Looking For a Cheap Sports Car

[horns666]

http://consumerguideauto.howstuffworks.com/1990-to-1996-nissan-300zx.htm

Raced one with the Vette on the freeway and the fucker was pretty fast...he was hangin' with me.

[442w30]

1999-2000 Acura Integra LS/GS?

Typically, I don't "Get" the ricer thing. They handle well and perform ok for commuter cars.
I guess it's the white trash in me that likes to see wheelies, smoke boiling from rear tires, but then I laugh uncontrollably when I see the fast and the furious commercials or see/hear anything about "drifting".

Oh, I just remembered the early 1990s Sentra SE-R was pretty neat with an ok 1/4 mile and good handling in a stealthy package.

[SEEGERMANY]

I pay $550 a year for full coverage all year 'round for my FFR MKII Cobra..and it eats anything on the street.

plus people love it..especially girls.

..

I need the number/contact for your insurance company.

[SEEGERMANY]

Typically, I don't "Get" the ricer thing.

Just yesterday, I saw a Nissan Sentra with an exhaust can that looked like it should have been on a Peterbilt. I guess to some people, loud means fast. But once I saw him accelerate (from my rearview mirror), it was quite clear to me that he was driving a slug.

[horns666]

I need the number/contact for your insurance company.

Classic Automobile...check into it.

You can buy diffrent plans. I don't drive it much so I have 1000 mile plan. I just bop around here and to the shows and back.

I had to provode them with a photo when bought it in 2005. They didn't connect "classic" and a new vehicle with 0 miles until they saw a pic..duh.

The '84 Vette speaks for itself ..especially with approx 35,000 on the clock and original paint.

I would try to get into a good cond C4 Vette pretty cheap..for best bang for the buck. Then you can insure it like I do at $200 bucks a year.

EDIT:

These rock!!!

[CharvelRocker]

Hey bill, out of interest, what is the motor in the FFR? A Ford I'm assuming? I will consider the Neon ACR and Integra. Integra would be a tough swallow as they tend to be the butt of my ricer jokes, but they ARE common for a reason.

Ah, the Dodge Daytona from the 80s. I loved those just for their digital gauge clusters They also were always a bit cooler than the fox bodied Mustangs imo, and I bet I could scrounge a junk yard for one or for parts fairly easily.

For the Ford Probe, do you know if they were more or less reliable than it's cousin, the Mazda MX-6? I forget if they were built the same plant, but know as you said the motors were the same. Either way, it seems like I see a Probe everytime I go out, so they can't be too bad...

I tossed around the idea of an MX-5 Miata, but the idea of a convertible scares me a bit; flip it and you are screwed, and rollcages for them tend to be more expensive than hard tops, plus you may not be able to get the top back over the cage... yikes!

It would be fair to consider the Sentra SE-R too... we had one we bought for $150 at an auction, a very first year one. A new clutch and taillight cost more than the car! Boy was that thing little more than four wheels and a motor Lasted three years and then the timing belt snapped on it, so I would consider a Nissan just on the grounds that car was cheap, by all accounts junk, but lasted quite awhile and was a solid vehicle despite it's looks.

A C4 'vette would be KILLER, but since it's on and a bit above the upper end of my scale, and to be fair, I would need to check out the Mazda RX-7 FD or a Mitsubishi 3000GT, and I know maintenance/ownership costs on said vehicles would be a bit higher as well. Plus the fuel consumption would bother me bit.

Now a Pacer... that would be a badass sleeper!

Thanks for all the suggestions so far folks! Of course, I've also debated the cost of a new vehicle vs the cost of retrofitting my Corolla with a JDM Silvertop 4AGE 20 valve (4 cylinders, 1.6, 165hp, which gives it an outstanding amount of power based on it's size) and a manual (not hard has the cut outs in it for a clutch, the holes are just plugged up). That would probably put it near the performance range of most of the cars I am looking at, despite the Corolla's heavier weight... ah the options, where does one start!

[horns666]

Hey man, it's just a 225 hp bone stock 5.0 ripped out of a '88 Mustang donor. Then you have the Mustang's T5 tranny, and ect from the donor. That with a 3: 55 rear end in a ride that weighs less than 2100lbs is pretty kick ass. A super charger or a shot of NOS would make this thing..well, I'd prolly kill myself.

Man, if you like 80's digital clusters, and gauges, you'd go nuts with my '84 Vette. The damed thing is all blacked out..including rims. It looks like fuggin' "Kit". But I have much less hair than Hasslehoff, but much more charm..not saying much there am I?

