8 Under $8,000 - Cheap Sports Car Showdown (Part 1) | Everyday Driver

When we started this Cheap Sports Car Challenge, we decided to give ourselves a budget of $7,500 or less. But we also realized we didn't just want to buy something typical, we wanted a completely new experience. So we chose these, the BMW Z4 and the Mercedes SLK. But since then, the market's gone nuts. Prices are through the roof. So we wondered, are cheap sports cars still available? And did we pick the right thing? Well, that meant we had to gather all the other cars we could have bought to find out, did we choose correctly? And what are the other ones we might have chosen instead of ours? So to be included here, we had to go the exact same parameters as when we shopped the first time. That means only two-seaters, only manual transmission, rear-wheel drive, less than 25 years old, and crucially, available right now on AutoTempest for less than $8,000. You're watching Everyday Driver. We make a TV show, podcast, and YouTube channels helping you find a car you'll love. This is our second Cheap Car Challenge. And with the help of AutoTempest, we're doing a year of adventures in $7,500 sports cars. Subscribe so you don't miss a thing. I think one of my favorite things about doing this Cheap Sports Car Challenge is answering, in a roundabout way, to all the podcast listeners from around the world that have written to us and said, guys, I really don't have a budget. I don't have $10,000. Definitely not. And we have put these cars together through the entire year. But then, we added all the other cars that we could have chosen. And here we are still driving these cars. We've done everything we can think of, including tracking and drag racing these cars. We've driven them all winter long and done things that typical sports car owners might not. But that price level makes it so accessible. It makes it almost throwaway. Yeah. So here we are in my BMW Z4 that I bought about a year ago. You went with me. We went down to Arizona. We bought it. And we have driven it through multiple challenges at this point. I kind of forgot about that trip. Yeah, that was the beginning of it all. We went down to Arizona and drove it back. Oh, that was hot. It's hot today, but that was hot, too. Yeah, that was a hot one. And when we went to Phoenix, I was riding Shotgun a lot of the time and thinking, it's small. It's a small sports car, but this is great. This is comfortable. And it wasn't too bad with the top up, either. It is a convertible. The convertible has three motors, one of which is currently broken, the one that actually drops it. The release one works. The suck it into the body works. The one that moves it became a manual top without being as simple as the Miata. But $7,000 for this is the key thing. I bought it at 113,000 miles. It now has almost 118. We have driven these cars along those lines. This car parked outside. This is the fourth car in a row I've had parked outside in the winter. And this was the one that started the easiest every single time. This one just popped to life and said, let's go do something. Six-speed manual, straight-six, three-liter BMW engine. And I have to say, the best thing about this car is that engine. This is not a powerhouse of a car. It has 225 horsepower, 215 pound-feet of torque. This is naturally aspirated. We're in altitude. This is not a, I'm going to wow you with power. But that's the thing about a lot of these small, older, little convertibles, is they're not overly powerful. But you hope that the dynamics are good. Gearbox is standard BMW, kind of a little bit rubbery manual. I don't love that. Sure, sure. But that, look, come on, 4,000 to 6,000 RPM in this car is just a joy. Well, you've got to take a look at the exterior of this car. I think it's aged fantastically well as the best example of Chris Bangle's flame surfacing from that era. I like this. Have you noticed the Z in the side of the car now? All those little subtle things? Oh, that engine. It's the mechanics. It's that combination of the downshift, getting your heel and toe right, and throwing the car in, just hanging on. That body roll, god. Yeah, the body roll's a little terrifying, honestly. But it does. And that is the magic of the Z4. I think that's the entire thing about this car. And that's why these cars will be so valuable in the future. I don't mean financially, though. Yeah, I agree with that. I mean from a driving pleasure standpoint. And that is the entire point of this Jeep Sports Car Challenge. All of these cars will be valuable to the driving enthusiast community. Oh, yeah, little squeal, little squeal. Yep. Yeah, there it is. There's no feel. There's no steering feel, but the car will track for you. It will stay on track. Yes, yes. That's really interesting. You have to trust that it will, because it isn't telling you that it is, which is really strange. That's just a, I've got confidence in German engineering kind of feel. Yeah, I guess. It's going to happen for me, right? And I think that concern is accentuated by the fact we're sitting over the back axle. It makes the car feel like everything's going on without me. It's way up here with no information. Yeah, right. These cars have just run. We've beat on them. We haven't really loved on them. But we have loved them. Yeah, that's a great way to put it. And they are endearing. They're