Time for a new toy-suggestions

[LarryHoward]

Good choice. You can also tune the bejesus out of those things too...

Also saves his birthday present for 11 Nov. A 24 mm progress rear sway bar for the dead car.

[JoeP]

Even plain vanilla Hondas are a pleasure to drive. Smooth engines and nice shifters. I've had several as commuter cars. The performance models are better. My favorite is the S2000 which I have the pleasure of driving occasionally due to the generousity of a good friend. I'm glad your son got a good car.

[LarryHoward]

Even plain vanilla Hondas are a pleasure to drive. Smooth engines and nice shifters. I've had several as commuter cars. The performance models are better. My favorite is the S2000 which I have the pleasure of driving occasionally due to the generousity of a good friend. I'm glad your son got a good car.

Still has to find one but we have some good leads. He was very happy with the one he had and the appraiser actually plussed it up in value by $1,200 based on the condition he kept it in. A 2006 car with one small door ding in a quarter panel and very slight wear on drivers eat trim. Other than that, it was evaluated as "showroom ready" at 7 years of age. Pretty good lesson in rewarding careful ownership and maintenance.

[Mung Breath]

Just stumbled upon this thread.

Let me throw a vote in for the RX-8. Back in '06, I needed a cheap fun car to drive around town. Came across a bright red '05 with 7k miles on it and thought, hmmm, a legitimate 4-seater, cool suicide doors, 1.3 liter and 230hp.. 'why not!?' I had never even owned a Japanese car before and my bias was 25 years of BMW M-cars with stiffened suspensions. After a few weeks of driving, I wasn't thrilled. The suspension felt disconnected. So I tossed out the entire stock suspension and replaced it with a set of Koni's, MazdaSpeed springs, sway and torsion bars, s/s exhaust, slotted rotors, a short shift kit and decent tires. All in, maybe less than $3k in upgrades. HOLY COW! It completely transformed the car into a high-revving go-cart and what to this day, is the most fun, bar none, car I've ever owned. Being able to wind that normally aspirated rotary engine to 9k in any gear with no powerband and a suspension that glued it to the road brought a smile to my face every time I drove it - and I always drove it hard. No torque whatsoever in 1st gear but 3rd and 5th pulled like freight trains!

As a testament, I LOVE to drive. Before kids came along, I would flip cars every 18-months just to try something new. After buying the RX-8, I expected this pattern to continue and would annually test drive cars that cost 5-10x (new) more than the $12k max this RX-8 was worth. Each and every time, I would drive away preferring the RX-8 for it pure fun factor and silky behavior. A friend had a completely tricked out Subi STi that just felt too brutal and lacked the smoothness and grace of the RX-8. It actually used to piss me off because I wanted to prefer the Porsche, Maserati Grand Sport, etc. and it never happened, not even close. Here I was stuck with this $12k car that prevented me from buying a new toy. The ONLY reason we finally parted ways in '11 was due to hurricane related flooding. I seriously considered a RX-8 replacement but realized I better switch horses while I had the chance. But with the right suspension, it's a seriously fun car for the money.