Small sports cars

My Midget had dual SU "carburettors" with that weird vacuum pull up system that drew tapered pins through the jets to adjust the mixture. I could NEVER get them balanced properly!

It ALSO had a vacuum advance distributer but no place on the carbs to hook the vacuum line. I had a choice between being hard to start and idle or no pick up at all.

The part I liked best was, in order to turn off the heat, you had to open the "bonnet" and close a coolent valve located on the back of the block.

I pulled the little 1500 cc engine once and nearly broke my back. Solid CAST IRON block and head.

What a pice of JUNK.

I'd buy another one tomorrow!

 

I own a 1993 Miata, bought in new, has 66,000 miles (my wife is the primary driver), it has been an outstanding car. Reliable and easy, easy, easy to work on.

Complaints

1) the "plastic window" in the ragtop - had to replace twice, but I think the 2000+ has glass????

2) Had some problems with paint peeling on trunk lid, but no place else.

 

A big difference - the S2000 is by far the best performing out of the 3 (assuming stock - you can get a turbo Miata now...). A friend of mine has the S2000 and it rides like it's on rails.

I never liked the Z-3's performance in the base engine. I've never driven the 3.0 though.

Looking at the TVR comments - when I lived in Sydney a colleague had a V8 Chimaera...and in Australia there is a very limited dealer network (nearest was in Brisbane I seem to recall) and the car went for over A$100K. It had the best sounding exhaust but was full of problems - the air conditioning went out, there were engine problems and finally the whole wiring loom shorted out, resulting in an engine fire. Needless to say the owner wasn't too happy with it....

Cheers,
Mark

 

Would surely make James Monroe happy.

 

I plan to get a Murciélago Roadster (just as soon as the big bucks from my DL degree kick in).

 

oooh - only in my dreams! Sweet car!

 

I would go with either

new Mustang or
new corvette

 

Untl the past year, I have owned and driven nothing but sports cars: Mits Eclipse, Mazda RX-7, and Fiat Spyder.

My list today goes:

Nissan Z
Mazda RX-8
Honda S-2000

The Bimmer is lame and unreliable - I'd sooner go with the poor man's Ferrarai, the Mitsubishi GT 3000.

-Orson
SUV driver (for now).

 

I was going to buy a new-ish used sporty-ish car next year, but that's before I decided I should use the money for an MBA instead, so it got pushed back a few years. Here's my dream list:

-- Mini Cooper S
-- Acura Integra RSX-S
-- Scion tc

All of the above aren't really in the same class as the S2000 or Nissan 350z speed monsters, but they have a nice balance of being fast, sort of fuel-efficient with decent hatchback cargo space for hauling stuff.

 

lol

The dream list of a Scion and RSX gives away your age. I am not impressed by either vehicle. The Mini is an interesting car, but after test driving the S version a few years ago, I found the controls to be cheap and easy to break. Very surprising for a BMW built vehicle.

 

Go ahead and guess then

I like the Scion tc because I am just nuts about sporty hatchbacks, and it seems like a worthy competitor to the almighty Integra/RSX.

 

My partner has just bought herself a sports car for Xmas - a new $80,000 Saab 93 Turbo Sports Convertible [yes, that is what we pay out here!]

Anyway it suits me to be driven around in the front passenger seat in it by a beautiful young 50 year old - that is 'sport' in itself.

 

Sporty Hatchbacks

Yikes!

The SCARIEST car I ever drove (it was my second wifes) was a Datsun 208Z 2+2, a hatchback.

Manual steering with a tiny steering wheel; the car didn't really become responsive until you reached 70 mph. It would EASILY do 120 mph, and DID, I'm ashamed to say, in the wide open spaces of eastern New Mexico.

At that speed on those roads, I was doubtless reckless but with NO ONE around as far as I could see and being able to see to the horizon, it was hard to keep it to 55 mph.

"one-half em vee squared".