Trying to answer way to many questions in one post so sorry for the long post here.
Fadi : For some reason katie does not like my idea of getting this instead
http://washingtondc.craigslist.org/car/58002365.html
so I guess I have to get something newer. I am still in the decision making process here and I could change my mind like a woman before I finish anything here.
Ohhh and have you looked at this car for yourself as a daily driver?
http://washingtondc.craigslist.org/car/57724460.html
Mazda3 test drive - clutch I did not like it felt to soft to me. I am not used to a real hard clutch I just dont get much feel on the mazda3 clutch. Steering felt a little strange to me. I dont like the dash layout and am not a fan of red for lighting on the dash. I dislike the stereo layout because I would want to replace it with aftermarket and it is a real pain to do anything to that so I might have to pay the extra $300 to just get the stock mp3 player for the car. The good is that it "should" get the best mileage but for some reason in the recent motortrend test the focus ST got better mileage.
Any car I got would need a few well chosen mods but most liekly not much more than my contour. I am not into bodykits or any of the looks stuff I think if the car does not look decent stock then dont get it. I am not a big fan of the looks of the stock protege. I am also not a big fan of the stock handling from the P5 (from what I can remember of stock) and I know I do not like the way it rides now. I don't think I would end up modding a daily driver much more than I ended up modding the contour when I had that (short shifter, replaced HU, drop in filter, cheap winter wheels, Exhaust)
RSX is a little pricy from what I saw. New is way out used is a possibility I might need to go test drive one sometime. I am not tossing anything out because it is a hatch I just dont know as much about hatchs because all my prior cars (parents ford taurus wagon #1, parents ford taurus wagon #2, parents mercury mystique, ford contour #1, and ford contour #2) were sedans or wagons so those are all I know about.
"opportunity" mods is one reason against any type of protege because katie is always on here and I am sure she will tell me about this great deal on X that would make the car so much better and before you know it I would be putting all the money I dont need to be putting into it into it.
I am still not sure on the premium fuel issue. All my other cars have run regular gas so I need to actually sit down and look at how much more premium gas costs. I dont like the premium for premium gas but it might be a nessicary evil because of the cars I am looking at.
Spec-V - I prefer an indpendent rear supension instead of a semi-indpendent beam like on the Spec-V I also do not like the safty ratings on the sentra that I have seen.
http://www.intellichoice.com/reports/vehicleReport/vehicle_nmb/16183/section/safety/type/new
My last ******* ford lasted 142,000 hard driving miles and one accident that totaled it as well so excuse me if I dont share your opinion of ford products.
They may need to be modded to get there but I dont know that I need to be there for what I need the car for. I dont see your SRT-4 being the equal of any of the cars listed in the handeling department from what I have read.
