THSCC Forums

for the first time in what must be years i'm down to one street car, and that's only if you put the excursion in that category (i don't - i think of it solely as the tow rig, to be driven only with a trailer hooked up). so now it's time for my favorite game in the whole wide world "what car should i buy next?"

i have four basic requirements:

1. must have a modicum of utility: the ability to carry ten bags of groceries, or two servers, or my road bike, etc. otherwise i'd just get a cheap miata and call it a day.

2. must be relatively inexpensive: i'm thinking 5k but ideally closer to two or three grand, but i don't mind paying a little more if the value proposition is solid. plus it's gonna sit outside most of the time so anything too nice probably won't stay that way.

3. must be reasonably capable of circulating vir in a safe and entertaining manner with nothing more than different brake pads. sometimes i don't want to bother putting the e30 on the trailer and towing when i'm instructing and will only drive a few sessions at no more than 8.5/10ths.

4. must be manual transmission.

things that would be ideal but i'm willing to negotiate on:

5. good fuel economy. i work from home and don't really drive all that much so fuel burn isn't amazingly critical, but i always prefer cars that don't use more than their fair share of resources to get the job done.

6. obd1, don't want to deal with the added complexity and inspection BS that comes with obd2.

7. rear wheel drive, don't really need to explain why to this crowd. and zero interest in anything awd so no subaru or audi.

8. easily located in or around the triangle, anything rare enough that i have to drive to TN or GA isn't worth the effort.

so far i've identified the following candidates:

93-95 e36 sedan. meets all of my criteria, but 5 speed sedans are not as easy to find as i had hoped, and repairs can be a bit costly.

DA chassis integra. except for being fwd also meets all of my criteria, i've driven a couple on track and was surprised at how good the chassis can be despite this handicap.

mustang gt (fox? sn95?). never owned one, don't know much about them, but hard to argue with v8 power and rwd. concerned about reliability, and insurance could be higher (although i only have the bare minimum required by law).

gm f-car. same comments as the stang, and might not have enough cargo capacity.

porsche 944? always intrigued by them, price is pushing the budget and repairs might be costly but hatchbacks rule and it's obviously track capable.

am i overlooking anything obvious, or even not so obvious?

This one looks nice. Should have LSD too

http://raleigh.craigslist.org/cto/1653610748.html

_________________
Mike Whitney
whit32@gmail.com, 919-454-5445
V10, V8, V8t, I6, I6, V6, F4t, I4, I4, I4, I4, I2, 1, 1

Here's a good search string for all 92-95 manual cars between $4-6k. That's how I spotted the 95 BMW:

http://raleigh.craigslist.org/search/ct ... +|+5-speed)+(1995+|+1994+|+1993+|+1992+|+95+|+94+|+93+|+92+)&catAbbreviation=cta&minAsk=4000&maxAsk=6000

_________________
Mike Whitney
whit32@gmail.com, 919-454-5445
V10, V8, V8t, I6, I6, V6, F4t, I4, I4, I4, I4, I2, 1, 1

evan sent me that too, i just really prefer a sedan for a variety of reasons. mighty tempting though...

Since you mentioned them, I see about 33mpg on drives to and from the track in mine.....sometimes even double digits on track. If they aren't rusty, they are fairly easy to work on too.

_________________
Stephen Westerfield
2009 Infiniti M35 | 2007 Honda Fit Sport | 2005 Ford Mustang GT |2000 GMC Sierra |1992 Acura Integra LS | Super Westerfield Bros Acura Integra

What does "odb1|2" mean?

_________________
"Build a man a fire and he'll stay warm for a day. Set a man on fire and he'll stay warm the rest of his life."
'93 Subaru Legacy DIRTBOMB
'98 BMW M3
2013 Rallyx Co-VP

Onboard diagnostic specs 1 and 2. 1 is for 1990-1995 (not sure about the first year) and obd2 is for 96+ (2 O2 sensors).

obd0 was prior to that.