extra endearing because of the price. If we'd spent $20,000. Everything is extra endearing because of the price. I know, but if we'd spent $25,000 on these, I think we'd be a lot stricter on them. But $7,000, it's like, how am I not having a good day right now? Yeah, for sure. It's just fun. I agree. This is my SLK, the 2006, that I bought for $6,500. Why is your hand up over there? Well, when I bought it, the top worked. And I thought I had solved the mystery ooze problem because every time I washed the car, it dripped from either corner. So I've added a rag to the optional equipment to dab the ooze when you go around the corner. It doesn't just drip. It now sloshes out onto your lap. And you have to put your pants in the washer. Nevertheless, the car has run. That's hydraulic fluid. Of course it is, yes. But that's why the top doesn't go up and down anymore because it's all leaked out somewhere in the internals. And we haven't figured out quite where yet. We haven't really looked too hard. That is the thing about cheap sports cars. You just got to buy them and stuff works or it doesn't. And you deal. What that means is this is the ultra rare SLK Coupe in the manual. And it does have a six-speed manual transmission. And that is the best part about this car. Mercedes builds a manual transmission. Pretty cool. That is brilliant. And it shifts well. Yes. It feels good. Yes. It's a pleasure to use. And it is something that enthusiasts will still want. 228 horsepower. This is a V6 with a raft of problems from the factory. But the beauty is this car has survived. It's reliable. Absolutely it has been. I say that out loud, the car can hear me. Yet the driving dynamics, just like the Z4, is still where the money's at. It's the interaction between pedal and shifter and steering. The steering is not great on this car either. But it's still better than the Z4. It's better than the Z4 and the car holds its weight. When you finally throw it in and you get settled, it does hold itself. Okay. We're going to use all of our 228 horsepower here. That was redlined. See, look at that. Look at you, all right. That is proof that the higher in the RPM band that you go, the less scary things get. Oh, there's the fluid. Oh gosh. See, I told you. Don't hit anything. Oh man. That was exciting. We found more. That was good. But nevertheless, this car just runs. It's 200 pounds too heavy. It should be 3,000. You settle it in the corner and now it actually. Waiting for ooze on my side. It might happen. But now it's just very stable and is very confidence inspiring. Well, the wheelbase on this is just over an inch longer than a Cayman. And I always come back to the Cayman as my benchmark for rotation. You can start to feel that short car rotation thing. It's a real surprise. It's too soft and heavy of a car. And everything about it. For the size of it. It's reputation and the fact that this is one of the lower ones in the range. Yes. It should hold up as well as it does. All in all, this is a pretty impressive little car. 156,747 miles on this right now. So the Mercedes build quality is still deep inside there. They made sure it felt like the rest of their lineup. Which means it feels bigger than it should. And it's a tiny car and it feels surprisingly big. When you and I have taken like long road trip drives, you're better off. This top for all of its difficulty and for all of its complication, the actual sound deadening and everything. Excellent. This feels like a coupe with a top up. That is the reason to buy the hardtop convertible because you do get that road trip thing and it suddenly feels like a coupe. The coupe that it now is. Yes. It has become. When it fuses itself and becomes a coupe. It's good. It's a good coupe. The thing I'm surprised by every single time I drive this, especially when I jumped in it like I just did after the Z4 is I'm really surprised by how spoiled I feel by the seat. Because the driver's seat in the Z4 is so funny. It's bad. It's gotten uncomfortable. Yeah. But yet this driver's seat is very supportive and I've got a lot of space too. This is a tiny car with a ton of cabin space. This handles really well for a four door, four seat sedan. Yes, it does. That's how it feels. Yes, it does. It feels like Mercedes took the time to make sure that it handles like their small C class. Agreed. And that is really weird when your body tells you I'm in a little car and it weighs 200 pounds more than the Z4, but I submit to you, it feels like it weighs six or 800 pounds more. It feels really heavy compared to the Z4. It feels much heavier than 200 pounds suggests. Both this car and my Z4 were probably 45,000 or more new. This was a 48 car. So 8,000. So that's 50. That's the thing. You're pushing $50,000 on a convertible that I would argue that neither of these were worth that. But 7,000 for the Z4, 6,500 here. It really takes on this demeanor of I always liked those. Why not? Especially with a manual transmission. I don't think we'll ever see a manual from Mercedes ever again. I was shocked you found a manual at all. Totally. And then for us to get in, it'd be like, this is a great manual transmission. I'd never in a million years did I think we'd see that. That's what makes this rare and special. That's great. And the sealed fuse top that won't go down because of the hydraulic fluid. I'm hoping it's just