Is an IS300 the answer?

I had a line on a nicely track-prepped '00 Miata for a good price, but that fell through when the car turned out to have rusted severely in the last couple years (Ohio + winter on a gravel driveway + a car cover = iron oxide holocaust). The car was going to be a multipurpose autoX/track/weekend car. Probably just as well, since my time line got shifted to this fall for financial reasons.

In the course of checking the car out, test driving it and whatnot, it occurs to me that I would probably like a somewhat more substantial, safer car. For both track work, and regular driving around in the this town full of undergraduates, I'd be more comfortable with a safer car. In addition, I have a hard time seeing myself paying what a presentable Miata sells for around here these days.

My first thought was, of course, SW20 MR2, but I've never loved the way they handle, Macstrut front end, and they are getting on in years.

Then I thought BMW, but E30's are pricey (for their age at least), the regular E36 doesn't feel special, and the E36 M3 might be a bit much in the power department for where I'm at right now. Plus, as a former BMW owner, I have some concerns about the time/money/effort needed to keep a BMW up.

RX-8's are getting into this price range, but the rotary is a foreign thing to me. Obviously, I worry about reliability, it's tough to separate the haters and the fanbois out and figure out how reliable these really are. My brother has an FB RX-7... that he's putting an LS motor into. Still a leading contender...

So, I'm thinking, reliable, good handling/double wishbones, less than 15 yrs. old, generally very safe, RWD... IS300?

It's tough to find one with a stick, but I kind of want to do a fly and drive one out of the dirty south anyway. It's not exactly fast, but as I mentioned, I probably don't need a legitimately fast car right now (My '06 350Z was more power than I needed, things happened faster than I could keep up with). It gets laughable fuel mileage, but it won't be my commuter anyway. Am I missing anything? It does seem goofy to get a 4-door sedan for a "fun" car, but such is the state of the early-2000's sports car market.

EDIT: Wow, um, sorry for the novel.

TL;DR: Would an IS300 be a good track/autoX/weekend fun car?

Possibly but I havent seen a stick in one in years

My cousin had one, it was alright. Since the terrible mileage doesn't bother you, that's one big thing off the list.

Stuff for it is kinda pricey from what I remember

The engines are un-killable, that's for sure. I think the traction control is impossible to shut off all the way but that may not be a down side for you. I am a Lexus fan but have trouble ranking the IS300 as highly as a BMW 330i which is more efficient, faster, and more widely available in stick. Comparing similar years and mileage I think the cost is about the same to buy. BMW parts aren't any more expensive than Lexus parts.

But I doubt you would regret the is300.

Yeah, the manual was something like 10% of production, but I plan to fly and drive for a non-rusty example anyway.

What kind of stuff is pricey? Maintenance and repair stuff? Modifications? All of it?

Mods from what I remember, but then I've owned nothing but trucks, so I might be talking out of my very cheap everything privileged anus for all I know.

And the TC, I'm pretty sure there's a process to shutting it off completely, I know my cousin had it off a few times.

I thought the big problem with these is that they hold their value so exceptionally well, that you can get more BMW for less money.

Obviously this is negated when you go to sell it, but still something to consider.

Honestly, I've owned an E30 and an E34, and I loved them, I've even lived in Germany. But, I just don't trust early-2000's German cars to be reliable or cost-effective to maintain. If I'm going to roll the dice on a car reliability- and maintenance-wise it's going to be an RX-8.

I test drove a number of them when I was shopping 6 or 7 years ago. At that time they had nothing on the equivalent BMW, and the asking prices were MUCH higher. Higher, like, twice the mileage on a same-year same-price car. Plus manuals are unicorns.

Dunno what's happened to the market in the intervening time. However, around here, IS300s are what all the Driftkidz have moved on to, now that they are making a few years' more money and they have used up all the S13s/S14s.

ShadowSix wrote: Honestly, I've owned an E30 and an E34, and I loved them, I've even lived in Germany. But, I just don't trust early-2000's German cars to be reliable or cost-effective to maintain. If I'm going to roll the dice on a car reliability- and maintenance-wise it's going to be an RX-8.

Perfectly understandable--might also want to consider the G35.

I test drove one when they were only a couple years old and was generally unimpressed. I'd sum up the experience with "The performance wasn't bad, for a sedan."

IMO an Evo offers much better bang-for-the-buck and probably isn't far behind on luxury.

In reply to mtn:

I LOOOVE the G35, but I assume that, like my old 350Z, it will be a bit more power than I really want to be responsible for on a race track at this point.

The VQ35DE is one of my favorite motors of the last ten years of so. Love, love, love that powerplant!

In reply to petegossett:

The Evo might offer better bang for the buck, but it's about twice as many bucks!

petegossett wrote: IMO an Evo offers much better bang-for-the-buck and probably isn't far behind on luxury.

You owe me a new keyboard

The Evo is a very uncomfortable car to me. rough as hell to ride in and thoroughly not an enjoyable experience

Last of the Supra stuff is a bolt on to the IS300, so in theory, mega hp and great handling. A lot of our Speedvision Cup Supra stuff went onto the IS300 World Challenge car at first, including the setup info.

In reply to racerdave600:

I've heard that, it certainly makes for an enticing upgrade path!

Is300s seem nice, but $7500 seems a lot of money for a car with over 250k miles and a salvage title, which is what most of them are in my area. For $5k with 175k miles and a clean title I would have bought one though.

In reply to Travis_K:

Yeah, for some reason there are a lot of salvage titles out there, and IS300 owners don't seem to think a salvage title should decrease the value to a car. What's up with that? Theft recoveries?

petegossett wrote: IMO an Evo offers much better bang-for-the-buck and probably isn't far behind on luxury.

My concern would be that an inexpensive Evo would offer a lot of bang that would end up costing a lot of bucks. Not all of them have been modified in an, err, sensible and informed manner.

Travis_K wrote: Is300s seem nice, but $7500 seems a lot of money for a car with over 250k miles and a salvage title, which is what most of them are in my area. For $5k with 175k miles and a clean title I would have bought one though.

I just cruised CL for one and found limited amounts of manual trans cars with silly asking prices. $12K for a car that is over 10 years old with 175K miles and a salvage title.

I'd rather get a bmw.

I will say this, for being so low to the ground, my cousins IS had one of the nicest rides I've experienced.

Also, I was mean, and tormented him with this video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ild14wZxCvg

In reply to Fueled by Caffeine:

Meh, these are both on my local (Columbus, OH, certainly not a huge market): $7.5k, '02, stick, clean title, 167k and
$8k, '02, stick, clean title, 114k.

EDIT: By way of comparison, the cheapest manual trans, clean title 330i is this ZHP for $16k.

The clean title automatic 330i's are in the same ballpark as the IS300's.

03 330 i ZHP with a 6 speed

http://charlotte.craigslist.org/cto/4508717866.html

Charlotte NC 168k

O6 in knoxville only 134k on the odo and its 12,500

http://knoxville.craigslist.org/cto/4498631900.html

around here the 335 starts at about 15k