HELP :( im Really tempted to Buy a H

[ty@festf.org (Tyler P.)]

Here's my whole take on this silly thing.  First, in my opinion Volkswagens
have no more character than other cars unless you see a constant list of
repairs as "character".  Just because the young ricer group screws up their
cars doesn't mean that the whole Japanese industry is full of cars with no
character.  And don't even think of telling somebody like my old auto shop
teacher that his muscle cars and 8 motorcycles have no character compared to
your four banger vw.

Ok, so that argument aside, here's how I would look at this decision.  Yes
there are a lot of mods for hondas and as a scirocco owner I get mad when I
can't get something like an msd box to work on my car.  In fact if I could I
would really like to get the new 350Z because you know there will be tons of
mods for that car and its cousin, the acura coupe.  Plus its a cool car and
looks to be very fun!  However, even though there is a plethora of mods
available for cheap the problem is that the rest of the car is not cheap.
First, insurance is expensive.   Second, maintenance is really expensive and
you can't do a lot of the work yourself.  Let me be a little more detailed.
A new radiator for my car cost me $70, the waterpump was so cheap that I did
that for the heck of it at the same time.  A new alternator was free,
because VW owners have a cool community and even though you can't often get
free parts you can get them for cheap.  Putting another starter in my diesel
cost me $20, I got my body kit for about $70.  I can get a working engine
for my car for under $300.  The benefit of the A1 community is things are
cheap, do-it-yourself, and simple.  These cars aren't perfect but they are
fun and many upgrades, while hard to find, are made cheaper due to the doit
yourself nature.  Sure you can get cheap mods for Hondas but a lot need
specialists to install.  Heck, how much does a new radiator cost for a
honda?  $300?  I dunno but I bet its not the easy two bolt operation that my
radiator was.   All in all the only time I've had my car in a shop was to
get alignments, welding for the exhaust, and using exhaust analyzing
equipment.  I've spent under $1000 on my car in the shop and that figure
includes the parts.  With a honda you will probably have to take it in every
time so they can read your computer codes.  Thats just expensive and thats
why I would never get a honda.  Thats also why I'm not fond of any new cars
and would like to continue owning 80's era cars.  However, Asian cars in
particular seam to be the most complex and hardest to work on.  Just looking
at my coworker's Acura engine gives me the creeps but my mom's Bonneville
doesn't look nearly as bad comparatively.