Recently we established that fun can be found for $4,999 or less. Then we proved that greatness can be yours for less than $9,999.
Well, now it's time to buy some awesome. And awesome is available for less than $20,000. Awesome as in cars that, just a few years ago, were considered some of the very finest performance machines in the world. Badass automobiles with legendary names like Boxster, Evo, M3, STI and Z06, for less than half the cost of a loaded Ford Taurus.
Because this price point is pretty lofty, we left out any vehicle more than a decade old or anything you're likely to have rented at an airport. So no 20-year-old 911s here and no surplus Mercury Sables rescued from the Hertz auction. This is undeniably a list of enthusiast cars, real performance machines, but it's also a list of rides that can be driven every day. Each and every one would make you an acceptable commuter.
All prices come straight from Edmunds.com and reflect True Market Value (TMV®) dealer retail valuations. Some cars are priced beyond our $19,999 point, but dealer retail values are usually on the high side of the range and cars can be found cheaper through private parties. Dealer retail may be $21,163 on a 2003 BMW M3, but there are M3s from that year available for under $20K.
Don't settle. Spend wisely.
2001-'03 BMW M3 Coupe
Way back in January 2008 Inside Line added a black 2002 M3 coupe to its long-term fleet. For 18 months we drove that thing hard, put it away wet, and dang near cried when it went away. We drive a lot of new cars around here, but none of them inspired the sort of collective affection we all felt for that bought-used E46.
As it turns out, the E46 M3 (the third generation of the M3 built between 2001 and 2006) is likely the last of the breed to be powered by a six-cylinder engine. And what a whomping good engine it is — 3.2 liters of inline glory producing a rollicking 333 horsepower and revving to a ripping 8,000 rpm. Back in 2001 when we first tested an E46 M3, the $52,700 car whipped to 60 mph in 5.0 seconds and cranked down the quarter-mile in 13.5 seconds at 105.2 mph. Nearly seven years later, our used 2002 M3 did the same tricks in 5.4 and 13.7 seconds at 103.3 mph. That's not a lot of performance deterioration considering the car was 6 years old and had 50,000 miles on its odometer at the time.
Plus it still handles, brakes and drives like an M3. And that's all good.
We paid $30,000 for our E46 M3, but now 18 months later that price has dropped to somewhere between $17,000 and $19,000. That's not an insignificant depreciation hit for a used car. But that's good news if you're in the market now. After all, it's virtually impossible that today's $19,000 M3 will drop to, like, $7,000 in the course of 18 months.
If it were our money: We'd skip any M3 equipped with the SMG sequential gearbox simply because it's not as much fun as one with a traditional six-speed manual. 2001 and 2002 M3s are now safely under $20K (even convertibles if they are your thing), with the occasional 2003 model dipping down there, too. Aftermarket wheels wouldn't bother us. But we'd skip cars that showed evidence of hard racing and a lack of maintenance.
Online sources: M3Forum, BMW Car Club of America
2004-'05 Subaru Impreza WRX STi
When it comes to improbable legends, it's hard to think of a car as improbably legendary as the Impreza WRX STi. It's a four-door brick with wings, the turbocharged flat-4 engine makes funky sounds, Impreza isn't a real word and, for Pete's sake, it's a Subaru. But it's such a great car.
The STi was built to go racing, and from its narrow seats to the staggeringly effective adjustable all-wheel-drive system and steering that reacts as if it were goosed by a cattle prod, it's a pure performance machine. It just happens to seat five.
While there are all sorts of decorative variations between a regular WRX and an STi of the 2004-'05 vintage, the major difference between the two is that the STi uses a 2.5-liter engine instead of the WRX's 2.0-liter, and the manual transmission has six forward gears instead of just five. That means where the WRX has 227 hp aboard, the STi has a full-throated 300.
In direct comparison tests at the time, the WRX STi almost invariably came in a very close 2nd to its archrival, the Mitsubishi Evo. However, Subaru has a reputation for screwing its cars together better than Mitsubishi and that has paid off for STi owners in slightly better resale value. So expect to pay more for a used STi than an Evo.
If it were our money: Subarus are all rugged cars, but the STi is often stressed in ways an Outback would likely never be. Look for the rare car that hasn't been modified and hasn't been raced. But who would have bought an STi and not raced it?
Online sources: Club WRX, North American Subaru Impreza Owners Club, i-Club.com
2001-'03 Chevrolet Corvette Z06
Forget — for a moment at least — that today Chevrolet offers a supercharged Corvette with 638 hp aboard as standard. Back in 2001, when the C5-generation Z06 was introduced, 385 hp seemed absolutely towering. And to any reasonable historian of muscle machinery, 385 hp still is a hell of a lot of ponies.
The C5 Z06 was, legend has it, GM's way of using up the awkward two-door hardtop coupe body style it had developed for no apparent reason. Instead of just dumping those weird notchbacks on dealers, the Corvette engineers decided to use the stiff and relatively lightweight body to their advantage by stuffing it full of the best Corvette engine built up until that point — the 5.7-liter LS6 version of the LS1. Then they pushed that advantage with a few weight-saving tricks (a titanium exhaust system and lighter won't-run-flat tires), a six-speed manual transaxle with tightened ratios and a stiffer "FE4" active suspension system.
Yes, today's C6 Corvettes are faster still. But the C5 Z06 is still absolutely scalding. This is a car that will slam to 60 mph in just 4.5 seconds and crush through the quarter-mile in 12.8 seconds at 112.9 mph. Then the engineers decided to fortify the Z06 for 2002 by upping the LS6's output to 405 hp.
The C5 Z06 is the fastest car on this list. That it's dropped down to under $20K makes it an astonishing bargain.
If it were our money: Compared to the "regular" C5 Corvette, the Z06 was produced in tiny numbers — just over 28,000 between 2001 and 2004. And many Z06s were bought by older buyers who wanted the best, but actually didn't put many miles on them. And many have been pampered. So scour the obits and hit the estate sales!
Online sources: Z06Vette.com, National Corvette Owners Association
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