What is the best Used Sports Car buy around?
 

SPORTS CAR

If you wanted a single used sports car what would it be - and why?

The criteria are rather simple:

The car needs to be very fast, turn and stop very well - be reasonably conservative with fuel consumption (as this car is going to be your daily driver - to work and home and the shops.)

close to the magical 4s 0-60, 180mph topend potential, screaming 1/4 mile, 60-0 in 100ft, 1G+ lateral load ability... you are allowed to modify your used car to reach these levels of performance - but tell us the purchase price + mod amount (be realistc, offer and post actual examples :P)

The car needs to be able to hold it's own on drives through the countryside and when you take the car to a local race track, turn in decent lap times and even be able to withstand some drag racing abuse.

The car needs to be a survivor and be able to turn over 120,000 miles without a problem and reasonably affordable to repair and service

There needs to be enough space inside to take you briefcase and laptop, and a bunch of shopping bags of groceries - but it's used so might not be your only car - bu tneeds to be more practical than a Super 7 ;) :P

The car also needs to be a reasonably affordable to insure on a family budget and finally - be affordable to purchase at under $45,000 including mods..

It also must be usable rain or shine - in climates with snow fall, you may assume that you dont need to drive on unplowed roads.

In short - what used sports car is the best bang for the buck - state your reasons and budget you worked with.

;)

Lets see your responses.

(BTW - try stay on topic an leave the personal attacks outside ----- please..... :P)

I'd opt for a 2002 Pontiac Firebird with an LS1. It wouldn't necessarily need to be the Trans Am as the 4 nostril hood is a bit awkward and the TA is a bit heavier with its extra options. I know this is more of a muscle car than a sports car, but I think it'd fit the criteria very nicely.

4th generation Camaros and Firebirds are getting cheaper these days. One can pick up an LS1 automatic car for as little as 5 grand. I'd expect to pay about 12k for a good car with the manual 6 speed.

First off, it is ridiculously easy to make big power with the LS1. If you build it around a set of good cylinders heads flowing about 310 cfm, 500 hp is possible with the stock compression, bore, stroke, and even camshaft. A reliable 600 hp is definitely possible in well thought out LS1 build. After this 600 hp, one could go for more dangerous and less reliable power adders such as nitrous, turbochargers, and superchargers. I'd be very content with a good N/A build up though.

drivetrain costs:

cylinder heads - $2000.00
LSX 90 mm intake - $870.00
LSX 90 mm throttle body - $520.00
comp cams conical springs - $180.00
comp cams pushrods - $135.00
comp cams camshaft - $400.00
headers - $865.00
properly baffled road race oil pan - 500
various machining costs (assuming you'd clean up the block good) along with gaskets and other stuff etc - about $2500.00

properly beefing up the transmission (clutchplate etc) - about $3000.00
properly preparing the rear differential - about $1000.00
really good (and hopefully smog compliant) exhaust set up - about $1500.00

That all adds up to 23,970.00. After that throw a sizeable wad into the suspension set up (10k maybe? all sorts of set ups could be used . . . ) and then throw on a good set of Baer brakes (I'll call that 4000.00). Things could be lightened up a tad with a fiberglass hood and rear hatch.

The car would be a beast from 0-60 and should have the hp and gear ratio to push 180 (especially when 6th gear is designed for cruising at 70 at 2000 rpm and is often actually too tall for a top speed run). The Baer brakes would take the 3550 lb car (lower option cars are this light . . . fully loaded is about 3800 lbs) to a stop within the specified distance.

A stock 4th gen pulls about .87 G's on the skid pad. Assuming the car's interior along with other parts would remain ungutted, I don't think it could pull 1.0 G's. It should be good for something in the mid .9's though.

Mileage around town wouldn't be too good. I'll estimate 10 mpg in town and 19 on the highway.

If done properly, the car could be made to appear like the average slightly modified 4th gen. It'd be a very fun sleeper.

Well - name the car and ho wyouwould fit it into $45,000 :P

A loosely accurate list-
348 TS
Daytona
NSX-T
XKR
Ford GT Pantera maybe...
911
GTX
Cambiocorsa
Shelby Cobra
Elise
Esprit


And of course tons of Vette's, GTO's M3's and Mustang's.

You need to choose 1 and identify the cost and possible mod budget ;)

If I had to choose just one for modding it would probably be none of those and I would just get a used Vette because its best bang for the buck with a ton of affordable, easy to install mods. Maybe this one.

Its a kit car not a real one... lol.

Given the Pantera was made Detomaso, buyer beware.

Great muscle car but about as much in common with a sports car as a prius.

Not going to happen for under 45k.

Ferrari 348 - why because it is a Ferrari of course - a magical experience guaranteed. :)

There is no money left over for modding here and you will be easily beaten off the line by modern sports cars. After all you are getting a 15 year old car. It is expensive to maintain but should be depreciation proof. So it is a better buy than a 40-50K new Corvette or Boxster or M3. It is pretty practical for a 2 seaters - you get a reasonable boot for say a weekend trip, the interior is very airy, the visibility is excellent, the heater/a/c works fine. No issues really.

