Budget sports cars!

[London]

The Hyundai Sonata gets 30 MPG and does 145 from the factory. It's on my wish list.

 

[matefrio]

The Hyundai Sonata gets 30 MPG and does 145 from the factory. It's on my wish list.

Hyundai is one of the few companies I'd stay away from. I'd take a FIAT first.

 

[zembonez]

The Hyundai Sonata gets 30 MPG and does 145 from the factory. It's on my wish list.

Not exactly a sports car, but that Hyundai is a pretty darn nice ride. They really have upped the competition level over at Hyundai and Kia.

 

[Texas1911]

I would really recommend against an STI / EVO on the basis that they run pretty high boost and they are generally driven hard. You'd be buying a pretty worn out car even with 40 - 50K on it and looking at preventative / regular maintenance on a car that has $200+ / ea. rotors and other expensive goods.

I'd be much more apt to buy a Z06 since they generally had adult owners and aren't stressed nearly as much as the juiced up 4-cyls. Plus they handle, brake, and run better than any hopped up 4-door Japanese car, and they make another 50whp with just a dirty look.

I would take a hard look at the S2000 ... it's a great car, and Honda is about the only engine maker I would trust to build a long living high RPM engine. The BMW M3s with the S54 are notorious for developing bottom end issues in the higher miles. It's just hard for a motor to turn 8000+ RPM for thousands of miles and not wear something out. Plus, inline-6s don't get the best gas mileage. Mine turns about 14 MPG city / 24 MPG highway with me driving it. It'd probably do more like 19 City / 27 Hwy without me driving it.

The 350Z / G35 are great cars with a great engine. I would highly recommend them. Their gearbox sucks, but oh well.

 

[ChunkyMonkey]

The Toyota RAV 4 V6 is the fastest thing Toyota is offering right now. :-)

Lol....my tundra is pretty quick, although, DJ is the rate at which my gas need drops, lol.

 

[IXLR8]

Keep in mind that G35's eat a bunch of expensive tires on a regular basis. The required toe-in (I think) to correctly align the car is the culprit. 10,000 miles is not unheard of. Even less has been reported many times.
The same tires last 25,000 torturous miles on my G8,.

 

[SIG_Fiend]

Boxsters and 996's can be had pretty cheaply now. Granted, some maintenance on them can still be pretty expensive, but the average stuff isn't too bad and can be done by the average do-it-yourselfer. Some good coilovers and grippy tires make these extremely fun to drive.

 

[ZX9RCAM]

Boxsters and 996's can be had pretty cheaply now. Granted, some maintenance on them can still be pretty expensive, but the average stuff isn't too bad and can be done by the average do-it-yourselfer. Some good coilovers and grippy tires make these extremely fun to drive.

Yep....long as you drive them & don't make a garage queen out of them they do great, at least from my experience.

 

[TheDan]

The Hyundai Sonata gets 30 MPG and does 145 from the factory. It's on my wish list.

The Hyundai Genesis deserves a look. I haven't driven one yet, but want to.

I'll add another nod to the s2000. I really like them, but they are a bit too cramped inside for me. My x1/9 has more room and its a smaller car, lol...

On the Porsches... Their engines have an axillary shaft that likes to self destruct and take everything else with it. The prescription for the issue in the Boxster/Cayman community is engine rebuild every 50-80k miles hnoes: If you buy a used Boxster or Cayman I'd strongly suggest having it checked out by a competent Porsche mechanic right away. I'd still love to have a Cayman S, tho

 

[ZX9RCAM]

The Hyundai Genesis deserves a look. I haven't driven one yet, but want to.

I'll add another nod to the s2000. I really like them, but they are a bit too cramped inside for me. My x1/9 has more room and its a smaller car, lol...

On the Porsches... Their engines have an axillary shaft that likes to self destruct and take everything else with it. The prescription for the issue in the Boxster/Cayman community is engine rebuild every 50-80k miles hnoes: If you buy a used Boxster or Cayman I'd strongly suggest having it checked out by a competent Porsche mechanic right away. I'd still love to have a Cayman S, tho

ANY Porsche you are looking at buying from an individual should be checked out PRIOR to buying it, buying a CPO makes it alot better.
I have had mine going on 6 years & it has been great!
After I sold all my bikes, I needed something for my speed fix, lol....

