Wrong.

Faster=/=More fun

Are you guys delusional? FWD is EASY to drive and handle at the limits. That’s why all cheap econobox and learner cars given to teenagers are mostly shitty FWD cars. RWD takes more skill and experience.

I appreciate this, but I can’t help but say that I tire of outright speed comparisons. Front-wheel drive can be fun just as much as it can be quick with big enough tires and power.

I’m an owner of a Sportwagen and love it. The one Tom posted is way way overpriced because it’s a diesel. You can find a new Sportwagen for about $18000-20000, AWD (either wagon or Alltrack) for $19-21000. Try to find one with the Drivers Assistance Package.

So she rules out 75% of the vehicles that may be much better for her, because of the irrational 1980's thinking that Japanese vehicles are somehow more reliable to this day.  

Which is funny because 10 years ago it was the most Jalop answer.

I secretly want a Dodge Magnum.

Please. You’re all wrong. Here’s what you do, buddy:

Not for a single 20 something.

Just get a Subaru Outback, put a 2" lift and off road tires, and take it on a trip to Moab

Except she said reliable?

420 is perfect. It’s just enough to stir the pot. Plenty to turn you tires into a puff a smoke and to land you in the weeds. Enough to get you real messed up, but you would stillbe able to put your foot down without bonging into a wall. If you show up at cars and coffee with 420, you might be the envy of the joint.…

What is this, amateur hour? How can you pretend to speak as an professionalism automotive writer, proudly present “the perfect horsepower” and not once link it to the perfect weight of the vehicle it is propelling? A broad range of weights is hardly acceptable. Colin Chapman needs to rise from the grave, trundle down…

Yeah, the FI late-80's to mid-90's Thunderbirds were my first automotive love but EL-OH-EL ten large.

Thou shalt count to three hundred. No more. No less. Three hundred shalt be the number thou shalt count, and the number of the counting shall be three hundred. Four hundred shalt thou not count, nor either count thou two hundred, excepting that thou then proceed to three hundred. Five hundred is right out. Once the…

I don’t know I always liked the 200-225 horsepower range for cars under 3,000 pounds. Makes a pretty fun drive without killing yourself. Easy to handle, yet still gets out of the way of other traffic. You won’t win any races, but the car will probably be efficient/low maintenance enough to be a daily driver and have…

You unfortunately are undercutting the most important factors that are missing:
Torque and Weight.

Now 300 HP on a miata is frankly too much. 250 is ideal. 300 HP is also too little for a full size F350. You need more like 400.

I think 400 is good on the large midsize/full size category like the Chevrolet SS and the BMW…

All of them.

I love this generation Thunderbird, especially one with a manual transmission. That being said, I don’t think the market is ready for a almost-$10K Aerobird, even though this one seems to be in really nice condition.