Third Car Options?

[nicholasn]

Lotus Elise or Evora S?

[Humdizzle]

just depends what you are looking for. the pure sports cars are going to be the 86, cayman, boxster, elise, evora. these cars weren't designed to be anything other than a sports car from the ground up. there are no commuter base model versions.

supra is an option if you can get a manual. right now you will probably need to spend at least 55-60k to get one though with the markups.

my vote would be for the cayman/boxster. ~3000 pounds, mid engine, good manual, good build quality. tons of indy shops can service them. New 86 is a hoot to drive too, reliable, back seats, and you get a warranty.

[DB_Cooper]

Honda S2000

[Socal_R8]

If you can find one in MT I'd recommend one of these

I flew to AZ to snag this one

[Alfisti]

I cannot recommend a drop top enough if it's a 3rd car, adds a lot to the experience.

[freakystyly]

Golf Rs are the last thing I would think of as a "fun" car... also since when are Caymans in the same price range?

[BMWsully]

Originally Posted by freakystyly

Golf Rs are the last thing I would think of as a "fun" car... also since when are Caymans in the same price range?

A small HB with MT and 300 horses isn't fun?

[freakystyly]

The power is fine, it's more the FWD biased drivetrain, it's too sterile and prone to under steer. Would be nicer if the haldex system in those was a bit more balanced. It's still a fun car coming from something like a Honda Fit like OP, don't get me wrong... it just needs mods to make it more fun.

Edit: didn't realize you were OP, my bad. Not trying to bash the R, my point was.. that it's more of a jack of all trades, master of none type car. A family member has one.

[Red Bread]

I drove the previous Golf R and bought a GTI. It just really felt fwd until there was a lot of slip. That said, I have a Mk8 R on order. It ditched the Haldex setup for a new Magna setup that allows torque vectoring in the rear. It's still a max of 50% to the back, but in a much better way than the previous ones.

That said, mine is an all rounder for kid and dog hauling. If I needed a third car, it would be a Miata or a Caterham.

[DB_Cooper]

Originally Posted by freakystyly

Golf Rs are the last thing I would think of as a "fun" car... also since when are Caymans in the same price range?

I flirted w/ the idea of buying a Golf R. Hated it. More so from the price standpoint. It's $8-10k overpriced, when new. Not worth it IMO.

[Red Bread]

Originally Posted by DB_Cooper

I flirted w/ the idea of buying a Golf R. Hated it. More so from the price standpoint. It's $8-10k overpriced, when new. Not worth it IMO.

Worth noting that like a CTR, they don't really depreciate. And a $35k Golf R would be a steal. The GRolla opens at $37k and the CTR is $1k cheaper than the Golf R. I'd say it's about right.

[Rk-d]

I haven't driven one, but the reviews on the new Civic Type R are very positive.

Now try to get one at sticker.

From a pure driving satisfaction standpoint, a preowned 987 Cayman is hard to beat. Easy and cheap to mod with a Numeric billet short shifter kit, Carnewal exhaust mod and high flow cats.

Nice spunky powertrain with sweet shifting, good engine noise and beautiful hydraulic steering. Upgrade with a Spyder suspension set up and it will probably drive as good as almost any modern car short of a GT3.

[x622]

Originally Posted by kyriian

Slight correction
MR2 SW20 is the 89-99 one, runs a 3S-GTE/3S-GE and available as a T-Top or coupe, not a spyder (from Toyota anyway)
MR2 Spyder is the SW30 and that's the one with the 1ZZ-FE and easily upgradeable to a 2ZZ or even a K, you are probably referring to this one.

Correct, I was referring to the 30, was a typo on my part. I wish I could get a sw20 myself.

[RM7]

I have one of the last awesome NA V8 manual cars. I can recommend.

[Llarry]

So BMWsully, you have a large range of options mentioned, many of which probably exceed your budget by a wide margin -- what do you think so far?

[BMWsully]

Originally Posted by Llarry

So BMWsully, you have a large range of options mentioned, many of which probably exceed your budget by a wide margin -- what do you think so far?

Yep, some great suggestions here for sure. I think I've eliminated the Golf R from the convo, not because it's a bad car by any means, but like others said, its form factor is basically the same as the MYP that I already have.

That being the case, the CTR is my preferred choice, but dealers around here are asking upwards of 30k over sticker, so that's a no for now. I may sniff around some super low mileage examples of the last gen instead.

[x622]

Originally Posted by BMWsully

Yep, some great suggestions here for sure. I think I've eliminated the Golf R from the convo, not because it's a bad car by any means, but like others said, its form factor is basically the same as the MYP that I already have.

