Ok, I have 23k to play with and i want something that can smoke at least 80% of cars on the road yet still has some insane looke. At the same time I do not want a muscle car because ive had 2 transams and a camaro and, no offense but the handling sucks. whats your opinion, whats the best streetable affordable car?

Well for 23k...I would look to perhaps a slightly used Evo RS or GSR. They come w/271HP, AWD and really fast out of the box. So perhaps you could snag one for 23k. If not...the WRX is definitely an alternative...227, AWD and fast...great aftermarket support and for like 4k invested to Vishnu or other WRX tuners...you could easily have a car that could push out around 320-350 hp crank

Other cars you might consider...perhaps the 300ZX TT, RX7 TT, Supra TT (if you could snag one), 3000GT VR4, E36 M3...

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Get a Honda S2000 for maybe $17-18k, turbo kit for $5k, and the chicks shall come.

And The Chick Shall Come. Its Only One Seat.

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What's the point of turbocharging an S2000? The motor is extremely high compression and makes strong use of VTEC; it was obviously meant to be N/A. You'd have to do so much work to the motor to efficiently turbocharge it that it'd hardly be worth it. Anyways, my recommendation goes to a slightly used 2004 Subaru Impreza WRX sedan, preferrably in WR Blue Mica and with a manual transmission.

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Some cars to consider:

Mitsubishi Lancer Evolution VIII: Might be tough to find one under $23k, but this car is going to offer you some of the best power and handling for the money. It looks mean (some don't like the styling, but I do), and it has the power to back it up. Since it's a sedan, it is going to be practical as well.

Audi S4: It shouldn't be too hard to find the older 2.7 Bi-Turbo S4 for under $23k. This car is not as fast as the Evo and doesn't have as bold of a look, but it is a lot nicer. Although it isn't the fastest thing you can afford in your price range, it will certainly beat most cars on the road while offering comfort/luxury/etc.

Nissan 300ZX Twin Turbo: For the price you are looking at, you could get a Twin Turbo Z in excellent condition with low miles. The Z wouldn't be as practical as the first two, and it is an older car, but it will still beat most cars on the road, and it's design is timeless.

Honda S2000: Very fun car to drive. You can easily find one for under $20k, and they come with Honda's excellent reliability. This car would probably be comparable to the 300ZXTT in terms of performance, but it's newer and looks better in my opinion.

Chevrolet C5 Corvette: Probably the fastest of the cars listed here and handles well too. Although Corvettes are a dime a dozen, there is a reason for it. They offer some of the best performance for the money and it's one of the best looking non-exotic car in my opinion.

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Originally Posted by Squirrel Nuts
Ok, I have 23k to play with and i want something that can smoke at least 80% of cars on the road yet still has some insane looke. At the same time I do not want a muscle car because ive had 2 transams and a camaro and, no offense but the handling sucks. whats your opinion, whats the best streetable affordable car?

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It all depends on what you want to use the car for. I personally would 23k would look towards those supras because they hold a high resale value if you decide on selling it later on, it has a huge aftermarket, they are suppose to handle excellent, accelleration on the freeway is suppose to be good and also the 2JZGTE is a powerful and reliable engine.

Or like someone said a C5 would be a good car to get. They handle well and yo ucan find alot of parts out for them. I believe it is the same chasis as the Z06, and those Z06's are even suppose to handle better than the NSX. I'm sure the C5 can do the same with some suspension. This is all second hand information however, I'm not sure really.

the Evo is a nice car but it just doesn't seem too classy in my opinion. Yes it is a beast and it is fast as hell, I sure wouldn't mind one, but when it comes down it it all the shap and design doesn't seem to be as attractive as the two doors out there... just a personal opinion.

Good luck though on whatever you choose to pick.

i say get a 300zxtt for 14 grand and put 4 grand into it.

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Quote:

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Originally Posted by Muscletang
Well you're going to have to break it down just a little bit more here. The cars below are great cars but with their 0-60 times as shown you won't beat 80% of cars out there.

Evo 5.1
Audi 5.5
300ZX 5.5
S2000 5.4

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Gabriel

My 300ZX Website

all the options people have thrown at u are great but since u seem to be more about style and handling than balls out speed id look into an old nsx (since its like the only car not listed) but damn, 23k could damn near get u a brand new stang which will handle way better than an old camaro, i think u owe it to yourself to test drive one... but if ur really turned off to muscle id go for the supra hands down.

Hey what about an 03 mustang cobra? 390 hp (i think) good handling.

if you want true timeless cool then go with the 911.
granted on your budget you won't be looking at a 993 (or newer) but heck, look after it well and when it's time to sell on, you'd most probably get what you paid for it.

just make sure you get a later model with a fully galvanised steel chassis...

Well I'll suggest up some cars that have probably already been suggested.


3000gt VR4 - used these run anywhere from 6k-20k depending on the condition and mileage. These things run mid 13's stock and low-mid 13's with the addition of a $20 boost controller. They come with all the stuff you'd ever want really. The interior is nicer than any of the new "race inspired" cars I've seen being put out lately and its coupled with an engine that pushes 320hp and an AWD transmission. This is obviously my dream car

300zxtt - these can be found at around the same prices as the vr4 can be (probably cheaper) and are considered to be highway monsters stock. The 300zxtt has RWD, a pretty good interior and what I believe is a 300hp rated twin turbo v6. The only major complaints I've heard about this car is that the engine bay is very hard to work with. I'm pretty sure these run mid 13's stock as well.

Turbo DSM (1st or 2nd gen talon/eclipse/laser) - This is by far the best car for the cheapest price. The fwd versions of these cars are sold for very cheap and while the awd versions are rare, they still sell for cheaper than the above 2 cars do. You can buy an awd version for anywhere from 2k-10k and simply put $1,500 or less in mods to it and have it running low-mid 13's. The fwd version is not far behind and is classified as a highway monster as well but traction issues concerned with a fwd vehicle may be a turn off.

240sx - I know what you're thinking, stock 240's aren't fast right? Right, stock in America they aren't. There is a japanese engine swap that is very popular in these cars called the sr20det (also available are the rb20det, rb25det and rb26dett... I'm not even getting into the ca18det)
But basically since you can find 240's cheap as anything you could get a cheap one with a good interior and exterior and have the engine motorset swapped into it.
The pros of this transfer
-Engine is usually guaranteed to have 30-60k miles on it (tranny comes with)
-200 turbocharged horses in a light car is fun
-mods become about as cheap as for a dsm
-240 makes good use of horsepower
-Said to run 11's with 325whp

Cons of the swap
-hard to find a good shop that specializes in the swaps
-swap can take a lot longer than expected
-swap can be more money than expected
-some say the swap isn't as good as just putting a turbo on the original ka24de engine.


V8 mustang - With the money you have to play with you'll be able to find one of these fine within your range and those v8's take pretty nicely to mods. If you like that badass leaky valve engine sound then the v8 stang would be a good choice new or old. With good tires and a single bolt on (doesn't matter whether its intake, headers or exhaust to me) I'm pretty sure a good driver can nail those high 13's and with gears and a full i/h/e setup you'll be seeing low 13's


This list could go on but I was just listing some of the cars I would go for if I were you. Personally if I had that cash and wanted to use all of it I would scour the area for a used is300 for around $20,000 and turbocharge that.... I just think they look sexy as hell with a turbo and exhaust.

what about an rx-7 or an rx-8. In 06 there bring a supercharged model to the rx-8, and they are also bring back the rx-7 you might want to check it out.