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Hi there. I’m interested in purchasing a used manual car as my first ever car. I’m turning 20 this year and I’m somewhat of a casual car enthusiast, but I have little to no firsthand experience with the internals of cars, except the occasional fluid change. I’ve driven around in 3 automatic cars of my parents, 2 that we own currently, but I’m interested in getting a manual myself to get to know the internals better and practice manual driving on. I’d prioritize handling and driving feel, then reliability. Won’t be driving a lot as of now, 20-30 km per week or less. Fuel economy isn’t too big of an issue as so long as it isn’t a gas guzzler. My ideal price range would be close to 3 million, stretching up to 5 mil only if it’s gonna be an extremely worthy and sensible purchase in the long run. Ideally safety should be key too, but can’t ask for everything at this price range. Right now I’m looking at some Honda civics (ek3/ es8) which are around the 3 mil price range, and also some eg8s which are somewhat cheaper. I’m interested in JDM/ Japanese cars in general as they seem to fit the reliability criterion pretty well, while some still can offer good handling. I had also viewed a bunch of converted Evolutions, STIs and also a B4 Legacy, most of which exceed the 5 mil mark or barely fit under it. As much as they’re probably better driver’s cars, I’m not entirely sure if it’s worth the premium for someone who’s just starting out, and I’m also unsure if I should be handling that much power in a car now itself. My parents will also probably be reluctant if it’s too powerful ig. So I just wanted to ask the people here on thoughts about the cars I mentioned above as a first car, or if you have any other recommendations. Any advice regarding this topic or in general about a first car purchase is appreciated. Sorry for the long post xD Edit: I saw some crash tests of ek3 and I’m trying to reconsider options, seems like only a Volvo would do for safety in cars in that era. Doubt they’ll be great handlers but safety looks like top priority to me now.

Thanks for reading my post. We got a Mitsubishi L200 Double Cab which runs with a 4D56 non turbo engine, and a manual transmission gearbox. The odometer says its done 500 000+ kms, but I think in reality its done a lot more, since we bought it second hand. It has been the workhorse of our family for years. The problem we experienced is when the reverse gear is engaged, and the clutch is released, the vehicle suddenly stops as if we press the break very hard. It does not stop the engine, but the vehicle abruptly seize to move as if we are pressing the break paddle hard. When I tried it myself what I felt is that something gets stuck in the gearbox, clogging up everything. I did not dare to fully release the clutch because I was afraid it might ruin the whole gearbox. The gear leaver position does not change, and pressing or pulling on the gear leaver had no effect. We replaced the clutch and pressure plate, and replaced the gear-oil about 3000km ago. We started to experience the problem last week and its been happening more and more often by the day. Does this mean that we'd have to go for a new gearbox? or is this repairable? Gee... that's one weird explanation of the problem. But I guess its as weird as the problem itself...