Looking for a vanity car....Porsche, BMW, etc.

tealtonerick said:
The Z06 Corvette. Read about it's engine...

https://www.hagerty.com/media/maint...he-z06s-670-hp-v-8-is-a-landmark-achievement/
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That's at least $80k above what he wants to spend. Plus as a vanity car it isn't worth it. If you are going to run it on a track and you have the cash then sure a Z06 is great.

But you can still easily lose you license and get jailed on public roads just exploring what the 490HP standard LT2 engine in a C8 can do. I have owned 3 Corvettes in my lifetime. Loved every one! I've been drooling ever since the C8 Convertable came out but it would be a lousy Colorado car. I can't imagine driving one in the snow! But still every time I see one on the road I get the urge to go drive one at the dealer.

Then I remember that would involve a lot of explaining to my lovely wife when I pulled it into the driveway. 😂
 
Rex Rox said:
but it would be a lousy Colorado car. I can't imagine driving one in the snow!
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Snow isn’t a reason for not driving in Colorado…Between the altitude and the sublimation the streets are pretty good and usually dry 2-3 days afterwards.

The real issue is on a normally aspirated engine.
You’re losing 25 to 35% horsepower in Colorado.

That’s what moved me into turbos and bought a Saab Vigen in 2000. Went to Panoz Racing skewl at Road Atlanta came back home and took a Ferrari testarossa
one afternoon on the back roads up to I25 coming out of the CSPGS airport. 3x

Poor Ferrari owner couldn’t understand how a lowly Saab was taking him so easily.

Big Mitsubishi blower, making 20 pounds of boost … 🤣
 
Rex Rox said:
That's at least $80k above what he wants to spend. Plus as a vanity car it isn't worth it. If you are going to run it on a track and you have the cash then sure a Z06 is great.

But you can still easily lose you license and get jailed on public roads just exploring what the 490HP standard LT2 engine in a C8 can do. I have owned 3 Corvettes in my lifetime. Loved every one! I've been drooling ever since the C8 Convertable came out but it would be a lousy Colorado car. I can't imagine driving one in the snow! But still every time I see one on the road I get the urge to go drive one at the dealer.

Then I remember that would involve a lot of explaining to my lovely wife when I pulled it into the driveway. 😂
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Yes I understand what you mean. Still, the Z06 really is a landmark machine and will certainly hold much of it's value for a while.
 
∞Fractals said:
Snow isn’t a reason for not driving in Colorado…Between the altitude and the sublimation the streets are pretty good and usually dry 2-3 days afterwards.

The real issue is on a normally aspirated engine.
You’re losing 25 to 35% horsepower in Colorado.

That’s what moved me into turbos and bought a Saab Vigen in 2000. Went to Panoz Racing skewl at Road Atlanta came back home and took a Ferrari testarossa
one afternoon on the back roads up to I25 coming out of the CSPGS airport. 3x

Poor Ferrari owner couldn’t understand how a lowly Saab was taking him so easily.

Big Mitsubishi blower, making 20 pounds of boost … 🤣
Click to expand...

Now I drive a WRX STi - not so much for the turbo (although that's nice) - but for the all wheel drive. I actually look forward to snow storms now. Drifting around in my car is a blast - and with the right tires and a little skill it is perfectly controllable even when you are sideways - so balanced the throttle controls everything.

I have the most fun driving now up to about 45 mph around town in fresh hardpack (before they spray it with mag chloride). A supercar wouldn't provide me with that much fun! In the big storms we still get plenty of time when the snow hangs around. It all depends how much dumps at once. For storms here and there they nail that sh*t and it's gone first sunny day.
 
FWIW; I run the k24 turbos modded from factory 0.9 bar now at 1.3 on pump gas. ~550 hp at the crank

Used to keep 108 octane in 55 gal barrels - no longer.
 
Rich5150 said:
Personally I would say stay far far away from BMW, I worked at a dealer for 5 years and they really are imo POS cars, ive seen brand new M5's that never left the dealer needing new engines and in general they leak more oil that a 70's Harley.

