HOw about a Fiat 500 Abarth? Certainly available in the price range. More fun than a barrel of monkeys, manual, fun exhaust, tossable and fun to autocross / track once out of stock classes.
HOw about a Fiat 500 Abarth? Certainly available in the price range. More fun than a barrel of monkeys, manual, fun exhaust, tossable and fun to autocross / track once out of stock classes.
A note RE: the Fiesta. It sounds like you occasionally autocross. In stock form, some clubs won't allow them due to track width/height formulas. I have a friend who runs one lowered and slightly tarted up in STF and it's surprisingly fast.
Lots of good options above. I'll add another: I've got a Toyota Yaris as my "commuter car". It's honestly more fun than it should be. Returns 30+ mpg with pretty much straight "city driving" even though I tend to drive it in a "mat . . . shift . . . mat . . . shift . . . hard brake" fashion. The 5 speed is a must, the hatchback is a plus for a lot of reasons. It's surprisingly agile with the addition of the TRD rear sway bar, wider wheels and a decent set of tires. I suspect it would really benefit from lowering springs or coilovers, but our roads suck too much. Never autcrossed it because we have a Miata, but I suspect it would be fun if not fast. Insurance is surprisingly high, which leads me to believe the average Yaris driver must be a moron. Aftermarket is slim. Think of it as a reliable base Mini.
this is a little over budget but worth it
Seriously, the big block 2.4 Forte for 4k is a great deal. Spend a grand on suspension and tires and go have fun.
kazoospec said:A note RE: the Fiesta. It sounds like you occasionally autocross. In stock form, some clubs won't allow them due to track width/height formulas. I have a friend who runs one lowered and slightly tarted up in STF and it's surprisingly fast.
"some clubs" being the SCCA.
No way would I have a Fit, Fiesta, or Fiat on my list if autox was my goal.
Olemiss540 said:E46 330i? Sedan options, rwd, manual, 240hp, definately below your price range leaving room for some maintenance, huge upgrade potential, future spec racing candidate, balanced chassis, easy to work on.
Also consider e36 3 series for cheaper to leave budget room for upgrades.
This was the use case BMW made a brand out of and was actually successful in pulling together through the mid 2000s. Awesome cars to wrench on and track days are zero problems assuming the cooling systems and control arm bushings are updated.
Without any year restrictions, the nicest BMW 3 series you can find was what I thought of too.
If fun imports are thin on the ground in Arkansas, a Mustang would also be a viable option.
ProDarwin said:In that price range the top of my list would be a Mazda 3 2.5 hatch.
Came here to suggest exactly this. A nice, low mileage, high option, 2nd generation ('10-'13) 2.5 6 speed hatch should be spot on.
After a terrible experience with a turbo Subaru (fun until it broke... what do you mean a 190k mile junkyard engine is $2000???) I actually picked out the 3 partially based on the fact that the 2.5 MZR was put in ALL KINDS OF THINGS. You can pick up a really nice used one at LKQ for ~$500 all day any day. Not that they ever break, though. But you know... planning ahead because my luck isn't great. Other factors I considered were… that the power/weight ratio be similar to or better than my favorite hatchback of my youth (91 Escort GT, ~18 lbs/hp if you're wondering). 17" or smaller wheels that take a common tire size. A brand I’m familiar with would be ideal. Price range was a factor. Eventually the choice became obvious.
Mine is a 2010 Grand Touring 2.5 6 spd with Tech package (literally ALL the bells and whistles). I bought it for fairly cheap due to a janky suspension & hacked up muffler. Immediately put on a Koni/Eibach suspension combo as well as a Mazdaspeed rear sway bar and muffler, for fun. So for about $5000 into it total plus some time, it rides, handles, and sounds exactly how I hoped it would. Mine had about 130k when I bought it and I'm creeping up on 150k now. The only other thing I've had to repair aside from the initial suspension work has been an evap valve.
You guys are awesome, thank you. I do have plans to autocross pretty consistently. Keep the suggestions coming, this is uber helpful.
In reply to ProDarwin :
Go on.
In reply to MadScientistMatt :
Lol, as you could imagine, Mustangs are a dime a dozen in Dixie. Most GT's in my range are New Edge, so early 2000's.
There's a thread in here about my old '10- SX Forte. They are seriously quick auto-x cars with a good coilover set, rear bar and some good wheels/tires. 17x8's fit comfortably and you'd easily run a 235/40 under those fenders. The 2.4 is a torque beast, making 140ft-lbs to the wheels from 2000 rpms to 6000 rpms with a peak at 160 at 4k. It's kinda like a sbc v8, you don't need to shift much because you're always under the curve. Plenty of modern amenities (bluetooth, hands free, steering wheel controls etc). Cat will knock down mid-30's mpg at modern speeds. Once you start to creep past 80 it starts to drop. Mine loved 78mph. YMMV
Downside: They're noisy. The first Gen Forte's have great steering feel, great power curve and a ton of interior space. But the doors are NOT insulated and the amount of road noise is silly. Aftermarket parts are a little scarce. But good news (No, its not the dacia sandero) I have a set of upper camber plates for that generation car if you went that route....