_________________
2011/2012 Autox VP
2013/2014.5 President
2013 Top Gun

2015 Fit

22R-EC => 4G63 => D16Y7 + D16Y8 => EJ255 + K24Z2 => K20Z3 + K24Z2 => K24Z2 + M54 => L15B

944...NOOOOOO. Seriously. I strongly advise against it. I know they all aren't moneypits like mine, but...in your price range, you will end up with a car that will need fairly expensive maintenance very soon.

If you can find a Protege or a Protege5, that might be a decent (and newer) alternative to an Integra if you'll consider a FWD car. The Pro5 will be great for the grocery and server hauling. There is no substitute for a hatch/wagon hauling around a few servers. The back of my wagon has seen many HP Proliants...

Another FWD alternative is the Focus. It will be hard to find an SVT in your price range, but it fits all the criteria. I don't know if you've met Rich Anderson(former club member), but he used to track a mildly modded Focus ZX3. I co-drove a couple of events in the car, and it was pretty fun.

_________________
Tom Freeman
'98 M3/4/5 | '93 Spec3 325i | '12 TSX sport wagon | '03 Tahoe
Team Silver Bullets '91 240SX

240sx?

_________________
In need of car.

i just received the latest issue of GRM today and there's a whole section about the 944. sounds nice but yeah, i'd have to spent more than i want to get a good car.

i had a protege before, and a p5 would be nice, as would a focus. but both cost more than a teg and probably aren't much (if any) faster. plus the teg has a huge aftermarket and replacement parts are cheap and readily available. good suggestions though.

that's a good suggestion, although the more desirable (later) cars were coupes with very little trunk space. the early hatches were cool though. but good luck finding a decent one of any vintage, pretty much every one i've seen has been turned into (or at least attempted) a "drift car".

Hmmm, LSD looks pretty doubtful to me. The guy's ad says "positive traction" but it doesn't appear to have the cold weather package (as evidenced by lack of seat heater switches), and LSD supposedly only came with the cold weather package on these cars.

_________________
Keith Q.
2008 Top Gun
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KmX8XuZ_DCo&NR=1

If you go e36 make sure the whole cooling system has had the 'e36 freshening' . Also make sure the tranny mounts and RTABs have been replaced if it has over 100k miles. Or be prepared to do all that fun stuff yourself (but can be used as a bargaining chip IMO).

EDIT: Also the weepy P/S reservoir hoses. When you go to a private seller and point all this stuff out, they tend to cave in on price .

_________________
2011/2012 Autox VP
2013/2014.5 President
2013 Top Gun

2015 Fit

22R-EC => 4G63 => D16Y7 + D16Y8 => EJ255 + K24Z2 => K20Z3 + K24Z2 => K24Z2 + M54 => L15B

...and the VANOS rattle and the rear shock tower failure/weakness

Here's a nice FAQ

http://www.unitedbimmer.com/kb-e36-comm ... ts-faq.php

Reading this made me choose E30 over E36. YMMV

_________________
Steve Carter
1972 Datsun 240Z-- resto pics at http://picasaweb.google.com/srcartermd
2007 GPW Honda S2000-- STR 86

IF you get interested in a Mustang (which I consider unlikely), look for a 96 or newer. Better yet a 99 or newer. I'm not sure of the prices but a late O1 (mine's an early 01) through 04 will have the best of the "sort of Fox" based chassis/engines/brakes, etc. Our 97 and 01 have been extremely reliable!!!! However, we bought new. A manual trans Mustang has the potential for having been "used hard". The autos are very reliable.

Don't buy one which has been "modded" unless you can REALLY check it out and the seller.

I'm out of town for a week so if you get serious I may not be able to respond.

FYI if I had a new Mustang on order I could sell you my 01 GT 5 spd. But I don't.

_________________
Dick Rasmussen

FS 50 2018 Mustang GT