[doublevanosrc]

Originally Posted by xG35guy

We dumped our 2010 due to carbon buildup and costly maintenance.

Why are you paying for maintenance on a 2010 Mini? They come with the same BMW warranty and service plan.

[jaf89f]

Originally Posted by 1SerieStud

You're a great candidate for an s2000. Get one and never look back. Since you're looking for a used car I'd stay away from a 350z, they are known for oil consumption and tire cupping in the front which is not adjustable. How do I know? I've also owned both a g35 coupe and a g37s coupe. The issue with the newer cars (370z and g37) is the engine - they are very noisy until they lock you in with their own proprietary oil which supposedly fixes the issue, but is way overpriced. Overall they are good cars but I prefer the nimbleness of an s2000 if I had to pick.

Thanks for all the help!

[flyinb501]

I can't believe no one has said G35 coupe. If you like the 350Z, but want 4 seats and a little more class it is great choice. You can spend as much as you want depending on year and mileage. I picked up an '05 1.5 years ago with 39k miles, sport, nav, etc for $17.2k. Great value IMO, and I'm very happy with it.

[M3WC]

If you want a less expensive brand new car, get the new Jetta. Great value, $199/month lease.

Yes not the most exciting car to drive, but it will have a warranty. (Piece of mind)

[jaf89f]

Originally Posted by flyinb501

I can't believe no one has said G35 coupe. If you like the 350Z, but want 4 seats and a little more class it is great choice. You can spend as much as you want depending on year and mileage. I picked up an '05 1.5 years ago with 39k miles, sport, nav, etc for $17.2k. Great value IMO, and I'm very happy with it.

I do like these cars too, just everyone in world seems to have them. That's why I chose the 1er back two years ago over the g35. If one comes around I would be interested in it, however, i'm not going to go out of my way to find one.

[b00st]

You can get an early Evo VIII in that price range. Major down grade on the interior, but there isn't much that can touch Evos performance for the price. I sold my Evo IX for $18k about 6 months ago, just for reference. Just make sure to look for one that doesn't appear to have lived a super hard life if you go that route. 350Z's are fun as well, but modding them is pretty useless if you get hungry for more power. I loved owning mine, but not being able to get much more power out of them without boost got old quick.

[The_AMG_Hunter]

Crossfire SRT6 3.2 Supercharged V6 AMG motor 330hp , with pulley/intake/tune/tires it runs mid 11's easy. You can get one with low miles for about 15k but it is a very rare car.

[Lucky1]

Here's one no one has mentioned so far: try researching a gently used Acura TSX 6MT /w the 2.4L K24 engine and if it looks good call it a day. Okay I've never owned one personally but from everything I've read about it it seems like its not an overcomplicated piece of German engineering that is going to cost you big $$ in maintenance or repairs. Plus you can probably get it reliably serviced outside of an Acura dealership saving you more money. Japanese is the way to go here if you want to really save money and the TSX is a good jack-of-all-trades BMW 128i/328i alternative and is certainly more practical on a day-to-day basis than an S2000 or a 350Z.

Pros: great transmission (heard its almost as slick as the S2000), fuel efficient and reasonably powered engine, great double wishbone suspension with superb handling, Honda reliability (TSX is one of the few Honda's still built in Japan!), can carry four-five persons and a decent amount of stuff in the trunk

Cons: less torque than a GTI (but still more than an S2000 and some other cars mentioned here!), heard the wheel lock is terrible (forget doing a nice U-turn), FWD


There's a V6 version but it only came in the car starting 2010 and I believe is automatic transmission only so I'm not sure you'll get it in your price range plus its more gas and supposedly ruins the front/rear weight balance and consequently may have a negative impact on the car's handling.

[Blessed1]

S2000 hands down ...

[jaf89f]

I think an s2000 it is....doing the search right now to get a silver or black one.

[Q4P]

TL; DR but I highly recommend the S2000. It is a very fun, reliable, relatively cheap to maintain, great weigh balance and rwd roadster. It also has a fantastic stock LSD... Do drive one though because they are not for everyone as a daily driver... vibration from motor mounts and limited space are both issues with that car. A great alternative albeit a FWD one is the Civic Si.

I highly recommend against an MS3 or a GTI as someone mentioned... those are neat hot hatches but after owning the MS3; I will never own another FWD car with over 200 HP or 200 TQ. They are terrible to drive and the traction / torque steer issues take away all enjoyment.

[jaf89f]

Originally Posted by Questforpower

TL; DR but I highly recommend the S2000. It is a very fun, reliable, relatively cheap to maintain, great weigh balance and rwd roadster. It also has a fantastic stock LSD... Do drive one though because they are not for everyone as a daily driver... vibration from motor mounts and limited space are both issues with that car. A great alternative albeit a FWD one is the Civic Si.

I highly recommend against an MS3 or a GTI as someone mentioned... those are neat hot hatches but after owning the MS3; I will never own another FWD car with over 200 HP or 200 TQ. They are terrible to drive and the traction / torque steer issues take away all enjoyment.

I have driven a few s2000s now, and I love the loud/vibration aspect of it. Makes it feel like a true small sports car.

ALTHOUGH, this whole time i was basing insurance savings off of the first s2000 I drove which was a 2008. Little did I know that the insurance rates over the model years would change so drastically. I got quoted at 130/month for the 2008, and for 04-06 MY i was quoted 180/month.

Does anyone know why that is!???

[cvandenhaute]

I still have a hard time to understand how you could save money against a 128i by driving a older S2000???? A GTI, I could get it but a S2000?
Let alone a TSX that costs the same money as a 128i...

[jaf89f]

Originally Posted by cvandenhaute

I still have a hard time to understand how you could save money against a 128i by driving a older S2000???? A GTI, I could get it but a S2000?
Let alone a TSX that costs the same money as a 128i...

I currently have a $330 payment on my 08 128, with about $5k of equity in the car/loan. So I can get a 10-15k s2000, use my equity in my current car to drive the price down significantly after negotiations and have a monthly payment of $100 less or more. That's pretty significant to me. Also, the decision on the s2000 was bc it's still a really fun car to drive, more fun than my current 128i.

As for insurance, I pay $184 per month for the 128i. As I state earlier, I originally quoted a 2008 s2000 which was $134 a month. So another $50 in savings per month. I never cared to quote other years of the s2000 bc I thought yet would all be the same....my mistake. Every other year for me is more expensive except 2000 MY. So I don't know if the s2000 is a viable option anymore.

[1SerieStud]

Originally Posted by jaf89f

I have driven a few s2000s now, and I love the loud/vibration aspect of it. Makes it feel like a true small sports car.

ALTHOUGH, this whole time i was basing insurance savings off of the first s2000 I drove which was a 2008. Little did I know that the insurance rates over the model years would change so drastically. I got quoted at 130/month for the 2008, and for 04-06 MY i was quoted 180/month.

Does anyone know why that is!???

It is most likely directly related to the addition of stability control in 2006 - therefore any newer car should be "safer" since so many not-so-good drivers kept wrapping them around trees. Another reason why the 2004+ (ap2) models have a tendency to understeer whereas the 2000-2003 cars (ap1) have a stiffer suspension tuned to oversteer.