I am a novice to all things automobile and hope to learn enough so as to make an informed decision when purchasing a car later. I was advised to look into either a Mitsubishi Eclipse or Honda Civic, and also heard that the Eclipse can be modified a bit more easily.

Also, if I were to purchase one, it will be my first car, so with any luck the jargon will be learned quickly and I will not make any 'newbie mistakes'.

As for an introduction...I'm stuck studying electrical engineering in the middle of nowhere hoping that I'll be able to move out of this dump and move somewhere civilized, hopefully applying it toward making solar cells from bioplastic. Besides that, I study quantum physics, Ancient Greek, Chinese, and soon Russian. As for music, I listen to both classical (mostly Baroque and Classical eras) as well as metal, especially the older Metallica, Iron Maiden, Megadeth, or even the newer European metal e.g. Ensiferum, Norther.

 

Welcome and good luck w/ your car search.

 

Hey and welcome to the forum! Kind of a handful of classes you have haha, but good luck with your studies and hopefully you'll pick the better vehicle

 

Is there sort of a 'how-to' guide for buying a used car in general, or better yet how to get a decent buy on an Eclipse without any trouble, and how to modify the exterior?

 

Welcome to the forums.

 

Welcome. When looking into buying a car there is obviously numorous things that you should take into account.

- What is your price rance?
- What styling do you like (which year car)
- What is your goal with the car? (power, or daily driver)

If all your looking for is a daily driver then there are alot more cars than just an eclipse and civic that you can look at that will be reliable. But its all preference. Then once you decide what type of car you want to look at, you have to learn the things about that specific car to check prior to buying.