Advise on which car to buy please!!

[mv6mark]

Hi

Wanting to buy a Jap car to do track days but also family car, has to be 4/5 seater as have kids,proven reliability and low maintenance costs, looked at things like skyline R34 GTT, Impreza etc,(don't want a 4wd) can anyone advise me please.
My max budget is £7500 (if the banks nice to me!!lol)

Cheers, Mark.

Edited by mv6mark on Sunday 2nd May 15:25

Edited by mv6mark on Sunday 2nd May 15:38

Edited by mv6mark on Sunday 2nd May 15:38

[Scooby P1]

Although I am a Subaru man, I do like Evos and i would say for 7.5k an Evo 8 with 300bhp+ would be the way to go.
4 doors is great and they are built out of granite and will never go wrong. Bit like my beloved Subaru really but that's a 2 door!

[UTH]

i WISH evos never went wrong!!

[mr2-turbo-gar]

it would have to be one of the following in my book anyway,

1- super or turbocharged altezza
http://www.pistonheads.com/sales/1444678.htm
http://www.pistonheads.com/sales/1643850.htm
2- toyota chaser or mark ii which ever you want to call it, very rare though
http://www.pistonheads.com/sales/1662266.htm
http://www.pistonheads.com/sales/1597093.htm
3- lexus/toyota gs300/aristo, good luck finding a manual though
http://www.pistonheads.com/sales/1659021.htm

i may get destroyed on here for saying this, maybe a 4 door m3???
http://www.pistonheads.com/sales/1525621.htm

[dnb]

7.5k should be enough to get a good family car and a separate uncompromised track car.

Using my Scoob on the track on Sunday and then needing it to take me to work or take my daughter to nursery on Monday meant that I couldn't ever really risk pushing the car too hard for fear of it needing some repairs or maintainance before Monday morning, so I would suggest something like a VW Passat or other boring car for familiy use and an older Nissan 200SX or Scoob and turn it into a focused track vehicle.

It should just fit in the budget, and a Passat (insert other boring family car here) will be able to tow the track car to the track - I assure you that you will enjoy the day a whole lot more if you aren't worried about having to drive the car home at the end.

[Carfiend]

UTH said:

i WISH evos never went wrong!!

Most of the owners do as well

Anyway have a gander at this http://www.torque-gt.co.uk/index.php?act=productDe...

I do agree however that getting a cheap track car and then a boring family car is a better idea as going home and telling SWMBO that you have rolled the family run around is going to mean some sofa time.

[GravelBen]

Carfiend said:

I do agree however that getting a cheap track car and then a boring family car is a better idea...

Even better, get a cheap but fun track car (think MX5, MR2 etc) and a less focussed sensible car thats still interesting and a nice drive - no need for it to be boring!

[scorchio]

yeah i would steer clear of the whole evo thing if you are wanting low running costs and reliability ( not a evo hater just being realistic) the r34 gtt is a very good choice, but would have to be a manual for me. The engines are pretty much bomb proof but will cost if you start chasing big power outputs, but i have heard alot of guys chosing a gts or gtt over a gtr due to less weight,not as expensive to tune ( one turbo as opposed to two) . There is always the lexus aristo vertex, four seats auto box and twin turbo supra engine, fit a nice set of nineteens and drop it for the jap vip look

[liner33]

scorchio said:

yeah i would steer clear of the whole evo thing if you are wanting low running costs and reliability ( not a evo hater just being realistic) the r34 gtt is a very good choice, but would have to be a manual for me. The engines are pretty much bomb proof but will cost if you start chasing big power outputs, but i have heard alot of guys chosing a gts or gtt over a gtr due to less weight,not as expensive to tune ( one turbo as opposed to two) . There is always the lexus aristo vertex, four seats auto box and twin turbo supra engine, fit a nice set of nineteens and drop it for the jap vip look

The GTR is cheaper to to tune by far the rb26 can see 400hp with minimal mods ie little more than a boost controller for the rb25 you are looking at the best part of £3k to see 400hp at least most people spend lot more!

