Next project car

[omega2]

My 91 NSX is my first car I have used as a project and totally love the car. That being said, I have been considering a second car but can't make up my mind. I have whittled the list down and all have their inherent pros and cons. The objective is to have a car with enhanced performance while still being street legal in California. I did not include 6 figure price tag exotics as the initial cost and maintenance cost are high. I nearly had a panic attack calculating the monthly payments on a used Gallardo. What are your opinions? If you have any experience driving these cars I would also like to hear that too.

MKIV TT Supra--great tuning potential, but the ones in good condition are still pretty expensive and heavily modified.

S2000--great tuning potential, coming down in cost, a lot for sale.

350Z--coming down in cost, tons of parts, looks like a fat Porsche to me.

R35 GTR--won't need to modify much, but have to finance remaining $40k

 

[Swift]

the Z is a great car and very affordable. However as me being a performance enthusiast i like to push the envelope but also not follow the norm. With that being said do you want to "restore" or modify. If you want to restore go with an S2000 or another honda/acura. If your looking to modify, well how much you willin to spend:wink:

 

[omega2]

Not looking for a lot of restoration, namely newer cars. I have been leaning toward the 06 S2000 lately, but power potential is more promising for the 350Z.

R35 GTR is eliminated as I just noticed the massive markup on price. Nissan website says $69k, but everyone is selling for over $100k. Enter panic attack again

As far as budget goes, I really don't put a firm cap on it, since it is very easy to exceed. Performance limitations for me would be due to the emissions requirements in California, so no envelope pushing for me. I don't expect my second project to cost nearly as much as the NSX though.

 

[fullracehonda]

if you are going to mod the funk out of it dont start with the 06 s2000, its drive by wire so theres no great engine managment for it, so if your going to do more than bolt ons in the engine department get a 00-05, 04-05 if your going to mod it within reason, might as well be 00-03 if your going to go to town(since you should replace the rear diff with a inline pro 300zx dif kit about $2700-3700(depending if you get lsd or not) after its all said and done for anything over 350+whp


i have no opinions for you on the 350z, personaly i dont care for them

i blieve the gtr's are more around 85k these days, shortly you will be able to get them for 80k then 75k then sticker

who doesnt love a supra?:smile: some sweet ones usualy pop up for sale on supraforums.com, super pimped out around 50k for a later model and you can always change things/tweak it to your taste but the bulk of the money is already spent and your getting a deep discount if buying nicely modded

 

[fullracehonda]

some other ideas that you may like:

01-02 911 turbo around 50k stock or modded for 45k miles, chippable to 500hp 500 trq, and a 6speedonline dealer has 19" time attack te37's in stock for about 2700 i believe:biggrin:

c6 z06

newer viper coupes

m5/m6 you could do simple performance gains and major weight reduction and rims/breaks

amg 55's e55 sl55 30k/50k you can get some great speed gains on those with things like tuning, headers, pully, etc, would be different

sl600/s600/cl600 bi turbo v12, easily modable to insane hp and even more insane trq or you could skip a few steps and get a s65/sl65/cl65 and just chip it to that mega hp and trq

elise/exige with honda k20 engine swap, all motor you can push 300whp on pump gas, simple supercharger 300whp, or more

e46 bmw m3 supercharged(10k-15k for a good kit)

e46 bmw m3 with torque freaks turbo 16k for basic like 450whp, or stage 2 19k$ for around 550whp or more with pump and methanol, and you can go higher for more $$

evo always a tunable car

 

[AdnanVCS]

Some more ideas (from your line up i would take the S2000)

C5 Z06 (2002+ cars have 405hp) lot's of parts and cheap
E36 M3 if you want to keep the budget down
E39 M5 a lot of power for not so much cash (you should get it a new chip i heard the top is 296KM with out a limiter)
Subaru Impreza STi Great car easy to tune. not to expensive.
RX-7 (can make a lot of power but very unreliable)
EVO 6



I drove a few Subaru's they have a great sound lot's of power.

I drove a Evo 7 too (with 350HP) and i found it not to be as good as the Subaru does not sound as good and the power kicks in at high rpm.

Also drove a RX-8 but that was not so good not much power and a fuel consumption that was just scary.

I have also driven in a C6 Z06 Damm what a car so much power and such a great sound (I'm a big Corvette fan) but at a certain RPM the exhaust makes a wired sound (maybe to high a gear)

 

[GreyHoundSteve]

I owned a MKIV TT Supra and moved to the NSX because while the Supra had lots of power, it was still an ugly car. Some people may say the same thing about the new GT-R but at least it has allot more technology than the MKIV.

 

[fullracehonda]

calling the supra an ugly car blasphemy(however you spell that)

rx7 mentioned is a great car, you can put chevy v8's in them easily


sti would be a great car to make it an offroad rally car, i want to do that someday, but street performance/track performance i would give that to the evo any day of the week because it has a better engine, easier to make power, more parts, very straight forward like a honda


and the e39 m5 is a really nice car, torque freaks is going to be coming out with a TT kit for them sometime in the near future 600whp on pump with methanol anybody:biggrin:

 

[omega2]

A lot of great suggestions.

I saw a guy around so cal selling an RX7 with a corvette engine in it, but it was a drift car. Cool nevertheless. The RX7 is a great body design just never cared for the engine. Every time I see an RX7 it has it's emergency blinkers on.

I don't have anything against the supra, in fact my neighbor has a really nice twin turbo and I really like the top secret body kit for that car. So it's still an option. Finding one in good condition can be difficult as they are getting older.

I didn't even think of the 911 turbo, but those are freaking cool too. I saw a GT2 for sale at a car lot in Monterey Park and was drooling all over it, even though I was suppose to be working.

Had the idea during lunch to get the S2000 and the 350Z, but with these other suggestions I'll reconsider.

 

[The Kid]

Ive bought an S2000 and tried this, $20k, 1.5 years and 300 miles, yes 300 miles...I sold it. Good if you have the room to store them and into collecting cars but It didnt work for me. I havent even started the Zanardi in weeks:redface: