shooterschmidty

18 PSI, you're certainly right about the breadth of my initial list. In the end, I'll probably narrow it down to small, two seat or 2+2 convertibles or coupes with a used ND, M235 or Cayman S being the most likely contenders. This thread has provided a couple of other cars I should include in my test drive campaign, so I'll just drive as many as I can find and see if any of them speak to me in a way that demands my money. I'm not in a hurry, and worst case scenario is that I end up driving a bunch of cool cars that I don't buy.

turbofan

iTrader: (1)

I have driven Greddygalant's 335i and it was ******* epic. I LOVED the power. It definitely felt very isolated as I had just gotten out of my s2000, but it seemed like a perfect fun daily.

I drove a 32k mile one owner 2008 Cayman S back to back with my S2000 as well. The Cayman was nice, and the steering is the best steering i've ever felt in my life. But the shifter was absolutely horrible, and i kept wanting the top to go down. The engine sounded nice but... hard to pay $30k for it. Definitely aspirational, however.

I'll likely end up in a GTI for a fun daily in a year or so, but my budget will be considerably lower than yours is (about $15k).

Chilicharger665

iTrader: (2)

I finally got my 01 running again, so my 2016 ND Sport is for sale. You did say you only want the top-end model though...

calteg

iTrader: (18)

I've driven everything OP mentioned and owned half of them. The one's that are still in my garage are an IS-F and an Elise. Those two are something special.

Personally I found the Porsches, muscle cars and Corvettes un-involving.

The truth is, every car on that list is good. Ultimately it's going to come down to two questions:
1) How practical do you need it to be
2) How much do you care about consumable costs

edit: I'd also throw out an E92 M3. The V8 is supposedly very reliable, moreso than the turbo I6. Oddly it feels like it lacks torque down low, but it's an M3, so it's pretty fantastic.

Padlock

see beginning of my build thread in sig.

the TLDR version: young engineer has same thoughts as you, parts out miata, buys CTS-V2, gets bored of dishing out money to maintain and race said car, sells V, buys NB, many happinesses occur from bang for the buck smiles and low maintenance costs miata offers while affordably doing burnouts and other hood rat things on way to hair appointments. The end.

That said, you can find 09+ CTS-V's for high 20's now if you look hard enough. From a daily driving standpoint I loved that car. Its sharp looking, the recaro seats, sunroof, and factory nav all are quite nice for the money if so optioned. From a maintenance standpoint it was pretty maintenance free compared to its german counterparts thanks to the LS powertrain. Insurance on it is surprisingly cheap due to being a sedan and I saw 21mpg hwy in it which i didnt think was terrible given the setup. Consumables are high overall though. Getting stuck in traffic (<10mpg) burning premium fuel adds up quick, the gas tank is small, tires arent cheap, and brakes arent cheap. From a performance standpoint its hard not to love a bone stock 500 whp. Ran 11.9@119 on street tire bone stock in my manual (which was pretty much a record on the V forums). Lost to miatas at every small lapping event or AutoX i went to though thanks to its friggen whale heavy curb weight on crummy tires. Overall, great car if you want just to leave it as-is and just drive it, but if you're like me you cant leave anything stock and you want to be competitive. Fair warning to open your wallet wide if that happens lol.

shooterschmidty

Caltag and Padlock, thanks for the inputs, they're exactly the kind I was hoping for. I do keep Padlock's experience in-mind as I have a friend that bought an RS6 with similar regrets.

I drove a 2014 335 x-drive and a 2013 M3 earlier this week. The 335 was certainly a nice car and had plenty of power, but it didn't feel special or involving. That may partially be because they didn't have a single manual on the lot so I had to drive an auto. The M3 on the other hand was pretty awesome. This particular one had almost no options so it was actually somewhat spartan inside, but the exhaust and power delivery were intoxicating. I did notice that the low rpm range feels weak, but with an 8k redline who spends time there anyways! Unfortunately, the M3 was over my budget, and I'm not sure if it's worth the price, but it was a fun drive.

Efini~FC3S

iTrader: (4)

Re: E92 M3 reliability - Are we throwing out all the cars that had engine bearing issues and had to have either bearings or complete engines changed in <30k miles? I'm certainly no expert on these cars but the little research I did sounded awful terrifying...

