Selling the sports car you always thought you would keep?

Hey guys this is my first post on the forum, I am a huge sports car enthusiast and have been reading lots of forum posts here as I try to decide the next step in my journey. 

From a young age I was in love with Japanese sports cars. I bought a mr2 turbo about 6 years ago and was in love for many years. Whenever I drive the car people approach me and tell me how cool it is or how they had one when they were a kid and they wish they had kept it so I always told myself that I would always keep it. I am also always obsessed with Porsches and my dream cars are a 964 and a newer gt3 so I figured my garage one day would be the mr2, 964, gt3 and daily. Then I hit adulthood and 964 prices skyrocketed from 20k to 80k and I realized I need to be making 250k+ before justifying a new gt3.

Then I bought a v8 4runner and something crazy happened, I fell in love with the torque and sound of a v8. Then a close friend of mine got a s550 Mustang GT and the experience of driving a naturally aspirated 440hp v8 has swayed me more than I thought was possible. Whatever they did to the s550 suspension is a work of genius because I have ridden in numerous previous generations of mustangs and they do not even remotely compare. Around corners this thing feels better than the mr2 even though I am mid engine and have upgraded suspension! The turbo spooling no longer captivates me the way the v8 roar does.

I also fell down the rabbit hole of savagegeese and zygrene videos and figured out that something like the gt3/gt4 costs a lot of money to maintain, is quite tame when you are not at the limit, and requires driving like an felon to have fun on public roads. In contrast something like a base cayman 987/981 also has a NA flat6, is mid engine, probably has much better handling than the s550/mr2 and would be fun to drive on public roads. I was also surprised to see many people saying the handling of the 3rd gen mr2 zzw30 is significantly better than the sw20 which makes me think "why would I dump money into the sw20 when it's brother is cheaper and better? " the problem there is it's so ugly I would never own it.

It is getting to the point now where every time I drive the mr2 I just compare it to newer cars and wish it had more power and better handling. I am considering rebuilding the engine with a bigger turbo, or doing a 2gr v6 swap for 350hp and moving to high end coilovers but my worry is I will end up spending tens of thousands on this car when I would just be better off selling it to buy something else.
Should I just sell this thing and buy a Cayman, C7 or s550? I could also buy another car like the previous gen mustang and keep the mr2 but then I would own 3 cars that are 10+ years old and require maintenance which would sound fun to my younger self but does not sound fun now. Or I can build out the mr2 like I originally planned and buy something crazy down the road?

https://www.vale-automotive.com

Re-body a Boxster. Once you have the looks you're after, only your time and budget will limit your speed.

Swore I would never sell my s2000. Drove a cpo 911. Goodbye s2000. I do miss it sometimes. 

Analysis paralysis is a real problem. And before deciding to embark on tearing a car apart or buying something to build you have to go in with a goal in mind. So break the problem apart.

Step 1: What's your automotive goal? Racing? Time trials? Autocross? Rally? Strictly street driving?

Step 2: Honest assessment of your skills as a mechanic and fabricator. Can you weld? Can you machine parts? Can you wire a car? Are you limited to turning some wrenches?

Step 3: Honest assessment of your budget. Can you afford to tackle the project you're proposing? If not - is buying a car that is 95% of the way to achieving your goal(s) the solution?

Step 4: Take all of those thoughts and ideas. And then take a real long drive and percolate on it. 

In reply to DocRob :

1: Thanks for your comment. I mostly just do canyon carving and street driving but for some reason I want a race car. 

2: I just turn wrenches so I can't even imagine the work required to build the mr2 into a race car. 

3: I have the money but by the time the project is finished the car probably would not be the same as what it was and I'm guessing something like a gt350/c7/cayman is 90% of the way there already. 

I guess I am mostly wondering if in 20 years I will really miss the mr2 the way my dad misses his 3.0 cs from when he was my age but it definitely seems like I want something else entirely different than what I have. Definitely something to think about!

