What car? (Dual-duty sports car)

Absolutely! (I literally have that thread open in another tab... the first thing I do when considering a car is to search GRM for a "Learn Me" or Tech Tips thread.)

I do prefer the 2017+ models, and just missed out on a nice 2020. Alas the Covid tax seems to be quite a bit more pronounced on the later cars. 

Buy a Cayman.

It's on your list.

It is an amazing car. Fun in the turns, probably OK in autox, fantastic for GT touring, tons of room between the 2 trunks, porsche badge tax on repairs yet very reliable.

Find my 2007 ownership thread. I have listed everything in that thread for 6 years and 50+k miles. I smile, still, every time I drive the thing.

Drive the thing. This goes for any of the cars you listed. A car sitting is a car rotting.

In reply to engiekev :

I just imported a Lancer GSR Evolution II from Ottawa last month. The border crossing and federal importation process was a breeze. The only issue I had was at the state level, but I live in the bureaucratic hell state of New Jersey. 

I'm actually writing a how-to for the importation process. Maybe the folks at GRM would want to publish it?

LanEvo said:

In reply to engiekev :

I just imported a Lancer GSR Evolution II from Ottawa last month. The border crossing and federal importation process was a breeze. The only issue I had was at the state level, but I live in the bureaucratic hell state of New Jersey. 

I'm actually writing a how-to for the importation process. Maybe the folks at GRM would want to publish it?

That would be really neat, at least make a write up post and then GRM can feature it?  Also we need to see that Evo II !

An Evo would be great. I should've never sold my X GSR but at 22 years old I couldn't afford the payment + insurance + gas + tires. 

I would love an early Evo or a clean stock Evo 8 or 9. But the prices are crazy. 

lemachin said:

- GTIs I initially dismissed for the same reasons as the S3 + standard-issue doubts about VAG reliability and service costs, but then I found one locally that seems really nice. May give it a try! Does anyone have comparative experience of the Mk7 vs. the recent Civic Si? 

 

 

The right GTI will have an LSD (I think as of 2017 all GTIs in Canada came with them).  Ours is amazing at so many things, but I've never taken it to the track.  If I had to have 1 car, it might be that.

Come and drive it.  And the Mustang (which takes 87 . . .).

Heck, you could likely also test out Andrew's Fiesta ST.  Kill three birds with one stone.  I like the ST, but it's a bit too unrefined for my liking now as an all-around car.

I'm pleased to announce that I picked up a 2016 BRZ Sport-Tech & will be track-proofing it over the next few months. Wheels & tires first; then some camber and oil cooling. 

I put the Z4 on the table (it had been raised before I mentioned it) because of the luggage space, but there are other sports car options if having a lot of space isn't a high priority. Both the S2000 and the Solstice GXP/Sky Redline offer good handling and exciting performance at a decent used car price. Both are older models though and I don't know how much that enters into your considerations.

Welcome to the Toyobaru committee!

For camber, you can quickly and easily slap in some camber bolts in their maximum negative position to get -1~-1.5deg camber, a nice improvement over the big fat zero you start out with. It won't even affect the rest of the alignment due to the front suspension geometry. From there, Silverproject makes camber plates for the stock struts.

Woohoo; nice! Welcome to the club! I'll enjoy following along to see where it goes. Loved the recent trackday in mine, thinking about signing up for the hillclimb/trackday double header the weekend of Memorial Day.

Not-so-fun update: I have experienced an engine failure about 60 days into my ownership of this BRZ.

A teardown will provide the full picture, but at the moment it sounds like spun rod bearings. I'm waiting to see whether the dealer's 90-day guarantee will be honored on this - the dealer/support team have been excellent thus far, but engine rebuilds/replacements are expensive and I'm sure there will be a temptation to blame the end user. Mind you, the car was completely factory besides tires, oil levels were good, it saw spirited driving but not any sustained performance usage: I don't think it's seen more than 5 consecutive laps at HPDE since I got it. No mistakes on my part (i.e. money shifts?) that I am aware of. They may try to point to high revs and hard cornering as a factor, which is pretty asinine when we're talking about a vehicle that is deliberately marketed as a sports car, but you know how these things are.

