If I had $10k to spend, and I wanted the most bang for my buck, I would buy the cleanest 4.6 Mustang GT I could find. 350Z second choice.

I drove an early S2000 around Streets of Willow Springs. I thought it would be the perfect car for the track.

I now think that my Silverado on camper tires would give it a run for the $$. The car was a 5spd car and if you ****ed it to 3rd it would drop the r's below the Vtech and it would suck. So it ended up being left in 2nd down the front straight wound out.

THIS^^^

10k will buy you either a nice stock car, or a slightly edgy one with some mods. You can get a convertible, coupe, or sedan, your choice. Comes in great colors, bone stock 240hp, gobs of torque. Balanced like a 944, cruises great, devours twistys, plus its not bad for a DD.


Hard to hate the M3...


Gawd I love that inline MPower 6....

Nah, shouldn't be too bad. I paid a bit more, but then I was in a hurry. Over on the Mazdaspeed board there are plenty of stories for $9500-10500.


Really, I thought these were still pretty pricey.

Good 968s can be found right around 10 all day...

There's some really nice 968s listed at ambitious prices, but the nice drivers seem to hover right about at $10k. Honestly they don't make sense for much more, once you get into the low teens you can find a pretty decent SC or Carrera.

Perhaps you've heard - they made a Z3 with that engine - the M Roadster, easily found with the E36 M3 engine for $10k.

I knew of the M coupes, but they aren't in the range. I'd only heard of the roadsters, never seen one in the wild...

But that would be a little beast. :D

You probably have seen the M Roadster, as they're much more common than M Coupes. The problem with both generations of M Roadster is not many people see them as more than just another Z3 or Z4 roadster. It's part of why they're so much cheaper than the coupe variants.

Good point. I don't pay much attention to the roadsters. Dime-a-dozen...

Personally, I'd put the $10K into my own 930. Towards that eventual engine rebuild. Or at least save up for the $8K in while-you're-in-there mods I've been considering.

But if I had to spend the money on another car, I'd lean towards waiting for a Boxster S. An E36 M3 would be a hoot, too. $10K should buy a pretty good example of one.

I didn't realize those M Coupes have become so inexpensive these days. Seriously? When I bought my 930 about 7 years ago I briefly looked at those M Coupes--particularly the last 2 years of their manufacture, as they came with the head that bumped up BHP to 331 or so. But those cars cost about $25K back then. And now they've dropped down to the $10K range? Wow.

A Miata wouldn't be a bad way to go, either, particularly if you're looking to track this extra vehicle.

This looks like fun for $7,500 (and tastefully modified to 350+hp) and is for sale down the street for me:
http://i355.photobucket.com/albums/r...AwOTQuanBn.jpg

And this one is also for sale locally for $5,900:
http://img.tapatalk.com/62c42ebf-df82-d74b.jpg
http://img.tapatalk.com/62c42ebf-dfe3-a397.jpg
http://img.tapatalk.com/62c42ebf-e1ce-0faf.jpg
http://img.tapatalk.com/62c42ebf-e18e-ccff.jpg

:eek:

It must be a scam, have 200,000 miles or a salvage title. I've seen really nice ones go for 8k-10k and I've seen the riced ones with high miles listed for around 5k. That really seems like a bargain!

My first DD out of college is going to be an S54 Z3 M Coupe.

I've been looking on ebay for awhile. I thought the S52 M Roadsters were in the 12k-15k range? Maybe I'm looking more at the garage-queen cars and not the DD?

You can find decent to very nice E36 M3s for sale between $6-10k all day long. I hate the E36 interior, but they're a pretty good deal.

Nope, I was talking about the S52 roadsters. The S54 M Coupes you're talking about are still in the $20s, with nice models asking in the mid-$30s.

Correct - daily driven cars are $10k or less, the garage queens are $12k and up, a real bargain compared to the coupes.

Buy all of those that you can for $10K. Then budget another $10K to fix the rust. Ask me how I know... ;)

d.

E36 M3s are nice but the interior wears out on them fast. does it really need to be an "M"? you can get a really nice E46 under 10K as well, or even a 540i with a 6 speed.
I have always liked the way the Z3s drive, and for the money you cant go wrong, but its not as comfortable as the boxster.

Yeah but E36s are sporty sedans, not nimble roadsters.

My dad looked at Z3 convertibles in both 1.9l 4 cyl and 2.8l six form...he found them kinda 'meh' and ended up with a 2001 Miata 6 spd. It's a great car. 150 or so hp, ltd slip diff. Super fun to drive.

One of my closest friends has a 4 dr E36 M3, and I drove a modded E36 325is for 6 yrs...nice cars and both probably have higher performance ceilings than Dad's stock Miata..but they aren't nearly as fun to drive.

I like the 350Z... but when looking around here they seem to be pushing over $10K

Now the E36 M3... oh my... you guys are evil! :D

I must reevaluate my priorities!