Best sports car under $15k?

[Lancekl]

Check out a 2004 - 2006 Pontiac GTO. 05 & 06 have the 400 hp LS2 Vette engine. Genuine 4 seats, and they can really move. I loved my 05 I wish I'd never sold it.

Certainly not a sports car.

 

[spencer60]

Haven't driven a vette in a while?
Not nose heavy by any means, and the handling is amazing.
The older ones (speaking from owning a 67) did not handle well at all compared to modern sports cars.
A miata would tear it apart on a twisty road (until you hit a straight).

Nope, the new ones are great handling cars, but they are entry level 'supercars' not traditional 'sports car' and they certainly aren't $15K.

To me (and I'll admit YMMV) a 'sports car" is light, with a smaller engine (4 cyl or at most a small 6), It should have a manual trans and decent brakes and suspension.

The old MGs, Alfa Spyders and Triumphs kind of define the breed, and the (older) Z cars, RX's and Miatas have continued the tradition.

 

[brad sweet]

Sorry my friend, but wrong on every count. You might stretch to call an earlier C2 big block "nose heavy", but only compared to a four cylinder. Straight six engines are generally heavier or equal to a V8. All Corvettes have been on par or better than more expensive rivals at any given point in history. As for modern cars, its crazy to consider them GT machines. They easily out lap cars costing much more, and weight has hovered around the 3200 lb mark for many years.

true that need to look at the CG and pounds over the wheels for the size of car and the curb weight most front engine cars are 60/40 biased if rear wheels are driven to offset push pull or otherwise known as over- steer or under- steer the difference in the vette is you can throttle steer it and it will pull closest to 1-g on the skid pad..the miata will not pull that it handles because it is lite and under powered.

 

[IMaDad]

http://www.ebay.com/itm/Dodge-Viper...tr=true&hash=item5b12bb8e60&item=391156305504

maybe not that one ^

BUT you can find 93-96 vipers in the low 20's and sometimes the teens if you look hard.


EDIT: just KBB'd a 1993 rt10 and in great condition it was $17k private party sale. you can do this

 

[spencer60]

Absolutely, and these kinds of discussions are fun.

He also called the Corvette nose heavy while recommending stuffing a V8 into a Miata:

Guilty as charged... LOL

 

[brad sweet]

Nope, the new ones are great handling cars, but they are entry level 'supercars' not traditional 'sports car' and they certainly aren't $15K.

To me (and I'll admit YMMV) a 'sports car" is light, with a smaller engine (4 cyl or at most a small 6), It should have a manual trans and decent brakes and suspension.

The old MGs, Alfa Spyders and Triumphs kind of define the breed, and the (older) Z cars, TX's and Miatas have continued the tradition.

entry level..might i remind you of its wins at Le mans and Sebring against the entry level Ferrari's and jags and the other euro trash cars hardly an entry level..because they cost less than a Italian car..hardly entry

 

[Lancekl]

hey! Some of those little Fords were pretty fast!

Man is looking for a sports car not a front wheel drive econobox

 

[brad sweet]

Guilty as charged... LOL

power to weight ratio of a 427 cobra with mild build 400hp Monster Miata out of California has the kits for these they run about 6K and include everything except the 90s model cougar rear chunk (IDRS)

 

[IMaDad]

this

or this

or
gtfo

 

[brad sweet]

this

or this
[Broken External Image]:

or
gtfo

yeah you got a great deal on that beast!