EG with a K swap...find one and buy it.

 

the hatch will be cheaper on insurance, i know i used to own a 92 lude, there are nice and have a lot potential, mine was pretty quick, but get a decent hatch and just play with it thats what i would do

 

if you have your heart set on a hatch wait until you find a hatch you like. you wont be happier with any other car. trust me. i was looking for a clean gsr for a long time but settled on a POS civic and now i want to burn the damn thing.

 

my advice is:
get a stock auto eg hatch and drive it for a little while, learn its faults
then get your uncle to help you swap in a gsr engine/tranny and learn as much as you can in the process
slowly add suspension, cosmetic, paint, i/h/e, etc...
this would put you around $10k total, spread out over a year or two, and you would have a great little car at the end of and a whole lot of knowledge

go to some auto-x meets and meet some good people that you can bond with, stay away from street racing and stupid shit that most high school kids get involved with

enjoy owning a honda that will last forever, handle great, be decently quick, and looks pretty nice
just be safe and think through any decision you have

also thank your parents every day for such a gracious gift at such a young age

 

get the hatch

 

My grandfather always said "listen to what everyone else says and then do what you want to do." So despite all the suggestions made here....do whatever you want to do. Get whichever car you want! You wont be happy unless you do and if you get it and aren't happy with it you can't get mad at anyone but yourself. So get whatever you want!

 

i definately think that what u just wrote gave me my decision.
the thing is if i get the hatch they might not help me pay for the engine but im definately willing to save up i have 2000 saved of my own working money from working at subway for a year which was saved specifically for the engine.

the only thing that made me think about the prelude is ...even though i havent even drove a hatch...it seems like since its older there will be more problems...and with a newer lude it would seem safer but....i really love eg hatches.....

THANKS ALOT ON YOur guys's input!! helped alot!

the only thing that i didnt agree with was getting the hatch automatic....ive mostly driven manual. my moms car is manual and my dads is automatic.but im only at my dads on the weekend so i did most of my driving in my moms manual...
i definately dont want to go through the process if switching from auto- tomanual.

i dont know much about anything although ive been on this site for a few months now just havent registered...and learned alot more ... so i dont think id be able to do a swap or work on my own car.

 

id have to agree with civic2... get a eg with a k series motor and that'll be the best setup you can get and all within your price range... depending on where you are, here in cali, i've seen then for around 10000 on craigslist

 

i live in las vegas and i see tons of stock eg s rollin around but none for sale.
it sucks

i found mine in cali
maybe u should go take a trip down to cali theres so many stock eg's downt here..but u gotta do a lot of stuff with registration in different states and stuff.

 

just find a used 02-04 RSX Type-S....it already have a K20 which will beat any b series....i seen them for 11-12K