What do you think is the best tuner car under $20k w/mods under $10k?

[Unclean]

Rules - car has to be easily attainable, under $20k, mods have to be under $10k. Which car would you go with and why?

 

Personally, I'd go with an 03-04 Acura RSX Type-S, bodykit, rims, coilover, turbo, headers, afc, and exhaust. Low curb weight, K20 motor... good stuff.

[NOFX]

Toyota Tacoma, ext. cab, 2 inch lift, 33' BFG's

[YoMamma]

Dodge SRT4. Quick turbo-charged car that is easy to mod. If you were to upgrade the turbo, you're looking at a car that can beat basically anything on the road. A friend of mine had one that with his mods would kill any Evo/WRX.

[bullet-401]

Skyline

[Unclean]

Skyline

Rules - car has to be easily attainable, under $20k, mods have to be under $10k. Which car would you go with and why?

Edited April 11, 2006 by Unclean

[bullet-401]

bah!

[Chief]

I always liked the last 300z cars and Stillen and folks made plenty of cool go fast goodies for them.

[Leveller]

Having had one myself a couple of years ago, I don't think you can go wrong with an E36 M3. You can either pick one up for less than 20K and drop a supercharger/turbo kit in it, or just buy it as is.

 

1998 BMW M3, 6 cyl, 5 spd, ps, pb, ac, p/seats, pdl, cc, stereo, am/fm, air bags, abs, sunroof, supercharged 400 hp, lthr, tint, alarm, front cover of BMW Car Magazine 1/06, $30000

 

Although I know over here (US) you only get the 3.0ltr one, I was in the BMW drivers club in the UK and a couple of people had twin turbo E36 M3s, to say they left my standard M3 GT Limited (basically an M3 Evo with lightened parts for track use, they only made 50) for dead was an understatement.

[shep48]

http://www.collectorcartraderonline.com/ca.../5/79409385.htm

 

1969 chevelle ss. no substitute for cubic inches. $20k on car and im already smoking your cars.. I get another 10 to put in motor Ill save some for big rear view mirror to see U

[Leveller]

http://www.collectorcartraderonline.com/ca.../5/79409385.htm

 

1969 chevelle ss. no substitute for cubic inches. $20k on car and im already smoking your cars.. I get another 10 to put in motor Ill save some for big rear view mirror to see U

 

Big mirror would come in handy when you're heading backwards into the ditch at the first corner Actually I forget there don't seem to be many corners over here.

 

Very cool car though.

Edited April 12, 2006 by Leveller

[Vovik]

http://www.collectorcartraderonline.com/ca.../5/79409385.htm

 

1969 chevelle ss. no substitute for cubic inches. $20k on car and im already smoking your cars.. I get another 10 to put in motor Ill save some for big rear view mirror to see U

haha, shep zings everyone with an old school....but an automatic?!?!?!

 

I personally would be looking at a used WRX '02 or '03

[Unclean]

So ok, I've heard quite a few answers here:

 

Acura RSX Type-S

Toyota Tacoma

Dodge SRT-4

02-03 WRX

"300z" (I'm assuming Nissan 350z)

1969 chevelle ss

E36 M3

 

So which of these could be tuned to be the fastest? And how would that be done?

[Vovik]

So which of these could be tuned to be the fastest? And how would that be done?

straight line fastest? 0-60 fastest? 0-100 fastest? top speed fastest?

curves fastest?

round the track fastest?

fastest looking?

 

i don't think you'll have all of these in any of these cars.

 

Acura RSX Type-S - don't know much about it

 

Toyota Tacoma - yeah right

 

Dodge SRT-4 - i read somewhere it could be factory ordered Stage 3 turbo with like 300+ horses, but then, it's only a front-wheel drive which will give you not so good handling and worse starts

 

02-03 WRX - this thing could be tricked out crazily, i don't even know the max, proably just as good as the Evo's, which I know for a fact could be turboed to 1000hp (of course that'll be good nuff for one race only) with just 2.0l displacement + it's a AWD so it's a great handler, my sis's husband has one of these stock it's nice.

 

"300z" (I'm assuming Nissan 350z) - these can be turboed the heck out of. they got 3.6l (?) v-6s, check out some Import Tuner or Turbo magazines for more, I don't know much

 

1969 chevelle ss - I never saw a turbo put in in one of these but if it could be done I bet it could be pretty powerful, but it's gonna be a horrid handler

 

E36 M3 - I love Bimmers, this one's not my favorite though, they tend to not be turboed so well because of high compression engines. They can be supercharged to like 340 horses with Stage 3 Dinan kit, it'll handle pretty good too ($10000 there on tuning). It can be a looker

Edited April 13, 2006 by Vovik

[General J]

As much as I would hate to see a Dodge Neon win this argument, I think Yo has the winner. SRT4 is the fastest car for the least amount of money. It is slightly heavier than the RSX Type S, but has much more power in both the HP and torque arena. It is also the cheaper of the 2.

