$55k budget fun used MT reliable car ideas

[R. Mutt]

Originally Posted by Z3guy

Let's face it, anything beyond intake, exhaust, and springs, the car is not going to be reliable compared to Oem performance. The op lives in a rural community where he will have travel at least one hour for any decent aftermarket shop to service a heavily modded car

That's somewhat of a blanket statement and while there is truth to it I think it's because many people modify their cars poorly.

I have a friend up Kamloops who used to beat the crap out of his evo 8 on logging roads, racked up tens of thousands of miles on his heavily modified car and it ran like clockwork. Despite all the brutal winters that car ran like a champ. So, unless you have owned and know how to tune an evo 8 or 9 specifically, you don't know what you're talking about.

Unless he's trying to push more than 800whp on a daily driver he'll be just fine. My evo for example is heavily modified and runs like clockwork every day. On a 10.5:1 compression built motor running E85-E90 I cold start on the first try every morning, idle at 1000rpm steadily and bumble along in traffic for hours. It does this every day on a battery sized for a snowmobile. But when I beat on my car, I do so with confidence because I know it was built to take it. There's a reason the Supra and 2JZ motor still destroy cars today: motors like that were overbuilt and you can throw a retarded amount of power at them without issues. Out of the box Toyota did it right...most people don't approach modifications like that...they take the short and easy route.

Because we live in Canada you don't see examples roaming around as the vehicle was never sold here. On the contrary, STI's roam all over and have given AWD turbos cars a bad rep for proving unreliable when modified because of their oiling, piston, sealing and short skirt ringland issues but that simply isn't the case with the 4G63. It's exactly as you said with the STI: basic bolt ons and they're great, anything beyond that and you have a headache. You drive BMWs, Porsche's etc and to each his own...great cars, but what would you know about an evo to say what is/isn't reliable as far as mods?

Just because a car is loaded with aftermarket parts doesn't make it inferior to oem in terms of reliability. The problem is ignorance and upkeep, people cheap out when it comes to buying parts or don't do their research. Sometimes the most expensive part isn't the best, and unfortunately sometimes the best is really expensive. If you're going to do something, do it once and do it right. Do I need a 1000hp bottom end when I'm building my motor to support 600? No, but why not do it now and save me the expense/headache later. Remember it's CHEAP FAST RELIABLE - you can only pick two. Unless you can fabricate, blueprint, assemble, troubleshoot and tune a motor it gonna cost you one way or the other meng.

People tend to do this over and over whether it's proper fuel+oil supply, appropriately chosen rods+pistons, bore:stroke ratio et al. However the most important thing is the tune. Some people buy all these expensive parts and don't sort out their tune....it's crazy. It's like having all these amazing artisan ingredients and instead of making creme brule you make cow shit. Modifying a car properly to perform reliably for it's intended use is no easy task and 90% of people will get it wrong because they think they know better than someone who's been doing it for 20+ years.

As far as OEM being more reliable yes it's true but there are instances where even OEM have defects out of the box as people push the limits. Happened with the clutches on the GTR...shit even Porsche fucked up the engine in the 991 GT3 just a couple years back when it first arrived. Half the tunes on cars coming from the factory are overly rich and knock because they throw too much ignition timing. Add to that recalls for arbitrary issues and it goes on and on. But unless you datalog and know your car inside out you'd be ignorant of these factory defects and assume OEM is best! My point is every car will have its strengths and weaknesses to say OEM is better is ignorant.

So to the OP don't let people make you think a modified evo will give you problems, as long as the car was well built and properly tuned (Any of the vendors I previously mentioned) the only thing is keeping up with regular and long term services intervals (engine, gearbox and Tcase fluid and later on belts and water pump et al) - things you should be on top of with any high performance car period. No one said it would be cheap but he can surely DD a heavily modified evo, I do so every day and have zero issues.

And lastly unless he drops the ride height like a cunt it'll be right at home on rural roads. It is a group N homologated rally car after all

[esfir.a]

Originally Posted by Manic!