Vintage Japanese car guy here:

One of the reasons I like driving my Datsun IS becuase it doesn't work as well as new. New cars are absolutely amazing but I like the unrefined aspect of older cars.

New cars are absolutely planted and they even ride nice........when it comes to playing with cars I don't want that. I have an open wheel car for when I want absolute performance.

If I hit the lotto tomorrow I'd have a collection of 80-90s Japanese cars.

Note I've driven a 911 GT3-RS on track and the performance is mind blowing but very few people can extra the maximum performance out of them..........old cars may not be the same adrenaline rush are more fun.........kind of like flogging a rusty old.car.in a muddy field.

Okay, I'll stand up next, as I find this quite timely.

We bought a 2015 Jaguar F-Type R a year ago and it's a fantastic machine, art on wheels, and is "blisteringly fast." That said..... I'm already thinking of selling it, the car that I thought I'd keep forever. Why?

1a. Anxiety. We paid way less than the Jag's original $100K but it finally hit me that it's still a $100K car as far as repair shops are concerned. It's been perfectly reliable, but the fear of something going wrong is always there. It freaked me out to learn that just a headlight assembly is $4,000... not a typo. Sure, there's used parts, but the worry extends to everything on the car, such that I wonder what the hell I was thinking to get something like this. Don't misunderstand, it's been zero trouble, but it's the potential happenings that eat at me.

2. We drive it Way less than I expected due to it having so little cargo space. Wherever we go, it always seems like what we're getting is too large, too long, too dirty, or too smelly. Even Costco runs are typically a no go.

3. Parking. It's got such a long sloping nose that I can never tell how close I am to something. Yeah it has front sensors, but approaching a curb, the sensors end up seeing over the top of the obstruction and say all is well. Managed to bump the front lip that way. Now I always seem to park with 3+ feet to spare. I worry about getting door dings. In my truck, there is no such concern; it's a tool and if it gets scratched, meh, that's how it goes.

4. Frustration. One big reason I got rid of Midlana was because it was so frustrating bobbing along with all the "losers" in stop-and-go traffic. It's so effing fast that it wants to run, but no can do in 99% of our traffic. Having 550 hp feels rather ridiculous when it takes an hour to drive 25 miles, a regular occurrence.

I'm fully aware that all these "problems" are completely self-imposed and "first-world."  As a result of my angst and limited cargo space, we use the truck for nearly everything, and it sucks to park, but that's fine when doing truck stuff - not so much when trying to get into a tiny Trader Joe's parking lot. Summed up, I'm about done with owning something that I fear damaging, or being unable to use "as God intended". I want something that, well, I don't care about as much if it gets a door ding, something with cargo space, something small that I can park anywhere. Something more at my end of the financial pool...

I'm still all over the place, even considering a Chevy Bolt EV or Prius, something I never ever ever thought that I'd say.

There can be a lot of reasons to get rid of your "forever" car

Lotus Elise: Bought it at the bottom of the depreciation curve. Quickly discovered how fragile they are. Paranoia from looking out the driver's window at the lug nuts of every F-350 got to me. Insane real estate deal presented itself, I needed quick cash for a down payment and poof! the Elise was gone.

94 Miata R package: Loved everything about it, until a turbo 95 Miata popped up on CL for half of what I had in the R package. Sold the R-package and pocketed some cash.

I suspect in about 5 years there will be a lot of very fast, relatively cheap EVs to choose from, and arguments based on performance specs will be moot. I suspect the pendulum will swing back to "how does the car make you feel?" 

KB58 is a guy to listen to here - do some internetting on Kimini/Midlana and you will know how crazy it sounds to sell something you've put a ton of time into. I can actually see myself there with my 62 MG Midget with duratec. You grow and move - don't hate yourself for it. The great thing about cars, is that they are just things in the end. You 'have' to be married to one person- not so with cars. Also- I had a chuckle about having to earn $250k to justify a GT3.  I'm not buying one of those any time soon. 
 

Evolve young man!

