what car should i get??

[hairyboid4]

i have been looking for a twin turbo Z32 300zx for a WHILE now and cant seem to find one within my price range which happens to be very low($4000).


rx-7=too expensive
supra=way too expensive


what do i do?!?!

 

[gator of kana]

Well from my opinion you would have 2 options, keep searching until you find it, or just make more money for you to have a greater chance of buying what you're looking for. Although there are many other options to settle this but that's what I would do if I was in search for a car . Although a $4000 performance car don't sound very promising to me, and I don't think you'll have a lot of choices to find a performance car that costs as much as a 22 carat necklace

 

[430Scud.]

Maybe an ol' Camaro?
or a civic si or type-R?

 

[niky]

A nearly-twenty year old $40,000 might cost you just pennies to buy, but come repair time, you're still buying parts for a $40,000 car.

If $4k is all you have, I'd suggest you save up a bit more before you take the plunge.

 

[BayConRong]

are there any good cars that you can buy for $4000? the cap for my car was 1K because I didn't buy it. I ended up with a car that was actually somewhere around 13k because the tranny is shot, the alternator grids, and the electronics in the front left door are goofy and have been badly rewired at some point in it's life.

 

[gator of kana]

are there any good cars that you can buy for $4000? the cap for my car was 1K because I didn't buy it. I ended up with a car that was actually somewhere around 13k because the tranny is shot, the alternator grids, and the electronics in the front left door are goofy and have been badly rewired at some point in it's life.

That's why thought a $4000 sports car was gonna be hard to use. Usually when a used car is cheaper they turn out to be more worse.

 

[Patrik]

i have been looking for a twin turbo Z32 300zx for a WHILE now and cant seem to find one within my price range which happens to be very low($4000).


rx-7=too expensive
supra=way too expensive


what do i do?!?!

If it's gonna be your first car, you should consider buying a cheaper one to start with. Those cars you mentioned are pretty thirsty I guess as well, and the insurance is probably not the cheapest either.

Depends on your income and how bad you want it.

Maybe an ol' Camaro?

And with "ol" you don't mean old I guess. The old Camaros are expensive, the newer ('80s - '90s) are cheaper...

 

[Jim Prower]

I'll tell you what you do. You lower your sights. You won't own an 800HP japanese car as a teen. You might own an 800HP late model if you're in the circle track business, but you obviously aren't.

A Later-model F-body V8, (Camaro Z28/Firebird Formula/TA, up to '94) or Mustang (again, up to about '94,) would probably fit in that range quite nicely, or, if you're a complete import boy and MUST have a Japanese car, because you think Camaros and Mustangs are for Rednecks, (you'd be quite wrong,) try a Z31 or RWD Celica. These will be rather ratty. Or you could get a Mk I Miata, which probably wouldn't be man enough for you. (Though it has the best handling of anything I've suggested.)

You won't get a good Z32 for your money. You will get a very, very bad one.

 

[430Scud.]

And with "ol" you don't mean old I guess. The old Camaros are expensive, the newer ('80s - '90s) are cheaper...

No, of course not. I mean the kind Jeremy Clarkson from Top Gear bought for $1000.

 

[Azuremen]

We need more info. How old are you, have many cars have you had, why do you want these particular cars?

And have you considered an MR2 or Miata?

 

[Jim Prower]

No, of course not. I mean the kind Jeremy bought for $1000.

That'd be a 3rd gen, '80s, early '90s

 

[mustangGT90210]

'82-'92 to be specific. 90's and up had airbags

 

[Nicksfix]

A Later-model F-body V8, (Camaro Z28/Firebird Formula/TA, up to '94) or Mustang (again, up to about '94,) would probably fit in that range quite nicely

Thats what I was going to suggest , beware of insurance though

 

[YSSMAN]

And have you considered an MR2 or Miata?

I'd venture a guess and say those are going to be some of the most-sporty choices available at anywhere close to a reasonable price. I know for a fact the Miata is cheap on gas, insurance and repair costs... I'm pretty sure you can show that the MR2 essentially does the same as well.

However, I'm going to suggest the same thing that all of us older folks suggest every time. Go old, go cheap, and find something special. Don't be afraid of FWD, particularly with cars like the SE-R Sentra, Toyota Celica, Honda Civic Si, or an olderish Ford Focus ZX3. They're all a bit more forgiving on insurance prices, fuel economy, and still are a helluva lot of fun to drive.

