Where's the middle ground?

This has been bugging me.

If the ND is a fantastic 4 cylinder track car weighing in at 2400ish lbs, and the C7 is a fantastic 8 cylinder track car weighing in at 3400ish lbs, then where's the fantastic 6 cylinder track car weighing in at 2900 lbs?

What does a new Nissan Z weigh?

In reply to RossD :

3300 min

Cayman

It's because the ND is an outlier, weight-wise.  If you look at a bell curve of curb weights, the ND is going to be WAY on the left side and the C7 will be a lot closer to the middle, but still lighter than the median.  There just aren't a lot of cars that are sub-3000 pounds these days, and they are pretty much all 4-banger powered.

I think the ND and C7 are both outliers in regards to power to weight, but I think Slippery got me -- the Cayman does slot nicely between the two and I'd temporarily forgotten about it, so now I'm just salty about the price :)

Slippery said:

Cayman

And Boxster.  Awesome fun cars and dirt cheap used.  Easy to work on as well despite what the Internet may tell you.

1964 Valiant.   

It's a six cylinder.

It weighs about 2900 lbs.

I drive it to the track.

And I do fantasize a bit ... 

steronz said:

This has been bugging me.

 ....where's the fantastic 6 cylinder track car weighing in at 2900 lbs?

Umm... E30?  or an E36 with some weight trimming?

Or does the choice need to be new?  How much does the Genesis coupe weigh?

My first thought was older 911, but I like the Cayman/Boxster answer.

At this point, it’s probably cheaper to get a Boxster for autocross and track days than it is to get a 914. 

Early Boxsters are pretty cheap now? I think Caymans are a bit more. Boxsters seem harder to hardtop/rollbar than a miata but I am speaking without knowledge of this

Since the two cars mentioned in the first post were new, I assumed that we were talking about new cars.  If not, yeah, E36, earlier Boxters and Caymans, a bunch of stuff.  

And if we ARE strictly talking new, I must point out that the current Cayman is a 4-cylinder.

V6.  ~3,000lbs.  they got heavier in later years, but wiki shows curb weight of 3,010 lbs. for '91-'92 years.  

Tom_Spangler said:

And if we ARE strictly talking new, I must point out that the current Cayman is a 4-cylinder.

Spoilsport.

I'm guessing current Mustangs are too heavy. How about the little crazy Hyundai? It's probably out of production. I'm really out of touch with everything.

Don't some of the current Lotuseses use V6 engines?

Alfa Milano Verde.  3.0 V6.  <2,900lbs.  

Alfa GTV-6 (2.5 powered) weighed in <2,700 lbs.  

Not sure if qualifies as best track car, but they are a joy to drive, and that exhaust note is glorious.  

missed the new part.  How many sub 3,000lb. cars exist period on today's market?  

nevermind... 20 cars under 2,800lbs.  no 6-cyl's to be found.  

http://www.motortrend.com/news/20-of-the-lightest-cars-sold-in-the-u-s/

Looks like the lightest 6-cyl. car available new is the Porsche 911, which can be had at 3,153lbs. per the googles:

https://www.iseecars.com/cars/lightest-6-cylinder-cars

987/981 Cayman

If you buy the argument that one rotor is equal to three cylinders, then you're looking for an FD. :)

In reply to Ian F :

I guess I didn't specify new but if we've got to go back to the era of 180hp six cylinders then it'll be slower than an ND anyway. The E36 M3 is too heavy, as is the Hyundai and Mustang.

If we split the difference on horsepower we'd need about 290, which is another point in favor of the Cayman S. 

steronz said:

This has been bugging me.

If the ND is a fantastic 4 cylinder track car weighing in at 2400ish lbs, and the C7 is a fantastic 8 cylinder track car weighing in at 3400ish lbs, then where's the fantastic 6 cylinder track car weighing in at 2900 lbs?

Miata with a 3400 swap?