So I'm in a position in my life where I am not going to be able to have a major project car because of space and possible zoning so after talking to the wife I've decided that I'm going to buy something nice for once and just drive it. My budget is about 18k so I'm not looking to go crazy just get the most for my money. Right now I'm looking at c5 corvettes and z4 roadsters but I'm open to other cars any suggestions or problems I should watch out for?
Z3M COUPE! and forget about it! 
Everything is a toy. You can always have a shop throw something together for you. Small car, big engine. Or you could go with something stock and simple... 
Mustang GT? if that's yur thing
S2000
M3Loco wrote: Z3M COUPE! and forget about it!
Excellent. +1
M3Loco wrote: Z3M COUPE! and forget about it!
Been there done that 2002 S54, nice but there is a reason the answer is Miata! Really you could buy 4 or 5 for that coin, just saying...
The Vette is buy far the bigest bang for the buck C5 Z06 they are good at everything
Vette is the only logical choice 
Caleb wrote: So I'm in a position in my life where I am not going to be able to have a major project car because of space and possible zoning so after talking to the wife I've decided that I'm going to buy something nice for once and just drive it. My budget is about 18k so I'm not looking to go crazy just get the most for my money. Right now I'm looking at c5 corvettes and z4 roadsters but I'm open to other cars any suggestions or problems I should watch out for?
What are you wanting to do? If you want a nice cruiser that is one answer, if you want a hard core car that would be another.
As suggested the Vette is kind of the heavy weight champ here and the Miata would be fly weight one.
Time to test drive....allot.
NC Miata PRHT. You won't regret it.
18k for a toy is a nice budget to have there are so many choices out there in that price range you should have fun shopping. something different would be a 3 gen rx7 or last gen supra (tough to get for 18k but can be done)...... a lot of guys wish they had your problem
If you don't want a project, I'd think the reliability and out of the box performance of the 'Vette would pretty compelling.
Lol I say toy but it will be my daily driver just like all my other toys in the past. I want something that I can live with on daily basis but can handle the abuse of a few hpde' s a year.
I can't get a z3m coupe because the styling just kills me but the s2k is a thought.
There are a few FRC c5' s locally I,m gonna try to go look at how much of a difference does the z51 package really make in these cars?
All C5 FRCs are Z51 and you want Z51 if you look at any base coupes. The swaybars and springs part of the equation can be added pretty easily to any non-Z51 car but there is also a faster steering ratio and shorter rear axle. For autox, the faster steering rack makes a big difference out on the course.
There are a ton of cars in that price range that can be daily drivers but still handle a few HPDE days per year. Do you want a coupe, sedan, vert, wagon, etc...? Prefer muscle over small and nimble? The range can go from C5 Vette (one of my favorites), to MS3, to Miata, to Mustang/Camaro, to STi, Z car, on and on...
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