"Suggest me" a fun DD for summertime.

In reply to shelbyz:

Just out of curiosity, how much for the Ion? Feel free to PM, I'm looking at replacing the Probe with something a bit nicer.

You're obviously new here. Just read a few posts, and you'll discover the universal answer....Miata. And from what you describe, this is an open and shut case. Miata is the perfect answer.

shelbyz wrote:

Matt B wrote: Now that rant is over, a Miata is definitely the easy button here. Although I like a lot of the other cars you mentioned as well. Before I'd make a meaningful suggestion, I'd ask where your comfort level vs. autocross/spirited-driving threshold is?

Spirited driving threshhold? Maybe a 1 on a scale of 0 to 10... My spirited driving expeience is very limited. There aren't many roads around me that I can play around on and I've never had enough confidence in my ability to control any of the vehicles I've owned or own to take them to any of the parking Auto-X's that pop up in my area. I went on a road trip to a Subaru meet this past summer that was in northern Michigan. On the way, the people I was caravaning with decided to hit some twisty roads going through the woods. Needless to say, I probably looked pretty foolish going through turns with my right foot firmly planted on the brakes with another car 5 feet behind me. That's about the extent of my spirited driving experience...

I probably worded that wrong. What I meant to ask was how much comfort are you willing to give up for performance? For instance, a CRX or Miata is going to deliver more cornering thrills, be more competitive in something like autocross, and deliver better mileage. However, I'd rather drive a Prelude to work everyday. A lot more torque and a lot less NVH make a much better daily driver IMHO.

Matt B wrote:

shelbyz wrote:

Matt B wrote: Now that rant is over, a Miata is definitely the easy button here. Although I like a lot of the other cars you mentioned as well. Before I'd make a meaningful suggestion, I'd ask where your comfort level vs. autocross/spirited-driving threshold is?

Spirited driving threshhold? Maybe a 1 on a scale of 0 to 10... My spirited driving expeience is very limited. There aren't many roads around me that I can play around on and I've never had enough confidence in my ability to control any of the vehicles I've owned or own to take them to any of the parking Auto-X's that pop up in my area. I went on a road trip to a Subaru meet this past summer that was in northern Michigan. On the way, the people I was caravaning with decided to hit some twisty roads going through the woods. Needless to say, I probably looked pretty foolish going through turns with my right foot firmly planted on the brakes with another car 5 feet behind me. That's about the extent of my spirited driving experience...

I probably worded that wrong. What I meant to ask was how much comfort are you willing to give up for performance? For instance, a CRX or Miata is going to deliver more cornering thrills, be more competitive in something like autocross, and deliver better mileage. However, I'd rather drive a Prelude to work everyday. A lot more torque and a lot less NVH make a much better daily driver IMHO.

Ahhhh lol oops. Right now my WRX's exhaust is somewhere between leaky and open downpipe, so I'd say NVH isn't a huge deal. My commute is only about 20-30 minutes, so comfort isn't huge either.

Racer1ab, I'll send you a PM shortly.

In reply to shelbyz: If that's the case then I'd go with whatever lightweight tickled your fancy the most (Miata, CRX, AW11, EF or EG Civic hatchbacks, old SE-R, etc.)