If I had $4000 floating around?

I'd be looking for a NA Miata, probably somewhere around a '96 or '97, preferably an "M-Spec" edition.

 

[Eric.]

I doubt a Civic Si or SE-R Sentra would be in the price range, but the non performance variants would be.

I'm waiting for more info.

 

[niky]

B13 SE-R, you can find between $2000 and $500 ...going price for a ratty one with body rust but intact engine and mechanicals would be $1000, I'd guess.

It'd be way faster than an equally ratty carburated Z31. Low seven-second car. Buy a semi-rustless one for $1,500, fix it up for another $500... find a buddy who's good with wrenches and slap in an SR20DET for another $2.5k... and you've got a 13-second street car that'll eat clutches for breakfast, drive-axles for lunch and gears for dessert.

The great thing about the car, though, is no matter how crappy it'll look on the outside or how many miles on the odometer, the SR20DE engine will still probably be working, and will still probably be making full power and will still rev to 7k rpms. Buy a late model SE-R (B15, 2.5 liter), and it's a crapshoot as to whether it's the year model where the engine ate its own catalytic converter and stopped working, or the year model where the engine just stopped working, period.

Great car. Spend the rest of your budget sorting the suspension instead of buying an expensive turbo, and you've got a great car to learn track-driving on, too.

I don't know what the going rate is on a B14 SE-R (or was it 200SX?). It's slower in a straight line, but the chassis is much better (even with the rear beam axle and the sort of dead steering), and it was even available in 4-door SE-L. Tracksters love this car, and it'll dice it up with faster machinery with the right modifications. The B15 still came with the SR20 engine, but by that time, emissions and weight had strangled almost all of the performance out of it, and it needed the QR25 to get moving.

 

[hairyboid4]

thank you all for your opinions!

theyve been quite helpful.

i am not really looking for a front wheel drive car because i am completely biased and just dont like the idea of not being able to perform tank slappers whenever i want to. therefore civics, ford focus, etc. are out.

and this may just be ridiculous luck but one of my close friends bought a z32 not that long ago for 3500k and it spools fine and there arent any wires melting in the engine bay which i heard was a small problem in many z32's. the only problem we found was a leaky exhaust which just required replacing the manifold.


i dont like it but i think my best option is to just save my money for now and wait for a while.

thanks for your help.👍

 

[YSSMAN]

I doubt a Civic Si or SE-R Sentra would be in the price range, but the non performance variants would be.

Of course they are. A B13 SE-R or a B14 200SX can be had easily for under $4000, the Civic would probably be a bit more difficult to find, but I'm positive that they're there.

Only problem is that insurance isn't exactly cheap.

RE: RWD vs FWD Performance

Meh. We've had the discussion here thousands of times before. A properly sorted FWD car can be just as much, if not more fun, than a RWD car.

But, Miata is full of win. Do that. Do it now.

 

[niky]

Tank-slapper for under $4000?

Not with anything that doesn't have a rear end sticking five feet out from the rear tires and sagging rear leaf springs. Your priorities are curiously askew. To do something like that, you'd need a 1950's barge. A 300ZX will never be able to do that. Not unless you basically ruin the rear suspension. How much do you know about cars?

Good luck with the Z32, though.

 

[hairyboid4]

Tank-slapper for under $4000?

Not with anything that doesn't have a rear end sticking five feet out from the rear tires and sagging rear leaf springs. Your priorities are curiously askew. To do something like that, you'd need a 1950's barge. A 300ZX will never be able to do that. Not unless you basically ruin the rear suspension. How much do you know about cars?

Good luck with the Z32, though.

have you ever driven a car??

i can perform tank slappers in my 93 ford explorer in the rain. im sure id do just fine in a Z.

thanks for bein so sarcastically unhelpful too. 👍

 

[Azuremen]

have you ever driven a car??

i can perform tank slappers in my 93 ford explorer in the rain. im sure id do just fine in a Z.

thanks for bein so sarcastically unhelpful too. 👍

And you just keep making yourself sound more and more like a tool that just wants to have a mad tyte drift car, yo.

