What car is right for me?

Bill Watson said:
Then I surprised her with a 2017 with the retract top...
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That retractable top is so damn slick! It is a marvel of engineering because when it's stowed, you really don't give up any trunk space. I was sad when they quit offering them. Now you get some lame T top thing. No thanks.
 
The T-top Rocks! But to each their own.

The trunk is frustratingly small and I’m a big guy. The cockpit is tighter and again I’m a big guy. But it’s not my ride and she fits just fine!


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Bill Watson said:
The T-top Rocks! But to each their own.

The trunk is frustratingly small and I’m a big guy. The cockpit is tighter and again I’m a big guy. But it’s not my ride and she fits just fine!


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Oh, I misunderstood, I thought you had the last generation one with the retractable hard top. I should have paid more attention to the model year. I'm glad your wife loves it! That was a nice surprise for her.
 
Dav8or said:
Hmmm... Not so sure about the convertible part. Open cockpit yes. Convertible, no. Bring your rain suit.
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Solution exists from the factory. They have doors, too.
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SoonerAviator said:
Dad has a 2014 Mustang GT for a weekend toy. Has less than 15K miles on it, 10K of which were from the previous owner. It’s a great value, can be a toy or a DD, decent stock stereo, and plenty of audio/entertainment tech (Ford is surprisingly great in that area).

I’ve driven several Mustangs, Camaros, and Challengers as rentals (V6 and V8 models). For overall value, I’d rank them Mustang, Challenger, then Camaro. Despite the SS Camaro being the best in pure performance numbers, I just don’t like many other aspects that it ruins it for me.

I had a ‘00 Z28 Camaro in high school/college. I think the new ones feel disconnected from a steering/handling perspective, in addition to being heavier than my F-body.


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Mine (2011) was the last year with hydraulic power steering. Having driven a newer one yet
 
Bill Watson said:
Okay, I’m not a car guy but I love Miatas. I got a 1st gen for my wife years ago and it became her thing. But I got the point as well. It was nimble and cute and made just the right sounds. Reliable as the rising sun. She spun it on ice and I got her a 2nd gen to replace it. More of the same on all counts. Then I surprised her with a 2017 with the retract top...
Game over!

The 4th gen is a totally different car. It has power in addition to all the other joys and the retractable hard top if great. Just the right amount of shade for southern top down driving.

I like planes and I like her so she gets a hot car and I get to fly her around. What else could be the point of owning a ?

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That's really cool, thanks for sharing.
 
Dav8or said:
That's the problem, as they are, they aren't quick. Maybe quick for 30 years ago. I disagree that adding more HP necessitates more chassis weight. The Pontiac Solstice GXP came with a 2 liter four cylinder turbo that made 260 HP. I doubt very much that the Pontiac engine is significantly heavier than the Mazda, or Fiat engine. I would bet money too the gear box and rear end are more than up to the challenge as they are. No doubt there are people out there modding them right now that can attest to that.

As to price, more HP only costs more in a car because they can get more from the consumer. Mazda and Fiat could easily offer both the economical base car with the "light" engine in and then also offer the performance version with more HP for more money. If they did, nothing would be lost and I can tell you for sure which model everyone would recommend.

Historically, which is more popular and sought after, the Sunbeam Alpine, or Sunbeam Tiger? How about the AC Ace vs. the Shelby Cobra? Americans do like their roadsters to be quick.
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This Car and Driver road test has the Solstice GXP having a 0-60 time of 5.6 seconds, and this C & D road test summary has the recent MX-5 convertible at 5.9 seconds. That's not all that significant.

Collector cars are a very different market than is the one for new and late model cars. One of the reasons that valuable collector cars become valuable because not all that many of them were made, because they were hard to sell. The total number of Cobras built was just about exactly 1000 cars, and Sunbeam built about three times as many Alpines as they did Tigers.
 
SoonerAviator said:
Solution exists from the factory. They have doors, too.
7b09348d12f5701f1ff99d131d6684d1.jpg



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Well what do you know?! I have never seen that. I have seen a few Slingshots driving around, but never one like that. I like the three wheel concept and I think it could be utilized to make the ultimate commuter car, but Polaris design I just don't understand. It is ugly as hell and not well thought out IMO.
 
Dav8or said:
Well what do you know?! I have never seen that. I have seen a few Slingshots driving around, but never one like that. I like the three wheel concept and I think it could be utilized to make the ultimate commuter car, but Polaris design I just don't understand. It is ugly as hell and not well thought out IMO.
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Lol, yeah, it's definitely not a looker. Not the worst ever, but definitely an acquired taste. I've never driven one, but I bet it'd be fun to zip around on a track. I'd rather go build a Factory Five kit if I wanted a weekend racer that was street-able. I'm always amused at how vehicles like the Slingshot get classified as "motorcycles" for DOT purposes.
 
Zeldman said:
Since we are going with three wheelers..... one from Mitsubishi...

1960-Mitsubishi-TM15-Front.jpg
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Let's see, room for guitars? Check. (In spades!) Standard transmission? I'm sure it does. Sporty? Hmmm. In a strange sort of way, perhaps. Convertible? Not without tools. Fail.
 
Bill Watson said:
Okay, I’m not a car guy but I love Miatas. I got a 1st gen for my wife years ago and it became her thing. But I got the point as well. It was nimble and cute and made just the right sounds. Reliable as the rising sun. She spun it on ice and I got her a 2nd gen to replace it. More of the same on all counts. Then I surprised her with a 2017 with the retract top...
Game over!

The 4th gen is a totally different car. It has power in addition to all the other joys and the retractable hard top if great. Just the right amount of shade for southern top down driving.

