Next Car Recommendation
 

My BRZ lease will be up early next year, and I need to decide what to do for my next car. My budget will be $5k - $10k, and I want to buy it outright (no monthly payment). That probably rules out a twin. So what should I get? I'm looking for a combination of good daily driver / commuting car, and some fun on the twisties.

And for once, Miata isn't the answer, for two reasons. One, I live in the Pacific Northwest, where the weather isn't good for convertibles. Two, I already have one as an autocross car.

Sounds like a good budget to find a used Lexus or BMW compact sedan. Will make a good daily driver, and will be fun on the twisties with minimal modification/TLC. Alternatively, another twin might be the right answer. Realistically for a good DD that's fun in the twisties, there's not too many options that don't fall into the category of either being 1) Totally beat, 2) Rare and expensive, 3) A new car with a payment, or 4) a Miata.


Honestly, basically every great 90s sports car is still in high demand and most of them are in high demand despite being absolutely beat. The 2000s and most of the 2010s were just a glut of FWD gross mobiles. The twins are a gem in the rough like Miatas are, and honestly everything else that's even close costs twice as much and gets beat twice as much to shit by their drivers.

What's the buyout on the BRZ?

The Volvo C30 is super comfy, quick, fun (for a fwd) and is just practical enough.

Brz and fr-s start at 9k in my area.

I just test drove a 2001 2 door 5-speed silver integra. The guy gad records all the way back. Was it perfect, no. But it drove and shifted awesome, 163,000 miles, clean title, and only $2500.

My friend said that I couldn't find a good car for under 5k. So we test drove the little acura I found. I felt like it was a good car.

I still would drive an integra GSR. Fun little cars. They come in 2 and 4 door too.

Used Mini Cooper S

As long as it's 2009+ (Or 2010, whichever year they updated the engines on the R56. Hilariously fun car

350Z, MR2 Spyder with a hardtop, Acura RSX Type-S, E46 BMW 330i ZHP or BMW Z3 coupe, C4 Audi S6 or B5 Audi S4.

You told us your once constraint (price range) , but what other things will you be expecting out of your next vehicle ( mpg, versatility , 2 wheels, 4 wheels ) etc ?

I'm pretty flexible on most of those things. About the only thing that's a must is manual transmission. Other than that, it's all about fun (and a bit about reliability). I prefer RWD, but have driven fun AWD and FWD cars. I don't have a long commute, so mpg isn't a big factor. I don't have kids or big cargo hauling needs (obviously, or I wouldn't be driving the BRZ).

We had a 2005 Cooper S for several years. It was an absolute blast.

Well, the $5-10k price is a major constraint (as you probably know). So as Turbowned mentioned, maybe as clean of a MR2 Spider as you can find ( a S2k is probably out of the question, as something beat would be in that price range I'd reckon).

So far you're the only person in this thread besides me to list anything that's RWD.


My only problem with those suggestions is I don't (at least IMO) see many of them as being better than the twin he has now and he could probably just buy his lease out. The Audi B5 would be pretty sweet though as a DD and get him 4 doors, although unless it's beat I think it'd be hard to find one under 10k. If you had $75k to spend, there's actually a handful of real honest to goodness B5 RS4 Avants floating around in the US.



If you do end up with another sports car, I'd recommend against a Z... they're pigs on weight and the power differential doesn't make up for it unless you put a lot of work into them. VQs are meh, although there's a few folks out there with very nice custom fabbed twin turbo setups laying down real numbers. If you're not going to dump piles of money into it, the only 350Z worth having is the 2007-2008 Nismo 350Z, but they're like $17k+


Twins are at a serious value sweet spot. They aren't that impressive on the numbers, although they handle very nicely and are quite quick, but they're very cheap for what you get. If you've got money to burn there's lots of better cars out there, but if you're on a tight budget only the Twins and Miatas really scratch that itch.

If you're mechanically-inclined, and willing to pay at the pump, the RX8 is a dream family-hauler for me (sadly, I am only somewhat OK with #1, and not so much with #2).

Find a very well maintained E30 325i. Watch this vid:

[ame]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iBkObmAPvs0[/ame]

Awesome cars as long as they are well cared for and a good example should be in your budget.

The UrS6!!! how I loved mine. That thing hauled ass for a luxoboat.
But as a daily, I'd never do it. It's a gas guzzler by modern cars standards. I was lucky to get ~ 17 mpg.
There's nothing too complicated to repair yourself but the part cost add up rather quickly.
Then again, I'm in the north east and rust was the main cause of issues.

Maybe I should toss budget out the window and get one of these :)

https://www.roadandtrack.com/new-car...ource=facebook

SC300 or IS300 because 2JZ.

G35 coupes were always cool in my book.

Subaru forester. Sounds like you just need a practical daily, reliable and awd for your winters. Sink your money in to your fun car.

Get a manual forester and throw some stock brz wheels on it, maybe an STI exhaust and love life.

The looks of a corvette without any of that pesky V8 power. Very..um...cool.

I had one from last November thru this February; 99% rust free in New England, miraculously. It was a nice daily even with 200k miles; it did develop some issues but I paid $3500 for it, put $2k into it and sold it for $5500 so hey, not a bad time.

OP: I vote one of the German big 3; you already have a small, light Miata. Might as well get a proper German sports coupe/sedan for a daily. I'm looking for something similar but I've decided I can stand it to be automatic so long as my other car is manual. That opens up things like Mercedes AMG cars, Audi S8, heaven forbid another RS6, BMW 740i, etc.

I'd caution against this advice, just speaking from anecdotal personal experience. The BMW 7-series in particular, but any of the German cars in the higher end of their lines. There's a reason they can be purchased used for such reasonable prices compared to their original purchase prices; they have a lot of complex systems and expensive parts on them, and keeping them up takes money, time, and lots of both. Yes, they are great cars, but if you're trying to save money by buying a car for $5k-$10k and not having a car payment, you won't accomplish that with one of those cars; you'll have the equivalent of at least an average car payment in maintenance and repairs, and maybe much more if you're not at least averagely lucky.


German-wise, I've owned an '82 VW Rabbit, '88 Benz 560SL, a '92 Audi 80, '93 BMW 325i, '99 Benz ML430, and '06 Benz ML500. Of those, the 325i (E36) was, by FAR, the hands down winner in terms of reliability and driving enjoyment, and I would buy another one in a heart beat.. that would be an excellent choice for you. 235k trouble free enjoyable miles with only one stranding in that entire time, and repairs constrained to parts you'd expect to wear over that mileage and age at appropriate times. The ML500 was a nightmare for the first two years, but it seems to have stabilized.. knock on wood. The ML430 was suprisingly good, but a recurring power steering leak kept taking out the serpentine belt... left us stranded three times, but we still took that one to over 230K. The Rabbit was just a fun hobby/project. The Audi '80 was only in our fleet for a few months before the opportunity to grab the 325i came up, so down the road it went, but it was a good car.. sort of always regretted selling it. Sort of a German-feeling Corolla.



Find an E36, do the regular maintenance, and you'll love it. STAY AWAY from the 7 series, the AMG stuff, the M series, and the S series. All great cars... and all serious money pits.

[ame]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SB3ibrG1qv4[/ame]