Car suggestions - missed any?

[dern]

Morning,

I'm just putting the finishing touches to my old 944 to sell and I'm putting together a list of cars to go and look at to replace it and wondered if anyone had any suggestions.

I need something to commute in which is fast basically. Practicality is not an issue (we have a family car and I have an old mk2 golf gti) but reliability is, hence choosing something japanese. I'm not too concerned about fuel economy as I only tend to use the car for half the year and commute on my bike the rest. I get 35 out of the bike and about 25 out of my porsche so anything around 25 ish is ok.

I do all my own work on my cars and don't want to use garages unless it is absolutely essential. Therefore cars that need 15 grands worth of diagnostics equipment to service are out.

I have a budget of 5k.

So far I've thought of the following...

MR2T - I looked at these ages ago and liked them but in the end went bananas and spent the money on a westy. Now I've sold that to fund an R1 locost build which is in progress. I'm looking at rev3 cars and currently this is my favourite.

300zx tt - my mate has one and it's very nice but I don't like auto boxes as all and most seem to be autos. It seems like a massive shag if anything goes wrong as there's no room in the engine bay.

That's about it really although I've thought and more or less discounted the following...

Mits GTO - looks to die for but I drove a standard one and it was very uninvolving. The mr2 and 300 were no porsche/tvr but I'm after a daily driver so can accept that but this was a bit insipid... can anything be done?

200sx - don't like them, don't want one. had an s13 and it was gutless and bland until I put a bigger turbo and a bigger exhaust on it and then the driveability suffered and it used *loads* of fuel. granted it could have done with a remap but it didn't do anything for me at all

Integ type-r - quite like them but they're fwd and I don't reall want a fwd car.

Any other suggestions that I can spend hours at lunchtime researching ()?

Thanks,

Mark

>> Edited by dern on Tuesday 5th July 09:34

[nuclearsquash]

how a bout a N/A Supra they go for about 5k.

[dern]

nuclearsquash said:

how a bout a N/A Supra they go for about 5k.

How quick are they compared to an mr2 turbo?

The only problem I have with them is the same one as I have with my 944... nice cars but it's the slow one, know what I mean?

Regards,

Mark

[iaint]

dern said:

I get 35 out of the bike and about 25 out of my porsche so anything around 25 ish is ok. I have a budget of 5k.

I was, of course, going to suggest an RX-7 but these two factors preclude this.

You'd get 18-21 mpg and would need to spend ~8-9k to get one that would be trouble-free (as much as you can guarantee with any truly fast car).

[dern]

iaint said:

I was, of course, going to suggest an RX-7 but these two factors preclude this. You'd get 18-21 mpg and would need to spend ~8-9k to get one that would be trouble-free (as much as you can guarantee with any truly fast car).

I'd love one but all the cars at 5k seem to have done 59k miles and I hear so many tales of engines needing rebuilds at 60k that it would just be too much of a risk.

I don't mind doing the work but I'm looking for something that doesn't need major work so I can get on with the locost build... oh, and spend some time with the kids

Cheers,

Mark

[dnb]

An old Scoob? Easy to tune to the 300 bhp mark and easy to work on.

Just a slight image problem...

[iaint]

dern said:

iaint said: I was, of course, going to suggest an RX-7 but these two factors preclude this. You'd get 18-21 mpg and would need to spend ~8-9k to get one that would be trouble-free (as much as you can guarantee with any truly fast car). I'd love one but all the cars at 5k seem to have done 59k miles and I hear so many tales of engines needing rebuilds at 60k that it would just be too much of a risk. I don't mind doing the work but I'm looking for something that doesn't need major work so I can get on with the locost build... oh, and spend some time with the kids Cheers, Mark

Exactly my point - you can pick up a rebuilt motor for 8k+ (sometimes less). It's not a hard-and-fast rule that they fail at 60k though. My water seals (think head gasket) went around 45k, others have had much more with no problems.

On the plus side my rex (apart from the rebuild) has only needed oil and plugs since the rebuild (13k miles) and has, in terms of services, cost me well under £200. 3 oil changes and 1 plug change, easy to do myself and oil + plugs is about £60...

Elsewhere though I've managed to spend about 5k on toys for it so...

[dern]

dnb said:

An old Scoob? Easy to tune to the 300 bhp mark and easy to work on. Just a slight image problem...

I currently have a gold porsche and a brown mondeo estate... I'm not worried about image

Never really liked scoobs I'm afraid.

