One of my good friends has got the speed bug and wants to buy a monster.
While she has money, she has very limited mechanical skill and no real experience working on cars.

Right now she is looking a heavily modded '98 Supra with ~700WHP, which I'm trying desperately to stop her from buying. ... I just don't see something like that holding up for long, especially without regular love. It's too old and in to high of a state of tune for a novice.

She really wants to do an import. I've already tried to talk her into a Camaro ZL1 or a used Vette and she won't bite. In a perfect world this would be a Automatic trans or Clutchless manual (her rules, not mine)

SO - does anyone know of any beasty cars for sale in the $40K-$50K range? I would say we are talking a minimum of 500WHP for her to be interested.

 

Check my thread. Buddy is selling a 500+ Evo.

 

link?

 

Supras hold up if built right, no reliability issues.

If she wants an import she's going to have to buy one modded. Which just screams to me like a bad idea. Let her do what she wants. To me it really seems like a foolish endeavor.

I'm not going to ever pretend like I can handle 500WHP, so unless she's a skilled driver (auto trans?), and unless she's going to track it, I really don't see the reasoning.

Take Hulk Hogan's son for example, and he was a "professional" driver:

 

Sorry on mobile can't link but it's the second post in the NorCal classifieds

 

I guess what I'm saying is try and talk some sense into her. If she doesn't listen let her make a bad decision with the knowledge that you tried your best to steer her straight.

Let her know that modded cars generally aren't desirable (you don't know who did the work, and the quality at which it was done). What would suit her better is to build her car, so she knows it's done right. Then she can get used to it at each power stage. Dropping 50k on a car that might break down on her? Not a great investment.

I doubt she knows what 500WHP feels like, and if she doesn't, she's wanting it in naivety. First off any import will no longer be smog legal, it could be impounded if found on the street (which if she's using her 500whp, she will get pulled over). It really isn't practical. Supras with 500+whp with auto trans have the upgraded tranny, which you won't see too much, i think it's called the th400? Not sure.

IS-F is the closest thing to what she wants, but that's "only" 416hp at the crank.

 

This is the thing she's looking at
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I just don't see anything making ~300HP/Liter lasting for more than a few thousand miles.

Personally - I think it's too much car for her... but the mind is made up. I just want to make sure she gets something that won't self-destruct in short order. Would prefer something that has actual good brakes etc so she's less likely to get herself killed
She's been doing the Shift Sector drags and just drove back from Denver in Kentons 1000+HP BMW, so she knows what the power feels like.

Trying to push her towards a few year old AMG Mercedes right now

 

Heedz, I found it and pass along.
Seems like a good option - as much as I dislike Mitsu's in general.

FYI the Craigslist ad has been flagged/removed.

 

Yeah that supra would never get smogged in CA. It seems well built, but you never know with these cars.

That's a smart idea. Newer BMW / AMG Mercedes were built to have that much power. Hopefully she'd find one with warranty. I think the smarter thing for her to do would be to lease a GTR, or something of that nature. Have all the fun she wants without tying up $50k. Get rid of it after beating it.

 

Last time I checked they were not leasing GTRs. I tried...

 

Tell her to buy a viper. Easy power and fairly cheap car haha.

 

Yea not a bad idea honestly. Solid car and goes like stink.

If you go the used route there is a ton of decent stuff in the 50k-60k range that makes 400-500hp.

M5, M6, Z06, Viper, 2009 GTR (If you dig you can find em in the 60s), RS4, RS6, etc.

I would stay far away from that Supra for a daily. Would be a fun extra car but that's about it. Reliability isn't really the concern as the 2jz is rock solid. I would be more worried about how it drives. High horsepower Supras are an absolute handful and some of the scariest cars I have been in.

 

Interesting situation. I would also suggest Z06 or viper. Let us know how it plays out.

 

Sounds fun! Wish I could just buy a monster and not have financial regret.

 

After driving Matt's car, can confirm.

My power goals for my Forester dropped from 500whp to 320-350 on 91 Octane, and maybe 400whp on E85.

My car puts down 257whp and 259ft. lbs, and at the track it is so much fun, and completely manageable. I just want some more ponies because I like ponies. But ultimately, more than 350-400 is already out of my control in a SAFE setting like a track. On the streets, a 400-500whp car is way beyond 99.99% of people's ability to drive.