Daily Driver Search – Part 2

I started my daily driver (DD) search about a year ahead of time. A smarter person would have had more common sense and not researched this subject to death. However, I am a glutton for punishment, which is probably why I am so drawn to martial arts and computers. If you don’t care for the nitty-gritty details, just skip to the TL;DR. Otherwise…

What Am I Looking For?

My preferences in no particular order…

Must Haves

• Sporty / Fun to drive – Nothing better than getting a car to just go when you put your foot on the gas. Definitely something I loathe about my current DD
• Reliable – Can’t drive it into the ground if it dies before me 🤣
• Manual – The modern-day security system 🚨
• Decent fuel economy – What would I consider decent? Anything averaging 30+ mpg.
• Comfortable seating – Sporty car seats have a tendency to be more firm, but easy enough on my legs/back for road trips.
• Within the budget – My max is $30k, but $25-26k is my goal
• Android Auto / Apple Carplay – Because my phone holder will sporadically drop my phone onto the car floor while driving in unknown territory 😬

Nice To Haves

• Leather seats 💺 – cause 🐕 have hair.
• New (vs used) – My preference would be used, but a slightly used car (1-2 years old) would be acceptable.
• Driver Assistance Tech – I’m a horrible long-distance driver and would hate for my demise to come from falling asleep at the wheel. Shannon can attest 🙌🏼
• Oil Filter on the top (instead of underneath) – I hate changing my oil. Would be nice to not have to unscrew an oil filter while upside down in a cramped space.
• Aftermarket support – In case I feel like tinkering 😉

What Are My Options?

This exercise was both fun and torturous. Items in Red were the deal breakers for me. Best viewed on something larger than your mobile phone unfortunately.

Car	Pros	Cons	Rank	Final Rank
Subaru BRZ / Toyota 86	Makes me reminisce about my Celica Top mounted oil filter 2nd most fun to drive on the back roads	Virtually no back seat Pretty low tech REALLY uncomfortable seats Just OK mpg	1	7
VW GTI (MK7.5)	Clean simple exterior Best interior of the group Always wanted a hatchback Ample passenger room For the most part reliable (see cons) Top mounted oil filter	Known carbon build up issues Small % have stalling + 💧 pump issues Expensive repairs outside of regular maintenance Base model is 💸💸💸. Top trim is like $6k above that 😬 It's a VW	2	2
Hyundai Veloster (Turbo R-Spec)	Least expensive of the bunch. Also a hatch Ton of tech Longest warranty of the options	Interior is just god awful Stick just feels really cheap Test drive was underwhelming Way smaller than expected	3	5
Ford Mustang (Ecoboost)	Just looking at it makes you feel more 💪 Even for a v4 engine, it has 300 🐴's Cause 'Murica	The least safest car to drive (feels like driving a 🚢 on wheels) Too much HP. Anything over 3rd gear is a waste Class action lawsuits due to 💩 Chinese built transmissions Lowest trim seats and infotainment are just bleh Higher trims are too 💸💸💸	4	4
Honda Civic SI	The most bang for the buck LED Headlights out of the box Honda sensing included Can continue to fulfill my Asian stereotypes Test drive exceeded my expectations 🙌 Really liked the clutch/stick feel	Can continue to fulfill my Asian stereotypes 😾 Most prominent rev hang of the options Potential oil dilution issue with the 1.5L engine. Has an HDMI port for an exhaust 🤣	5	1
Subaru WRX	IMO the best looking car of the bunch All wheel drive It's a Subaru Safest to drive Top mounted oil filter	Heavy clutch and steering Hard to shift smoothly The least fuel efficient of my choices OK reliability	6	3
Mazda Miata (MX-5)	The most fun to drive It's a convertible Old school engine (no turbo) Probably the most reliable of the bunch	Only a 2 seater Not a great car for winters Retractable hardtop is 💸💸 No Android Auto / Apple Carplay	7	6

Resources

After months of scouring on the web, the below were what I found to be the most useful (and also entertaining).

Youtube Channels

Savage Geese	High-quality car reviews. While most of his videos cover the standard stuff (interior, exterior, test drive), he also talks about the engineering of the car and what makes it (not) so special. Bonus if you like sarcastic humor. I give it 5-🌟s.
The Straight Pipes	Along the same lines as the SavageGeese channel based out of Canada. These guys push out content pretty frequently, are pretty light-hearted, and entertaining. I give them 4-🌟s
Humble Mechanic	Well known in the VW community. Master certified VW technician and has been fixing broken VWs for over 10 years. 4-🌟s
Redline Reviews	Decent car review channel. Doesn’t go too in-depth, but the guy is an automotive enthusiast and found his videos to be fairly informative. 3-🌟s

Subreddits

• /r/whatcarshouldibuy – Good place to start when trying to narrow down choices.
• /r/civicsi
• /r/golfgti
• /r/mustang
• /r/wrx
• /r/veloster
• /r/ft86

TL;DR

1. Did a lot of thinking on what qualities in a car I wanted as a daily driver.
2. Based on that I identified what my options were.
3. Started with 7 choices and narrowed them down to a Civic SI, VW GTI, and Subaru WRX