Post the more obscure fun and cheap cars

Can confirm. Restoring a shit del sol now. Absolute pain but it’s so worth it.

It’s a VTEC model too. It had a B16 but was swapped out for a D16Z6 cause the engine was blown. Turbo SOHC is lovely but a turbo B16 would be so much more to me.

Actually owned one. They’re so beautiful honestly. I had to sell it because it threw a rod and I needed a car to get around. Bought a 94 Del Sol instead.

FeelsNostalgicMan

Porsche 924S

Has the engine out of a 944 in the smaller, lighter body of the 924.
They can be had for dirt cheap and usually cost less than a 944.

>924S
for good reason too

Suzuki's are cheap can can be fun if you put a bit of work into them. They're simple and lightweight.

Cheap, rear wheel drive fun, plus pop-ups.
What's not to like?

it suffers from the same issues the 944 has. old ageing electric systems, an anemic engine that you have to hope to god doesn't break because of the cost of replacement or repair, little aftermarket, etc

honestly finding a third gen camaro or some shit would be cheaper and better

also checking my own trips, but btw this comes from someone who wanted a 944 for a while and decided against it. i love the car, and its pedigree but fug man.

The terrible reliability plus the price of parts. It saddens me because it's such a cool looking car.

>smaller, lighter body

It's the exact same body without the sexy fender flares, you're better off getting a 944, I'm sure these are going to exceed them in price soon given the rarity and that a Craigslist 944 goes for ~$5k

Well if you manage to find electrical and suspension components you could always LS swap one.

They weigh less with the narrower fenders and smaller wheels. They're more aerodynamic too so they have quicker acceleration and a higher top speed than the base 944.

lol nice job reading the wikipedia article!!!!!!!!!!

...yeah but why? i feel like there are a lot of better cars to ls swap

It's small, lightweight and rwd. We don't have too many other choices in North America. The stock engine is underpowered and parts are hard to find. A lot of them are selling with blown engines which makes even more sense to LS swap.

Miata, rx7, mk3 supra, 240sx just to name a few that can be had in decent shape for sub $5k sub $3k for a nice roller

>$3k for a nice roller
Nice as in covered in chinese cartoon stickers and held together with drift stitches. Most of those are heavily rice taxed and in horrible shape. You can still find 944's in decent shape for that much.

>Lightweight, FWD or RWD doesn't really matter which, 2K or less, don't handle terribly
Anyone got recommendations for cars of this class specifically? Theres obviously the MX5 and its competitors, but that's all I can think of.

122hp with good torque. Supposedly a 2.3 fits.
2200lbs

...

Nissan Sunny GTi 1.8

A crazy little car I tell you. My dad used to own it but the gearbox borked. He told me that if I repair it he'll give it to me. I did and I do not regret a single cent.

Another question from me, do you think I could find a custom turbo for the thing or does it not exist?

Oh hey I have one of those. Apparently they handle tons better with a sway bar up front, even OEM is good.

Ooh, that looks perfect, I hadn't even heard of the nissan sunny before now but I like the look of Thanks for bringing it up.
From a quick search, there where models that came with the SR20DET engine, which is turbocharged, but honestly in a small fun light car you really don't need that much horsepower to at the very least feel like you're going fast.

My mom had one those and it was pretty cool, very smooth automatic transmission and a pretty quick car to drive with a nice interior.

Pic from wikipedia.

suzuki swift sport
most underrated hot hatch, and handles better than most in its class, and cheap as fuck.

Turns out it was also branded as Nissan Sentra. Had no idea.

But what if I want more horsepower?

>fuckcheap
>shares chassis with 323/Protege, parts aren't hard to come by
>absolutely C U T E
>great sounding 1.8l V6 available, 2.5l 200hp variant is a bolt-in swap if you want more power

sounds like a piece of shit.
If someone is looking for a fun car last thing they want is a smooth autotragic and nice interior.

>not getting the premium variant

>tfw no gx81

What's the difference between the two Mazda logos?

HNNNGGG want a fun obscure sporty car so bad, so much cool ones for €5k and under in my country too. I'm talking Saab 900 S, Toyota Starlet, VW Corrado, Renault 5 GT Turbo, Mercedes 300 CE

Yeah, what most people think of when they think of a fun car is a manual, lightweight car that makes them feel in control.
I don't know exactly what you're referring to, but I know mazda changed their logo design, between the 90s and 2000s because I think it resembled citroens logo too much, being almost a diamond. So they switched to their wing logo. It doesn't actually mean anything.

For if you want a Tercel but don't want a Tercel.

Gotta be honest lads, recently got this and it's the dullest car i've ever owned.

The electric rear window is quite funny though.

>an anemic engine
The 2.0 maybe, but not the 2.5 or overbored versions of it.

whoops wrong bread

>mfw that engine in its final form made 500Nm/370lb-ft

There's the Ford Probe and the Probe GT great cheap cars for the price. As far as I know, many parts for the Mazda Protoge will fit. Pop up lights are a bonus

Too bad they NEVER POP UP for sale

>mfw forgot my face

Look for an MX-6 instead for maximum obscurity, they're the same car. Probe has stiffer/sportier suspension but MX-6 is lighter.