hydraulic fluid and therefore non-corrosive to skin. And pants and everything else. And pants. Yes, got it. I mean, see, it's just stains everything. Well, you can just wear a Momentum or Mercedes. The minute that you say cheap sports car, you have to go talk Miata. So here we are. And you've heard the acronym. Of course, Miata is always the answer. Spells Miata. There it is. Here we have one, second gen Miata. This one was bought for the kind of money we're talking about last year. And then the owner, we have to acknowledge, the owner actually likes to autocross this. So he's put on some sticky tires. He's put on some different sway bars. Very standard things that happen to this car. There's a bit of sandbagging going on here. This dives for corners. It's almost not set up for this road. It's searching for a cone, like 50 feet off the nose. It really is. This is 140 horsepower, 119 pound feet of torque out of a 1.8 liter, 20 year 2000. There's nothing. And that's why I don't like it because I love power. But what I do love is that by the time the car gets around the track, it's not only caught up to the fast cars, it's now chewing on the back of them. You're right. And then the fast cars just leave them on straight away. Yep, yep. This is the late NB generation. It is the special edition. You can see from that metallic burgundy wine colored paint. Yeah. And then it's got the tan interior. So it looks spectacular. I have to downshift. Not where it shines. And you're still not going to get much more. I mean, that was like a fraction more. Hey, we got up to the camper. Yep. I'm proud of that. That's the problem that I've always wanted the power out of the hole. But what I love about the Miata is that it has taught generations of enthusiasts how to not rely on power. You're right. You can rely on your momentum and learn the corners and take the better line through the corner because the car can do it. Yeah. It's set up to do it from the very beginning. Yeah. We'll let him go ahead. So you have the pleasure of catching them. I mean, this is early 2000s tech. We still have a tape deck and a CD player in here because of course, all of these cars, they're all less than 25 years old, but that doesn't mean they aren't still quite old. Yeah, for sure. So this is old tech. So you're not going to be Bluetoothing anything unless you're aftermarket this guy. But the interior is the exterior, is the whole premise of the car. And it is just so simple. It's just what you need. And it's done so well. I am just too big for this car. Now I will admit that influences my love for it because if I want to drive, I have to drive kind of like this. And that's just not, I want to be more comfortable than that. But can you separate yourself from that enough to love the car, to acknowledge how great it is? Well, that's the thing. I'm not that much better, but I have that one less vertebrae. So I'm actually okay. I'm looking through the tinted part of the windshield. There you go. It's not a slight. It's not a, well, that car gets to be thrown out for it. Now, when we did our Miata generations, this car lost for that reason. There were others where I fit better. So yeah, I have to hunker. This car is light. But it's light, 2,400 pounds. I mean, just under 2,400 pounds. This is almost a difficult car to drive early on in the series because everything else now has to meet this. It's like we've established hero status and everybody else has to live up to it. That's difficult. Mazda did this so right. They did it right in the first gen, but every generation of the Miata has just been, if you need sports car, allow us to show you what that means. It's not, there's nothing superfluous here. It's just, this is everything you need and it's dialed in right. And it's so easy. There is nothing about this that is the least bit difficult to drive or understand or get used to. And if you're a person that's never enjoyed cars, I'm not sure why you're watching this video, but besides that. The Miata is the thing that can teach you a love of cars. That's what I find so fascinating because it is so accessible. There's nothing frightening about this and there's also nothing precious about it. Yeah, this is just absurd. It's a little wrong to drive it first, but on the other hand, this is the thing that everybody thinks of when you want to get a cheap little sports car. You're right. What other cars can you name? All the ones that meet the parameters are here. This is the one that pops into your mind first. So we might as well drive it. After our two cars, we might as well just drive this first. Get it out of the way, get it done. And let everybody else desperately try to catch up. I mean, I hate to say it, but that's the struggle here. GM built a Miata. I mean, kind of. In the early 2000s, Bob Lutz was in charge of GM. They thought Miata's really cool and Bob Lutz likes small sports cars. And the result is this, the Pontiac Solstice. And because they are the unknown car, they are available for cheap. This is the naturally aspirated four-cylinder sports car thinking five-speed manual. One of the craziest, most complex top mechanisms you'll ever see, which leaves you with almost no trunk space. But it looks great. And you know what? It drives really well. 2,900 pounds here, which on one level, I'm really impressed that it's that light. Although it still feels