What car Friday afternoon Atlanta Craigslist RWD edition

Hi,

Longtime lurker here, please excuse (humor) my what car? intrusion here. The 'what car to learn RWD?' and 'what car to get before they are gone?' threads have started me down a path -- I've been combing through Craigslist and AutoTempest every night for the past week or so trying to find an ideal 1st enthusiast car.

Goal: lightweight, entertaining daily driver. Garage fleet currently consists of two automatic Toyotas that are bulletproof but incredibly boring. I have been obsessed with the idea of a lightweight (2600 lbs or less?), "flingable" RWD daily. Momentum car ok. Would prefer an older/mechanically simple car. Live in the deep South so working A/C is a must or it won't get used (seems to be the biggest hurdle). I am a mechanical novice, would like to start with a solid runner, but would like to use as a platform to learn how to wrench. Daily drive is 5 miles on country type roads, without a stoplight between home and work.
I don't currently participate in any organized motorsport, but would like to do rallycross. I live 2 hrs from the Alabama SCCA rallycross site, and am waiting to see if the Atlanta event in Sept. was a one-time deal or not.

I have $5k budget for this in hand right now, could potentially double that in a few months. If I get into a solid running example for <$5k, I have plans to budget for refresh of all consumables within a few months (would work on suspension, brakes, etc. and stripping weight).

I have been on a months long search for an east coast AE86 that meets these criteria, that so far has not panned out. I know Miata is the obvious answer, and I will someday have a nice NA, but I haven't decided if that time is now (not truely excited about a Miata for whatever reason). I have considered: Miata, AE86, E30, E36, E46 (I was suprised to find prices of these dipping towards my budget?), AW11, any and all oldschool RWD toyota, 240SX, 1st and 2nd gen RX7, etc.

I have looked into other oddball things that seem cheap/powerful, but I want a "driver's car." I am drawn to the E30's and NA Miata's - the cars are aesthetically awesome and will still be awesome many years from now. For some reason the E36's and NB Miata's don't do it for me. I will admit to becoming something of an automotive weaboo after a Youtube Initial D/Best Motoring binge, hence the lack of domestics on my shopping list. Plus I have done the Camaro thing before.

Among the top Craigslist contenders are these cars: E30 318is: http://atlanta.craigslist.org/nat/ctd/4118064895.html 94 NA Miata: http://atlanta.craigslist.org/atl/cto/4088525861.html 92 240SX http://atlanta.craigslist.org/atl/cto/4119590411.html 1987 325i: http://atlanta.craigslist.org/nat/cto/4065089392.html

Too long; didn't read: I have all weekend to drive around looking at these. Which would you pick? Any advice on what to look for? thank you!

I'm a bit too big to be comfortable in an NA Miata, so I'd unfortunately pick the 325. That said, if the NA is comfortable for you, take that one, they are so much fun.

miata --> I was not in the least impressed at first. And then I drove one......that night changed my view on them forever. Everything seems to be where it should be( Im 5'8" so take that w/ a grain of salt ), easy and cheap to maintain. Nice visibility and road feel.

e30 --> I was crazy about the e30s until I drove one. I still want one, but the e36s fit me better where I am in life now.

my 2cents... take it for what its worth. Dont rule out the 240sx or other "underpowered" cars. I learned alot about car control from driving old, slow rwd cars( ie buick park avenue, datsun 210 ) that dont have alot of power that can bite u in the butt.

For me, Volvo 240. Easy to wrench on, cheap initial buy-in and parts, low power, forgiving handling, good aftermarket for suspension, will take a hit when you get it all wrong.

... and swallows a V8 easily when you're ready for more power.

Get the 318is. Cool car, only sold in the US a few years, price is reasonable.

None of the above. Because StarQuest.

Also, could've had a V8.

Or better yet, a pair of V8's!!!

The Miata with 86000 miles looks beat inside. My 190000 mile car looks better. Just saying....

http://atlanta.craigslist.org/eat/cto/4122870251.html - corolla wagon AND a 240SX

http://atlanta.craigslist.org/atl/cto/4103675967.html - E7 Corolla with 4AGE

http://atlanta.craigslist.org/nat/cto/4108902746.html - rwd Celica

http://atlanta.craigslist.org/atl/cto/4096910591.html - AE86 GTS a bit hard lived

http://atlanta.craigslist.org/atl/cto/4069086770.html - corolla sedan 5spd w a/c

In 1993, I bought a '90 Miata, used.
Since then I have also owned an '88 MR2 SC, '86 CRX, '97 240sx, '87 325is
They have all had their positives. I still own the Miata.

+1 on the volvo 240/740. I almost forgot about them....simple, cheap and take a beating.

What other "must haves" do you have for your car?

+2 on a Volvo 240 or 140(if you can find one)

If it wasn't an automatic I would say get this:

http://atlanta.craigslist.org/atl/cto/4103253560.html

More fun than an E30, easy to work on, and still cheap but disappearing fast. If you could find a better one you should at least go look at it. They drive about like a big miata.

Javelin wrote: None of the above. Because StarQuest.

yup.

This one is modded and doesn't have the best paint you can probably bring the price down to pennies.

Still has the TBI, these can be tricky to tune if I bought this I would check that out day 1. 18G turbo on this is probably great if it's tuned properly.

I'd say if you ever plan to own an NA Miata, now is the time. I've had mine for a little over two years. First, its a great car, a lot of fun to drive, cheap/easy to maintain (even if you need to have someone else work on it, parts are cheap and shop time for most jobs is reasonable because most major jobs don't require taking the whole car apart), decent MPG and a great car to "personalize", since the aftermarket is huge. Second, it will check all the boxes you mentioned. It may not be the be-all/end all of rallycross, but it will work. It also opens up other forms of motorsports: autocross, HPDE/Time Trial and even Spec Miata if you go "all in" at some point. Finally, they just aren't as cheap/plentiful as they used to be. In the past 2 years, I'd say prices for decent/clean examples have gone up at least $500-1000. Clapped out examples have stayed relatively stable price-wise, but have become increasingly more clapped out as these things start exceeding 20 years on the road. Time will not improve this problem.