[Josh (PA)]

Originally Posted by Biggins

After buying my FR-S new in 2012 and enjoying it for the first 7 years of ownership, I began having little things pop up with the engine (ignition coils, fuel mix/delivery issues, burned up direct injector, etc) for the past couple years. Toyota mandated a recall that I had a local dealer do two years ago. I rarely drove the car for the past two years until this autocross season started, but the engine fully let go in rural WV last month. I love this car, but I'm done with it. I put 3,200 miles on the car since Toyota had the (Subaru) engine apart and at the dealer for over a month. I had my worries and was going to trade it for a 2017+ model year, but I waited too long. I'll join the class action suit because dozens/hundred other owners have had catastrophic engine failure like me. Toyota/dealer claimed the engine failure was due to hydro lock from overfilling the oil by at least 2 quarts... not sure how they came up with that. So, my car is awaiting a used engine at a trusted independent shop, though I was very tempted to swap in a Honda K24 engine.

https://jalopnik.com/scion-fr-s-and-...ast-1833220101

I have a second kid on the way any day, so I decided to look for something more comfortable with a back seat that can still be fun-ish to drive for ~2 years. With prices where they are, i will wait a few months or so for the market to calm down. My list is below, but I'm leaning more toward "sporty" comfort (and wanting to try a BMW again) than autocross performance... am i missing any cars in the $20-25k range? I'm not big on VW products. I would probably do lowering springs and new rims/tires on the less sportier options below. I want a manual but am considering good automatics ( ugh).

BMW 128i/328i coupes
BMW 228/M235i/428/435 coupes
Kia Stinger
Hyundai Veloster/Elantra N
Honda Civic Si/Accord 2.0T
Acura ILX/TLX
Mazda3 Turbo

I still absolutely love my 1 series. You can easily get a nice n55 car in your price range.l, which fits it better and would give you flexibility to add power if your use case changed. The 128 is really solid with the n52 engine, but lacks hp. In the convertible with the top down, the back seat is very useable considering the size of the car. Not sure how the coupe is.