[CharvelRocker]

I would think a super charger would be easy, and I doubt you would need a major overhaul of the motor if you kept the boost between 6-8psi. And yeah, I love 80's digital clusters and crap Corvettes are killer, just not sure I could afford to own one. I think the C4s are a bit under rated with 'vette people as they are kind of block looking stock and people just prefer the C5 as it is kind of a natural evolution of the C4 and the C4 thus get's viewed as outdated. The C4 Grand Sports were sweet though, as were the ZR-1s...

[Spivonious]

One word: Fiero.

[442w30]

I always thought the Conquest TSI was decent:


Maybe my favorite is the ~1995 Dodge Stealth / Mitsubishi 3000GT - thought about those?

[Flatpicker]

How about an Nissan NX 2000? They had the Sentra SE-R engines from the era and the insurance companies tend to forget about them.

Probably because they had a rep for being secretary's cars back in the 90's.

And they were ugly. But I liked them anyway.

[horns666]

It's weird. People shit when the '84 vette was first shown in Las Vegas. It was extremely popular at the time My dad bought it in '86 and was the 2nd owner. I bought it in March '93 and we still have it. So we owned it for 23 years. Since it's "None more BlacK' and loud as fuck, it always got alot of attention. It still does at the show, because of how it looks. Not many '84's out there that shiny with the original paint. There is spots that there is checking in the clear. But you don't see it until you're right on it. Collector's call that "patina"..whatever. I think some just got tired of the C4 basically. It went basically unchanged for 13 years from '83 to '96. The the C5 came out in '97 to 2004, only 7 years..the the C6 2005-present.

Now the C3s and C4s are making a comeback. Their classics now..and future classics. Grab an early C4 for about 5K now and hang onto it for a while. It'll be insured for more just in case.

[Flatpicker]

Hey bill, out of interest, what is the motor in the FFR? A Ford I'm assuming? I will consider the Neon ACR and Integra. Integra would be a tough swallow as they tend to be the butt of my ricer jokes, but they ARE common for a reason.

Ah, the Dodge Daytona from the 80s. I loved those just for their digital gauge clusters They also were always a bit cooler than the fox bodied Mustangs imo, and I bet I could scrounge a junk yard for one or for parts fairly easily.

For the Ford Probe, do you know if they were more or less reliable than it's cousin, the Mazda MX-6? I forget if they were built the same plant, but know as you said the motors were the same. Either way, it seems like I see a Probe everytime I go out, so they can't be too bad...

I tossed around the idea of an MX-5 Miata, but the idea of a convertible scares me a bit; flip it and you are screwed, and rollcages for them tend to be more expensive than hard tops, plus you may not be able to get the top back over the cage... yikes!

It would be fair to consider the Sentra SE-R too... we had one we bought for $150 at an auction, a very first year one. A new clutch and taillight cost more than the car! Boy was that thing little more than four wheels and a motor Lasted three years and then the timing belt snapped on it, so I would consider a Nissan just on the grounds that car was cheap, by all accounts junk, but lasted quite awhile and was a solid vehicle despite it's looks.

A C4 'vette would be KILLER, but since it's on and a bit above the upper end of my scale, and to be fair, I would need to check out the Mazda RX-7 FD or a Mitsubishi 3000GT, and I know maintenance/ownership costs on said vehicles would be a bit higher as well. Plus the fuel consumption would bother me bit.

Now a Pacer... that would be a badass sleeper!

Thanks for all the suggestions so far folks! Of course, I've also debated the cost of a new vehicle vs the cost of retrofitting my Corolla with a JDM Silvertop 4AGE 20 valve (4 cylinders, 1.6, 165hp, which gives it an outstanding amount of power based on it's size) and a manual (not hard has the cut outs in it for a clutch, the holes are just plugged up). That would probably put it near the performance range of most of the cars I am looking at, despite the Corolla's heavier weight... ah the options, where does one start!

Had a Ford Probe. Don't go there. They were worse than the Mazda.
Personally, I'd like to rebuild a 80's Chevy MonteCarlo SS.
Kids back in the day wrecked them. Most I have found were bondo boxes with crooked frames.

[TreeFitty]

I had a 94 Probe GT for about two years and two things stand out in my memory: bad torque-steer and a squeeling power window the service centers couldn't figure out.

[horns666]

A Ford "Probe" is not a good name for a guys' car...especially when it's a pink one!

:think: