Quick update I ended up with a '91 Firebird. Found it with a good price, all stock parts 122k miles and runs pretty well. Didn’t think I liked these cars but they’ve certainly grown on me.
Thanks to everyone for their suggestions you were very helpful in getting me to find what I wanted.
To start I have a Ford Focus SE that I drive to work everyday so I’m covered there.
I’m looking for something that is overall a fun vehicle to drive. I’m not looking for anything brand new, or over $18k (USD) at the most, Ideally I would like to keep it under $15k but if a deal for something slightly better is available I’m willing to stretch for it. I’m also interested in used cars that may be a bit older but fairly cheap (< $7k) to drop new parts into. However I don’t have a garage to do my own work in, I’m not inept with vehicles but the less nitty gritty stuff the better.
The specs that matter to me most depend on how much it costs to repair on average and what you are getting for the money. Example Mustangs and Challengers are pretty common cars made by Ford and Dodge meaning the availability of parts is probably higher than something like a BMW. (however this doesn’t completely disqualify the vehicle) I’m really looking for something in the high 200’s and beyond as far as WHP goes. If I wanted less my Focus would be fine.
So to give you an idea at some of the cars i’ve been looking at:
2010+ Dodge Challengers (any models, but the ones with higher HP being more preferable) I’ve seen used options on these with low miles go for reasonable prices.
2010 Camaros pretty much the same reason as above
2010+ mustangs same as above
I know those are all “muscle” cars and thats why I’m asking here. I really don’t know what to look at outside of those options. I’m not concerned with V8’s or V4’s I really don’t care. The main goal is getting a fun vehicle to drive. Oh I can also drive stick so that’s not an issue either, in fact I’d probably prefer that. Obviously I could go get one of the above mentioned vehicles at a deal relatively close to my price range but if something just as fun exists for much less that would be a better choice for me.
Check out the RadRover. I am saving up for a 1000w Bafang midrive with 17-20ah on a mountain bike. You want fun? Try shooting up and a down a mountain on that.
An eclipse, galant or lancer with a bolt-on turbo kit or supercharger can be a hoot and a holler. I’m a huge fan of the third gen and newer drivetrains on the eclipse/galant, and the lancer is a racing mainstay. If you can’t drive a manual the Lancer EVO has optional paddle shifters, which can be (almost) as fun.
They also have the advantage of being much lower cost to maintain.
If you’re gonna go with one of the newer muscle cars, do the mustang. Challengers and camaros are for assholes and they age a lot worse even with proper maintenance.
Awesome didn’t know that about the challengers and camaros, I have seen some nice Cobras in town where I live (much older like early 2000’s) but they may be worth looking at.
Completely forgot about Lancers and the Eclipse, don’t know how as I loved those cars as a kid. If I do go that route I’ll likely be back to ask where to get decent turbos and such, Most of that information is completely lost on me!
Fun to drive is not always fast. My wife has a suburu brz and that was a blast driving through the mountains, but its not fast.
I had a s10 that I put a healthy 5.7l v8 in and that was fast but lord help you if you needed to turn quickly haha. I even installed the zq8 suspension from a blazer and while it helped stiffen the suspension its center of gravity is too high.
The Focus has a HUGE supply of aftermarket upgrades.
If you were looking at cheap and new and under 15k that would be the Fiesta, another car with a ton of upgrades avail.
Where I live no any “fun roads” are straight and devoid of law-enforcement and most roads in PA are third world. If you have twisty roads you want handeling.
Straight roads you want to be thrown back in the seat.
Perfect would be a Focus ST That got towed to the junkyard with 20k on the engine
Who knew a small block v-8 would fit in a Miata!
There are still kits for gen 3 eclipses and galants floating around (and quite a bit more for the newer gens,) and no shortage of parts for pretty much any model year of lancer.
If you don’t want to bother with modding though I’d just go for the most recent EVO you can find or a newer late model eclipse.
I noticed that as well when first considering what I wanted, but it turns out the Focus I have has next to nothing in the performance category. Everything I find is for the ST (at least for performance parts). The reason I got the SE is I’m not a huge fan of hatchbacks. However I wish I had gone with an ST as my SE doesn’t seem it will ever reach near where I want it too… I too live in PA, I can see how something like a challenger would be awful here.