But who cares about things modding or 0-60 times when you are having so much fun. Isn't that the point of a sports car - to have fun while driving. No other sports car I have driven in the past - Corvette, Boxster, Pontiac GTO, NSX, S2000 - excites me that much. Ferrari has got some magic potion that captivates its drivers into forgiving all its faults and becoming a slave for life. INVOLVEMENT is the key.

Being a Ferrari nut for at least 22 years since I saw my first TR, it was lifetime goal to buy a Ferrari. Thus you can see that a Ferrari is not just a car to me - it is a whole lot more. It makes me feel a part of the Michael Schumacher, Ferrari, etc family.

Every night for the last 63 days I go to the garage and wish her good night before I turn in. I did not do this for a Boxster I had for a couple weeks when I was looking after it for a friend.

Different strokes for different folks. Buy whatever gets your motor revving. I can understand why someone like Lakatu will be similarly enthused when he buys his Porsche or maybe Dani for his TdF 355. Buying a car for the numbers seems so transient to me - there will always be a faster car - so who really cares. Buy out of passion sez I. :)

http://www.roadraceengineering.com/a...leentendre.htm

1st gen Mitsubishi Eclipse GSX.

:twisted:

Not going to happen for under 45k.[/quote]

You can get a high mile car for 45K and under - trust me ;)

^ I agree with you :)

Lots of words.. little message - there are also a lot of "cars in the 7s 0-60mph range" that are just 4 door slugs which is what the criteria listing was attempting to weed out.

You conveniently selecetd the "4s 0-60mph" option as if the criteria was in isolation and would somehow included actual dragsters - one could almost argue your entry into the topic was mindless and argumentative - even tangential at best, but that would be nothing short of a mindless and argumentative reoly, so no such argument from these quarters.

I f however, you took off those liberal rose tinted glasses and read again youwould see the request was not for submissions of "any sports cars" - it was specifically for FAST sports cars - by the inclusionj of some pretty heavy speed requirements.

The defintion of FAST was covered by "4s 0-60 (as an example of fast), along with a request to be able to turn hard, stop quick and be very capable on a race track.

Your statement that a 60's muscle car is a "sports" car out of the box is quite misleading - very specific cars had sporting pretentions and semi decent handling out of the box - example the Z/28 - but the mid 60's Pontiac GTO was not a very good stopper or turner.

Some of the cars you list may be "sports cars" but they fall short of the topic content because they are not fast sports cars :) - and while some cars are fun and engaging, there is also a lot to be said for being FAST, fun and engaging ;)

If the 993 isn't a Cup Car or Turbo, then it's not the fast member of the family :P

In terms of best used sport car...I understand the word reliability for it; and actually the most reliable sport cars are two;

The porsche 911

Every BMW with 6 cilinder such as the M5 MkI and MkII, the M6, the 635 CSI and so on

And every car which has big big aspirated engines with a lot of torque and power in low revs; in essence, the cars that Im talking about are mostly americans and consecuently I mean the corvette, the chevrolet camaro or the pontiac firebird

Another matter is if we talk about used cars in excellent conditions, which for me is the bargain in question; however, who knows about the cars milleage, the maintenaince and so on?

In terms of that Dani prefers the classic cars from seventees such as the Renault Alpine A-110 and so on; I agree 90% with dani; however, I consider the best those which were made from mid eightees to 1992 approximately, which mixes the technology specially for the engines such as the turbo, the 4 valves per cilinder without the restrictions such as the safety, the pollution, the traction controls,.....

Amen!! There are alot of (not slow, but certainly not 4 second cars) that I consider sports cars, and would buy in a heart beat if I could afford them. By this defenition even the Porsche 944 Turbo S would not be a sports car, as would the Honda S2000. I dont think that anyone can put an exact time type description of what a sports car it. Just because I cant keep up with your (insert your sports car here) dosnt mean its not a sports car and dosnt mean I'm not having a ton of fun. For me, its not always about being the fastest, but about having a good time, and I truly mean this. Perhaps this is because I grew up racing on a budget and autocrossing a Honda, but to me, winning isnt everything. The most important thing should be that you didnt break anything (really expensive), and that you learned something. But it is very important to some people, and I have seen people blow a ton of money on high powered shifter carts because to them, winning was the most important thing.

Porsche 914-6 would be a very good buy, and would leave a TON of money in your budget for mods. My dad had one when they were new (way before I was born, so sorry, I didnt take any digital pics of it). I was black with the euro bumpers and a few suspension and engine mods. He would track the car at Sebring and Moroso at Porsche track days. He says it was a damn fun car, and he still wishes he hadnt sold it (but he had to to buy a minivan :( )

I would probobly go for something like a Lotus Elise if I had that type of money to spend on a second car. I would leave it stock for the most part as they are hella good cars straight out of the box, and if you can live with the ride can also be used to go to work if you want to or need to. Awesome car for auto-x events and track days.