Personally if I was gonna spend $ on a ride it would be classic American Muscle, 69 Camaro (my personal favorite) or something along those lines that has been properly restored

But that's just my opinion.
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Just curious what years you worked at the BMW dealer?
 
Rex Rox said:
I never understood front wheel drive sports cars - non sequitur. Gotta be RWD or AWD for me.
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It’s just different… no question the Saab Viggen was a handful until you hit third gear. Famous for “torque steer” … I even made all the recommended mods to limit that nonsense. Really fun car with great gas mileage. Almost perfect for Colorado.

My turbo was technically RWD lineage coming from the GT2 a.k.a. the Widowmaker.

Porsche decided to put 30% power w/ the front diff for the front wheels, so it’s not to kill as many pilots. But PSM gets turned off at the track.

Trailing throttle oversteer FTW 🙌
 
Obviously I don't get this outta hand on city streets (in the occasional big empty parking lot late at nigh maybet? ;)). But these videos give a good idea of what an amazingly fabulous snow car a WRX Sti is. As for vanity - not much - if you punt the big ass ugly spoiler (I did) then it looks a lot like your average daily driver sports sedan (with a fun factor of 10).

Hell OP you could buy an STi and a pretty damn nice boat for $125K. "Look at me" looks even better on a yacht! Or just get the vanity ride and the boat.

 
I agree 100% - I had a 530i for about 8 years and it was always doing something wrong. Lovely cars to drive though. Just keeping them going is hard work and time con$uming.

Thanks
Pauly
Rich5150 said:
Personally I would say stay far far away from BMW, I worked at a dealer for 5 years and they really are imo POS cars, ive seen brand new M5's that never left the dealer needing new engines and in general they leak more oil that a 70's Harley.

Personally if I was gonna spend $ on a ride it would be classic American Muscle, 69 Camaro (my personal favorite) or something along those lines that has been properly restored

But that's just my opinion.
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My 1st BMW, 20 years ago, needed regularly oil. I've never had to add oil with the next ones and never had a problem.
Maintenance costs are not expensive compared to mainstream brands, here in Europe.
The warranty can be expanded to 5 years for less than 1000€.
Maybe am I lucky....
 
Haven't seen it mentioned but you may want to consider the Lotus Elise, Exige, Evora or Emira. Former two are usually at or less than 60K. Latter two are around $100k depending on year, trim, etc. All driver's cars. All mid-engined RWD. All with varying degrees of "cool" factor depending on your taste of course. 👍
 
orb451 said:
Haven't seen it mentioned but you may want to consider the Lotus Elise, Exige, Evora or Emira. Former two are usually at or less than 60K. Latter two are around $100k depending on year, trim, etc. All driver's cars. All mid-engined RWD. All with varying degrees of "cool" factor depending on your taste of course. 👍
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Cool suggestion…

But how tall you might be?

I am 6’2” and don’t fit in a Lotus or a Miata; even a BMW M3 is tight.
 
∞Fractals said:
Cool suggestion…

But how tall you might be?

I am 6’2” and don’t fit in a Lotus or a Miata; even a BMW M3 is tight.
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I guess it depends on your build. I'm 6'1" and fit in my Elise just fine. Likewise for the Evoras and Exiges I've ridden in. I'm somewhat average body type for whatever that's worth. If you've tried to fit and can't, you may consider the Evora or Emira - a little more polished and potentially a bit more room.

I've heard of people as tall as 6'5" fitting in an Elise/Exige but again, goes back to body type and whatnot.

Ingress/Egress are a different matter though, for the Elise/Exige it's NOT easy and can throw people off (or out) fairly easily since you're essentially sitting a few inches above the pavement. Once you get used to "how" to get in/out it's less embarrasing and not really an issue.
 
Fun to drive is subjective. I'm way too nervous to have fun driving in anything expensive. Fun to me is an old beater from the early 2000sish to do donuts in the local Walmart parking lot.

As for project cars, get a Coronet.1000000406.jpg
Since they're not highly sought out you can pick one up for around $30k~ in most of the states without a bondo'd to hell body. $20k~ if you aren't going to check it with a magnet.

A cheapo Florida hurricane salvaged one sounds nice right about now.
 
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