like it could be lighter. It does. Because you're way down in there. It does, yes. You're sitting, everything is pretty tall around you. Even though this instrument panel slopes towards the driver and passenger, it drops away pretty quick. But in comparison already to the Miata, which feels like a gamer plate in comparison, this feels robust. This feels robust. It also, look at my space. Now look, the wind is over my head. I'm looking completely through the windshield. It could be the seat that's matted down. It could be the swished foam. A little bit, a little bit. But I can fit well in this car. I have space. It is a roomy cabin. I don't have any of the problems that I had in the NB. Now, this doesn't feel as light on its feet as that NB, but 177 horsepower is decent. It's decent. What it does is it creates that same momentum think that you have in the Miata, where you have to earn your speed. Yeah, yeah. It actually, it turns in pretty quick and it's wonderfully progressive. There's just, you turn in and the body rolls, everything just follows exactly as you anticipate it will. You think it's gonna feel like this and then it feels that way more better. Now, there are many versions of this as far as wear and age and how well it's been kept. This particular example is worth more than $8,000, but many of them are as low as five. This reset Pontiac's entire look, there weren't just typical shapes around the car. It was just clean and surface and the proportions really do work well. Look at the interior. I will say that it looks a lot like the Toyota A80 fourth generation Supra. Interesting point, yes. It's very driver focused and it's just a flat panel with the knobs just kind of stuck on. It almost feels kit car in a way. Yeah, I think this interior is the one place that says early 2000s GM. For sure. Because it is this. It will not wear. It's plastic fantastic in here. GM will not let wear happen on their plastics. That's too bad, but you're right. The durability here is going to be through the roof and if you can find the parts and pieces, you have something unique you just don't see and you have to drive it. It drives so well. There's road feel in this car proving GM can do it. Yes. There is road feel, there's precision and that means there's just fun to be had in this car. Ooh, the compromises of this car though, that's a struggle for me. You think, well, this is how the interior is. These are the seats. I suppose if you just want a fun to drive convertible, then we'll say this is the backed off one. This is the six, seven tenths. It's just a fun, beautiful car to look at. And it does, I think it's one of the prettiest cars of our lineup, but I love the styling. I love these twin humps. I love the crisp line on top of the shoulders, on top of the fender humps up here. It's a little bit more of the cruiser here, I think. But I think it kind of competes against the SLK in that sense. That's the cruiser. This almost feels middle ground between the Miata and your SLK. I think you're right. I feel like this is the midpoint. I think you're right. And the Miata, look, it is little and it's flighty. And so this doesn't have some of that demeanor, but every time I drive this, I'm surprised by how well set up it is. Yeah. And I think it is seriously overlooked as a fun car. This interior is not aging well and there isn't support. And these are the things that are keeping the prices of these down. Sure. And if you're shopping under $8,000, there is a litany of these available and they're gonna be great. I haven't found my want yet. Oh, okay. I like the dynamics. I love how this car looks. I haven't found the want. Okay. It hasn't pushed me over the edge yet. This is a 2001 BMW Z3 that was bought this week ahead of this shoot. The new owner put new tires on it and here it is. This is Miata thinking. It is. And we just got out of the solstice. Both of these cars are 2,900 pounds. Isn't that interesting? They both weigh the same. Completely different. Completely. I didn't expect this $4,800 car to feel this good. You know, that Z4, I've mentioned at least once that there's no steering feel. This has some. It does. It's surprising. This has a hydraulic steering rack and it actually has steering feel. You can tell what's going on. New tires on this. Yeah, okay. The control arms, the bushings are bad. And so it's got a little bit of a delay, but it's so predictable and it's just nice. I can feel here that classic BMW steering that has gone away with their electronic steering racks and is non-existent in my car. Yeah. The seating position is very far back in the car, which makes this long nose feel, I think you dubbed it the camel nose. I think that's what this is known as. 20 years later, 22 years later, this is starting to look pretty good. Styling that people think, nah, it's not gonna look good years from now, suddenly looks good. Sometimes it comes into its own. Yeah. Great. Now listen to that. It even sounds good. It does. 2.5 liter straight six, making 184 horsepower. You can get the bigger engine than this, but this was the lowest engine, the base model engine that you could get for North America. Yeah, in 01, this was the lowest engine. The other one was the three liter that had pretty similar stats, a little over 200 horsepower and torque to my Z4. That sounds good. I like this car. I like how it shifts. I like the seating position. Now we're starting to get back into that mysterious want factor. Oh, really? Does it tap into that for you? It does. Okay. Because I start to feel the difference in engineering and what German engineers put their efforts into and what they cared about. There's third. It still feels crisp. You can still feel the shifts. I think that shifter's better than the one in my Z4. I know the steering's better. I think the shifter might be better too. The steering's better, yeah. Throw that in. There's cars that are nimble and they dance, but there's this solid gravitas to this car, but it isn't weight, because we felt weight in the Solstice. Yeah. It's the way this car moves itself. It holds itself through corners. Pretty impressed. 