I will say the chassis feels pretty nice when pushed. But that's kind of a moot point when the FA20 is failing this spectacularly.

Ten years and counting with the frisbee. Never going to be a fan of the flat four, but that is a personal choice. I won't buy another, but would do it again in a heartbeat.

Hopefully they'll cover it, don't give the engine any excuse to wreck itself next time or it will take it - get the oil pickup + baffle + cooler installed.

It's funny, one of the respondents in the How to get started modifying an FR-S, BRZ or 86 thread suggested that an oil pickup or baffle wouldn't be necessary until the car is capable of pulling some major/sustained lateral G's. I doubt I'm that quick on RS4s. The threshold for FA20 failure is obviously much lower than I had imagined.

Anyway, the motor is confirmed dead after teardown. Waiting on news of a replacement, and still waiting to see if they'll honor the warranty. 

In reply to lemachin :

I'm very sorry to see your update, but thanks for posting it. 
I really like the platform, but I wouldn't consider owning one after seeing this. I got rid of my WRX after six months since I didn't want to own a car that was designed to be unreliable as built. 
Good luck with the dealer. 

In reply to Floating Doc (Forum Supporter) :

I try not to take internet campfire stories too seriously - just anecdotes that seem to get worse with every retelling - but in this case it seems I should have taken them more seriously, and it really sucks to become another one of the guys with an anecdote.

Sorry to hear that, keep us posted on what ends up happening with the car. For what it's worth, an 86-car seemed like the obvious choice for your purpose.

Any updates?

Warranty coverage denied - provider did some snooping and determined that I was present at some HPDE events. I'll be fighting it, and had best not go into much detail until all is said and done, but I will be out of pocket for the repairs in the meantime.

Couple observations as I search for an engine replacement:

- Used FA20s are obscenely expensive. Like $4k CAD from parts recyclers.

- Pre-2017 FA20s seem to be relatively thin on the ground. 

- Post-2017 FA20s are more available, and mildly improved over earlier engines, but they are not plug-and-play as there are some wiring differences.

- It was also suggested I could pick up a new short block for a rebuild, but these are not much cheaper than a used engine - if at all - and of course labour costs will be greater.

- A K24 swap is looking awfully tempting (used engines around $1.2k, KPower swap kit around $10k) but of course as this expense is wholly unplanned I don't have an extra 10k laying around and I don't see this helping in my effort to recover costs.

All told, given that local independent Subaru specialists are pretty busy, I probably won't have the car back & running until September.

Always a risk...even the owner's manual for a Lotus Elise has a section telling you that any track use will void the warranty. I'm guessing the used engines are so expensive because the cars rarely seem to make it to junkyards (despite Toyobarus being the most crashed models in the world for which I have to pay higher insurance costs).

Considering the situation maybe the most affordable solution would be replacing the affected engine internals, even with aftermarket parts?

In reply to lemachin :

What priority is a housing upgrade?   Because there are some really decent properties at fair or even bargain prices coming on the market.   
      Look at listings above your market  that are languishing.    90 days or more.  
     When those owners come to their senses top money won't be their priority, unloading it will. 
  When My Wife's mother moved into the care center it was appraised at $350,000 as is. Since her passing  the market dropped to $320,000. 
 As it goes on the market now they are looking at any offer above $285,000.  If the  economy hits the recession many are talking about $250, 000 will seem decent.  That's $100,000 in about a year and a half.  Or almost 1/3 of its peak value. 
     Adding a car loan might keep you out of an upgrade. 

frenchyd said:

In reply to lemachin :

What priority is a housing upgrade?

Practically zero. For now I have a place that perfectly suits my needs... my wants (honestly, just a big ol' garage, unless my marital situation changes) will have to wait until a massive market change, or until an as-yet-unknown mysterious rich uncle leaves me a huge inheritance. Urban housing markets in Canada remain hot despite recent adjustments; the current average price for a freehold citywide is over $770k. Something with a garage, centrally located? On one income, forget it! 

In a perfect world I could build myself an urban cottage that's basically a 1-bedroom apartment on top of a workshop. I don't see it ever happening until I move out of the big city, though, and given my chosen profession that seems pretty unlikely.

This thread popped into mind again, any news?

The one thread I don't suggest a Forte GT.....