I have a conundrum (did i spell that right)?

[Final Warrior]

Hey as you can tell by my post count i am new here and was wondering if anyone could help me. A friend of my dad's says she would like to swap cars plus give me $1000.


My car: 1997 CE lancer coupe 1.5 SOCH 12v, bodykit, exhaust, pod filter, cool colour,112,572 (close to that)
Damage: Front bumper has a small crack and a few stone chips.

Her car: 1996 Astina Hardtop 1.8 DOHC 16v, stock everything, plus $1000, love heart exhaust tip (OMG who has that) not sure about the k's but lets say around 150-180,000
Damage: Missing front headlight.

so what do you think? should i swap? is it worth it?

[HotCarl]

Astina? I believe we call them the 323 here. That's a lot of KM though. But if I recall they were pretty tough little cars.

I hate to say it, but I don't think either car is worth all that much, so it's a matter of what you want. If you think the Astina could be a fun car to tool around on, plus its got a little more potential then your Lancer, then I would do it. I would have it checked over by a mechanic first to see if anything major needs to be done, if so, how much and if it's over a 1000 bucks, I'd think about asking for a bit more.

Good luck though

PS. I have no idea how to spell conundrum??

[brent_strong]

I'd probably take the money and the trade, but I change cars way way to often.

[Mindcore]

Ya, I'd do the trade too. You could have more fun in the mazda.

[Krank]

Definatly make the trade.. those old 323's are a riot to drive, peppy, amazing steering, light weight. You could do a lot to it with that extra 1k

[Final Warrior]

what could i do with the extra $1000

[Lenny]

Hmmm I think the first thing I would do ( after a tune up ) is get it breathing a little better. open up the air box. Then I'd probably work on the susepension. It's never going to be a rocket, but you could get that thing handling like a dream.

That would be first on the list I think

[Final Warrior]

are the96 hardtops quick at all compared to say my lancer, or a 2000 commodore/falcon V6 of ocurse? dont the astinas already handle very well? that is all i keep hearing about them is their superb handling, what other mods could be done? i already have the pod system, i have a spare pod and bits in my garage.

[Joopy]

Am I the only one confused by the car names? Where are you from FW?

[Lewis]

I'd say that it's a little faster then your Lancer, and yes they handle great as they are. I would think though that at that age and mileage that the shocks and springs are going to be warn. Getting yourself a cheap coilover set would make a huge differance.

Other mods? what do you want to use the car for? anything you can do to make it lighter will pay off on the speed side of things, but could you live with it stripped down a little. Free mods btw.

I'd get some chasis braces if available to tighted the car up a bit. Obvious things like intake and exhaust. You might even be able to source out a hotter set of cams, but I'm getting past my element on that.

hope that helps

[Lenny]

I'd say for sure it's faster then your lancer, and the engine has more potential as well.

Like Lewis says, take some weight off it and it will make a big differance.

You got any pics of the two cars?

[Final Warrior]

it is a stcok 96 Hardtop Astina i will put a pic of my Lancer in my avatar later, what kind of things could i add to make the astina faster?

[Lenny]

Depends on how much you want to put into it.. CAI for sure, new cams will help, but expensive. New throttle bodies would get you a few ponies.

[Joopy]

Someone post a pic, I'm lost as to what these things are

[Lenny]

You FW.. what did you end up doing?

[Final Warrior]

ended up keeping the lancer, going to do that up instead.

[Harpoon]

Ahh too bad best of luck with it!