Is this

I have no idea, bro. I liv in UK. With their current price range (300-600 pounds on average) the shipping cost would be higher than the car itself.

should I get a Micra with 66k miles for 550 squid or a bugeyed Prelude with 100k miles for 1000 squid?

i totally wish they had em here cause those things looks fucking great.

Hard to say without first seeing or driving the cars in question. But I would go for Micra as it is bound to have far less misuse than Prelude which always might have been driven by some young punk without any grace to the engine or suspension.

The best little car I have driven, the later models are shit though, too much influence from Renault, its basically a clio.

Reliability wise, mostly only coil packs go wrong on the engine and the front of the chassis that holds the radiators in behind the bumper is very prone to rust.

The F1000/J1000 regulations call for them to be pretty much stock (minus safety equipment) and they're awesome little competitive machines

Pre-facelift is cuter anyway

It's literally the #1 beginner's car

Simple, never breaks down, and somehow practical despite its size.

The 1L engine makes like 50hp or some retarded shit, but despite the complete lack of power it;s still fun to drive.

Thanks for the insight, especially this one about rust, first thing to check for in UK's rainy weather all the year. Well beginner's or not, having moved to UK recently this might actually be my first car despite being a driver for many years due to fucking outrageous insurance costs for any regular car. You won't believe how much a Miata would be for me to insure.

How is it in the engine compartment? Lots of space, easy access to stuff without using a lift? I do a lot of stuff myself on a car to save up on mechanic's fee and because I like working on cars especially older ones as there are not so many fucking electronics. How does it compare to Toyota Corolla '92 EE90? I loved her for so much space inside the engine bay.

Its nissan when they were still good, everything is well organised and compact.

I'm not familiar with corollas, but the engine bay is as well thought out as a Carina E, just not as big obviously.