Mark

[dern]

Gazboy said:

Drive a 5k MRT, then a 5k TVR, then come back to us with that comment... On a 'friendlier' note-

Hmm, well it wasn't supposed to be confrontational at all or indeed a slight on japanese cars so there's no need to be 'unfriendly' imo. I have driven a 5k mr2t, gto & 300zx, owned a prelude vtec and an s13 200sx and owned a 6k tvr s3 and a 3k 944. The 944 and the tvr were both more communicative than any of the japanese cars and more involving but neither of them were better cars. The tvr wasn't up to day to day use (unless you didn't mind giving up your weekends fixing it), it didn't handle very well and while it would be fun for the weekends in the same way as an mgb would be I wouldn't want another old one. While the 944 was (and is) suitable for everyday it isn't very quick. Therefore I'm looking for a japanese car again for every day use.

Gazboy said:

could you really work on a Big three Zeddy in your garage????

Of course, why not? I look after all my own cars, have taken engines out, am building a car from scratch with an R1 engine in and service my fireblade myself... what's so different about a 300?

Gazboy said:

Look out for a red MR2 reg J31 HGJ- when that comes up for sale, drive that, then get out the chequebook- really REALLY wish I never sold it, considerably better drivers car than the Supra & the Chimaera 4.0 I drove.

Thanks.

Mark

[frosty-11]

I THINK the MKiv N/A Supra's had 220 bhp and weighs about 1600 ... and a rev 3 MR2 has 245bhp and weighs 1296.

So on paper the MR2 is the quicker car, but I have never "raced" a MKiv Supra to say how much difference there would be.

I guess it comes down to if you’d like a slightly slower car, perhaps more comfortable car go for the Supra, or if your after more of a 'sports' car go for the MR2 T. - you wont be disappointed

hth !

[dern]

Gazboy said:

Mark- i wasn't being unfriendly btw.

Sorry I took it that way.

Gazboy said:

Regarding the 300ZX- a chap who works on my Supra, is not keen to work on 3zeddy's cos nothing is easy, simple or cheap.

It is doable but I've worked on a mate's 300 and it is a complete pain in the arse and we've only done the simplest things on it. I think he lives in dread of the day the turbos finally let go given the cost and the access problems.

The Mr2t is the firm favourite but just wondered if there was anything else that hadn't occured to me to look at.

Regards,

Mark

[dern]

Gazboy said:

Celica GT4 ST205?

I did go and look at one but didn't like it as much as the mr2 so didn't drive it.

[dern]

Gazboy said:

Fair enough!

Perhaps I should have done, that wasn't very open minded of me was it

It just didn't *look* very special to me... no sense of occasion if you know what I mean.

[4WD]

It depends what your priorities are I guess. For insane speed you really need a twin turbo setup. My mates 300zx is rather appealing, in that it shifts like the millenium falcon. However so does his bank balance - in the wrong direction unfortunately. As much as I think boosted cars are a laugh, my priorities have now changed. I now want a car that's cheap to run, is dead reliable, light on petrol & consumables, fun to chuck around country lanes. I decided to go for an integra DC2 in the end. Anyway you can have a lot of fun in a little light car. However, I must admit a driving factor in this economicl car decision is my crazed spending on home entertainment, which considerably outweighs the car - in money and weight, lol

[Mr E]

Gazboy said:

dern said: It just didn't *look* very special to me... no sense of occasion if you know what I mean. Look at MrE's- looks like a tarmac stage ready rally slag.

Thanks bud. I rather like it.

[tuttle]

300zx,whilst excellent car,does have potential to bleed resources dry(as does any car really!)Theres a lot of engine crammed under that bonnet.Afaik all but the simplest work on it means pulling the engine out.

No one mentioned a skyline yet? Your budget would get you an R32 or 33 GTST,large but great fun,tuneable.Bomproof build,engine is very accessable & pretty straightforward to work on.

[4WD]

Only down side is cost of fuel, tyres and maybe a turbo or two. Very nice cars though.

[dern]

Mr E said:

Thanks bud. I rather like it.

It's very nice (much nicer than the one I went to see) but just not my cup of tea.

Regards,

Mark

[dern]

tuttle said:

No one mentioned a skyline yet? Your budget would get you an R32 or 33 GTST,large but great fun,tuneable.Bomproof build,engine is very accessable & pretty straightforward to work on.

I know this sounds stupid but if I got one the first thing people would say if they saw it would be "is it a gtr?"

On reflection and having looked at your profile your car looks really nice. I don't know what it is about white cars but I think they look gorgeous. Is that the kind of thing available for 5k and what are they like near standard?

Mark

>> Edited by dern on Wednesday 6th July 11:04

[GravelBen]

the R32 is smaller and lighter than the R33, and from what I've heard are a bit sportier to drive (but never driven one myself) A mate has an 1990 R32 GTE (2.0 n/a SOHC) which isnt particularly fast, in fact about normal for a 2 litre sedan, but still gets the tail out fairly well.