 

You can find an 02-03 WRX for under $20k pretty easily. However, the only version of this car that would beat out the SRT4 in the power/weight fight would be the STi. They were not available in the US until 2004, and you would want to buy a lottery ticket if you found one for under $20k.

 

300zx (not a 350z Vovik. 300zx was the older model. 350z took its would be a good competitor after the mods. But finding a nice 1994-1996 with lower miles, worthy enough for mods, might kill you. A stock 300zx TT would be a nice find, but way over $20k.

 

Chevelle SS has the displacement of all these cars engines combined, but weighs about the same as all of them combined as well. You could get it to post great gobs of HP and Torque (especially torque!). But the weight would be the death of it.

 

E36 M3 is a nice bet. They are quick anyway you take them. Power adder like a supercharger would probably help it past the SRT4. You might run into trouble trying to find one for under $20k that didn't need some major work though (read engine rebuild) to keep it on the road after adding mods to it.

 

 

My money, however, would be on this 240z!

Edited April 16, 2006 by General J

[TheGeek]

My money, however, would be on this 240z!

 

holy cow, that thing was able to do a burn out at like 30 mph! mine cant even do it at 0

[Cobalt]

Have to agree with what has been said about the Bimmer and the whole WRX/EVO thing. You can definitely mod those cars out for some easy cash. How can you talk about tuner cars without delving further in the whole RSX thing. Honda IS tuner cars. The RSX type-s has more readily available mods then a good portion of those other cars put together. Let's not forget that even with everything, the srt4 is still american.

[Unclean]

It seems like we're all getting to the same point here... the SRT4 is probably one of the quickest, but what mods are available for it? Could someone get another car (M3? RSX?) and tune it to be faster than an SRT4's capabilities?

[Vovik]

As much as I would hate to see a Dodge Neon win this argument, I think Yo has the winner. SRT4 is the fastest car for the least amount of money. It is slightly heavier than the RSX Type S, but has much more power in both the HP and torque arena. It is also the cheaper of the 2.

 

You can find an 02-03 WRX for under $20k pretty easily. However, the only version of this car that would beat out the SRT4 in the power/weight fight would be the STi. They were not available in the US until 2004, and you would want to buy a lottery ticket if you found one for under $20k.

 

yeah SRT4 numbers are a little better than that of a 2002 WRX

 

Subaru WRX:

2.0 Liter

227HP at 6000RPM

217LB-FT of torque at 4000rpm

Curb Weight: 3075

 

 

Dodge Neon:

2.4 Liter

230 hp @ 5300 rpm

Torque : 250 lb-ft @ 2200 rpm

Curb Weight: 2970 lbs

 

BUT

 

the WRX has AWD versus front wheel drive of the Neon. I'm not gonna tell you which one to buy because if you're a racer you already see what the problem here is!!!

 

Btw, I myself have a 99 Dodge Neon. NOT my racecar!

 

But then, if you wanna go by the numbers it's the way to go. Actually not too bad to sit in and ergonomics inside the car either when I checked it out couple weeks back at the dealership.

[General J]

Actually, AWD is not the end all of drivetrains. Far from it actually. If you really wanted something that was fast, yet handled well, you would be looking at Mid-engine rear wheel drive. Think along the lines of the MR2.

 

Front wheel drive doesn't mean bad handling. AWD doesn't mean good handling. You might get extra traction on the launch, and a little coming out of corners, but you also lose a lot of power going to the wheels.

 

Each drivetrain takes a different approach to drive fast. I am most comfortable with FR, simply because I have clocked the most time with this setup. Thus, me wanting something like that 240Z. However, I think I could survive with the SRT4 just fine.

[Unclean]

Hey, this is kinda interesting news (to me at least). Apparently Daimler-Chrysler is not making Neons anymore. There are no 2006 SRT-4s, so the others are depreciating like mad. DC is coming out with a sport wagon called the Caliber @ 300 horse (faster than the SRT-4). But to me, it looks like poo.

[Vovik]

Hey, this is kinda interesting news (to me at least). Apparently Daimler-Chrysler is not making Neons anymore. There are no 2006 SRT-4s, so the others are depreciating like mad. DC is coming out with a sport wagon called the Caliber @ 300 horse (faster than the SRT-4). But to me, it looks like poo.

Yeah, anyway, you gonna buy something or what?

[Unclean]

Yeah, anyway, you gonna buy something or what?

I've been kicking around the idea for next summer. But I figured this is a fun topic, so why not post here and dream away?

[Vovik]

Click on the pic for more info on this car and what you can do to it.

 

You should really though subscribe to Import Tuner or Turbo magazine they got a lot of stuff about parts and packages for these cars!

 

[emily]

go for the Suba. As a girl with class, I would definitely take a guy with an import over a dodge. Plus you can get them with such pretty gold rims! And I love the stock blue paint...

 

I actually like the Caliber..

[Vovik]

just wanted to add another pic of tuned up wrx