white98ls

I've thought about an MR2 Spyder and looked into them a year or two ago. The problem is I live in CA so getting meaningful power increases while staying smog friendly would be difficult.

vader1

I have not read the whole thread, but out here you can get a decent shape 370z for $20k or less. Not a great car , but not a bad one either.

I hap a pop up add for a 2000 Miata with 90k on it for $5k that looks in decent shape. Almost did a stupid impulse buy yesterday.

Oh sorry, just read your original post, no 370z, got it.

For 15k you can maybe find a unicorn Toyota MR2 turbo. Probably my favorite car I have owned so far. I love those things. But if you let it sit outside it will get stolen.

I bet a couple 50,000 mile BRZ's are getting into the $15k range. No guts in that car either though. Still, I think they look cool and are supposed to be fun.

white98ls

I think I haven't found anything because it's hard to find something in the $15k range that's both what I want (small, light, convertible) and as fun to drive as my M3. Some of these are fun cars, but would it be worth passing up the keys to the M3 to drive one of these instead? For the S2k that was true, but for many others (like the 370Z) I'd probably rather just drive the car I already have.

Funny story about the MR2 Turbo - my best friend had one in HS and college, and one day he had just installed the JDM turbo with the boost turned up and took me for a ride. The instant the turbo spooled (not wise as he was on crappy tires and it was wet), the car swapped ends in the blink of an eye and we were headed backwards on wet grass for what seemed like a year toward a bush and a brick building. I still laugh remembering both of us just looking helplessly through that small back window at our distant, but ever-approaching fate as the heavy rear led the car skating gracefully toward fixed objects.

Luckily the car hit the bush and not the building, damage was pretty minor, and he got it all fixed up with a flat black paint job he did at home (actually an amazingly good job) and worthy tires. That was a cool car.

3actual

Before I purchased my 2006 S2000 a month ago I was seriously considering doing an LS swap on an RX8. finding a clean low mile RX8 with a blown rotary isn' that hard. There are engine and trans mount kits available, cutting is minimal, you can use the stock rear end, and radiator.

There was a guy in the Phoenix area that was doing swaps for 12-20K depending on the LS engine and t56/TR6060.

white98ls

I'm actually somewhat seriously considering a 987.1 Boxster S. You can get them with 60-70k for well under $20k. 10 years ago magazines were basically saying it's a perfect sports car if you can spend ~$70k. Well, now it costs the same as a base Kia Forte.
I was close to doing an FD RX-7 w/LS swap in 2013 but my garage/help connection fell through. These days there's no way I have time, though I would love to.

klapamos

I vote AP2, CR, or ND miata.

white98ls

Test drove one last weekend. Nice car but in the end I felt like it didn't have enough advantages over an S2k to be worth the extra purchase and, more importantly, running costs. Great steering feel and brakes, and sounds lovely, but also didn't have quite as much punch as I thought the 3.2L would while also not as exciting to rev out as an S2k. The structure wasn't as stiff as an S2k's either, and the shifter wasn't bad but nowhere near the S2k's. It wasn't slow, but the chassis is so capable and grippy that it felt a little underpowered. I thought maybe some of the looseness with the structure and shifter could be due to age/miles, but then I remember my S2k was older and had more miles when I gave it up...

Acknowledging of course that these are sub-$20k and totally worth that price. A later one with more power would be better, but we're talking a lot more $ then. I just like the uniqueness of the S2k package coupled with bulletproof reliability and Civic-like maintenance/consumables.

I will say people at the Porsche dealer were super nice. I actually drove the 987 at the BMW dealer next door, and the salesman literally gave me a 1-mile test drive even after calling ahead to make an appt. and then asked me, "So are you gonna buy it?" I said well you literally let me drive it around a long block, so no. We went back out but I was so annoyed with the guy in general (he said the S had "bigger turbos" lol) that even if I had loved the car, I would have found a different one. Whereas at the Porsche dealer, they were super friendly and even offered for me to drive a new one, which I declined since I'm not about to spend $100k on a new one and I'm planning to do the Porsche Experience Center a month from now.

lane_viper

Good luck in finding what you want. You've had 8 pages of suggestions and seems to have an excuse to everything anyone has mentioned. I'm ready for this thread to die.