 

[Texas1911]

Keep in mind that G35's eat a bunch of expensive tires on a regular basis. The required toe-in (I think) to correctly align the car is the culprit. 10,000 miles is not unheard of. Even less has been reported many times.
The same tires last 25,000 torturous miles on my G8,.

That's easily fixed by telling the alignment guy not to toe it in.

 

[zembonez]

I'd run away from ANYBODY selling a Porsche unless you are totally aware of their exorbitantly expensive maintenance requirements. They are fun and wonderful cars, but used ones are best used as a second or third car for someone who has somewhat deep pockets if you don't want it to decay into disrepair.

I will say that they are an absolute blast to drive... just expensive to feed.

Don't listen to the G35 tire horror stories. My neighbor has one with well over 150K on the clock and he gets a cool 30-35K out of tires. He loves that damn car.

 

[Thegomezclan]

I would go with a 1967 VW bug with a 1776 and dual weber carbs. Still get about 30 miles to the gallon and cheap to work on.

 

[ZX9RCAM]

I'd run away from ANYBODY selling a Porsche unless you are totally aware of their exorbitantly expensive maintenance requirements. They are fun and wonderful cars, but used ones are best used as a second or third car for someone who has somewhat deep pockets if you don't want it to decay into disrepair.

I will say that they are an absolute blast to drive... just expensive to feed.

Don't listen to the G35 tire horror stories. My neighbor has one with well over 150K on the clock and he gets a cool 30-35K out of tires. He loves that damn car.

They can be expensive to maintain if not taken care of properly. Mine is my daily driver as long as it's not raining, then it stays
in the garage & I drive something else.

 

[M. Sage]

I'd run away from ANYBODY selling a Porsche unless you are totally aware of their exorbitantly expensive maintenance requirements. They are fun and wonderful cars, but used ones are best used as a second or third car for someone who has somewhat deep pockets if you don't want it to decay into disrepair.

I will say that they are an absolute blast to drive... just expensive to feed.

Don't listen to the G35 tire horror stories. My neighbor has one with well over 150K on the clock and he gets a cool 30-35K out of tires. He loves that damn car.

I love Boxsters. Almost every time I see one come through the door, I'm guaranteed to get a thousand dollar ticket out of it. They have a few maintenance issues, and more than a few of those require you drop the engine out to take care of it. Access to the engine on the Boxster/Cayman is extremely limited.

2 inexpensive sports cars that I'd suggest are the S2000 and the Mazda Miata. Both are great to drive, with the S2000 being faster but more expensive.

And any performance car is going to eat tires unless you're getting crappy tires. Crappy tires make sports cars suck, by the way.

 

[TexMex247]

I've got an ugly-ass 76 mustangII for sale. It's got a punched out 302(5.0) roller block motor(86') w/ trickflow heads and cam(.498/.512), headers,4.10 gears, posi unit and much more. Easily over 4k in parts but I would let it go for half that. It's sat a while and needs a new bellhousing & flywheel. I ran it on the quarter mile at little river a few times and it ran 14s on street tires. Not that impressive but it's street legal, ugly and it's the mustang that even mustang owners love to hate. You'll notice that I said ugly twice but obviously it can be painted. At least performance parts are pretty cheap for small block fords. And...you could always change the gear ratio or transmission to acheive better gas mileage.

 

[M. Sage]

Needs a new bellhousing? I need to hear the story behind this!

Paint a Mustang II, it's still ugly.

Mustangs aren't sports cars, they're muscle cars.

 

[matefrio]

So KAK, what do you plan to buy?

 

[Jakashh]

Mustang 2's sure are ugly, but they are damn light and are great when you consider putting something more potent than the choked up factory 302. Here's one that a member of TheAutoLounge.net owns...

YouTube - AmericanThunder's Channel

 

[M. Sage]

Don't get me wrong - the II was a good chassis. It laid the foundations for the Fox, most of the Fox was actually carried over into the SN-95 (I was shocked at how many parts interchanged...)

It's just... you know. Ugly.