| Author | Message | ||
     Sifo |
The wife and I have gotten the itch for a convertible. Miata nails what we are thinking of pretty well, but isn't exactly the most powerful thing on the road. That doesn't really bother me though, I will probably just upgrade it with a turbo kit, that seem to get them up to around 225-250 HP. I actually went to see one with a turbo, but it was older/higher mileage that I really was hoping for and the body was in worse shape than the add claimed. It also had a racing suspension that was way too stiff for enjoying any long drives. The power was right where I would like though. Fun little tire scorcher! Other possible suspects would be a BMW Z3 or Z4. Or perhaps a Sky/Solstice. There's a high end used sports car dealer near by with a fairly low mileage Sky Red Line turbo package. I NEED to check that one out, but they are talking about 1-5 inches of really slick snow today. Love the lines of the Sky and the Z4. Budget is flexible, but really want to keep the final price to the $15K range or so. That will likely knock out more exotic choices. Any thoughts? Experience with anything, good or bad? I think the Miata's styling is OK, but the aftermarket for upgrading all kinds of things on them is fantastic. That's a big plus to me. Also any pitfalls of adding a turbo to a Miata? It sounds like they are stout enough to handle 250 HP after upgrading the clutch. Thanks in advance. I figured I might get less biased opinions here than a Miata forum, plus I am open to other options I may have not thought of. | ||
| Chauly |
Smart Passion Cabrio.  | ||
| Chauly |
... with the Smartuki Conversion. | ||
| Sifo |
NO.  | ||
| S2t_bama |
Sounds like a Honda S2000 to me. | ||
| Aesquire |
A buddies brother has a S2000. Nice car. He's run the Dragon a number of times, and it handles great. He's also spent a fair sum of cash making it handle better. With the 2 of us ( not petite fellows ) in it our shoulders are not just rubbing, but compressed. Not a car I'd ever buy. He's put enough money into it to make it faster, that he'd have been better off buying the Corvette that was his other desire, but he figured he couldn't afford it. As it turns out, he did. Since he's already spent that money. Well outside your budget, but a thought for your search. The Local Cadillac dealer always seems to have a fairly new Corvette on the lot. This winter they had a 2014 Stingray with 1600 miles, that they quoted $45k to me, and hinted they'd come down more. They see this a lot. An older fellow finally gets his Corvette, discovers it hurts his back to drive & enter/exit and trades it for a CTS. Worth taking a look at the luxury car dealers for the oddball sporty car in the lot. | ||
| Sifo |
Thanks, I forgot the Honda. They have the style nailed quite well too. They seem scarce on the local market though. The one think that I wonder about (with the Sky too) is long term parts availability. I was wondering with the Sky if it might become collectible, especially with the Red Line Turbo package. Not the reason I'm looking, but could be an added bonus/gamble. It won't be an every day driver and will be parked indoors for the winters, so I would expect it's condition to stay good for a long time. | ||
| Thumper74 |
The Sky/Solstice were parts bin cars. Most mechanical bits were taken from other cars in GM's stable at the time. Long term parts availability, outside of colision parts, shouldn't be an issue. | ||
| Sifo |
Corvette, gets tossed around a lot in our house. While we could do it, it's a good chunk of change for what is essentially a toy for us. No doubt insurance will be higher too. I'm a little afraid that if I go to a Cadillac dealership there will no getting out without a CTS coupe. That will really blow my budget and still won't have a rag top. Corvettes have already become the thing to collect and are hard to find at realistic prices. Too many people think they have a top dollar car, when what they really have is a fairly well worn used car. That's a problem with the current muscle car market in general. | ||
| Sifo |