I had a 97 neon acr i loved. Sold it to buy a wagon. Regretted it the minute it left. Tracked it down years later, bought it back and restored it. Never really fell in love with it afterwards. Just didn't bring me joy.

Sold it again a few months ago. I know I SHOULD have loved it, but just didn't. I have other cars that bring more joy.

So, it's never been cheaper to build an older vehicle into something that can perform much like modern car. But making one drive like a modern car is a whole different can of worms and costs 2-5x as much as making it perform...

And after all that energy and cash - it won't be perfect. Perfection doesn't exist. Therefore, if you're going to spend a lot of cash building something like that - you'd better have an irrational love for it. Because you have to love the quirks that come with it.

One thing about growing up is realizing that past you didn't know what they didn't know. If past me knew what I know now, I'd have bought a lot of Apple and Alphabet stock. 

I owned my 'forever' car for 23 years. I sold it when I realized I wasn't driving it that much and that it was keeping me from enjoying other automotive flavors. Haven't wanted another, which is kind of remarkable. I don't even browse the model on Marketplace.

I've owned several cool vehicles since, and sold them without regret. I can always buy another, though the cost to replace it now is significantly higher. But, so is my income decades later.

I'm in a similar spot. My Mazdaspeed Miata just doesn't do it for me anymore. I used to commute in it and enjoy driving it, but now that I'm retired, I don't drive it much and im kind of "meh" about it. Right now, the only thing that's slowing me down from putting a for sale sign on it is I'd have to swap a bunch of mods off of it, first. Ddavidv has a good philosophy about his cars. There are other cars I want to try, both new and vintage, including an SW20 MR2.

In reply to calteg :

Interesting thing you sold your car for a great real estate deal. Mysterious GRM'r approached me about buying is F Type R at a pretty fair price. It's one of my dream cars and my wife and I also love the color a lot! I don't typically fear things going wrong in cars unless it's a e60 m5, I'm afraid of those. Any other time I would've bought Mysterious GRM'rs F Type, but we have a real estate opportunity as well. I had to make an adult decision to pass on it just to make sure the extra money is there for said purchase. Adulting is stupid

Edit: Mysterious GRM'r

IStoleYourBacon said:

In reply to DocRob :

I guess I am mostly wondering if in 20 years I will really miss the mr2 the way my dad misses his 3.0 cs from when he was my age but it definitely seems like I want something else entirely different than what I have. Definitely something to think about!

The other side to that coin is you miss the one that "got away" because you sold it when you still enjoyed it for something better, and there's been 20 years of rose colored glasses.  If he could have a 3.0 cs again it might not live up to fond memories.  Especially vs the nice new mustang/cayman/whatever you choose.  
 

I have been through this more than once. I don't really want the car back, i want to drive it for a nice afternoon about once every 5-10 years.  

yupididit said:

In reply to calteg :

Interesting thing you sold your car for a great real estate deal. KB58 approached me about buying [h]is F Type R...

Nope, wasn't me; we haven't offered the Jag to anyone nor discussed price - yet.

Flynlow (FS) said:

The other side to that coin is you miss the one that "got away" because you sold it when you still enjoyed it for something better, and there's been 20 years of rose colored glasses.  If he could have a 3.0 cs again it might not live up to fond memories.  Especially vs the nice new mustang/cayman/whatever you choose.  

I have been through this more than once. I don't really want the car back, i want to drive it for a nice afternoon about once every 5-10 years.  

I have similar feelings about the 1969 Datsun 2000 roadster I sold decades ago. Sometimes I miss it, on nice sunny days, but then I remember the PITA it was to work on and the feeling passes, lol.

In reply to kb58 :

Damn, it was someone from GRM, I assumed it was you lol. 

Hey there, fellow car enthusiasts! I totally get the struggle of parting ways with a beloved sports car. It's like saying goodbye to a piece of your identity, right? But sometimes life throws unexpected curveballs, and priorities change. It's important to be practical and adapt to our evolving needs. I recently found myself in a similar situation, and while it wasn't easy, I realized that letting go opens up new possibilities. So, if anyone's interested, I've got something special up—a certain Nissan Silvia for sale that needs a new home. Just saying, it's worth a look.

