In our last Showdown, the FJ80 crawled all over the mega-overpriced Wagoneer, but I’ll readily admit it wasn’t much of a fair matchup. Oh well. In today’s showdown, we’re taking a look a trio of  cars that a less ridiculous version of myself would be using for my 24,000 mile per year day-job commute. All three are well beyond the typical low-end heaps we talk about, but still represent pretty good deals by newer car standards. They’re right at the optimal value point, lightly used with low miles, meaning you’re basically buying a new car’s worth of life without the new car premium. We’ve got representatives from Detroit, Gothenburg and Tokyo vying for high mileage duty.

After a decade of being idolized in Sport Compact and other import-centric magazines, the current generation Civic Si doesn’t quite carry the aura of awesomeness it once did. In a way, that’s tragic because it’s still a pretty dang good car. It’s got just shy of 200hp, clean-shifting 6 speed and a chassis sold by the gazillions. That makes for cheap parts and service, which is nice from an overall cost of ownership perspective. On the downside, that makes it a prime candidate for theft, as any Top 10 Most Stolen list will attest. The second downside being a little unwanted attention from those likely to use “bro”, “tight” and “sick” in describing your “ride”. This ’08’s got a handsome coat of black paint and 27k miles on the clock, with an asking price of $18,988.

Personally, I’ve always liked the Volvo C30. Unfortunately, they’re sort of The Forgotten Volvo. In my mind, they’re a great Mini alternative, offering 227 hp and a spiffy hatch to boot (err…in place of a boot). The turbo 5 has plenty of tuning room left. The interior’s from the peak of Volvo’s Uncaring Black Plastic phase, but it’s nicely laid out. This one’s got 29k on the clock and comes with a roof rack and is offered by a private seller, meaning no time in the “back room” at the dealership turning down upholstery protectors or extended warranties. You can also list the sale price as “$500” for sales tax purposes. This one’s more than the Civic by a whopping $17. $18995 on AutoTrader.

The impetus for all of this was this thread in yesterday’s Hooniverse Asks, wherein the merits of the Cobalt SS were debated. Not a particularly great car by any measure, the Cobalt SS is a great example of GM’s ability to build dang-good fun cheap car when they want to. With a 260hp turbocharged ecotec, Recaro seats and special chassis-tuning, it’ll run circles around our other two competitors. The downside being all that fun’s encased in a Cobalt, meaning most people will see the body kit and wing and assume you made liberal use of your Pep Boys employee discount after scoring a sweet deal at the Enterprise fleet vehicle sell-off. This one’s going through a broker asking $18,995 with a claimed (or missing a digit) 1,807 miles on it.

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