Rwd family car that is actually fun on track days

[clarkj93]

I need a second car to pick kids up from school, do the odd commute once a week and I would like to do the odd track day in it/hillclimb just for fun.

I've always ended up in fast FWD stuff and have built race prepped stuff before. I can't justify the cost of doing that these days but I do need a second family car and fancy something RWD that actually feels like a rear biased car that I can provoke a little and have a lot of fun with on a track day. Which kinda leads to me bmw... Ideally an m3 but I'm not stretching anywhere near that budget right now. Could do with some help from some bmw geeks out there and where I ought to be looking!

Budget 6k.

Not prepared to throw 1000's in repairs or mods to make it fun.

Ideally mods would be simply brakes, tyres and a spicy-ish alignment.

4/5 door.

Manual or decent dsg style auto (no slushmatics).

Not bothered about power necessarily.

[brillomaster]

The answer you seek is indeed BMW. Ideally either a 130i manual, or a 330i manual. 5 doors, straight six naturally aspirated engines, manual gearboxes, rear wheel drive. The 30i has a very fruity 260bhp, though you could also look at 125/325s if power isn't so much a concern - though a straight six is a must.

https://www.autotrader.co.uk/car-details/202606143...

https://www.autotrader.co.uk/car-details/202606113...

[kambites]

How old are the children? Would either fit in the back of something like a GT86?

If not, it's hard to look past something from BMW. Personally, I'd favour something like an E36 323i over a more recent 1-series.

[InitialDave]

I would also say 3 series.

[Panamax]

IMO road cars are by definition pretty rubbish on a circuit. The suspension is generally much too soft. Stiffen it up and you car will be miserable on the road. Rent yourself a small single seater on track and it will blow your mind.

Formula Ford or Formula Renault are a good start. Formula Ford 2000 with slicks and wings feels like a space ship.

Edited by Panamax on Sunday 16th August 17:28

[Nickp82]

Mazda RX-8 R3

[ZX10R NIN]

clarkj93 said:

I need a second car to pick kids up from school, do the odd commute once a week and I would like to do the odd track day in it/hillclimb just for fun.

I've always ended up in fast FWD stuff and have built race prepped stuff before. I can't justify the cost of doing that these days but I do need a second family car and fancy something RWD that actually feels like a rear biased car that I can provoke a little and have a lot of fun with on a track day. Which kinda leads to me bmw... Ideally an m3 but I'm not stretching anywhere near that budget right now. Could do with some help from some bmw geeks out there and where I ought to be looking!

Budget 6k.

Not prepared to throw 1000's in repairs or mods to make it fun.

Ideally mods would be simply brakes, tyres and a spicy-ish alignment.

4/5 door.

Manual or decent dsg style auto (no slushmatics).

Not bothered about power necessarily.

The problem is that any RWD you buy at this price will need significant work to do (M3 front end bushes LSD etc) trackdays & you don't want to modify.

Personally I think you should just look for a good family car:

S Type R:

https://www.autotrader.co.uk/car-details/202608115...

Passat R36:

https://www.autotrader.co.uk/car-details/202604101...

Insignia VXR:

https://www.autotrader.co.uk/car-details/202607264...

https://www.autotrader.co.uk/car-details/202608135...

[200Plus Club]

Plenty of locost/lotus7 type replicas around at that budget. I know there's a nice tiger Avonwith roll cage for sale at circa 7k that's ready to go

[brillomaster]

ZX10R NIN said:

The problem is that any RWD you buy at this price will need significant work to do (M3 front end bushes LSD etc) trackdays & you don't want to modify.

Personally I think you should just look for a good family car:

S Type R:

https://www.autotrader.co.uk/car-details/202608115...

Passat R36:

https://www.autotrader.co.uk/car-details/202604101...

Insignia VXR:

https://www.autotrader.co.uk/car-details/202607264...

https://www.autotrader.co.uk/car-details/202608135...

No they won't. Any car is a track car, if you take it on track. My first three track cars were bog standard 328i saloons bought for less than a grand each, which would meet the brief perfectly, if you could find one. Only mods I did were some better brake pads. But great fun hooning round a track, getting black flagged constantly for unintentional drifting.

The only work you need to do to get a car track ready is service it, and make sure theres some meat on the brake pads.

[E-bmw]

200Plus Club said:

Plenty of locost/lotus7 type replicas around at that budget. I know there's a nice tiger Avonwith roll cage for sale at circa 7k that's ready to go

I didn't realise they were 4-seaters, suitable for taking the kids to school.

[200Plus Club]

Ah may have missed that lol!

[braddo]

Rx8 will need less prep than the BMWs

[Mr Tidy]

My daily is a manual 2005 BMW 330i E90 and while it is quite capable, it just doesn't feel like it wants to be thrown around. But then I have a Z4 for that!

Whereas my E46 325ti begged to be driven like that, but only had 3 doors. I had a 5 door 123d that was also pretty chuckable, so I'd agree with whoever suggested a 130i.

There aren't too many choices if you are looking for manual RWD cars, which is why I've had BMWs for over 20 years.

[ZX10R NIN]

brillomaster said:

No they won't. Any car is a track car, if you take it on track. My first three track cars were bog standard 328i saloons bought for less than a grand each, which would meet the brief perfectly, if you could find one. Only mods I did were some better brake pads. But great fun hooning round a track, getting black flagged constantly for unintentional drifting.

The only work you need to do to get a car track ready is service it, and make sure theres some meat on the brake pads.

OP has had track cars before so he will be modifying if it doesn't meet his criteria on (which it won't imo) track.

I agree you can track anything & enjoy it but if you've had more track focused vehicles going back to something standard won't cut it, which is why the OP knows he should be looking at an M3.

[RandomCarChat]

F30 328i

Pretty sure evo did an article a while back where they used it for boring daily driving and then went to Bedford and quite enjoyed it.

They seem to be pretty popular in the USA too.

See here for more info - https://apexwheels.com/blog/technical-discussion/f...

I'd buy this and set the spare budget aside for go fast bits.

https://www.autotrader.co.uk/car-details/202607084...