Most Tuneable, on a Budget

[J4CKO]

I have tried this, most hp for the least money, best to just get something that is a good package that you enjoy driving.

[Captain Muppet]

I needed a car that could lap track all day totally sideways at 70mph. I had a tiny budget.

£1500 for an MX5. £500 for a second hand turbo kit. A borrowed weekend in a barn and I had a 160bhp MX5. Job done, and with much better reliability than the Nissans I had been using.

With some sort of ECU to run more than 6psi of boost it could be well over 200BHP for just a few hundred quid more. A turbo MX5 makes a lot of sense as a track day toy.

[DanDC5]

850 T5.

[300bhp/ton]

xaby82 said:

Off the back of the "cheepest way to 1000bhp" thread got me thinking..

If I was to hypothetically have up to around £5k burning a hole in my pocket for initial purchase price, with a view to modifying the car over the course of, say a year or so without having to re-mortgage the house to cover costs. What would be the best option to choose in order to go it alone and build a serious track car with substantial bhp in my shead?

For the record, I'm not scared of the spanners but certainly no technical wizz either.

I'm thinking maybe Evo 4/5, impreza, R33 Skyline etc..?
Cheepo Sierra Cosworth? (Hard pushed to find a decent base car at that price)
Early Audi S4? (Can potentially be pricy for mods and may need a fair bit more technical forethought)

For the record, reliability shouldn't be too much of an issue, would be handy to get to the track and back but that's about it.

Your thoughts?

All depends what you want to achieve at the end of the day and any longer term goals. Speed and power cost and cost even more to make it durable and reliable.

Toyota MR2 is probably worth a look as it's light with an engine capable of good power.

But there are also plenty of kit or modified classics to consider too which could out perform newer stuff with a little thought about what you want to do.

For absolute bang per buck fast Jags are pretty cheap these days and would be a good place to start for power.

On this note, don't under estimate cars that are fast to begin with. I often champion my car and for good reason. £5-5.5k would get you one. And so far in mostly stock trim it'll ps off a 991 C2 (996), Evo IV TM, Audi TTRS, 320hp Cosworth Sapphire and a good number of others.

[300bhp/ton]

crostonian said:

Fiat Coupe 2.0 20V Turbo? Up to 600 bhp achievable for not too much cash.

Care to quantify that statement? And maybe offer up some expected engine life?

[_Al_]

Heavily biased, but MR2 turbos can be had for pittance and already manage 0-60 in just over 5 with 245bhp on the later models. Mine managed 250bhp on Surrey rolling road an it's bone stock bar the apexi filter - it even has the cat, OEM exhaust and speed limiter!

Pick one up for £2k and blow the change on track mods. It'd be a great prospect and teach you something new on every outing. A hugely powerful FWD would get "samey" after a few outings IMO.

[alanbradley]

A friend of mine has a Mazda 6 MPS. They can be bought cheaply and a couple of low-cost tweaks will have you at well over 300bhp in a car totally capable of handling it. People have them past 500bhp I'm told...

[SuperVM]

FD RX7 - £4k+ will see you in one with a recent rebuild, power FC and supporting mods to run around 350 BHP. A single turbo kit with supporting mods can see you around 500 BHP for another £3k. They're also fairly light, especially when compared to things like Skylines and Supras.

[Session8]

Although biased, the Evo route is not a bad one. An Evo 5 or maybe 6 (7 would be better but more outlay) is within the initial price.

Around a grand to get it up to circa 400/400 in a 1200kg car, not much will stay with you on an A or B road. After that though you will need rods, forging etc but 5-600hp is possible and not uncommon with all the supporting mods and fincial input. That would put you way into bike chasing territory.

IMHO though 400/400 would be all you need on a road car.