Buy a Miata and spend the rest on a membership here: Vancouver Island Motorsport Circuit

i have no interest in that , i'm not into track or autox or miatas. I have another hobby where i get competitive, just looking for a fun MT street car that's good on highways, maybe holds its value, and won't be breaking down often

good post R.mutt and i feel like i should defend the qualicum roads, they are not gravel lol, they are normal paved roads

[Urrtoast]

Originally Posted by esfir.a

i have no interest in that , i'm not into track or autox or miatas. I have another hobby where i get competitive, just looking for a fun MT street car that's good on highways, maybe holds its value, and won't be breaking down often

good post R.mutt and i feel like i should defend the qualicum roads, they are not gravel lol, they are normal paved roads

Lots of choices I think the Z06 is a great idea .
But you can get this also
2015 Ford Mustang for $54,249 in Surrey | autoTRADER.ca

or

2016 Chevrolet Camaro 2SS for $53,070 in Vancouver | autoTRADER.ca

or

2007 Chevrolet Corvette Z06 Fixed Roof for $51,888 in Langley | autoTRADER.ca


Cant go wrong with American cars
Good Luck and have fun...

[Hehe]

I'm surprised no one mentioned 2017 Nissan 370Z.

Brand new is just under 33k last time I checked and comes with all the modern bells & whistles. Drop a few grand on mod (LSD, maybe a turbo) and you've got yourself a reliable DD monster and since it's brand new, nothing to worry about maintenance-wise.

I drove my friend's 2016s, and it was fun as hell. Sure it's not a M3, but you get a brand new car that's still very fun to drive or even track.

[belka]

Can't go wrong with this http://www.revscene.net/forums/70956...an-manual.html

[Prostrho]

2007 911 twin turbo manual | used cars & trucks | Calgary | Kijiji

Smoking deal if u stretch your budget by a bit. You will get it all back when u sell it though.

[Z3guy]

Originally Posted by R. Mutt

That's somewhat of a blanket statement and while there is truth to it I think it's because many people modify their cars poorly.

I have a friend up Kamloops who used to beat the crap out of his evo 8 on logging roads, racked up tens of thousands of miles on his heavily modified car and it ran like clockwork. Despite all the brutal winters that car ran like a champ. So, unless you have owned and know how to tune an evo 8 or 9 specifically, you don't know what you're talking about.

Unless he's trying to push more than 800whp on a daily driver he'll be just fine. My evo for example is heavily modified and runs like clockwork every day. On a 10.5:1 compression built motor running E85-E90 I cold start on the first try every morning, idle at 1000rpm steadily and bumble along in traffic for hours. It does this every day on a battery sized for a snowmobile. But when I beat on my car, I do so with confidence because I know it was built to take it. There's a reason the Supra and 2JZ motor still destroy cars today: motors like that were overbuilt and you can throw a retarded amount of power at them without issues. Out of the box Toyota did it right...most people don't approach modifications like that...they take the short and easy route.

Because we live in Canada you don't see examples roaming around as the vehicle was never sold here. On the contrary, STI's roam all over and have given AWD turbos cars a bad rep for proving unreliable when modified because of their oiling, piston, sealing and short skirt ringland issues but that simply isn't the case with the 4G63. It's exactly as you said with the STI: basic bolt ons and they're great, anything beyond that and you have a headache. You drive BMWs, Porsche's etc and to each his own...great cars, but what would you know about an evo to say what is/isn't reliable as far as mods?

Just because a car is loaded with aftermarket parts doesn't make it inferior to oem in terms of reliability. The problem is ignorance and upkeep, people cheap out when it comes to buying parts or don't do their research. Sometimes the most expensive part isn't the best, and unfortunately sometimes the best is really expensive. If you're going to do something, do it once and do it right. Do I need a 1000hp bottom end when I'm building my motor to support 600? No, but why not do it now and save me the expense/headache later. Remember it's CHEAP FAST RELIABLE - you can only pick two. Unless you can fabricate, blueprint, assemble, troubleshoot and tune a motor it gonna cost you one way or the other meng.

People tend to do this over and over whether it's proper fuel+oil supply, appropriately chosen rods+pistons, bore:stroke ratio et al. However the most important thing is the tune. Some people buy all these expensive parts and don't sort out their tune....it's crazy. It's like having all these amazing artisan ingredients and instead of making creme brule you make cow shit. Modifying a car properly to perform reliably for it's intended use is no easy task and 90% of people will get it wrong because they think they know better than someone who's been doing it for 20+ years.

As far as OEM being more reliable yes it's true but there are instances where even OEM have defects out of the box as people push the limits. Happened with the clutches on the GTR...shit even Porsche fucked up the engine in the 991 GT3 just a couple years back when it first arrived. Half the tunes on cars coming from the factory are overly rich and knock because they throw too much ignition timing. Add to that recalls for arbitrary issues and it goes on and on. But unless you datalog and know your car inside out you'd be ignorant of these factory defects and assume OEM is best! My point is every car will have its strengths and weaknesses to say OEM is better is ignorant.