>muh 4g63t

>not finding a 924 Turbo with a fucked engine and putting an Audi straight 5 in it

>138 hp
>hot hatch
Pick one...

I cant find these for shit in my area.

Yup, 138 isn't great in a modern car, an old light bare bones car maybe. But hot hatches are expected to make more around the 150-200 mark.

The new one weighs sub-1000kg. I'd say that's pretty decent.

Hey these look pretty neat, and like you said they are very cheap. Would this be good for a first car?

>0-62 in 8.7
>hot hatch
Pick one again

>cheap
>economical
>great chassis
Insurance might rape you for trying to insure anything with "Sport" literally in the name as your first car though.

Does that make the Audi RS3 the hottest hatch? 0-60 in 3.9 seconds, surely it must be good?

well it won't be lightweight when you put an LS into it.

Geo Storm GSi, 4AGE goodness minus Toyota tax.

Nothing against the car itself... but calling it a "hot hatch" is a vast overstatment.. unless you consider a chevy cruze a hot hatch as well...

So a Twingo RS isn't a hot hatch either then, and neither are the mk1, mk2 and mk3 Golf GTI.
Keep in mind the Swift is at least a full size class down on something like a Golf and the Sport gets praised for its handling in every review.

It does put it in the hot hatch category... any modern hatchback with less than 200hp is gonna be hard fetched to be considered a "hot hatch" by todays standards...

>4AGE goodness minus Toyota tax
[Stealthful deja vus in the distance]

Talking about modern cars here... 138 hp in 2017 is not a performance car...

And even with its relatively low power it's still great fun to drive. Subjective and irrelevant, I know.

I never said it wasnt fun to drive, im sure it is. I was simply stating that claiming it to be a "hot hatch" puts it in a class where it cant compete... theres a reason its one of the most underrated hot hatches, because it isnt one... if you put it in a modern hatch classification im surr it would win hands down. But when you try to put it up there with the gti, wrx, st, sti, rs, type-r its going to lose by a grand margine

I meant Prism, Storm was all Isuzu

But I wouldn't put it in the same class as things like the Golf GTI/R, Focus ST/RS, Megane RS and so on. It's much smaller and cheaper than any of those.
Hell, I'm pretty sure it's even smaller than a Fiesta and it's a hell of a lot lighter than one too.
The point of the Swift Sport has never been to be the highest performance hatchback out there. It's always been a small, light, affordable funbox.

That we can agree on... i just think we have two different deffinitions of "hot hatch"

Fair enough. I'm guessing you're American, where the hot hatch market is very different and the Fiesta ST was the first subcompact to really break through.
In Europe they've been making hot versions of smaller cars for ages, like the VW Polo/Lupo/Up GTI, Clio/Twingo RS, Saxo VTS, 205/106/208 GTi and so on.

Oh, the final form would have been a 6.0L 32 valve turbocharged V-8

>tfw no 6 liter twin turbo 928

There was a 5.4L naturaly aspirated version, just turbo it.

Fug, there are actual kits for this too.

Yes i am. And on smaller european roads im sure lighter more nimble is probably tons of fun. I love hot hatches, owned a fully bolted mazdaspeed 3 and now a focus st.

You're right. A mate of mine had a 106 GTi. Only 118hp in stock form (though he gutted the cat and had a nice tubular exhaust manifold on there along with a better air filter so it probably made slightly more) and sub-900kg, that thing was fucking hilarious on backroads.

Mah nigga. What was wrong with the trans? Mine is popping out of 5th.

I don't know, I heard a lot of people having problems with it. Shit's fucked.

Oof I like those quada

Are nissan primeras a decent alternative to these cars seeing as how 1.8L models are pretty hard to find?

Ive got an extra gearbox. Lookin for a kit to rebuild it. Its a nice box of shit.

Well... Primeras are newer (and not as sexy). Also, AFAIK they're heavier which means they will also be heavier. It might also be easier to find parts for them since Sunny (Sentra) is not that common in the B12 type.

>they're heavier which means they will also be heavier

*lazier not heavier

It's 9Am sorry for that

tfw the tofu tax has overflowed onto these as well

Sucks to be an american doesn't it

yeah nah

fucking shouldn't have sold mine in the first place

Base model BMW 118d
With a chip

So buy one

We didn't get Levins in America. Good condition Truenos are around $2k though, but whatever.

Okay where are you finding these cars for so cheap? The closest I can get is a 240sx for $6500 and it's 2000 miles from me, or an rx7 for 5700 and it's 500 miles away.

The ae111. Can get them for around 4k in my area

I don't even think we got these in the UK, we got these ugly looking cars instead, they don't even have the 1ZZ engine either, they have the 4A-FEs which don't quite meet the 130-40 mark you want for a fun small car.
Plus since thats a newer corolla, is it even that light?

forgot to post the pic

>They actually called this a corolla
It still disgusts me to this day

>lightweight car
>pop up headlights for aesthetic
>VTEC with decent horsepower
>all at a reasonable price because ricers only want civics so it isn't hard to find stock examples
Truly, a great car.