22 years later, cheap, janky Z3's still going strong. It's kind of exciting. Oh yeah. That's so easy now. See, the Miata proportions, it's about this size, but the interior has far more space. And I've got space to do heel and toeing. It's hard to heel and toe when you don't have a tach, which makes it a little more adventurous. It's hard to do a lot of things, like shift redline over tach too. Now the fuel cutoff works. We think we have enough fuel too. We're not sure. That doesn't work either. All that works is the trip gauge and there's a speedometer. The speedometer is moving, but we're not sure it's accurate. Yeah. Yeah, we think it's about 10 miles an hour fast based on GPS, so. I cannot stress enough, $4,800. So well bought. And the air conditioning's cold. The air conditioning will freeze you out of the car. The top leaks a little bit, because of course it does. Also, the electric part of the top does not work. The latches work. Right. But you have to toss it back manually. Currently, neither one of our tops work right on our cheap sports cars, so I can't really say that's a ding against this car. Right. Ours were bought for more. They just broke. It's just equal. See, it holds the line. There's some precision there. It's also a public service announcement about the benefit of good tires. It really is. It's changing dramatically. Yeah, come on. You're gonna start looking for Z3s again. I know you are. You can buy a Z3 for cheap Miata numbers and wind up with a cool car. And you're not driving a Miata. Yep. You're driving a BMW, not getting a German car. This is a 2007 Nissan 350Z. It is hard to find one completely stock, but it's really good out of the gate. It's really good off the showroom floor, and that is testament to how good the platform is and the fact that there's an entire race series crafted around the 350Z. That speaks volumes. Yes. Well, this is an 07, so this is the first year of a mid-cycle refresh. It's called the HR for high revving. It's got a little bit more power, up to 306 now. This also, stylistically speaking, is a pretty big departure for Nissan. You look at the back end of this thing, it's wide. It looks like a race car. It looks fast. The way this car drives is initially heavy when you turn it in. You can feel that Nissan put most of their engineering efforts into the mechanicals, into the drivetrain. It's also dramatically heavier. It's 3,400 pounds. It's also the coupe. It's the coupe, very true. I'd never liked them in the convertible. I never thought they were good looking. No, I don't think they're good cars in the convertible. They're actually, they're not stiff enough. Yeah, I never liked them. But what I love about us including this is it is a genuine sports car. Yep, and get the 03s, 04s, 05s. Those are available for this eight grand figure very easily. It's interesting. The car wallows just a little bit. And then as soon as you go a little bit more with your steering, it plants itself and it goes through the corner. Brilliantly, I might add. It's just ever so slightly vague at that turn in. And this is one of the cars that you can come hard into a corner, downshift, and it's got the power to get you out. Personally, I can't say that the styling has aged really well. I can't really. It looks old, it does. I don't love the styling. I never really loved it when the car came out, but I do appreciate that signature line. It's that window outline. It's that shape from the A pillar all the way to the back that is very Z car and what Nissan has done. I love the turn switches. I love the driver focused interior. And of course, just like the old ones, the gauges are angled at the driver, but the rest of the interior, it was cheap new and it's even more so now. It's not good. But then you have to think about what are your priorities? And if you do want to do some modding, I think this and the Miata are really the ones that are up there as far as parts availability, community, and enthusiasm for modding these things. All right, well, you have to feel this heavy feel. Just roars. It does. It's not a delicate instrument. Visibility is great. Visibility is good. You're not way down in the car feeling like you're swallowed by it. But at the same time, I've got, look, I've got good headroom. I could wear a helmet in this car. You've got some storage. The storage on this car was never very good, but there is some. It's better than most. It's better than many of the cars here. Gonna use all 306 horsepower. Six more thanks to 2007. That's right. 2006, I might not be able to do this pass, but with a 2007, passing. See? Thrashy and roaring.