So to the OP don't let people make you think a modified evo will give you problems, as long as the car was well built and properly tuned (Any of the vendors I previously mentioned) the only thing is keeping up with regular and long term services intervals (engine, gearbox and Tcase fluid and later on belts and water pump et al) - things you should be on top of with any high performance car period. No one said it would be cheap but he can surely DD a heavily modified evo, I do so every day and have zero issues.

And lastly unless he drops the ride height like a cunt it'll be right at home on rural roads. It is a group N homologated rally car after all

Sorry I didn't read your whole novel, but I think I got the gist of it. Hey man, I don't doubt you know what you are talking about. I am sure your testimony stories about reliable modded cars are true. My point is I don't care how meticously you mod a car on proven mods, you are not going to come close to oem reliability. What do you think the engineers do when spending upwards of 1 billion developing a car? Sure you can make cars faster, handle better, sound better, but rarely will you be achieve oem level of Balance. Hey man, I have played with turbo, supercharged, stroked cars, so I am not totally speaking out of my ass! Haha!

[Timpo]

Originally Posted by Hehe

I'm surprised no one mentioned 2017 Nissan 370Z.

Brand new is just under 33k last time I checked and comes with all the modern bells & whistles. Drop a few grand on mod (LSD, maybe a turbo) and you've got yourself a reliable DD monster and since it's brand new, nothing to worry about maintenance-wise.

I drove my friend's 2016s, and it was fun as hell. Sure it's not a M3, but you get a brand new car that's still very fun to drive or even track.

He's looking for a used car.

yeah I know, $55k budget and looking for something used

[Marshall Placid]

Read OPs very, very long list of requirements.

The Lotus Elise fits your bill.

2 caveats:
#1 - To be honest, I'm not sure about the reliable requirement you want.
#2- Hard to find a private seller:
New & Used Lotus Elise for sale | autoTRADER.ca

But, reliability excepted, the Lotus Elise is like a road-legal go-kart.

I test drove it before, back in 2012 before I chose another car, and boy was it super fun to drive.

Anyway, good luck on your search, and for courtesy's sake, please do let us know what you settle for.

[Timpo]

Originally Posted by Marshall Placid

Read OPs very, very long list of requirements.

The Lotus Elise fits your bill.

2 caveats:
#1 - To be honest, I'm not sure about the reliable requirement you want.
#2- Hard to find a private seller:
New & Used Lotus Elise for sale | autoTRADER.ca

But, reliability excepted, the Lotus Elise is like a road-legal go-kart.

I test drove it before, back in 2012 before I chose another car, and boy was it super fun to drive.

Anyway, good luck on your search, and for courtesy's sake, please do let us know what you settle for.

That's what people say about Elise, which I don't quite understand.
What part of Elise isn't reliable?

Because as you know, it's powered by:

[european]

370Z Nismo?

[R. Mutt]

Originally Posted by Z3guy

Sorry I didn't read your whole novel, but... I don't care how meticously [sic] you mod a car on proven mods, you are not going to come close to oem reliability.

Maybe you should read more novels.

Look, don't let it bruise your ego man, I'm not trying to make this personal. I'll try to keep it shorter this time for you:

Have you ever

• Logged your wideband O2 sensor (shit - do you even have a wideband O2 gauge on any of your vehicles?)
• maptraced a log?
• Read/Reflashed an OEM ecu and seen the Factory Fuel, Ignition and Boost Tables?
• Do you understand the principals of AFR, Load, EGT, Maf vs Speed Density, latency, MBT, dwell time, closed vs open loop? Fuel trims maybe? Yes, No, kind of, maybe?

I'm being serious now. Are you honest enough to admit what you do and don't know Z3guy? Hey man, if you don't - no worries. But that basically puts you in the category of ignorant car enthusiast. You're the kind of guy that love's cars but shy's away from the more technical "novel" stuff that makes the said car what it is. You don't want to know how all the bells and whistles work underneath the skin....and nothing is wrong with that at all. But don't talk out your ass if you don't know what you're talking about. In life you only learn when you admit you're own ignorance.

Originally Posted by Z3guy

What do you think the engineers do when spending upwards of 1 billion developing a car? Sure you can make cars faster, handle better, sound better, but rarely will you be achieve oem level of Balance. Hey man, I have played with turbo, supercharged, stroked cars, so I am not totally speaking out of my ass! Haha!