Camaro SS has the legendary LS3 and Tremec Tr6060. Get that.
You can add on aftermarket suspension and make it handle extremely well.
You can bolt on any number of power adders, or put a cam in under the shade tree in your front yard in an afternoon.
You can’t go wrong with the Camaro.
POWERTRAIN:
2.0-liter turbocharged 4-cyl engine, 255 hp and 260 lb.-ft. of torque
3.3-liter twin-turbo V6 engine, 365 hp and 376 lb.-ft. of torque
2nd-generation 8-speed automatic transmission with 5 drive modes
Centrifugal Pendulum Absorber (CPA) torque converter
Dynamic Torque Vectoring Control system (All-Wheel Drive models)
CHASSIS:
Brembo® vented disc brakes with quad-piston front calipers and dual-piston rear calipers
Dynamic Stability Damping Control (DSDC) with 5-Modes
MacPherson front and multi-link rear suspension
Rack-mounted Motor Driven Power Steering (R-MDPS) with 5-Modes
Staggered 19” Alloy Wheels with performance tires
55% advanced high-strength steel construction.
EXTERIOR DIMENSIONS:
Wheelbase: 114.4 in.
Length: 190.2 in.
Width: 73.6 in.
KIA DRIVE WISE:
Driver Attention Alert (DAA), a Kia first
Forward Collision Assistance (FCA)
Autonomous Emergency Braking (AEB)
Advanced Smart Cruise Control (ASCC)
Lane Keep Assist (LKA)
Blind Spot Detection (BSD)
Rear Cross Traffic Alert (RCTA)
That is actually really slick looking, specs are impressive as well. I’d love to see the pricing on the V6 but with a twin turbo I’m guessing upper 30k range at the least.
Looks like a BMW, I’m really interested to see what the pricing will be on that. I’d be willing to trade in my focus and put a decent down payment on something like that if it’s brand new.
*edit: looking at it from a few sources looks like i’m right starts at about 33k all the way up to 48k for all the options etc. This is just an estimate though.
But in all seriousness… You need to ask yourself if you care about driving, or just going fast. If you just want to put power to the ground, and to smoke tires its hard to argue with something LS based. Bolt ons are cheap, and people are big into them meaning lots of support and information. Check out Sloppy Mechanics on YT for examples.
If you like the idea of a track capable car, you probably want something small with a low curb weight. Miata and Civic EK hatch come to mind. While they (stock) lack the power figures you want, you can reduce weight and make them fairly capable in power to weight.
Hell you could even put an LS in a miata and spend the rest of your life in a coma. I’ve had a similar dream of killing myself in an LS powered FC RX7.
My DD is a 2012 Civic si which is also a great handling car while also not costing me too much on insurance and also not being fast enough in a straight line to get me into too much trouble. You could get an 8th gen si for relatively cheap, and make the power you’re looking at for relatively cheap as well. Sure everyone will accuse you of being a vape bro and youll look like an asshole to anyone with basically any of the cars you listed above, but that VTEC LIFE YO.
I thought about a civic as I was walking through the parking lot at work, lots of nice ones. Not worried about the vape bro stereotype as hilarious as it may be. Honestly I think even a car with over 200 hp and manual transmission would be infinitely more fun. Speed isn’t a super huge concern I guess. After some consideration, I realized a few things:
I don’t NEED it
As Trucker stated above roads in PA are terrible and not suited for something with 400+ hp (or at least it’s not the best idea)
I’d rather not pay the same for my insurance as I do my vehicle.
That said, I think I’m in the market for a smaller better handling car. What about some older vehicles, like stuff from the 90’s is there anything decent that far back? I’m not opposed to buying parts and upgrading it at a garage if the price is low enough to begin with.
You can get a civic ek hatch from the 90s. Theres also e36 bmws, though those have become a bit higher in demand since they make great drift machines. Theres also the foxbody, though ugly they can be made to handle ok with a suspension update. The problem lies in where you are located and rust being an issue. Going to be hard to find one thats in decent shape and cheap.