This is a lot of comments without a mention of the M word, so I'll go ahead and say it.

You should go test drive a new Miata.

 I feel your angst. My wonder-car was a '74 914. After I sold it I would have a dream about it about every 6 months or so. For years. But family came first so I didn't scratch that particular itch again although I've owned other sports cars. Now I'm looking for something fun and cheap and easy to find parts for, work on, find information about, etc. I realized it probably didn't matter which car was my flavor-of-the-month, but if I can find something with the above qualifications I'm sure I'll have fun with it.

Good luck finding yours! 

This may be the wrong comment for this crowd but what the heck.  How fast do you want to go on the street?  Maybe you should be considering a transition to driving fast on the track, it is faster and safer.  I had a 93 MR2 turbo and it was more car than I ever needed on the street.  Oversteer was a little scary as it came on very fast, and this is from someone who has driven many mid engine cars on the street and track.  But back to you, the MR2 can be made very fast, too fast for the chassis IMHO.  It reads like you want to drive fast, go do some track days and see what the limit really feels like.  I learned a ton in my track days.  How to really push a car, what happens when you exceed the limits of traction and most importantly how silly it is to play boy racer on the street.

porschenut said:

This may be the wrong comment for this crowd but what the heck.  How fast do you want to go on the street?  Maybe you should be considering a transition to driving fast on the track, it is faster and safer.  I had a 93 MR2 turbo and it was more car than I ever needed on the street.  Oversteer was a little scary as it came on very fast, and this is from someone who has driven many mid engine cars on the street and track.  But back to you, the MR2 can be made very fast, too fast for the chassis IMHO.  It reads like you want to drive fast, go do some track days and see what the limit really feels like.  I learned a ton in my track days.  How to really push a car, what happens when you exceed the limits of traction and most importantly how silly it is to play boy racer on the street.

This post vibes with me a lot. I always thought I'd love a cool/fast car on the street, but I can never justify it. The ones I look at (Porsches, etc) cost more to buy, cost more to maintain....and for what? I can't drive them the way I want to. It's when I realized I prefer competition driving and then I just like driving normal cars on the street to get on with my life.

If cars are your hobby, then it's likely that your tastes and motivations will change your whole life.  IMO there are no "forever" cars, although some may stick around longer than others.  None of us are here forever either.

I always dreamed of Porsches, but never had the means to own one when I was younger.  A few years ago things were going really well for me from a career standpoint and I decided to get a 981 Cayman S.  It was absolutely perfect, the nicest car I've ever owned.  I never had a single problem with it.  I sold it less than two years later for a profit and I don't really miss it.  Why?  It was impossible to responsibly use any of it's real potential on public roads.  As its value climbed I felt guilty putting pointless commuter miles on it.  It attracted attention and carried a bunch of perceptions with friends and family that I didn't love, even though it cost less than the last pickup I bought.  It was too nice to use the way I wanted to use it on track.  I couldn't stand the sight of it dirty, and I always felt the obligation to do more to care for it.  I was aware that some of these feelings were irrational or stupid, but I still felt the way I felt about the car.  Off it went.

I think for many of us the thrill of the chase is sometimes more rewarding than the actual ownership experience.  You mentioned needing to earn $250k to justify a GT3.  The truth is that no amount of money can really justify a GT3, or any other sports car.  Very few of us can use those machines to their potential (whether limited by skill or by finances), and you can almost always get more performance for less money.  That's not to say that those cars aren't justified- it's just that the motivations to own them often have less to do with money and more to do with other things.

I got an ND Miata after I sold the Cayman.  I have the means to own all sorts of cool cars and I still lust after other cars all the time, but I can't find anything that I think I would enjoy more than the Miata.  It puts a smile on my face every time I see it.

I still own a sports car I bought 53 years ago. Been thinking of selling it but figure there's no rush....