replies. I have decided to take the stock one for inspection to a local garage here that is very familiar with these types of cars.

I will keep posting updates as requested!

Thanks !

 

[RoyalDutchie]

I actually bought a Glanza as my first car. Although it was at age 20 instead of 17 and by the sound of it the insurance policy in your country is a lot more expensive.

My advice would be have at least 4-6k of spare money to spend in a year on these cars. They can be real money pits if they haven't been maintained and rusted sills is pretty much the standard with every starlet these days. Parts are also getting very hard to source, using it as a daily can be a challenge once things start breaking.