Efini~FC3S

iTrader: (4)

Also, my new vote is for you to go ***** out, up your budget to $45k, and get an Aston Martin V8 Vantage.


https://www.cars.com/vehicledetail/d...3464/overview/

https://www.cars.com/vehicledetail/d...8166/overview/

https://www.cars.com/vehicledetail/d...7698/overview/


Don't be a wuss...do it!!


That last one is in Charlotte, I think I shall be test driving it soon.

Lastly, I know (of) a guy here in NC who daily drives a V12 version of this car. It's been very reliable/durable for him. V12s are $100k+ so is plebes should probably stick to the V8s.

Sex on wheels

shuiend

iTrader: (24)

My boss back in 09 was looking into his first "luxury" car in the NoVA area. I tried very hard to sway him to a $40k-$50k Aston Martin or a Maserati. I figured if you wanted luxury, might as well get something that does not look like every other car on the street. My rational was at the price point he was looking maintenance and reliability will most likely be about the same across all the brands. He ended up buying a BMW 5 series and it looked like every other BMW that are all over the place in NoVA.

z31maniac

Yep, like all the other S motors from 2000- on, the bearings, even on motors not beat on, will likely need replaced in the 80-100k range. They are basically considered a wear item, and about a $2k job at a dealership.

The E90/2 M3 even has a color coded indicator on the tach to show how low to keep the revs until the car is fully up to temp.

calteg

iTrader: (18)

"Reliable" and "inexpensive" are relative terms, especially where M3s are concerned. If you make it 100k with only a $2,000 major service, I'd call that a huge win.

Padlock's experience is surprisingly common. Lots of folks go ***** out on a miata, upgrade to something faster, and then end up very happy with another stock'ish miata.

Fiesta ST. Seriously, I don't know a single person that has driven one that hasn't raved about it.

turbofan

iTrader: (1)

Now you do. I drove one, it was fun, but I'd have a GTI over it.

astral

Focus RS and Evo IX would be my top DD's.

On a tight budget, I'd have to agree on the Focus ST.

Braineack

iTrader: (62)

this is what im looking to replace my 2012 C350 AWD with...

z31maniac

Whoa, that's just one item. VANOS units are notorious for problems, and are $$$$$ to replace. If you get the DCT transmission, you're looking at $400-500 fluid changes every 25-30k miles. Crazy expensive Castrol oil, cooling system/bushing/window regulators all known maintenance stuff for BMWs for the last 20 or so years.

And of course consumables for a 3600lb car with 420 HP.

But damn are they phenomenal to drive, just awesome cars. I'm really having a hard time on deciding on what I'm going to replace the BRZ with hopefully this year.

But I keep getting pulled back to the Camaro SS 1LE.

Padlock

I was very disappointed in the Focus RS personally. maybe once they hit the used market I'd be more interested but for the new price there'd be no way I'd purchase one. Its in the same price range as the new STI, and personally I find them both terrible values for the money. I bought my CTS-V with 40k miles on it for THOUSANDS less than a retail RS and STI and got WAYYY more car.

The Fiesta ST is a blast for an affordable fun decent MPG daily hatch as long as you can live with the FWD. Got to AutoX one of them 2 years ago. My only gripe on them is they are sorta small if you're looking to get some utility out of this car. I mean, its better than a Miata by far, but still small. Being a hatch helps.

I haven't drove a 1LE 5th gen (only a 1SS 5th gen). I will say, the car feels big, you feel tiny inside it, blind spots are terrible. I'm a GM guy for the most part through and through and I hate the 5th gens (minus the powertrain). I much more enjoy my dads 99 LS1 T56 Firebird. You can pick them up for under $10k CLEAN nowadays (my dad got his for $9k with 60k miles on it 4 years ago). They routinely get 30MPG hwy if you are nice to them and don't modify them much (like my dads). If you're into the muscle car thing, I don't really think you can look past an fbody for C5 vette for the money

18psi

iTrader: (76)

Not that I don't agree with your RS opinion, but comparing new to used it pointless.

Padlock

I respectfully disagree. Comparing new and used has plenty of points, but I won't clutter this thread with them.

18psi

iTrader: (76)

My point is that you can ALWAYS get way better/more car for the money buying used. There are almost no exceptions.

z31maniac

And comparing a hot hatch to a V8 sedan. *facepalm*