$20-25k Non-Daily, but with reasonable practicality.

[shoeydude]

I currently own a '00 Accord 5-speed with 180k miles. Pic right beh-low:




This car has treated me exceptionally well, and I plan to drive it for at least another 100k miles as my daily driver. I am a very conservative driver, however I'd like to spice things up a bit and get a car I wont feel as bad hooning around a couple times a week.

My budget is between $20-25K and I'd prefer to get a slightly more expensive/well cared for example. Reliability is less of an issue since I have a perfectly good DD, however I don't want to be having to do costly repairs regularly.

Some ideal cars would be e39 M5, e55 AMG, e46 M3, B6 S4, C5 Z06, LSx Miata, 5.0 Stang... The Germans scare me from a maintenance point of view, and the miata will have a crappy resale value if I ever decide to sell. The Z06 and Stang are fast and cool, but I am not sure if I will want more refinement.

I'm not limited to those cars.

Any further suggestions TCL?

p.s. Hi, I've been a lurker for a while. Gotten a lot of enjoyment from this forum in the past!

[ItsThatFast]

S2000 is easily within your price range.



Early 90s NSX maybe? Not sure if you can get one for mid 20s. Maybe with higher mileage. There was a thread on here where a guy got one with like 100K on the clock for $20,000 or so. From what I remember it was very well maintained and he loved his life.

[firstorbit84]

Lots of good choices there. Maybe cts-v and GTO should be on your list too, and 3rd gen RX-7 ls1

[noludoru]

Some ideal cars would be e39 M5, e55 AMG, e46 M3, B6 S4, C5 Z06, LSx Miata, 5.0 Stang... The Germans scare me from a maintenance point of view, and the miata will have a crappy resale value if I ever decide to sell. The Z06 and Stang are fast and cool, but I am not sure if I will want more refinement.

I'm not limited to those cars.

Any further suggestions TCL?

p.s. Hi, I've been a lurker for a while. Gotten a lot of enjoyment from this forum in the past!

Welcome! (I say as I haven't posted here in years. . .)

Ideal: S4: fun, not the best handler of the group, very pricy on repairs. I work at an Audi dealership - we see them a lot in the back. If you go that route make sure that it has not been abused. If you're in VA hit me up as I have a babied convertible S4 for sale currently in that range.

Miata: Eff that. You can only get a 3rd gen in the $20-25k price range, and if you buy one now the resale value will be fine if you unload it in the spring a few years from now. However, save yourself $5k and just buy a Mazdaspeed Miata. I had an 08 for a year and then bought a Mazdaspeed last month because after I drove it, I realized that it's superior in every way to an NC. And it's cheaper! And rattles less!

S2000: You will not regret that decision. It will be awesome.

Mustang: Have you driven one? They're actually not that fun in comparison to the rest of the list.

M3/M5: Again with the repair costs, but they will be ridiculous amounts of fun.