Fun car for ~$3000?

[tofu1413]

having owned both:

miata pros:

easier to source parts
dirt cheap to fix
everyone has a part for it somehow
open air goodness
balanced fun

SW20 MR2 pros:

bigger trunk space (two trunks!)
good power (even with the JDM G-limited N/A 3SGE)
good visibility
less rust prone
and the fact its mid engine yo!
Go kart handling (especially early pre revision models)

[320icar]

Maintenance in a miata is dead cheap. In the two years of ownership it never one didn't start, or leave me stranded. They can be modded super cheaply with med-quality (but no nice parts) goodies and look great. Pick up some 15x9 xxr's, some $350 race land coil overs and a GV rep lip for $80 and you have a great looking car that out handles nearly everything on the road.


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[tofu1413]

miatas are cheaper to mod though. trying to find parts for the MR2 is such a pain. its either too costly or the part is long discontinued.

[SpuGen]

Ahh MR2's.

This will be the 999th time I've bitched about it, but here goes.

Bleeding the clutch on an MR2 is retarded. See this shit?
Follow the blue arrow.

Who the fuck thought that would be a great idea? Hey, let's put the bleeder BELOW the slave cylinder, because fuck gravity right?
Took me, LemonT, and Cunnilinguist like 2 hours to bleed it. Then the symptoms came back a week later. I had to spend another 3 hours with another friend bleeding it.

Then we bled the system on his car. New Master, slave, Braided line. Dry. Took all of, I dunno.. 15 minutes? Like, every other car.

There is no fix, and nobody wants to bother figuring it out. The answer will always be "keep bleeding"




Sorry. The dickbag slave cylinder probably still had an air pocket in there, and it feels like a bag of dicks again. And I'm not fucking with it until I feel like putting in the braided line.

But yeah. SW20's are great fun.
Unless you like hooning.

Great grip car. Notso great when you run out of grip and you shit your pants.
When you get it right, it's awesome. If you pussy out and lift, you better have fast hands.

[Timpo]

[Timpo]

How much are these nowadays?

[320icar]

Inb4topgearcheapporschereference
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[ilvtofu]

Originally Posted by liukb

Is maintenance and reliability about similar for the two? storage space/speed not too important to me since it'll be a secondary car

miata is a lot easier to work on because FR layout drivetrain is spread out nice and clear. but always wanted an SW22 myself... just that miata fell into my budget range a lot easier. There are plenty of rust free miatas available too.
If you're looking to get into tracking miata is a pretty good beginners car.
the fact that new parts are regularly being developed to this day for an almost 25 year old car is astonishing. These cars turn into money pits just as fast as any other car though IMO. I think something like an EG civic is worth considering

Cons:
- Even when your car is not that low the seat is pretty damn low, maybe it's my bucket seat but getting in and out of the car with a top on is a pain, hence why i don't like dailying it.
- Pretty boring to drive slow, while its true driving slow car fast is fun, driving slow car slow is just as bad, if not worse.
- you kinda get what you pay for (<$3000) car likely will be a 1.6 and won't have LSD, might even have some body damage. IMO your best bet is to get a moderately done up one that someone has prepped for autox/track, usually around $4000-6000, will save you a lot of money in the long run, generally these cars are taken better care of anyways.
- Safety, I know its not your daily but you will need to learn new driving techniques, you really want to plant yourself in other drivers field of vision as even in stock form the car is too small to see. Most cars don't have ABS and none have TCS (not a big deal), earlier ones may not have front airbag.
- Cupholders!!! factory ones are shit... most NA's don't have them.
- used parts availability nowhere near as good as for a Civic

[320icar]

^^ if someone is gonna buy a miata, I will have the oem cup holders with branded covers, and cig tray in minty shape. Very hard to come by. And yes the miata becomes a money pit soooooooooo fast.

A clean civic hatch with a b18c swap should also be considered. I used to own an old DA integra and it also handled great on coils. Fantastic shifter feel and it would rev until the cows came home. Only real problem is then you get labelled as a civic owner.... You'll have to plaster it with local auto cross club stickers to save face
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[Xzecution'R]

1988-1991 mx-6 gt picked it up for 1,000 put another 500 into it for brakes and suspension upgrades and regular maintenance.

[dark0821]

Originally Posted by swfk

I drove it to school and work with the 15+km surcharge on *full* coverage at 15% discount, $2100 for the year.

Don't forget that 240 thieves are everywhere, ask dark0821 and jing about their 240s

that hurts yo....

[JShifter]

never hurts to try a 93-96 prelude

[4nik8]

TL;DR
awd eclipse talon laser
ill sell you mine I want something more fuel efficient for school.

fastest 3k car money can buy.

[Gabagoo]

Might consider picking up a Miata during the winter - when people are selling them for cheap