Cheap Performance

["Chris Dinsmore" <dinsmoc@xxxxxxxxxxx>]

John,

- -----Original Message-----
From: John Planow <JRP7731@domain.elided>
>$2k (okay, MAYBE $3k), and don't seem to be left with a lot of attractive
options.
><snip> My thoughts thus far are mid- to late 80s Jetta
>GLIs and GTIs.  Any other suggestions?

Im looking into the same market as you for cars right now. Basically I am
looking for a fun good performing and reliable car that I can modify the
crap out of without violating a warranty or lease agreement. The other
requirement for me at least is to have a reasonable insurance premium. That
last part ruled out the obvious choices of camaros, mustangs, fieros, mr2's
and rx7's.  In that vein there are a few others you should consider in this
pricerange. (in order of desireability to my way of thinking).

1. Audi(gt, coupe, 4k) : there are a few models here for consideration, but
the most bang for the buck is going to come out of an early eighties quattro
coupe turbo. The 4000 is a great car though a little heavy. The wonderful
thing about audis from a buyers perspective is that they dont have the same
mystique as BMW so they dont carry as much of a price penalty. You can often
find great early to mid eighties audis for well under 5k

2. SAAB 900 turbo. Even a late eighties example can be had for well under
5k, and sometimes under 3k, but at that price Id be looking for major
problems. These are great cars, if a little quirky and if properly
maintained are incredibly reliable. Parts are a ripoff and most mechanics
dont know how to work on saabs so you really have to be careful.

3. Alfa Romeo GTV6. A great handling car that got an undeserved reputation
for unreliability because people werent following the recommended
maintenance procedures. These cars are relatively rare, but quite attractive
if you can find a well maintained example. They handle great and accelerate
quite nicely. Parts availability is a problem in most parts fo the country,
but a lot of mechanicals are shared with the spyder so you can find them
with a little work. 3K is the absolute bottom for an acceptable car

4. Late eighties Acura Integra: Reliable, painless fun with great gas
mileage, but not for people over 5'11" (Im 6'2"). They are also overpriced
for good examples becasue of all the boy racer types who wrapped theirs
around trees the first time they opened the throtle. Of course the side
effect of that is that there are lots of junked examples to get parts off
of. Expect to pay around 3k for a good example of the 87 or 88

5. Late eighties Toyota Celica: Ever driven one? They are great. If you can
get the all trac turbo you are golden. Mine went 175k miles of highspeed
hard driving, club racing, and having fun in the dirt. I never had a single
problem with the car until I tossed a rod and that was after a twelve hour
run at about 85 mph in the middle of august at the end of a 6000 mile trip.
I would recommend this car to anyone looking for a fun drive. The non-turbo
versions are a little light on power but you wont notice becasue the
transmission is one of the best ever put into a car. The clutches are awful
almost without exception and tend to be weak. If you upgrade the horsepower
upgrade the clutch or you'll be replacing them constantly. Also the stock
brakes tend to wear very quickly and unevenly when pushed hard. Expect to
pay 2000 or so for a good 88 st, 2500 for a gt, 3000 for a gts, and 3500 or
more for an all-trac.

6. Volkswagon Scirocco 16V. Very quick little cars with a lot of potential
for upgrading. If you need any proof of the perfomance potential just take a
look at the SCCA IT/C and IT/A results and youll see dozens of them. The
best part is they are downright cheap, a good example is usually less than
3k. The worst part is that most of them are basketcases. They were often
purchased as first cars by kids and subsequently abused, thrashed and never
really maintained. (Most of the comments I've made about the scirocco apply
to the GTI's as well)

7. 1990 Ford Escort GT: Okay, dont laugh and dont say that all american cars
are shit or anything like that. These cars are VERY FUN to drive. They are
cheap, resonably reliable because ford completely understressed the engines
(the cosworth racing version of that engine has been tuned to put out more
then 450hp), and they actually handle well with a few standard mods. Plus
they have more passenger room than a 3 series and almost as much cargo space
as the saab. The biggest problem they have is brakes. The stock ones are
basically worthless. Replace them immediately. If you can find the parts
from the euro performance fords they will do fine. They actually expect
european drivers to sue their brakes whereas they expect us americans to
just do a lot of highway driving. If not, do what I did and use mustang
brakes. Expect to pay around 2k for a good example.

Well that my little look at bargain sporty cars. I have driven axamples of
all of these cars, most of them several times and done quite a bit of
research on this. I have seen each of these cars successfully used for club
racing and autocrossing, and all of them are easily modifiable for that
purpose. Im still looking for a BMW of course, but if I cant find an
acceptable example I'll probably end up with one of the above cars. Anybody
have any more or better ideas Im certainly open to them


Chris Dinsmore
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The eyes may be te windows on the soul
But the word is the doorway to the mind
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