team510

Whats up everyone! long time no forum stalking. I sold my ap1 two years ago to buy my first home and im finally financially ready for a new toy. Debating what to buy, kind of have my heart set on either a 510datsun, or an ap2. my price range is around 15k. I plan to mainly use the car for cruising around on nice days but also for some auto crossing. Im in california and have a lot of nice back roads so im kind of leaning more towards the ap2 because i feel the suspension is much better then the 510 , but let me know what you guys think.

Bullwings

AP2

Are you looking for a project car or a mostly turn-key ready car?

Unless you can do a ton of work yourself, 510s are a lot of work now. Parts are not as readily available, and prices are quite high for what you're getting. Most of the "affordable" ones are rust buckets at this point.

RPM_Junkie

and the ones that arent will run more than 15k anyways

the underlining truth is what you want out of the toy, if you want turn key goodness that is tires front sway bar away from being awesome at nearly everything, then the s2k is the way to go, if you want the seat of the pants, jimmy rustling goodness and you are overly fanboy for the 510 then thats the car to get,

but it no way shape or form would the 510 ever be better than the s2k from a numbers and reliability standpoint without excess into it

talk to Nick or Jen at 5523 Motorsports, they are currently building a "hako bird" in escondido for sema and have been bawls deep in datsuns and nissans for over 15 years now. Im also a personal friend of thiers who has an ap2 as well.

hell if you want buy mine, the engine i believe is bad but itll get you a good base for going down the path of what you want.

mosesbotbol

As already mentioned, unless you want a lot of work the 510 wouldn't be my pick and I think you'd be underwhelmed compared to an S2000. In the same category as the 510 an Alfa GTV is a cool one if you can find for 15K... Great handling car.

TommyDeVito

team510

mosesbotbol

TheDonEffect

S2000 will be practically turn key and reliable, a 510 is more for the fun of wrenching and keeping something that should be dead alive.

I love 510s but the downer is that they're not going to be worth what you need to into them, especially now that they're not cheap. Automotive hipsters gentrified those cars to the point of them not being worth it.

fusionchickenleg

S2000:

Since it's a fun car the drop top factor is 10000% IMO, especially here on SoCal's canyon roads. I've had many cars after my AP1 and nothing really beats the pure fun factor of driving the S2000 with the top down on a sunny day in the mountains

It also has more modern tech and has Honda reliability

CosmosMpower

E46 M3, will need a few k more for maintenance (cooling system, vanos, subframe reinforcement, bushings etc).