Let's say for a second you're right and OEM is better than aftermarket because they spend lots of money in R&D and this results in a supreme "balance" that can never be touched. By your logic we'd live in a perfect world where most cars comes from the factory at the absolute peak and only in a few rare instances can be improved upon in terms of performance, balance and reliability.

In your fantasy world there'd be:

• No Warranty Claims
• No Recalls
• No Aftermarket Companies

Dude, the REALITY is many cars are designed from factory such that X part will last X km/miles, but there is always room for improvement. If this were the case there'd be zero incentive for innovation. In which case we'd still be driving the Ford model T instead of the Tesla.

Many factors influence a cars R&D and money will play a significant role in dictating the strengths and shortcomings of the production model. Engineers work with budgetary constraints and there will always be compromises. So, unless Christian von Koenigsegg designed the car and called it the One I got bad news for you son...OEM ain't the best.

OP maybe you have some input but I don't think you'll be competing in the 24 hours of Le Mans right? The dude is looking for a fun, fast drivers car he can beat on and enjoy without worry within a certain criteria. My suggestion was to that end.

[Z3guy]

^ ok, I was trying to be respectful discussing this with you but you wanna call my names and try to call me out? Haha! I can almost guarantee you are some dorky engineering geek that thinks he is smarter than he really is. Lol! I must have gotten under your skin for you to spend so much effort in responding to my post. Thank you for giving me a good laugh! Guys like you make me luv revscene

[punkwax]

YouTube (Short URL)

[jasonturbo]

This thread is finally on track.

Most cars built with aftermarket parts have issues because people are cheap cunts and they buy garbage parts with no actual engineering or testing and then engage some random tuner hero who spent an entire week at EFI university becoming a "Certified Tuner".. where they basically just teach you to get your AFR down and then add timing until it knocks and then pull some back - tuning 101.

If you spend money on the right parts and actually engage a tuner with a brain, your aftermarket built car can be just as reliable as OEM.

[westopher]

To have an OEM reliable, heavily modified car is certainly possible, but its not the norm.
You need an owner that knows what he is doing, to get lucky and find a tuner that knows what they are doing, and use expensive, quality aftermarket parts.
Its not cheap.
R.Mutt I know your car is reliable, and fucking insane, but you have put a ton of time and money to get it there. I've seen people put tons of time and money into other builds of the same magnitude, with respectable tuners and be left with paperweights for engines as well. I definitely don't believe the reliability with aftermarket will ever be quite what it was when it left the factory. Wether its worth it is determined by the person.

[Z3guy]

Originally Posted by jasonturbo

This thread is finally on track.

Most cars built with aftermarket parts have issues because people are cheap cunts and they buy garbage parts with no actual engineering or testing and then engage some random tuner hero who spent an entire week at EFI university becoming a "Certified Tuner".. where they basically just teach you to get your AFR down and then add timing until it knocks and then pull some back - tuning 101.

If you spend money on the right parts and actually engage a tuner with a brain, your aftermarket built car can be just as reliable as OEM.

Jason turbo and westopher explained it much more eloquently than I. How many tuner cars in the lowermainland are built properly? 10%? how many shops/mechanics are knowledgable enough to build cars properly? I bet less than 10. SR definitely can't. The op is going to live in qualicum, how many shops do you think can diagnose issues with a built car?

[R. Mutt]

SR is not a performance shop...they shouldn't even be put in the same classification as a shop that modifies cars. They are a boutique for the wealthy.

RacingGreed and Indy Speed Shop are great shops just to name a couple. But the point of the OP's distance versus these shops is a valid one.

[asr]

$55k for an reliable EVO 9 MR, you can have so much fun and lots potential on the 4G63 engine.

[Qmx323]

https://vancouver.craigslist.ca/van/ctd/5713319210.html

I know you said no Audi's but if I had 55k to spend on a MT car... this would be it.

If you're willing to spend 55k on a used car, there will be some upkeep costs that comes with it.

[jtanner_]

Just spend the 25K for my car, and bank the remaining ~27k after taxes.

Also listed in RS buy and sell for a bit less than my CL ad.

FS: 2005 Mitsubishi Lancer Evolution GSR SSL EVO

[Marshall Placid]

So, um, OP, we are just dying here, waiting to know what you chose (if you have already done so)...

[bcuzracecarz]

At this point I'm just pumped this was a solid discussion that somewhat stayed on track and had constant posts

[hi-revs]

Try to find a used Lotus.