£5k Japanese M3 ?

[V8RX7]

I'm looking for a 4 seater, fun, manual performance car - an E36 / E46 M3 fits the bill but I prefer Japanese ideally sub £5k

350Z would be fine if it was 2+2 (the import skyline are mostly auto and I think they are a bit of a cruiser)
IS200 would be fine if it was faster (Altezza is a possibility)
200SX are all rotten and I'm not a huge fan of them
Chaser is too big
RX8 would be fine if it could do short trips and did more than 15mpg
R32 / 33 Skyines are rotten / too expensive

What else is there ?

EDIT - sorry I should have said - I'm only interested in RWD

Edited by V8RX7 on Wednesday 8th January 11:06

[p4cks]

Integra Type R? Might be slightly out of your price range but it'll be worth it for the fun factor.

Alternatively there are a list of some here, granted it's slightly outdated so prices have gone up on some and down on others:

https://www.carthrottle.com/post/10-banzai-japanes...

[PomBstard]

Subaru Legacy - if it’s in budget my pick would be a manual 03-06 GT with the 2.0T - I reckon the later 2.5T would be out of budget. Smart, reliable, fun and swift. IME the 2.0T is the more fun engine even if a bit laggy, and offers more options over the 3.0H6

[mbwoy84]

Accord Type-R or Impreza WRX

[coldel]

I owned a Celica GT-Four ST205 version for a few years, cracking car and very under-rated. Mine had a bigger exhaust and decatted and was on the dyno at 290bhp. Certainly an option if you want something a bit different from the usual Evo/Subaru crowd although they are super hard to get hold of a good one at the moment.

[TroubledSoul]

Closest thing to a Japanese M3 from that list would be the RS200 version of the Altezza I reckon. Not the easiest car to find, mind you.

[culpz]

TroubledSoul said:

Closest thing to a Japanese M3 from that list would be the RS200 version of the Altezza I reckon. Not the easiest car to find, mind you.

You can get an IS300 but they're a tip-tronic style automatic only. Or what about an IS250? You can get them in manual 'guise but they're crap and puts them into the higher tax band. Automatic (with paddles) are a better bet.

Not Japanese but 330i's aren't too expensive to run and are pretty solid. The engine is regarded as pretty reliable.

[croissant]

You'd get a very tidy MR2 Rev3+ turbo for that money. Biggest bang for buck I can think of.

[bangerhoarder]

Mk3 Supra? Older and a bit leftfield, and would need some serious sharpening to match an M3, but an interesting car still. Mk4 is well out of budget.

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Toyota-Supra-MK3-Manual...

[Mickeym]

I don't think any of the cars you posted are a match for the M3. None of them handles as well really. The RX8 and Skylines have a shot. But I'm still not sure.

[V8RX7]

TroubledSoul said:

Closest thing to a Japanese M3 from that list would be the RS200 version of the Altezza I reckon. Not the easiest car to find, mind you.

Yes that's what I'm thinking - it is light, fun, revvy but rare and expensive for what it is.

To the other posters:
IS300 is very dull in comparison
Supra is a good thought but I had an NA Mk4 and thought that was a cruiser (not fun)
If you can find a 4 seater MR2 - I'm all over it !

[samoht]

Well, I think you've eliminated most of the possibilities, and as above there aren't many such cars that can match up to an M3.

300ZX came in 2+2, but old and probably a bit more than £5k in turbo form
S15 Silvia worth considering, but it's a (tweaked) 200SX and also more expensive
Toyota Verossa VR25 maybe too big

[croissant]

samoht said:

Well, I think you've eliminated most of the possibilities, and as above there aren't many such cars that can match up to an M3.

300ZX came in 2+2, but old and probably a bit more than £5k in turbo form
S15 Silvia worth considering, but it's a (tweaked) 200SX and also more expensive
Toyota Verossa VR25 maybe too big

woops! missed that bit. but did find this .

[coldel]

I think the Japanese mindset at the time was in a very different place to the 'stick V8s in your family cars' mindset of the Germans to be fair so its going to be hard to find an 'equivalent' - think you are missing a trick sticking with RWD vs completely discounting AWD though. I went from a 350z, to a VX220, to an R33 GTST then into the Celica and it was still bundles of fun.

[V8RX7]

croissant said:

I did find this .

Top searching, I'd buy that !

[V8RX7]

coldel said:

I think the Japanese mindset at the time was in a very different place to the 'stick V8s in your family cars' mindset of the Germans to be fair so its going to be hard to find an 'equivalent' - think you are missing a trick sticking with RWD vs completely discounting AWD though. I went from a 350z, to a VX220, to an R33 GTST then into the Celica and it was still bundles of fun.

The E36 / E46 are 6 cylinder however I was meaning 4/5 seater, daily usable, sporty / fast, RWD car.

I'd had Impreza and Forester - they aren't predictable once you get to the edge of grip and you have to be going very fast by which point they need to be very predictable. They fall into the "fast but boring" category for me and the Celica is heavier.

[kurt535]

accord type r

[ZX10R NIN]

Skyline GT350 as you say finding a manual is hard but they are out (the one below is just to show you can get them) there.

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/2003-Nissan-350GT-Skyli...

You'll have to hunt for one but they are out there, up until just before xmas there was a red manual for sale for bang on your budget.

[aka_kerrly]

Also consider you can get a V35 Nissan skyline saloon with an almost identical 3.5v6 and manual gearbox from the 350z but not so sure they are m3 calibre. You might source a R33 Gtst saloon.

With regards to the Altezza, I do enjoy them and with a few mods they are very much a RWD version of a Honda type R although the Beams engine doesn't feel quite as lively as the K20 in my type r it is a superb engine. If you find a later 03 onwards altezza those have a shorter final drive making them more responsive/better accelerator.

[mikey P 500]

So you want the performance of a £10k plus German car for £5k and with it being old and Japanese is likely going to be worse value than a German car anyway as too many JDM fans.

I think the skyline gt350 would be the closest you could get, they drive very similar to the 350z just a little heavier, they are also good value as not popular with the masses. They are not a match for an M3 but good for half the cost. You could also buy an Impreza WRX and convert to rear wheel drive only if you want it to be worse, some people do this for drifting.