Has fuel economy influenced your "fun" car purchases?

LSx motors get up to 30 mpg, LS Miata FTW

As is usually the case, my girlfriend is smarter than I am and laid it all out for me.

"Look, you should spend your money on whatever car will make you happy, but in the year that I've known you, you have shown me several cars a day that interest you. The ones that stand out are Mustangs and Miatas."

"I can make this real easy, you always want a matching hardtop with a Miata for racing and bad weather, so a vert isn't a necessity. You'd have to put in a rollbar to do track days in a Miata, and you wouldn't in the Bullitt. Gas mileage is worse with the V8, but you love the sound of that exhaust, so that's a wash."

"Finally, while I have nothing against the Miata, I can picture you in the Bullitt much more easily. Incidentally, it's also what I'd rather ride in if you're driving." The last part said with a little wink, just for emphasis.

That was easy.

We've also discussed the possibility of setting up a track Miata later, once we can pay for it out of pocket. I'm introducing her to karting this weekend, trying to set the hook, hopefully.

It has a heck of a bearing on my daily driver choice, that's for sure.

On the fun machines, less so. And it gets inverted as people do strange things in the feeding frenzy. Driving up the prices of old VW Rabits, and driving down the prices of V8 Corvettes. I don't like the idea of feeding a Corvette, but if I can suddenly get one for chump change, well ok!

No, I drive a Speed 3 as a daily.

Just picked up an E30 'vert as a project car and the eventual plan is to drop a 5.3L in it.

I've been watching '05-07 Mustang prices myself.

We're a bunch of enablers.

Fun car, NO.

Daily Driver, Yes. A DD should get a minimum 35 mpg city, take regular fuel and be disposable. I personally feel 30mpg as a Daily is not good enough for highway mileage. Though I do travel 46 miles each way to work, so I have a different perspective than others.

For a toy, not so much, for a daily, yes. My current one gets about 22mpg (G35), and it took $65 yesterday to fill it up. Last year when I bought it that was about $39 or so. That is a fair difference in a monthly budget. I've been thinking about a replacement, but not sure what yet. My daily drive is about 30 miles each way, plus a few visits to suppliers everyday as well. Given that I average 100 to 150 miles a day, it adds up. I get a mileage allowance from work, but still. The amount I could save by getting up to 35mpg or so would not be insubstantial (is that a word? ).

I keep thinking about a Fiat 500, but we'll see!

Purchases, no, but it does make me want to be sure my Dart buildup (once I get the new turbo in place and running) can be driven to events rather than needing to tow it. Currently the only thing I have that can serve as a tow vehicle is a big block Suburban, and I'm strongly considering selling it.