The Sky/Solstice were parts bin cars. Most mechanical bits were taken from other cars in GM's stable at the time. Long term parts availability, outside of colision parts, shouldn't be an issue. Thanks! That's pretty much what I though. My wife has real concerns though. I'll use your opinion to press the issue a bit.  The sky in question pushed the budget slightly, but if it's as good in person as the pictures show, it could be a winner. This is kind of a lower end car for this dealer, so perhaps they would flex slightly. | ||
| Tankhead |
I have owned 2 Toyota MR2 Spyders. Both 2003. Great fun true sport cars. Midengine fun. Great times. | ||
| Sifo |
Hadn't even thought about the Mister2. I remember the first generation MR2 and the styling just failed with me. Looks like the third generation might be worth a look though. Something to look into. Thanks! | ||
| Sifo |
Quick read on the MR2 shows the third generation to be 138 hp, and I don't see any thing about higher power options. I was really thinking about closer to 1 HP for 10 pounds ratio. How are they to "improve"? What needs to be upgraded after boosting the HP? The Miata turbo kits look like easy upgrades, if a bit pricey. | ||
| Wolfridgerider |
We had a 1992 Miata and it was a blast. All kinds of after market stuff to tweak it. My wife and I were out and about and came across a 2006 Miata and ended up trading or 92 in on it. The 92 had almost 180,000 miles on the clock and it didn't burn any oil. The 2006 has a few more ponies and I find myself sideways every now and then when the hammer gets dropped. Its not "FAST" in a straight line but you wouldn't be able to get away from it on a twisty road. The Miata is hands down a better car in my opinion than the Solstice or Sky. I looked at them when they first came out. They lost my business when I asked them to put the top down. The Miata takes 3 seconds to drop the top and you don't lose any trunk space. The Sky/Solstice requires you to get out of the car, unsnap this and that and you lose ALL your trunk space. I've been thinking about selling it. Let me know if you are interested in it. The Jeep has been getting all my attention for the last few years. Black on Black w/6 speed manual. I'll check the mileage when I get home. Here is the VIN# if you want to check it out. JM1NC25F360103606 | ||
| Etennuly |
I just spent my GlitchBadness weekend in my Vette. It is an '86 C4 that I have replaced the mechanical wear stuff underneath most all of it, and I lowered it a couple inches. It only had 42,000 miles on it when I got it a year and a half ago. It has about 62,000 on it now. This thing has become so much fun to play around with. It has the 4+3 manual transmission with the Multiport injected 350. For the whole weekend, which included a trip over the Dragon and Cherohala, and a lot of running around the twisties of the Suches area, it averaged 22.3 mpg. I would recommend looking around at a C5 with a manual transmission for pure fun. A lot of these cars were held as second cars or the original owner thought they might gain value by not running up mileage. It is not hard to find one with less that 40,000 miles in excellent shape for less than $20,000. Mine is a coupe with a removable top, makes a convertable kind of unnecessary with less stuff to rot or fail. But the convertables are out there too. Look in Vette specific sales books or Vette traders. Sometimes I have seen nearly perfect garage kept low mile Vettes for the same money that I can buy one that needs some work and a paint job. Oh, and side pipes on a V8 are still as awesome as they were back in the early 70's! | ||
| Etennuly |
This is my Vette's introduction to the mile high Cherohala club from my trip home Sunday.  It was too cool for any top off action up there! These "non special" early year C4 Vettes aren't worth much more than $6,000 even in nice shape. An excellent garage kept one around 30,000 miles will not be valued at more than $10,000 or so. The values can be funny. Mine is a nicely equipped non special car. It has one rare factor. There were only 800 made in shit-brindle brown metallic!  In effort to "wring the shit out of it" I have been painting it to emulate the Penske blue and yellow, like their race cars of the sixties. No mattter how nice it will become it will be surprising if it reaches a value over $6,000, even if I spent $8,000 fixing it. (Message edited by etennuly on March 23, 2015) | ||
| Court |
