non P car fun daily driver

[onewhippedpuppy]

I find the E36 interior to be offensively cheap. I've owned two, both were cheaply made of poor materials and rattled like an '80s Chevy Cavalier. I have since vowed to never buy another E36, and I find myself shying away from other BMWs as well because of the experience. They also grenade their cooling systems at about 100k, and you can expect to rebuild the suspension at about the same time. I know many on here really enjoy their E36s, but I wasn't one of them.

Several options I'd seriously look at in the sub-$10k market:

944S2 - relatively simple car, great support, turbo power without the hassles, very well made inside and out, good MPG, practical and easy to live with daily, good A/C, etc.
Boxster - in my opinion the best sports car deal going. Flat six goodness, good MPG, incredible to drive, nicely made, reliable.
Jaguar XJR - the XJR of the late 1990s/early 2000s were the best of the Ford era Jags, they had Ford reliability with British Jaguar charm. I loved my X308 XJR, it had a spectacular 370 HP DOHC V8, insanely comfy seats, beautifully crafted interior, and it looked like pure sex.
Toyota MR2 turbo (2nd gen) - reliable, good MPG, sexy exterior, mid-engine.
Mercedes C36/C43 - great to drive if you don't mind a slushbox, bank vault interior, an M3 that's actually well made.
Lexus GS - 80% of the BMW experience in a quality and reliable package, V8 has 300 HP.

I would avoid the RX-8, the early models had some pretty serious engine and oil consumption issues.

[Tobra]

The answer is, Miata

it was for me anyway. You won't get one like this for $7K. You can get a very nice one for that price, or a little less and spend the balance on spare wheels and snow tires to match. You can fit more in the trunk than you would think. When done with DD duty, you can gut it and make a spec racer out of it

[chrenan]

Looks like a used high mile Mazda RX-8 is my direction, any input?

I'm daily driving a 2006 RX-8 I picked up this year for cheap, 40,000 kms on the odometer when I got it (24,000 miles?). There are good deals out there to be had.

Lots of "interesting" information posted above on the RX-8, all I can say is go to RX8Club.com - Powered by vBulletin and do you own research.

A few clarifying points:

Engine Failure: Engine failures seem to be most common with the 2004 and 2005 models. Mileage has nothing to do with failures, some fail early, some fail late. There are a million theories on why they fail, but no real answer. My own personal theory is that people drive them like a V8, lugging them below 3000 rpm constantly. Once warmed up, these engines need to rev high, and hit redline a few times a day.

Extended Warranty: The engine warranty has been extened to 8 years for all RX-8s. So, if you buy a 2004 it will almost be out of warranty. If you buy a 2006 like me, you still have a few years of warranty left. With no warranty a factory rebuilt dealer installed motor is around $5000 total (parts, labour everything) and that figure includes the "while you are in there" items like the clutch, coil packs, wires, plugs. So an engine failure isn't exactly the end of the world, Mazda prices aren't Porsche prices. Like the 996, there are no hard figures on engine failures, and it may be blown out of proportion on the internet, who knows.

Oil usage: The RX-8 is backwards. If your RX-8 isn't using oil, you're in trouble. The oil metering pump (OMP) injects oil into the combustion chamber to lubricate the apex seals. It "drinks oil" because it is designed to. If you can't check your oil with every second fill-up buy another car. In my opinion, if you aren't checking your oil regularly on any car you should just ride a bicycle, but that's just my opinion.

Fuel Mileage: I get 16 mpg city and 23 mpg highway. If you're a tree hugger go buy a Toyota Pious. People get hung up on the "1.3 Litre Rotary Engine" and assume it should get fuel mileage like a Geo Metro. These people are idiots.

Overall as a Daily: Really fun daily driver, very engaging, great handling, fast enough to be fun. I use it to take my son to daycare, very easy to get him in and out of the back. My wife even said its easier to get him in the back of the RX-8 than it is to get him into the back of our Subaru Impreza.

Track: I tracked it once this summer when my 944 Turbo was in pieces in my garage (I know, unheard of, a 944 Turbo down for repairs). It was very easy to drive quickly on track. Like the 944 Turbo it has a 50/50 weight balance, but with the weight concentrated in the centre of the car as opposed to at either end like the transaxle 944. It was slightly more twitchy than the 944 Turbo, quicker to slide but much quicker to catch, you have to keep the revs up just like in a turbo car to stay in the power, so that was similar. It was a time attack event, fastest lap there in my 944 Turbo which I know well, have setup to my liking, and have been driving for 5 years is 76.4, I hit a 77.5 in the RX-8. People there laughed when they saw the child seat in the back!

[porwolf]

My daily driver:



82 Landcruiser, about 700,000 miles, original engine, original transmission, great carrying truck, indestructible, runs and runs... Only mileage stinks, 10MPG!

[village idiot]

Update on the $500 Miata. $2600 later and it looks like this now:

New coilover suspension, swaybars, 15x9" wheels and 225/45-15 Hankook R-S3 rubber also put a hardtop on it. Now I don't get Porsche withdrawal symptoms nearly as bad.