I like planes and I like her so she gets a hot car and I get to fly her around. What else could be the point of owning a ?



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That is the best thing I have seen in a while! So awesome to see such joy!
 
Not a convertible, and not in your pricerange, but I finally bought myself a nice car last year. Man, I love it - everytime I drive it I smile. We're now 9 months and 7k miles into ownership and it is still awesome.
 

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Bought a Miata new in '99 and kept it 11 years. Then Honda checked in with the S2000 in 2000, damn it. Finally bought a low mile '08 S2000. What a blast! About the same weight as the Miata but with 240hp and VTEC, oh Lordy that thing would wind out. Sold it a few years ago, still miss it. Like this one, same color.

image.jpeg
 
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I have always thought the S2000 looked just about perfect.
 
EvilEagle said:
Not a convertible, and not in your pricerange, but I finally bought myself a nice car last year. Man, I love it - everytime I drive it I smile. We're now 9 months and 7k miles into ownership and it is still awesome.
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Just make sure you sell it before the warranty is up. No shortage of Audi repair bill horror stories.
 
SoonerAviator said:
Yup, just wish it had more "oomph". 300-350HP would make that car an absolute blast.
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My experience with the S2000 (one weekend of driving) was, you have to wind the motor up like a spring. If you drove the automatic version you drove the wrong car. This car must be the 6 speed manual to be any fun. All it's power and all it's torque is found at higher RPMs. If you try to drive it like a V8 it will seem gutless. Rev it up and I found it to be pretty fun.

Having said all that, I am not a fan of this engine. I would like something with a wider power band. It's kind of like a two stroke dirt bike.
 
Dav8or said:
My experience with the S2000 (one weekend of driving) was, you have to wind the motor up like a spring. If you drove the automatic version you drove the wrong car. This car must be the 6 speed manual to be any fun. All it's power and all it's torque is found at higher RPMs. If you try to drive it like a V8 it will seem gutless. Rev it up and I found it to be pretty fun.

Having said all that, I am not a fan of this engine. I would like something with a wider power band. It's kind of like a two stroke dirt bike.
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Yup, sounds pretty cool up at 5K+, but that’s about it.


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Dav8or said:
Well what do you know?! I have never seen that. I have seen a few Slingshots driving around, but never one like that. I like the three wheel concept and I think it could be utilized to make the ultimate commuter car, but Polaris design I just don't understand. It is ugly as hell and not well thought out IMO.
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It’s an aesthetic, think Transformers
https://goo.gl/images/KW3LeV


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Bill Watson said:
It’s an aesthetic, think Transformers
https://goo.gl/images/KW3LeV


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That’s funny. I was about to say it is to pull in the Transformers crowd who’s well into their 30s and 40s now. Just like the movies. Suck that franchise money... just like the new Star Wars are a soft reboot of the originals and not in any way original themselves.
 
denverpilot said:
That’s funny. I was about to say it is to pull in the Transformers crowd who’s well into their 30s and 40s now. Just like the movies. Suck that franchise money... just like the new Star Wars are a soft reboot of the originals and not in any way original themselves.
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You know what they say, “The hardest think to get made in Hollywood is something new”.

The first Star Wars flick came out the year I graduated from college. Harrison Ford went from a light-speed jumping Millennium Falcon to a Cub lost in the vast reaches of John Wayne AP. That’s getting old!


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SC.jpg If you can find a good supercharged MK1 Toyota MR2 AW11, they rock pretty good. lots of n/a"s around, not too many sc's.
 
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Just get a couple year old Corvette. They all have low mileage, are very reliable, cheap to maintain, stupid fast, great handling, convertible top, room for guitar, and gets good gas mileage.
 
jsstevens said:
Being tired of all the "what airplane" threads, (Bo is the answer, of course) I'm possibly car shopping soon.

I currently drive a 2006 Mini Cooper S convertible, which I love. Convertible, 6 speed stick, drives like a go-kart handling, but still has a (small) backseat and I can get both a bass (electric) and a guitar in the back with the seats folded down. That said, my warranty company canceled my 2nd extended warranty when the aggregate repair cost hit the current car value (~$6,000). This car has cost the 2 warranty companies in excess of $15K in the 6 years I've owned it. (Bought it used with 23K miles on it. Now has 88K miles.) My car needs an oil pan ($970) and will soon need a clutch ($2600).

Must haves for me: Convertible, stick, sporty. Really like to have: room for guitar(s), won't break the bank on service.

Budget, $35,000ish. New or used, don't really care.

Suggestions?

John
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My wife's car is a BMW 3 series convertible with the retract hard top. It's a decent all-around car. We had to order it to get a stick; there arent many around.

I like my Porsche much better, but the Beemer is a lot more practical for guitars and such.
 
ktup-flyer said:
Torque doesn’t exist in an S2K....ap1 or ap2. You HAVE to go FI on the stock motors for them to be any fun.
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Later cars were better... slightly lower redline and a little more displacement/midrange torque, a trade I'll accept any day.

I've got some track time in each, and the ap1 is really twitchy on the curbing at corner exit. Keeps one focused. :)

An extremely bipolar engine. Feels econobox-ish below the VTEC transition point, but a lot of fun at higher revs.
 
SoCal RV Flyer said:
Later cars were better... slightly lower redline and a little more displacement/midrange torque, a trade I'll accept any day.

I've got some track time in each, and the ap1 is really twitchy on the curbing at corner exit. Keeps one focused. :)

An extremely bipolar engine. Feels econobox-ish below the VTEC transition point, but a lot of fun at higher revs.
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My experience as well.
 
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