 

[(1ES)]

If you really want a twin turbo Z32 300zx my advice would be to wait until you have more money. It's going to be hard to say the least if not impossible to find a good example for £4000 or less. Another thing you need to think about is the insurance group and matienence/running costs. The Nissan Z32 300ZX is insurance group 18, and the higher the insurance group, the higher the matienence/running costs will be. And group 18 ain't low, so my advice, wait until you have enough money, because if you cant afford to keep the car in a good condition, it could turn into a potential death trap. (Thats another thing, M.O.T's. cost money too, and they have to be done, it's illegal to not have an M.O.T. certificate). And if you cant pay the insurance, you'll risk getting the car repossesed, and you really do not want that to happen! 👍

 

[Roo]

what do i do?!?!

Mazda Miata. Or a W124 Mercedes.

If you can't bear to leave Nissan, get a Silvia instead - as I understand it, they'll handle (read: drift) just as well as a Z32 but for less money and power. (I'm basing that on what we got in the British market, the 200SX and the 300ZX. I seem to remember the 200SX being a favoured cheap drift car.)

If you really can't live with anything that isn't a Z32, then save your money until you can find a good example. A cheap bad one will cost more in the long run than an expensive good one.

have you ever driven a car??

i can perform tank slappers in my 93 ford explorer in the rain. im sure id do just fine in a Z.

thanks for bein so sarcastically unhelpful too. 👍

What exactly do you mean by a tank slapper? My Volvo 940 will perform what I would consider a tank slapper by driving onto a greasy roundabout too quickly. The whole thing pendulumed from one side to the other. I didn't enjoy it much. It's an entirely different action to a drift, which has control. A tank slapper doesn't.

Secondly, if you ask for people's suggestions then don't complain if you get an answer you don't like.

(Thats another thing, M.O.T's. cost money too, and they have to be done, it's illegal to not have an M.O.T. certificate).

He's in the US, according to his location. I don't know if Califonia has a road worthiness test, but it certainly isn't MOT.

 

[YSSMAN]

93 Ford Explorer = Leaf springs and funky old tires. Its a BOF truck with soft springs and shocks, of course its going to be able to do it. Why you would want to, I don't understand...

"Modern" sports cars are designed to avoid this problem. You know, with clever engineering.

 

[niky]

have you ever driven a car??

i can perform tank slappers in my 93 ford explorer in the rain. im sure id do just fine in a Z.

thanks for bein so sarcastically unhelpful too. 👍

I thought my first post was helpful. And then you said "no FWD, because no tank slappy".

I hope our understanding of a "tank slapper" is the same. I assume you want the whole nine yards? front end off the ground, sparks coming from the rear bumper rubbing on the pavement?

Tank-slapper for under $4000?

Not with anything that doesn't have a rear end sticking five feet out from the rear tires and sagging rear leaf springs. Your priorities are curiously askew. To do something like that, you'd need a 1950's barge. A 300ZX will never be able to do that. Not unless you basically ruin the rear suspension. How much do you know about cars?

Good luck with the Z32, though.

I think the description fits the 93 Explorer perfectly.

Maybe I should have made myself clearer, but YSSMAN said for me. Modern sportscars =/= tank slappers. You'll want either a rear-heavy truck (pickups won't do it unless they're slammed... but you can get glorious burnouts from a good RWD pickup with an LSD) or an old muscle car.

Only way you're going to be seeing sparks from underneath a well-sorted 90's and above sportscar is if you've got a Camaro on slicks that can do 9 second quarters. Otherwise, you cheat and you slam the rear end of the 300ZX by cutting half of the rear coil springs out. Would probably twitch-oversteer and fishtail like crazy and end up sideways into a tree if it gets driven on an even halfway bumpy road, but it would do tank-slappers. Either that or make a 9-second drag car out of it.

 

[YSSMAN]

Perhaps the only new-ish car you could get to do it would be one of the Panther cars, but even then, I'm fairly certain that the tanks are mounted to fancy setups that are there to prevent it. May as well, I'm sure that there are plenty of parts that carry over from the P71 to the TC and Marquis.

 

[Casio]

Otherwise, you cheat and you slam the rear end of the 300ZX by cutting half of the rear coil springs out. Would probably twitch-oversteer and fishtail like crazy and end up sideways into a tree if it gets driven on an even halfway bumpy road, but it would do tank-slappers.

I think a 300ZX lifting it's front tyres off the ground would be hilarious, I say let him do it, as long as he posts a video on youtube before he kills himself.