Hey all!
I have a question which I want opinions on.
Im getting ready to buy a new car in the next 6 months.
Price range is 50-70k USD (I live in the USA in a state with snow and have two cars already).
I want something sporty. 2 Doors preferably.
Im thinking on a lotus exige S, porsche 911, porsche cayman, or corvette.
Lets hear your thoughts.
Thanks!
Finally a topic where i feel i can contribute in!
(You may or may not have missed my topic where i 2 months or so ago bought a Porsche 997 911 Carrera 4s - it still hasn't arrived, another couple weeks ARGH!!!)
Anyways, i've driven a lot of the cars your interested in owned a couple similar, and a couple others in that price range\ car class.
Here are some of my most important issues\questions when buying a sports coupe that i would recommend you to think over:
1. How often are you going to drive this car?
Do you want to be able to take it for a spin on any day of the week, or just when its sun and optimal conditions? Do you want to be able to drive to comfortably trough heavy traffic? For example the Exige you mention is not something i would recommend driving every day, as its exhausting to drive that stiff cars for longer periods of time.
2. How much of a drivers car do you want?
Very important, Merc's for example are not your typical drivers car, they are fast as hell and comfy, but dont give you the same exitment as say porsche (Even thought AMG >>> Porsche in terms of speed anyday of the week).
3. What do you want the car to do for you?
Do you want something to show off? Something to have fun in? Etc..
4. How important is reliability?
A lot of cars brake down alot, aspecially sporty cars. Porsche's however tend to last forever as long as you give them love.
Here are my thoughts on the sport coupes ive driven:
Porsche Cayman S - this car is handling perfection, the boxter was brilliant when it came, but with a roof on top of it, its just perfect. Perfect weight balance, perfect steering, and a good enough engine. On the track this car if fabulus, and it works well in a day to day setting (atleast a Boxter S did for me). It also looks great imo.
Porsche 911 997 - Its a 911. And its the best 911 porsche ever made. Hows that for a review? The Turbo is fast, the others are not, but there is something special about driving a 911, it also works great in real life situations, you can actually drive this car to school\work\whatever every day here. AWD is a big plus, at least in my book, but then again i live in norway, so we see quite a bit of snow. Anyways, AWD, when you start getting fast cars, is really nice to have.
Mercedes SLK 55 AMG - may look a bit girly and small, but this thing is well build, fast as hell and very agile. No AWD.. but its a cab and a coupe in one.
Mercedes CLK AMG - big fast merc. Much more comfortable than the others, may not look as cool, but the comfort level is great (if you like that). Ive had a CLK500K Kleeman (528hp\600nm, go to the forza 2 thread to see dyno charts) now for about a year and i love it. Its great for a lot more situations than most sporty coupes are. Its ridiculously fast. Its very comfy (for when there is alot of traffic). You can take 4 people with you if you need to. This is the car Mercedes AMG makes their racing cars on for DTM, Le Mans, etc. Its the **** in a lot of ways. Its not as agile as Cayman or SLK, but it will (in DTM and 63 AMG or Kleeman versions) make up for it in RAAAAAAAW power. Hell. Brabus can give you 800hp\1100nm for pocket change these days. Only big minus is that you really feel that you need AWD with so much hp in many situations, aspecially in rain and snow. Merc ESP is supposedly one of the best, but the ESP warning indicator keeps telling me it "saved my life" every time i floor the pedal in non optimal conditions, meaning your not getting all that power into the ground.
(There is a brand new 2009 CLK coming, which is supposedly going to be as big of a revolution to the premium medium size coupe car class as the S class is each generation).
Merc SL 55 - "slow", but my god, best car ever made in its time. Its comfy when you want it to be, its sporty when want it to be, and nothing beats having a convertible and a coupe in one. Again, a very driveable car, this is imo super important.
Audi A5 3.0 Quattro - only driven this for an hour, seems alot like the CLK, but build quality seems a bit off and its horribly slow (so you would have to wait for a v8 version or something). Has AWD thought, and looks excellent in real life (pictures doesn't do this car justice).
BMW M3 - driving perfection.fast enough, nice handling, very responsive, best drivers car in the world that you can use every day. Haven't driven the new one, if its anything like the old one its brilliant.
Lotus Exige S - very fun car to drive around the track, not so fun to live with on a daily basis. Also not very fun in the states, as its best attribute is handling, not accel\top speed. Tbh. If you want a Exige, just go buy a ultima or a donkervoort or some other track car, because thats really what an Exige S is. Its a track car. Not something to drive every day.
Corvette Z06 - very fast, nice handling, first good american car in years, terrible build quality, i guess its because you americans replace your cars every year so it doesn't matter if the thing falls apart after 3.