[scorchio]

thats not strictly true liner mate, yes the rb26 is very very easy to take past the 400bhp mark, but sufferes badly from oil starvation and sump return problems( have already owned three r32 gtr inc a 530 bhp v-spec 2) but pretty much beyond that you are talking about replacing the standard turbos, ok cheap route is to fit them with steel internals and up the boost to 1.2 bar but even then they are still going to restrict max power due to airflow resistance in the turbine housing, so about £2900 upwards for just the turbos and thats not counting high flow elbows, proper management system etc the pound signs just get bigger and bigger, but take the rb25, upgraded turbo from garrett say a GT3788R (which can flow upto 700 bhp and its on a T3 flange, sure gtst is a T28 but sure you can buy a conversion plate)full system, front mount,power fc,injectors and fuel pump pretty sure you would see an easy 350-400 bhp for about the same price as the two turbos for the gtr. Dont get me wrong liner I LOVE the gtr and rb26dett but for what this guy is after i would say the gtt is the way forward for him

[liner33]

I didnt say 500hp I said 400hp

To get 400hp on a rb26 you need a boost controller, exhaust and induction

To get 400hp from a RB25 you need

Uprated clutch
FMIC
Z32 afm
Hybrid turbo or aftermarket one
Remapped ecu or aftermarket one
injectors
fuel pump
fully exhaust turbo back
induction kit
dump valve
headgasket replace (reccomeded)
Spark plugs
Uprated coils

and even then you will be on the limit of pistons and not far off the limit of rods

Yes the RB26 is far from perfect but its certainly cheaper to get 400hp out of , had i kept my Skyline i was going to put a LS1 in it

[scorchio]

If only 400 bhp with only a boost controller actually last longer than two minutes, run anymore than 1.1 bar of boost on standard chocolate nissan r33 turbos and they will self destruct and more than likely taking out your nice expensive engine, so no fuel compensation for the extra boost ? ( yes the standard nissan ecu will self compensate..........to a certain limit) so bring on a nice lean engine that die pretty quickly,detonation and broken ring lands. I am though curious as to why you need a dump valve for going for power, yes the standard one cant hold much boost, but for driveability simply fit a upgraded boost recirc valve not a chavtastic dump valve. Getting back on subject I would go with the gtt simple

[liner33]

Stock GTST dump valve wont hold over 1bar you need 1.2 bar to see 400hp doesnt have to be VTA a recirc one is fine point it its more money

Of course I left out the brakes , suspension and wheels a tyres you would need to replace on a GTT to handle 400hp

[GravelBen]

Where did this 400hp requirement come from anyway, it wasn't the OP!

[300bhp/ton]

mv6mark said:

Hi

Wanting to buy a Jap car to do track days but also family car, has to be 4/5 seater as have kids,proven reliability and low maintenance costs, looked at things like skyline R34 GTT, Impreza etc,(don't want a 4wd) can anyone advise me please.
My max budget is £7500 (if the banks nice to me!!lol)

Cheers, Mark.

Edited by mv6mark on Sunday 2nd May 15:25

Edited by mv6mark on Sunday 2nd May 15:38

Edited by mv6mark on Sunday 2nd May 15:38

Yes, my advise would be to prioritise.

5 seater family cars will generally be big and comfy, so not a track car, which tends to be small and light.

Basically you are wanting a square peg to fit a round hole.


Also why would you want to spank £7.5k on car which will possibly get stacked at some point on track? If money isn't an object, then no worries, but if it's your only car, money evidently is an issue, as it is for most of us.


So, the next question is. If it's track days, do you realise they aren't races? As in you won't be racing or winning.

Therefore, IMO it's much more important about having fun rather than the most HP or the fastest car.

When you accept this, you see there is a whole raft of different and more appropriate cars that could be used on track. From classics, to MX-5's, to kit cars and ex race cars.

That way you can have a nice road going machine which will actually do what you want, and have a track car which you can really use and probably have more fun in.

[Carfiend]

People do run 500-550 bhp on standard internals with an RB25 but if you are looking at those numbers then you should get it rebuilt to make sure it is as healthy as can be.

I think 400 bhp came up as that is the usual figure you get from the usual list of modifications before you start looking into near five figures spent.