Pick me a new car

So I'm buying a house and selling the Honda s2000 weekend car (I commute in a company car). Being a car guy and not wanting to wind up completely bored I've been tossing around some ideas of cheap performance. Cheap being >7k the cheaper the better. I would prefer to stay RWD (maybe AWD) and have a good suspension because I live around some of the best back roads there are. The cars with the most bang for the buck seem to have v8 engines (american muscle) but of course they all have antiquated suspension setups. Not having IRS in my Mustang was something I actually noticed. Is there any cheap muscle out there that has a decent suspension setup? C4 Corvette maybe? The lure of getting a cheap turbo FWD and bolting stuff to it is becoming real as well. Cheap upgrades are a big plus. For example BMW 540i sounds sweet but there isn't too much after market. Maybe an e36 M3? 350z? I'm a big fan of how BMWs handle themselves and have good power from the start but of course more power is expensive. I would consider swaps but I don't think I need a real project right now.

Advice?

Scion FR-S?

E46 should be within your price range.

http://seattle.craigslist.org/see/cto/4939575340.html

If it were me, it'd be a toss-up between that and a clean RX-8

4th Gen. ('98-'02) F-Body?

Looks like they hold their value but, even for a slightly inflated price, it's hard to beat an LS1 and a six speed.

Or, if you don't mind bare bones and haggard, get an '03 or '04 P71 and beat the piss out of it.

Lots of dough left in the budget for upgrades and rally tires.

For this purpose, I think an rx8 is the best option. It will be fairly similar to your Honda and they are cheap. Find one that has had the engine rebuilt and then bang it off the redline lots and it should last a long while.

>> Advice?

Keep the S2000.

Giant Purple Snorklewacker wrote: >> Advice? Keep the S2000.

Exactly. Few cars are a better deal than the one that you already own.

I agree. Keep the s2k. However, if you must get a different car go rwd 80's japanese. Pick up a cheaper car. Customize it and tube it your way for your life. And then go out and beat up mustangs, camaros, bmws, etc. it's simple: v8 muscle can't carve corners, German cars can, but usually break your wallet or itself before it can get to said corner. Jap cars carve like they were made for it, but lack massive power. (Easily remedied) http://m.youtube.com/watch?v=4g3yIb2ooFI

Agreed, why r we discussing dumping the S2000... is there a catastrophic failure? Rust?

If you sell the S2000, post it here first 'kay?

In reply to Trackmouse: Good point, but Jap sounds derogatory. I would go with 90s Japanese cars like a 240SX (without drift tax), FC RX-7, 300ZX. Your S2000 is probably better than all of them so only sell it if you need a few bucks. An affordable C4 is your best option for an American performance car, and the later ones have the LT1 engine with 300hp already. The project option would be to get a Mustang GT or a Camaro Z28 and put an IRS under it.

Edit: Oh, and we can only give you suggestions on a car, not choose one for you. I also suggest you to test drive all the cars that interest you, not just one or two of them.

I need to get rid of the s2000 for a variety of reasons. First I need to lose the car payment and can probably use some cash for my new house. I could probably afford it if I was a big boy and budgeted properly but that's no fun.

Second, it's a bit too slow and expensive for me. I'd be happy if it had 400whp like I'm used to and cost 16k but it doesn't. I feel like I could have a 3500 dollar e36 328is and be just as happy and quick. I want to get my horsepower rating back and now I need to do it for cheap and lose the car payment all at the same time.

IRS swaps look super expensive. Any budget ways to do this? I'd love for an IRS to be in a fox body.

If you want an IRS fox body, you need a Cobra (SN95 chassis, close enough). Don't know where you would get a IRS F-body unless you do a 5th gen and that's a ways outside your budget. C4 Corvette is about as cheap as speed gets, outside of consumables (tires mostly) but they just ain't for everybody. Understand why you want to get rid of a car note, so with that in mind. I'll suggest SN95 Cobra (RWD, V8, IRS, if you can find a supercharged car that hasn't been beat to death even better) but it probably won't be around 7k (yes there is a Cobra tax). C4 Corvette 90-91 or later, should be easy to find near your price point not "too" beat up. RX8's are around for 7k all day long, but if you aren't a rotary guy they might not be your cup of tea. E36/46 BMW would be a good choice, even Z3. Or, if you're willing the stretch the budget a bit, 2004-2006 GTO's are coming down to the low teens, 05-06 are 400 hp stock out the box.

EDIT: Did a quick craigslist search in my area and found 2 Cobras, 1 with some issues for 7k and another one that looks good for 8500, so maybe i was wrong about the Cobra tax

http: //tallahassee.craigslist.org/cto/4909697571.html

http://dothan.craigslist.org/cto/4954937727.html

You can go very fast on "antiquated suspension"

In reply to grunyon: Regular E36s will be found for much less than $3500, just try to get one with recent major service done to it (I have one) or with service records. They do make you pay with repairs.

I don't know anything about Mustangs, but it's your third option for a performance car, doing an IRS swap unless you can swing the Cobra with the IRS. I heavily researched doing an IRS swap with a Camaro, and you use a C4 IRS and weld some of it in place. The weaker C4 IRS run around $500 on Ebay and the stronger C4 IRS run around $1000-1500. I haven't been able to find them at local junkyards yet. It's a custom job with either platform, so be ready for that if you can't do it yourself.

A C4 Corvette or the Japanese sports cars are where you should start first. The Cobalt SS, SRT-4, and the early WRX are also sports sedans/coupes that are close to your price point.

A bit off the wall idea but what about a gs400??

Charger/Magnum/300C with a Hemi. I really like my dad's AWD Charger R/T with the Road and Track Pack.

MKIII Supra Turbo.

Bullet-proof except for the headgasket, which is easy to fix. Tons of room to grow and all the chassis stuff crosses over with the vastly more expensive MKIV. The 7MGTE is a good engine up to about 350/400 hp, the R154 is very strong and, should the need for 600 hp arise within you, 1jz (or if you enjoy wasting money, 2jz) swaps are not that difficult. Oh, and they're incredibly comfortable for sports cars.

The only real downside is they're kind of porky, but no more than a later Fox body.

grunyon wrote: I need to get rid of the s2000 for a variety of reasons. First I need to lose the car payment and can probably use some cash for my new house. I could probably afford it if I was a big boy and budgeted properly but that's no fun. Second, it's a bit too slow and expensive for me. I'd be happy if it had 400whp like I'm used to and cost 16k but it doesn't. I feel like I could have a 3500 dollar e36 328is and be just as happy and quick. I want to get my horsepower rating back and now I need to do it for cheap and lose the car payment all at the same time. IRS swaps look super expensive. Any budget ways to do this? I'd love for an IRS to be in a fox body.

Swapping an IRS into a Fox looks surprisingly simple.

swap video

If I wind up keeping my Mark VII, I may consider swapping one into it.

The answer + turbo?

Won't be 400 hp for that price but well sorted cars are sold for under 10k. 240 hp in something that's light would be what I'm looking for

E46

3 DSMs and hope that at least one is running the majority of the time.

C4s have a great suspension and definitely fit your price range.

DaewooOfDeath wrote: The only real downside is they're kind of porky, but no more than a later Fox body.

Huh? Fox Bodies aren't anywhere close to 3600lbs.