YAWCT (Yet another what car thread)

My race car is on ebay. My "other" race car is a shared effort between myself and two others so cost is significantly reduced. My truck is ready to be sold or traded. I am free to pick something impractical... to whatever degree I want. My wife has an outback so decent family car is covered. I have her old car - an E46 Touring that I can use to haul things, pick up kids and my oldest can use to get to work. I have a motorcycle for solitary hooning.

Now, I think I know all the options... or maybe I overlooked something. But, my problem is there are too many options. The sale of the race car + truck lets me buy something $35k basically out-of-pocket but I'm not sure I care for spending all of it. So, here are my requirements and my top picks in no certain order. I have shopped everything from the DE 350z thru ND miata to building out a new Golf R and none have made me reach for the wallet more than another. I really don't need another car at all but I like to have something I enjoy going somewhere in so I'm going to end up with something regardless.

Reqs: Fast, agile, smallish, economical, manual trans, RWD or rear biased AWD, trackable for instructing right out of the box, reliable, east to work on, supple enough to drive cross country.

• A nice lightly used E46 M3
• A Cayman S. Somewhere between '06 and '10 seem to be in the 30s now
• Strut into a Ford dealer and pay full boat for a Focus RS (or VW & a Golf R)
• A leftover 2015 BRZ/FRS. They seem to be giving them away at $24-25k or so.
• 2015 Mustang GT? Not economical at all but... ticks a lot of boxes.
• Some cheap old fun thing someone already made really nice ... 2002? Alfa GTV? Another 911?
• A Tacoma.
• Nothing. Buy another motorcycle.

What about the ND Miata with the Club package? They're not rockets like a Mustang GT, but all the car mag tests show a pretty good 0-60 time (mid 5s IIRC), so it's no slouch. Checks all the other boxes...agile, small, economical, manual trans, RWD, trackable, reliable, easy to work on (I presume), supple enough to drive cross country.

In reply to Klayfish:

I want to love the ND, afterall... it's super light and it does tick all the boxes. But I really don't want a ragtop. I should give it another look and take an extended drive. If it was a tin top I'd probably have it high on the list.

In reply to Huckleberry:

Buy another motorcycle, or three.

What about something a little newer than your "old fun thing" options, but not as new as your others? FD RX7, MR2 Turbo, something along those lines?

What about a Boss 302 instead of a Mustang GT? Your budget at least should get you close. 996 Turbo is probably just a little our of reach, but not by much.

Actually disregard what I said. Go get THIS. My finder's fee is that you let me borrow it for one event of my choosing.

Nick (LUCAS) Comstock wrote: Buy another motorcycle, or three.

I can think of three right off the top of my head.

• WR250R
• FZ-09
• SV650 track day bike

¯\_(ツ)_/¯ wrote: What about something a little newer than your "old fun thing" options, but not as new as your others? FD RX7, MR2 Turbo, something along those lines?

I like this idea. Fun, cool car with the ability to appreciate over time?

With so KW shocks from a ACR on their softest setting.

BoxheadTim wrote: What about a Boss 302 instead of a Mustang GT? Your budget at least should get you close.

Just looked, and there are several nice ones on eBay right now for a challenge car or 2 under the max budget. Didn't realize they'd dropped like that!

OP, what about an 03-04 Cobra with 10-15k left over for suspension/brake mods to make it trackable?

Find a 10-15K PRHT NC Miata and send it to Keith for 15-20K worth of "enhancement". Should be the perfect Answer to nearly any question at that point.

In reply to KyAllroad:

Not a bad idea except I don't want to pay retail - having just gone thru building a very nice, winning race car and then having to deal with the realities of selling it at 1/3 the build cost. I'm happy to reciprocate on that though and buy someone else's V8 Flyin' Miata at 1/3 their cost ;)

STM317 wrote:

BoxheadTim wrote: What about a Boss 302 instead of a Mustang GT? Your budget at least should get you close.

Just looked, and there are several nice ones on eBay right now for a challenge car or 2 under the max budget. Didn't realize they'd dropped like that! OP, what about an 03-04 Cobra with 10-15k left over for suspension/brake mods to make it trackable?

I put the '15 stang on my list because it's a million miles ahead of the older cars. I don't want a solid axle on bumpy NE tracks or dealing with fixing the issues with a Cobra IRS to make it boogie. I also don't really care for the way they look or the crappy interior.

C6 Z06 fits your budget. Or a Z51 with mods. Tough to beat all the performance and comfort you can get in a $30k Corvette. Cross country road trip with luggage for two? No sweat. What other cars on your list have a heads up display?

You can get into an early 996 Turbo for the top end of your budget. Supercar performance, fairly practical, and won't depreciate.

Z4M coupe, mechanicals you know, looks better than the e46, not really depreciating.

Many of the 6.3 AMG Mercedes are in this range now if an auto trans is OK, they check all ththe boxes except economical. I get about 16-18 mpg in mine so far in mixed driving.

Lotus Elise/Exige?

C5 Z06

In reply to Rusted_Busted_Spit:

I'm not sure on the economical, easy to work on, supple for cross country driving, or reliable requirements... but YESSSSSS!

Except I can't find any Exige under 40k with a clean title or that really is an Exige. It seems that people cannot tell the difference so the $20k Exige is a wrecked Elise.

This requires further study.

In reply to Huckleberry:

With the Toyota drive train that part should be good, the rest I would be willing to overlook. Besides, someone had to throw something out that did not really meet your wants or the world would end.

ford focus RS all day.

I know not very car guy of me but I would say nothing. Go a bit of time and see what you feel is really missing from your lifestyle and the choice would become a lot more clear. Drive a few maybe while instructing and you'll probably find something that you will be jonesing for.

I didn't see the 35k part.

You know what the answer is

In reply to Storz:

I called my local Ford MEGA dealer - they can only have 1 of the 2k that are coming here. The little guys aren't getting any. He said something to the effect of... expect to pay $41k or a little over that and that he isn't letting it out for demos as it's to be sold as a new car.

I'm sure they will sell it - just not to me.

Huckleberry wrote:

Nick (LUCAS) Comstock wrote: Buy another motorcycle, or three.

I can think of three right off the top of my head. - WR250R - FZ-09 - SV650 track day bike

I like the WR250R.

what does the FZ-09 do better or different than your current steed? Short trip, around town hooligan bike?

I like the sv650 track rat idea too.