Other Hyundai thoughts are that Genesis Coupes and Veloster Turbos are edging down into this price range.
sleepyhead the buffalo said:Other Hyundai thoughts are that Genesis Coupes and Veloster Turbos are edging down into this price range.
$4-5k versions of those will be beat pretty ragged.
therieldeal said:ProDarwin said:In that price range the top of my list would be a Mazda 3 2.5 hatch.
Came here to suggest exactly this. A nice, low mileage, high option, 2nd generation ('10-'13) 2.5 6 speed hatch should be spot on.
After a terrible experience with a turbo Subaru (fun until it broke... what do you mean a 190k mile junkyard engine is $2000???) I actually picked out the 3 partially based on the fact that the 2.5 MZR was put in ALL KINDS OF THINGS. You can pick up a really nice used one at LKQ for ~$500 all day any day. Not that they ever break, though. But you know... planning ahead because my luck isn't great. Other factors I considered were… that the power/weight ratio be similar to or better than my favorite hatchback of my youth (91 Escort GT, ~18 lbs/hp if you're wondering). 17" or smaller wheels that take a common tire size. A brand I’m familiar with would be ideal. Price range was a factor. Eventually the choice became obvious.
Mine is a 2010 Grand Touring 2.5 6 spd with Tech package (literally ALL the bells and whistles). I bought it for fairly cheap due to a janky suspension & hacked up muffler. Immediately put on a Koni/Eibach suspension combo as well as a Mazdaspeed rear sway bar and muffler, for fun. So for about $5000 into it total plus some time, it rides, handles, and sounds exactly how I hoped it would. Mine had about 130k when I bought it and I'm creeping up on 150k now. The only other thing I've had to repair aside from the initial suspension work has been an evap valve.
My 2012 3 with the 2.5/6MT just hit 182K miles. It has been by far the best car I've ever owned. It's still as fun to toss around as the day I bought it. They do have some slight issues, but they aren't nearly as bad as other cars I've had. The biggest one is probably the transmission mount; I'm on my 3rd and it's nearing the end of its life. It's fairly easy to change, and they do make urethane stuff if you can deal with the NVH.
In no particular order, I'll just re-iterate most of what's already been suggested:
Fit
Fiesta/Focus (WITH a manual)
Yaris
Mazda3
Matrix XRS/Vibe GT
Accord (IIRC, i4 has timing chain; v6 has timing belt)
Some sort of Civic
I would suggest an E46, but maintenance costs and dealing with the possible cracked rear subframe wouldn't be worth it.
To be honest, if I could talk the wife into a newer mini-ute I could sell her Koup for about $5k! We already know it's competent in stock form.
In reply to bobzilla :
Where are you located? Is it a manual?
In reply to Benjamin_Casto :
Its an auto. Wife wanted to have an auto daily incase her medical issues flare up again that makes a clutch a painful exercise. I'm sure we can find you something similar up here.... Central Indiana has all sorts of wierd stuff no one wants.
In reply to bobzilla :
Found a 2011 Forte Koup SX down here with 82,xxx miles and a manual for $5200..... that sound right?
Mazdaspeed 6?
$7,500 with 61k miles https://www.cars.com/vehicledetail/detail/799288583/overview/
Looks better in black though $8k with 101k miles https://www.cars.com/vehicledetail/detail/793164020/overview/
Fast finicky engine, pretty sure they are good around the track and are roomy. Watch out for rust though
I'm in the same boat as OP. Those of you offering up the Focust ST, do you know how maintenance costs are? I was really leaning towards that as my next car, but the DI turbo scares me a bit as far as being expensive to fix/maintain.
This is GRM, therefore the real answer is MOAR cars! Step one, scrounge together $2500 and buy either your new daily or your new NB Miata and drive it while you scrounge together your next $2500 and buy the other one. Now you have TWO cars instead of one and when one has a breakdown you have a spare.
Anything less that 20 years old is gonna be about equally reliable/unreliable whether it was $2500 or $7500 to buy into. So clearly having MOAR is better. Do you have one pair of shoes that you wear to everything? Of course not, so have multiple cars and get the right tool for each job.
*****This opinion brought to you by a highly broken individual whose personal car collection is 5 running vehicles, the most expensive of which is an NC and the cheapest is a shared $500 race BMW.
In reply to NBraun :
All I can say is I have two friends with FoSTs. Both have had them from new to 100k (one over, one just under )miles. Both 100% stock and total reliable with nothing but scheduled maintenance.
In reply to Kingkong :
I haven't looked at the MazdaSpeed models but watch out for front subframe rust on this generation on the non-Speed models. They all rust and the parts will be backordered.
Benjamin_Casto said:In reply to bobzilla :
Found a 2011 Forte Koup SX down here with 82,xxx miles and a manual for $5200..... that sound right?
sounds like a steal.... I wonder if the wife would let me buy another one.
edit: '11 is the first year they offered bluetooth streaming off your phone.
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