That being the case, the CTR is my preferred choice, but dealers around here are asking upwards of 30k over sticker, so that's a no for now. I may sniff around some super low mileage examples of the last gen instead.

$30k over on a 40k msrp car? I'm gonna love watching these dealers get wrecked in this recession.

[z335is]

Originally Posted by x622

$30k over on a 40k msrp car? I'm gonna love watching these dealers get wrecked in this recession.

My local Honda dealer wants 25k over sticker and they have zero timeline for when the car will even be there.

It's a joke and frankly an embarassment. I'm liking the Tesla paradigm more and more.

[mecheng77]

Forget the Golf R, long wait times over a year and mark ups

The mk8 GTI is getting great reviews despite some teething problems

Others to consider:

Audi S3
Audi TT
BMW m235i or m240i

All of the above are in the same affordable price range used compared to the GTI

[XutvJet]

Originally Posted by Rk-d

From a pure driving satisfaction standpoint, a preowned 987 Cayman is hard to beat. Easy and cheap to mod with a Numeric billet short shifter kit, Carnewal exhaust mod and high flow cats.

Nice spunky powertrain with sweet shifting, good engine noise and beautiful hydraulic steering. Upgrade with a Spyder suspension set up and it will probably drive as good as almost any modern car short of a GT3.

Agreed on all and my 987.2 Cayman is totally stock at the moment. I plan on the shifter cables, Carnewal exhaust mod and their high flow cats, plus suspension and other minor performance/visual mods.

The 987s are definitely fairly easy to work on, but I do have to say, the price for certain parts is quite hilarious. I'm putting a clutch and flywheel in mine over the next couple of weeks at the price of $2,900.....from an independent Porsche mechanic! The Porsche dealer wanted nearly $5K for the same job using the same parts. I do the job myself if I had a lift as the job is really quite simple.

I caution anyone buying a "cheap" Porsche to be prepared to spend a lot of money maintaining it even if you have the skills to do most of the work yourself. I knew this going in and I'm willing to spend the money keeping it maintained because to me, the 987 Cayman is a pretty rare and timeless looking car and almost has a first gen NSX-like vibe which is another car I really love.

When I walk into a Porsche dealer (and they are freaking nice inside), I become immediately aware of my wallet lightening and that I don't belong. My Cayman cost what some Porsche buyers spend on freaking property tax on their new Porsche in my county. LOL

[Red Bread]

Originally Posted by mecheng77

Forget the Golf R, long wait times over a year and mark ups

The mk8 GTI is getting great reviews despite some teething problems

Others to consider:

Audi S3
Audi TT
BMW m235i or m240i

All of the above are in the same affordable price range used compared to the GTI

S3 is an overpriced Golf R with the old Haldex setup and a bad form factor. Forget that one.

[Rk-d]

Originally Posted by XutvJet

Agreed on all and my 987.2 Cayman is totally stock at the moment. I plan on the shifter cables, Carnewal exhaust mod and their high flow cats, plus suspension and other minor performance/visual mods.

The 987s are definitely fairly easy to work on, but I do have to say, the price for certain parts is quite hilarious. I'm putting a clutch and flywheel in mine over the next couple of weeks at the price of $2,900.....from an independent Porsche mechanic! The Porsche dealer wanted nearly $5K for the same job using the same parts. I do the job myself if I had a lift as the job is really quite simple.

I caution anyone buying a "cheap" Porsche to be prepared to spend a lot of money maintaining it even if you have the skills to do most of the work yourself. I knew this going in and I'm willing to spend the money keeping it maintained because to me, the 987 Cayman is a pretty rare and timeless looking car and almost has a first gen NSX-like vibe which is another car I really love.

When I walk into a Porsche dealer (and they are freaking nice inside), I become immediately aware of my wallet lightening and that I don't belong. My Cayman cost what some Porsche buyers spend on freaking property tax on their new Porsche in my county. LOL

The Porsche tax is real. No question that the cost of ownership can be high. The flip side is that they are relatively reliable cars, all things considered.

$2900 for clutch/flywheel is high no doubt, but actually not terrible for a Porsche - my 993 required an engine out to do the same job and that wasn’t cheap.

Most Porsche guys are pretty laid back people and have respect for all the sports car models (though they might get a little uppity about the SUVs).

I cross shopped a 987 with my F87 M2C and ended up with the latter mostly because of the back seat. I love the M2C, but the steering and dynamics of the Cayman blow away the BMW to be honest.