Very good point. There are a lot of good deals that are available for much less than 20k that I've seen. From an exterior design standpoint, the 928s are still very pretty cars, not to mention they're no slouches on the gas. What are your criteria apart from the price range?

You know 98 Protege 1.5L 5spds are great project cars........

 

hahaha. Here's some criteria.

1. must have a spotlessly immaculate interior. I don't want something that looks worse than what I'm selling.

2. sporty, not necessarily fast but sporty.

3. up-to-date maintence and service records (for used cars)

4. Something I wouldn't be embarassed driving customers around in.

5. Something with good performance potential if it isn't already fast.

 

Thanks. That helps. I definitely understand the embarassment/having to explain your car to someone aspect. Seems like the criteria you listed limits you to a range of cars from enthusiasts to those who own the higher end "prestige brand" cars...just like the cars you were looking at. Are you a BMW fan at all? E36 M3s are fairly cheap--well about ~12-16k cheap give or take--and have a good deal of potential.

 

I've got it....

03 Mercury Marauder...

Elegant Car...Nice sound system, leather interior, black on black....Navigator Motor ! 305 hp 32 Valve V8....

You can get one for about $16K

 

All of the M3's I've seen around here are $20+. Good choice though.

The marauder was real high on my list when they first came out but kendra said she'd leave me if I drove a car like her grandparents. those marauders with the whipplechargers are making sic power.


I think I'm tied down between these three right now..

1986 Porsche 944

1993 RX7, single turbo, pfc, etc etc etc

ms6 lease.


The rx7 won't be a real "company car" but I'd love to have one and I could always rent a taurus from hertz if I have to shuttle people around for the day.

 

My car is for sale and was in the 2005 Sport Compact Car Mag "Ultimate Street Car Challenge" winning the handling portion with 1.13g's on a 200foot skidpad. Below are all the details on the buildup:
http://209.177.55.37/scc.htm

It is a daily driver that can be raced on the weekends with a simple tire change. It is not a show car however is in overall nice condition. I built this car to road race and focused on handling plus to be able to drive it on the street as a daily driver. The paint is fine; however could use a respray. No stereo, a/c, or p/s on the car. The factory Bose system comes with the car as well as the LS1 a/c and p/s stuff. Steering feedback is excellent with no p/s and only while parking do you really notice not having it. It has a full leather interior (black) with seats in good condition.

I'm keeping the CCW rims, returning it to stock braking system, removing the s/s fabbed brake ducts, and keeping the TriPoint hollow adj sway bar. The car will sell with stock 16x8 FD RX-7 rims and Toyo RA1 tires (R compound) which are awesome for the street and upgraded stock brake pads with s/s brake lines.

Doesn't include NX nitrous wet kit and I never used it anyway as the WOT trigger didn't work properly. I have put about 20K miles on it since completion (about 1 year) and it is totally reliable. The engine started life as a '99 LS1 pullout with 23K miles and now has about 43K total miles. The T56 was rebuilt with upgraded steel shift forks, carbon blockers, and upgraded synchros with 20K miles on it. Same for the RAM910/VDS clutch combo and Fidanza alum flywheel. Rear end has upgraded Turbo2 RX-7 LSD (clutch pack style) and 300M axles good for well over 600hp+. Mechanically this car is fully sorted.

The car performs as good as a new 427ci Z06, has run a best of 1:54 at Infineon, and 2:04 at Thunderhill on the road race course on Michelin Pilot Sport Cup tires. With Hoosier slicks you could knock a few more seconds off it easily. This was also with non functional ABS so there is definately room for improvement. Has aftermarket VDO water temp/oil press guages mounted on the A-pillar. The stock water/oil guages aren't hooked up as they are totally inaccurate.

Things that need to be fixed are mainly electrical and optional:
ABS not working (replaced the ABS motor already)
Speedo (needs a Dakota Digital VSS adapter)


This car pulled 1.13g's in Sport Compact Car Magazine "Ultimate Street Car Challenge" last year on MichPSCup 285/30/18's and a mellow street alignment. If you want a car that can eat up the twisties, smoke 99% of the REAL street cars on the road, and gets decent fuel economy (20mpg+ hwy) this is it. 49.5% weight front and 50.5% rear with a full tank of fuel. This car handles for sure.

I have run a best of 11.42@127.4mph on 8 year old Nitto 245/50/16 Drag Radials at Sacramento Raceway over winter. It runs consistent 11.50's all day long and I won last year's NorCal LS1 shootout (11.50 and slower bracket) with this car running an 11.51. Went racing July 4th, 2006 and it ran 11.56 and 11.503 at Sears Point with a 1.9 60' on the same Nitto DR's. Very very quick and drive it to the drag and road race tracks with no problems. With new slicks and better 60' this car can go low 11's or even high 10's on a prepped track. It made 431rwhp/380rwtq on Ntech dyno (Nick tuned it) in ok temps and at K&N HQ in Riverside it made 439rwhp/385rwtq on 91 octane. All on conservative 26* timing.

