On the 9-3 your are referring to the BSR PPC. 800 bucks, and a 22 dollar FPR 250-260WHP, and 280+Ftlbs of Tq. (in a 2950lb 4 door family car.) I have one on order right now. I'm going for the stage 4 though consididering I have 3'' all the way back, and a Viggen intercooler. Only thing I need now is a forge Bypass valve.

 

05 STi...suspension...sways..TBE...tune...done. /thread

 

Ah, so it does not need to be a four-seater, but it does need to be a hardtop. That, my friend, opens new worlds.

First off, are you absolutely dead-set on flushing money down the toilet and selling short your children's future by buying new, or are you willing to get on board with something that's got a few years on it?

New (or used):

Nissan 350Z. I don't know why, I just love this car. The old 300ZX was crap, but Nissan's engineers here in San Diego finally pulled their dicks out of their sisters for long enough to do a decent job of this one. $28,500 gets you 306 naturally-aspirated horses applying their brute strength to the correct wheels. Concerned about "factory tuner" support? Check out the NISMO package.

Mazda MX-5. Yes, I'm serious. They have factory hard-tops now, remember?

Used:

Porsche Cayman S. They only came out in '06 so prices are still a ways up there, but a lot of 24 month leases are starting to expire, so I'd expect them to flood the used market here pretty soon. If you don't mind wearing a badge on the front of your golf shirt that says "I'm a ****," then this is a pretty good ride.

Mitsubishi Lancer Evo / Subaru WRX STi. Mid '00s. Low to mid $20s gets you AWD, a very capable suspension, and enough torque to pull a church. You want aftermarket parts? Only the VW Beetle is better supported.

Audi TT Quattro, V6, mid '00s. It's a West German car built by former communists in Hungary. What's not to love?


Also, don't get too hung up on vendor support for aftermarket mods. While there may not be a Flyin' Everything for whatever car you choose, remember that Bilstein and Koni make shocks that'll fit damn near anything with wheels, and springs are a dime a dozen. All of the cars named here have more than enough factory wheel to fit plenty of good, sticky rubber.

 

haha LOVE that expression, never heard it before
and completely agree

 

Well if the toss had to be between an STi and EVO VIII... Much as I dislike Mitsu, the EVO would winout 10 fold. Here in KC theres approx 265.2 STi's for every ONE EVO VIII running around... Plus;



The front of that just looks like complete ***, to me. Ontop of that I don't trust Subaru's transmissions... Even the six speed. Of all the subaru owners I know with modified cars, there is only one that'll actually launch their car from a dig and he has a $7200 dog box. To be honest if I had the $$ I'd buy an Evo X and call it quits. Offering a 469 horsepower off the showroom floor tune I'd have pretty much everything I could want from it. The EVO VIII wouldn't be too bad of a choice either, the 4G63t has proven itself in those cars to be damn near bulletproof to make numbers out of the ******* world without coming apart. Performance part aftermarket is plentiful and right on par cost wise with the MS6, but you get more for your buck in the EVO.

350Z... Ah, Yes. Best friend bought one of those brand new the first week they came out after his supra burnt down. Sadly it was an automatic but I still loved driving that car, and the new 306hp models are very appealing. The interior was very comfortable and had all the luxury items I'd be interested in. One thing, I don't think they're available with a sunroof, which is something I was highly interested in. The new Hardtop MX5 I like driving equally much but there only real performance aftermarket for them is a cosworth centrifugal supercharger, and thats like... $6000+ for not real impressive gains.

Wouldn't mind the Porsche a bit. Infact a friends getting ready to unload his 1999 996 C4S which I've been eyeballin' but thats a little high for a used car. Think he mentioned around $31k for it, which don't get me wrong is a complete Steal for that car... It drives like a dream, and you can push them so hard in corners and they kick your *** and ask for more. The electronic stability crap on it is really annoying if you forget to turn it off for an autocross though.



Man... I just don't know anymore.

 

there are tons of 500+whp sti's out there with stock tranmissions....while I wont argue with any of your other opinions, you are entitled to them, I will say this: the sti tranny, is AT LEAST as strong as the evo, if not stronger. otherwise good luck on your decision

 

Yeah, to me both cars have gotten themselves pretty well and truly uglified in their most recent incarnation. A neighbor of mine traded his older Evo for an Evo X a few months ago, and I still have to avert my eyes when he drives past. I guess it's all a part of being JDM-tyte, yo.

And you're right. It's hard to argue with 150hp / litre in showroom trim.

Uhm... Ok. You don't want a convertible, and you don't want a hardtop. Would you be interested in a late '70s T-Top equipped Firebird?

Give it time. Bell is on it.
That's what I loved about it. You can drive it hard and even if you make a mistake or two, rather than arbitrarily murdering you, the car just shrugs it off and says "Is that all you got?"

 

once again I say.

Go to a track and see how well the mini's do. Dont listen to intraweb speak

 

If you get the Mini S, get the 100K BMW warranty extension with it and do not even consider the CVT trans (daughter has one in her NA Mini, pisses me off every time I drive the car). The Mini is a tight, well built car and handles well for a FWD.

 

The EVO IX has the last and best of the 4G63T motors along with some other improvements over the VIII:
Improved cylinder head with revised water cooling passages that reduces detonation
MIVEC (aka VVT) intake cam
Larger turbo (lots of stock turbo IXs running 11s, one in the 10s)
19 psi at 3,900 RPM (peak torque) tapering to 16psi @ 7,000
Stronger and better electronic center diff (ACD)
LSD in both front and rear diffs
Higher capacity fuel pump


The Mitsu ECU is also fully user programmable with a $90 Tactrix cable and a free download of ECUFlash. Most parts from the VII & VIII interchange with IX as well (obviously not the intake cams)

A typical "bolt-on" IX (3" turbo back exhaust, K&N drop in, LICP, boost "bump" and re-flash) will make 25-40 more AWHP than an VIII with the same mods.

I test drove a IX on a lark two years ago and ended up buying it.

 

everything correct except for the 40awhp part..ridiculous exaggeration...the 9 is stronger than the 8 and has more potential, but with just tbe and tune there is no ******* way 40awhp difference at same boost level and similar map is possible.

 

I didn't mean to imply the IX and VIII would be running comparable boost and timing. 25-40AWHP is correct for "Stage I" cars. The IX can run more boost due to the bigger turbo. The timing maps aren't going to be the same because:
1. MIVEC timing can influence knock so the MIVEC map is optimized before the timing maps (IX has 3 timing maps)
2. The IX can take more timing without knocking (you can log knock counts on both VIII & IX with EVOScan or Mitsu logger) due to the improved cylinder head so it will make more power than the VIII at the same boost setting due to the additional timing.
3. You'll also need to buy a new fuel pump for the VIII at this stage, which you won't for a IX.

 

there's only one sti I've seen locally that I like. White, not the bugeyes, no spoiler, gold advans and a frontmount.