I've got to say . . . from my experience over the last 2 years . . . you can't have much more CHEAP fun than with an old MG. I had an MGB which was a hoot. If you happen to get a "B" (you can buy a GOOD one for $5,000) let me know . . . I have a large collection of books, service manuals and wiring diagrams. | ||
| Aesquire |
Just looked at Craigslist.... one word. FIERO! | ||
| Azxb9r |
The newer Miatas have enough power to be fun while still being very reliable and getting god gas mileage. The earlier Miatas always reminded me of an MG without the headaches. The Honda S2000 is great if you can find one. The Z4 is very fun, but you are looking at considerably more money than with the Miata. | ||
| Reducati |
i recommend a mini coupe or roadster in s form (turbo) or jcw, or my old ride which was an audi tt   | ||
| Hybridmomentspass |
3rd gen MR2s can be beefed up, but, like many/most things, it'll depend on your wallet. People have done a number of engine swaps, and even forced induction, so more power is doable for sure. mr2oc.com is a great source of information Dont get hung up on HP numbers, DRIVE stuff and see how it feels. | ||
| Xbimmer |
I was thinking MGB also. My brother owned a '67 back in the day, not fast by any means but plain FUN to drive. Friend's girlfriend had a Midget but getting in and out of that was a chore for 34" inseam legs. I could definitely settle for a MGB to tour around in if I couldn't ride any more. | ||
| Mr_grumpy |
Caterham 7. | ||
| Sifo |
We stopped by the used sports car dealer today after work. We're buried in snow again today, so I didn't even want to test drive one. There's no rush anyway. Sat in the Sky. Love the styling inside and out. It felt just a bit cramped in every dimension though, compared to the Miata. Kind of a shame. I think it's off the list, especially hearing about the top and trunk comment. That's exactly why I asked on BadWeb. They did have an '05 Vette at $26K. The Vette is kind of my wife's long time dream car. That's really stretching the budget we set though. I bet we could do better if we really set on looking at Vettes. Didn't waste much time with the sales guy though. Crappy day to shop there. The cars are packed in tight and they are still digging them out. They like to pull them out and park them under their covered area to show them. We took a quick walk around the lot though and saw a nice Audi TT in a rag top, and a nice Boxter. Both for just under $20K. Fun place to walk around... These are among their cheapest cars! Thanks for the comments, they help a lot. Fiero? I came this close (I'm holding my thumb and index finger a fraction of an inch apart here) to buying one when they first came out. Wound up with a Trans AM instead though. I still wouldn't mind one. A close friend had one a while back. It's not in the running for this slot in the garage though. Dont get hung up on HP numbers, DRIVE stuff and see how it feels. I do agree with that in large part. I do own and love a XB after all.  If I lived in a better area for fun roads power would be far less important. When linking turns together isn't an option, you do tend to like HP a bit more though. To be honest, the stock '99 Miata I tested wasn't bad at all, it just wasn't totally inspiring in a straight line. I know, that's not what the built it for... Thanks much for the input! | ||
| Buellish |
I had a '99 Miata,Nardi Edtion,black w/tan leather and a tan top,manual trans.I added a cold air kit,a Borla dual tip exhaust,an XM head unit and Toyo Proxes 4's and called it done.I have rarely had as much fun in a car.I commuted in it (30mpg),I hauled a single rail with the S2T to Homecoming (24mpg) and took it to the mountains of N Georgia/N Carolina several times a year.I only sold it because I thought I needed a pickup.I miss it still. | ||
| Sifo |
Caterham 7 Had to look that one up. If I were going that route, I would be more likely to do a Flying Miata Catfish! | ||
| Ratbuell |
http://arielatom.com/atom3gallery/#atom-3-gallery Won't be $15k...but enough power to peel your face! https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WaWoo82zNUA | ||
| Sifo |
If going no doors or top at all, I still like the Catfish.  | ||
| Court |
By the way ...... If it's fun you seek...... Join me in counting down the days until we get the new Shelbt GT350. | ||
| Sifo |
How far do I have to stretch the $15K budget to get into a GT350? That does sound like fun though. Still thinking drop top. |
