Sports car for a motorcycle guy?

[acidburn]

The Wiffus wants me to buy a sports car, thinks a new removeable hard top corvette is the hot ticket for many reasons.
Its for me she could care less what i buy, thinks a Nissan 350Z convertable( i like allot) is not enough car and not searious enough.
Says ill love buying stuffus and bolt ons for the Vette, bigger is better, buy something good.
So if you could basically have anything up to around 75k, wanted bang for buck, liked biger motors, v-8's rule kinda guy, but are open minded and creative, new or used what would you consider, needs to be a rag top or removeable hard top, cuz ya loves open air stuffus and so forth, ya lives in Ca, etc,,, 911 or other Targas are high marks for me, want it to run most of the time, mercs etc are just to posey and unreliable. BMW's na way to unreliable but sure do like the convertables, baby motors like turbo 2.5's etc, nope been driving them all weekend, not for me, 3.8l on up, bigger is better, always.
What kinda sports cars do we like, this is not easy, beleive me.

[lightfighter]

the 08 viper srt10 roadster promises 600 hp.... pricing will be a bi over 75k though, since msrp on an 06 was at 75k for a coupe.

http://www.rsportscars.com/eng/cars/viper_srt.asp

[tm1100s]

M3.

But why do I have the feeling you're thinking about how to install headlights and turn signals on a NAS-CAR or F1.

[throttlemeister]

Just wait for the KTM X-Bow.

http://www.ktm.com/Detail.223.0.html?&nodeID=100144&cHash=21a1fcf366

It will be the closest thing to F1 you will get on public roads. It's a cart on steroids.

[shoemakj]

What about something like a Cobra replica? Plenty of opportunity for tweakage and customization. One of the guys in my Ducati club had one built up for him a couple of years ago. He seems to enjoy blasting around the shenandoah/Blue Ridge area in it.

http://www.dynamicmotorsport.com/pricing.html

[pmc847]

2008 M3. V8 400+HP.

[1100s nut]

Yep, the new M3 is nasty. Thats going to be one fun car. I`m not a vette guy, but I respect them for what they have done with their ZO6.

Lane

[Kristian,CO]

Never been a vette guy until the latest generation. The new Z06 would be awesome. Also, those latest Cobra replicars are quite impressive.

[SCOTTinNJ]

I like the Lotus Elise. http://www.lotuscars.com/Elise.aspx

I'm not a big fan, but the Honda 2000 has a "motorcycle engine."

[sdaddy]

While Corvettes, Vipers, etc. are great cars, nothing is closer to a bike than a Lotus Elise. Checkout elisetalk. 35K for a very clean used '05. Less than 50K new. Feel free to contact me for any additional info.

[ckcarr]

Are you like 6' 8"?

Corvette all the way. Z06
Check it out. Drive it.

[Trex]

Drive a bunch of the cars and make a decision based upon what really strikes you, rather than just looking at specs. I had an E46 M3 Cabrio that was a lot of fun. Now I drive a Z4 and I love it. I have had no reliability problems with BMWs. Make sure you drive an M Z4 Roadster. Mercs are rarely available with a manual stick shift and that is something that I require. Best bang for the buck is probably the Vette. It's not me, but it could be you. Is a Z06 convertible available? I don't think so. Make sure you drive a new 911 cabrio, too.

[vtrandall]

I can't believe no one has mentioned the Ariel Atom

http://www.arielmotor.co.uk/

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WaWoo82zNUA&mode=related&search=
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k_wTBZ2vFy4&eurl=http%3A%2F%2Fwww%2Earielmotor%2Eco%2Euk%2F04% 2Fpress%2Ehtm
[IMG]http://rds.yahoo.com/_ylt=A9iby4C_ll1G8BMAvyKjzbkF/SIG=136n9s1l0/EXP=1180624959/**http%3A//www.ibike.com.hk/01_bike_report/overseas/assorted/05_best_0_100_0/ariel.jpg[/IMG]

[Hong Kong Nick]

... the M3 isn't a convertible but this baby is ...

http://www.bmwusa.com/vehicles/3/335iconvertible/default

... I know you said no BMWs but they're better now thsn brfore ...

Wife's like this kind of car!

[BMW Atlanta]

Without a doubt I would throw down $50-60K on a 98 limited edition Toyota Turbo Supra Silver with black leather interior. And then I would spend the remaining $15K+ on upgrades like wheels, suspension and some performance bolt-ons for a very reliable 600hp sleeper.

[JonyRR]

dollar for dollar, pound for pound, grin for grin, in my opinion, a new vette convert is a no-brainer.
totally awesome
world class handling, stopping, and go-ing
chebby reliability
cheap to maintain
cheap to make WAYYY!! fast.
superchargers
nitrous
etc
383 strokers
head porting
all that stuff
is cheaper to do to a chebby and they stay reliable up to rediculious power levels.
I'm actually paring down all my stuff so I can get a 5-year old one next year....or that's the plan this month.

[acidburn]

GD, exactly what i was going to say and the ole lady still keeps reminding me that i am in fact a motor head and a muscle car guy at heart.
I can get new ones just over cost too.
Z06's all over the placeout here cant sell them MSRP and you can deal, but no top removeable so they blow.
The turbo convertible BMW is temping but i feel foreign in one, i feel at home in the vette, feels right to me, drove them all weekend, seems to fit and they do make tons of goodies, tons.
The Lotis, looks fun but i would break those things in a week.
Cant see going form a 1l motor on bikes to a 2l on a car, does nothig for me at all, now a aluminum block v8 chebbeeeee, hmmmm, kinda irresistable and as pointed out there is a no brianer part, and oh wait, i likes em allot, beachen factor is friggginnnnn huge!

[JonM]

MZ4 coupe, used 996 TT, used air cooled P-car.

[bradzdotcom]

my corvette pinned the front end to the ground. was way too tail happy and unfriendly in the rain.
the porsche was "ok", but pushed the front end when you buried the throttle.
the bmw was too heavy.
the ferrari 308 was horrible. shortest 4-wheel relationship i ever had (2.5 months).

i gave up. i have a '79 VW bug convertible now. the only chip in it is potato, probably somewhere under the seat.

that ariel looks cool.....so does the lotus for an all-weather toy.

overall, you have my sympathy....but no advice.

[MaineRoads]

the only chip in it is potato.....too funny!