Need a new car! Thinking of e36 M3!

[Crono0001]

Been a while so I guess I'll update this thread.

I got a second car! I know a lot of you aren't into the tuner scene, but here its:





It's a 1985 Toyota Corolla AE86, or HACHIROKU! For those of you who don't know, it's a cult car following the cartoon Initial D, which spurred the whole drift scene in Japan, which recently made it out west.

Now the car I got was a 2-owner barn find. Very stock, very together. Most of the ones you find are completely gutted out and ruined by kids. This one is all in one piece.

Man is it slow! We're talking foot down full throttle and I'm still losing speed going uphill. But I must say, it's a happy little car. The steering is responsive and tight, not unlike the Boxster. Where handling and driving experience is concerned, this thing blows Civics and other cheap imports out of the water. None of that steering wheel play or unresponsive throttle. This truly is a driver's car. I can't really explain why I love it so much, other than the fact that it was my dream car as a kid. It knows it's not fast, and it knows it's not pretty. But it tries its best to please you. Like an old dog, almost.

Plans? Not to rice it up. JDM bumpers, maybe Initial D replica for exterior. As for interior, I'll probably go full Honda F20C VTEC swap (engine from an S2000). This will give 986S kind of speed and handling. Will let you all know how it goes.


For those of you interested, the build album is here:
https://www.facebook.com/crono0001/media_set?set=a.10201108279841939.1073741827.10172 70010&type=3

[TripleTrophy]

I know this is late, but I just found the thread.

I had an RX-8 for 7 years, driving it year round. Great car in the winter with proper snow tires, and the traction control was just right - let the back end start to slip before cutting in (usually my foot beat the traction control on reaction). Great fun, I only managed to spin it once in the snow. Good handling in the summer. Oil consumption was about 1 quart every 3-4 K miles - about the same as my wife's CTS. Fuel consumption was not great - around 12-12.5 l/100 km (about 20 mpg US). Didn't seem to matter what kind of driving, it was pretty constant. In some ways the engine seemed more like a motorcycle engine - keep the revs up if you wanted power.

Cons? HVAC was likely undersized to save weight. Thank god for heated seats in the winter, because it took forever for the cabin to heat up, and air conditioning was not the most effective in the summer, but better on the highway. It absolutely did not like short drives, especially in the winter, and would flood if not warmed up enough.

I sold it last year because the seat was starting to bother my hip joints - too low and pressure at the wrong points for me to drive on a regular (daily) basis. Which brings me to being in the market for a Boxster...