Quote from: AlphaFire X5 on October 11, 2006, 08:55:53 PM
I believe that sports cars should be light and have a balance between power and handling. It's bad if you have a big hulking engine throwing off the weight balance.

Not exactly.  Sports cars are attention intensive in handling, not so much perfect weight distribution...a factor that doesn't always enhance handling.  The Porsche 911, prior to becoming an all out GT car, is a perfect example.  The 911SC has a tendency to be tail happy because it's an ass heavy rear drive car.  All of that weight made for amazing handling in most situations because the rear tended to gain inertia and "throw" the car through curves...at the expense of a very thin line between optimal traction and no traction.

No, spors cars are all suspension, structural integrity, minimalism, and power delivery.  You'll fiind that the majoraty of sports cars have almost no developement into the egine, while engineers spend unfathomable amounts of cash tinkering with the drivetrain, sspension, and body.

GT cars are completely different.

Minimalism.

There we go, my ideal sports coupe in a word.

No fancy this and that

No extraneous power to be a "Super Car"

No fancy wheels

No Italian leather accented with carbon fiber and brushed alum.


Sticky tires
Firm suspension
Spot on power
Spot on response

In a word, seemless translation between my actions and the car's.

Quote from: CirclesCenter on October 11, 2006, 10:15:52 PM
In a word, seemless translation between my actions and the car's.

That's more than a word.

But yeah.

Ariel Atom is probably what you want. It's probably the closest thing to a race car you'll get on the street.

Quote from: CirclesCenter on October 11, 2006, 10:15:52 PM
Minimalism.

There we go, my ideal sports coupe in a word.

I was reiterating the original, with deliberate elaboration.

Minimalism and elaboration go together like chocolate cake and mustard.

You know if I didn't know better I'd say you missed the point.

get one of these race cars, to run in Improved Tourning B class (ITB):


then blow the rest of the $65k on a bimmer 6 series.

Quote from: CirclesCenter on October 11, 2006, 10:30:06 PM
You know if I didn't know better I'd say you missed the point.

Previous similie only with "knowing better" and "talking anyway".

Get an 89 Mustang 5.0 liter couple, thow a supercharger on it, a 10 point roll cage, some sticky tires and a race harness.

Enjoy. 

a 3rd gen rx-7 would be sweet...or a 914-6...

FD's suck...it's a perfect example of a sports car, though.  No developement in the engine what so ever.  That's why there's more SA's and FB's running around than FC's or FD's.

On a more serious note...



125cc, 6-speed, 50 horsepower...and just under 250 pounds. The power to weight ratio will put just about everything short of a formula one car to shame.

Quote from: makenzie71 on October 12, 2006, 01:18:41 PM
FD's suck...it's a perfect example of a sports car, though.  No developement in the engine what so ever.  That's why there's more SA's and FB's running around than FC's or FD's.

How do FD's suck? Please explain....they are a wonderful sports car, look good, rare, hold their value, are fast and handle great. What do you mean no developement in the engine? I'd much rather have a rare car than something everybody else has.

my favorite rx7. the rx8 sucks ass.

Quote from: porsche4786 on October 12, 2006, 09:13:10 PM
How do FD's suck? Please explain....they are a wonderful sports car, look good, rare, hold their value, are fast and handle great. What do you mean no developement in the engine? I'd much rather have a rare car than something everybody else has.

Sure they look good...that's why the C5 Corvette is strongly styled in it's favour.  But looks aren't everything.  Whena car can't last 75,000 miles without needing a new engine, it's a turn off.  Mazda put ZERO developement into the engine.  They took the same tech used in the FC3S and applied it to the FD3S...the only difference was mild tweaking to management systems to compensate for a slightly different intake manifold, twin turbos, and modified fueling.  When you take into consideration the difference other manufacturers put into their new generation engines, that's rather sad...and it's why the car doesn't last.  You can't take old tech, boost the hell out of it, and expect it to last long.

Also a car that cost $45k new, and had a standard market value of <$20k five years later...that's not what I would call holding it's value well.  They do ok now at around $12k for a near mint, solid car, but that's pushing it.  The FD was a flop...one of my favorite flops, but a flop none the less.  I'd rather have an SA.

Throw a 20B in the mix, though, and it's a different story.  That's my idea of a quality sports car...chassis, body, and delivery, with the mechanical reliabillity of a developed GT...and that's why when it's my turn, it'll be a Z06.

The RX-8 was the best thing to happen to the 13B.  Mazda actually put some thought into it this time.

Quote from: makenzie71 on October 12, 2006, 10:01:33 PM

Quote from: porsche4786 on October 12, 2006, 09:13:10 PM
How do FD's suck? Please explain....they are a wonderful sports car, look good, rare, hold their value, are fast and handle great. What do you mean no developement in the engine? I'd much rather have a rare car than something everybody else has.

Sure they look good...that's why the C5 Corvette is strongly styled in it's favour.  But looks aren't everything.  Whena car can't last 75,000 miles without needing a new engine, it's a turn off.  Mazda put ZERO developement into the engine.  They took the same tech used in the FC3S and applied it to the FD3S...the only difference was mild tweaking to management systems to compensate for a slightly different intake manifold, twin turbos, and modified fueling.  When you take into consideration the difference other manufacturers put into their new generation engines, that's rather sad...and it's why the car doesn't last.  You can't take old tech, boost the hell out of it, and expect it to last long.

Also a car that cost $45k new, and had a standard market value of <$20k five years later...that's not what I would call holding it's value well.  They do ok now at around $12k for a near mint, solid car, but that's pushing it.  The FD was a flop...one of my favorite flops, but a flop none the less.  I'd rather have an SA.

Throw a 20B in the mix, though, and it's a different story.  That's my idea of a quality sports car...chassis, body, and delivery, with the mechanical reliabillity of a developed GT...and that's why when it's my turn, it'll be a Z06.

The RX-8 was the best thing to happen to the 13B.  Mazda actually put some thought into it this time.

I don't think cause you can only get 50-75k out of a rebuilt TT rotary makes it a bad car, hell, it would take me a lot of time to put 50k on a car..but that's just me, it wouldn't be any everyday car for me, I would look into an audi for that. I mean if you buy a used one (around here i see them for $15-20k) you can get your money back. I don't mean go out and buy a new one...because you can't. Where are you finding them for 12k near mint? I had to pay $5600 for my 89 with 45k miles on it...and it's still only an FC.

Umm, anyone get the part where i was talking about a "NEW" car?

BTW rotary engine is like a platinum blonde:

High maintenance.

FC's are a more valuable package.  Nice FB's are more so.  And heaven forbid you find a mint SA in teh ahnds of someone who knows what it is.

$15~20 needs to be for a MINT car, prefereable with a papered, near new engine.  More than that is stupid...I can hook you up with a MINT Spirit R for $22k.  Considering that, ANY USDM FD should be under $15k with standard use.  If you can't find one for that, you're not shopping very thoroughly.  I've bought and moved a 22,000 mile twin turbo, with good compression, for $8100...done the same thing with a 154k Z32.  Shop and you shall find.

Sorry circles...at this point no one cares what you WERE talking about.

Plus, rotary bikes are much cooler than rotary cars.

f%$k yeah!  I'd love to have an old Zooki RE5!