Comes smogged ready for transfer of ownership. Clean title. Easily 250+ hours in this conversion. Rob at ZCarGarage in San Jose test drove the car and said it was the best sorted V8/RX-7 conversion he has ever driven.

Another pic:
http://norcal.nasa-tt.com/corbett-info.html

If you want the 18x10.5" CCW's with brand new Hoosier 285/30/18's they are for sale for $2750.

Why am I selling this beast? Dry sump LS7/T56/FD RX-7 is being built to replace it in another silver FD I bought. 575rwhp n/a goal with 140mph trap speeds built to road race.

Please email me if you are serious only: mark.corbett@gmail.com or gnx7@hotmail.com

$22K

Thank you,

-Mark
San Francisco, CA

 

what a great car if I wanted a track car. That thing has been SO abused!!

 

How so?
"Rob at ZCarGarage in San Jose test drove the car and said it was the best sorted V8/RX-7 conversion he has ever driven."


I don't think there's a nicer FD for 22k. This thing WON the SC magazine street challenge for cornering...plus it pulls a sub-11.5sec 1/4 mile with the stereo blasting.

 

hey matty! wow theres so many cars you could buy you just have to find the one you want.. have you ever sent me that refund? havent gotten it

 

Bummer about the M3s. I remember reading about some tuner modding the Marauder to 460 hp and about that in torque. The article said something to the effect of "this is what the Marauder should be." Ford could have dumped the 390 hp Cobra engine in it, but no. I have no idea half the time, what Ford is thinking with a lot of their engine placement choices. Anyways, off topic...

Would the MazdaSpeed6 serve as a company car, being that it looks like the 944 and the FD are both in the same boat, features and purpose-wise?

 

so what the heck is wrong with a 305 hp 4.6L 32 valve V8 in a Grand Marquis ??...they do like low 15's stock(not bad for a full size car), and the only difference between those and the non s/c cobra motors was the cams...

If you wanna question engine placement, ask Mazda why they decided to turbo a truck motor with toothpicks for rods and put it in a chassis setup as good as the MSP ?? What would have been great is a BP-ZET Mazdaspeed Protege...the FS is CRAP, they should never have dropped the F2....even in turbo form it lays the smack down on the FS and it's ROCK SOLID....

If you want to question something Ford does, question why they make all their cars so vanilla looking...Their motors are awesome !

 

I'm not questioning the quaility of their motors, though it may sound like it. I question their placement, or in other words, certain vehicles' displacement. I wondered why they put a 200 or something hp 3.0L v6 in their brand new Accord/Camry-fighting Fusion. It's a sharp car, but with an underwhelming engine in a segment they knew is cutthroat. The original Marauders had 427s and then 429s. Not that the new one needed 7 liters, but more displacement would have meant more low-end muscle car-esque grunt instead of a more high strung 4.6 with. 65 more hp is nice, and the performance is not bad at all, but just a 4.6 to back the looks and the Marauder name up? It just seemed disappointing to me.

Now I will agree with you on the way Ford styles or doesn't style many of their vehicles. Someday they'll ship more of their Europe stuff to us that looks worlds better.

 

problem is the only PRODUCTION motor they put out bigger than the 4.6 is the 5.4....honestly no performance increase unless you get the 32 valve 5.4, which is a pretty costly motor

Expect the Fusion/Milan to start fighting a lot harder in the war against Toyota...I believe starting in '08 they are getting a 265hp 3.5L which is better on fuel than the 3.0L...It's going to be Fords new workhorse V6, being put in multiple models, including the base Mustang's

wow we are threadjacking here...oh well

 

Haha, I know. I couldn't think of anything to tie back into the topic.

I know that the 5.4 is the only larger displacement gas v8, because past that's the v10 (which by the way is a great motor--my fam has had it in a motorhome and in the Excursion which performed flawlessly in both cases).

I had read that Ford was going to dump a 3.5 into the Fusion/everything else come sometime within the next two years. Maybe it had yet to be fully developed and tested, so Ford launched the Fusion/Milan/Zephyr (MKZ...whatever) to get the ball rolling.

So they're going to put the 3.5 in the Mustang? I've driven an 05' v6 5spd and the 4.0L was acutally a really nice motor. Sounded like a real meaty American version of the 350Z (driven that one too)--on the intake side. Pretty smooth too. Maybe they want more differentiation between the v8 and the base model, but then that means there's only a 35 hp difference--I know there will be a noticeable torque difference, but it may mean the GT gets more power. I like the new Mustangs a lot. In addition to the styling, the sound of the GT, etc; it has great seats/seating position--they're finally high enough for me to rest my head on. Being tall has its disadvantages.

I write too much...

 

well, I've got a deal pending right now on a new car...I'll let you know as soon as it solidifies...hopefully I'll have some badass pics for you guys in the next few days. The car is located about 2 hours away from me so it's a time consuming process.