Hi this is my first post and I’m just after some advice.
After years of having various performance cars for my main car I came to the conclusion that having a 400+BHP car for use on the main roads is a waste of money unless money is no object so I sold up and bought myself an Audi 2.0 TDi for work. I also bought a Ducati after 5 years away from bikes to:
Help me get into Manchester quicker in a morning and
So I could go for a blast on Sundays.
However in 5 years the roads have become too overcrowded even on a quiet Sunday morning and its just a matter of time before some loon pull out in front of me and leaves my wife without a husband and my kids without a dad so I have decided to get a 3rd car to take to the track.
I started of with the following shortlist in no particular order:
Exige S2
VXR 220
Impreza STi RA
EVO RS Sprint
911 (964) RS
The impreza and evo where what I started out with as these cars can be picked up in A1 condition for around 10-14K. I then started looking at Exiges because since the S1 I have always thought they are fantastic cars to look at and they epitomise everthing that a track car should be. I then started thinking about the 911 RS which could be add for a few grand more and is ultimatley the best choice from a financial point of few. However I just have a few issues with costs of driving and living with a 16 year old car whose history may not be clear. Then came the VXR but after some digging I found the prices arent that far away from Exiges of the same age.
I’ve now decided that the Exige is for me and what I’m after is advice on the ideal spec I should be looking for with track work in mind. My budget is circa 25K.
at 25k you might have a problem for ideal track work.
1st off lets get the car sorted you have said you want an S2 exige so thats easy, next is spec.
buy one with sports pack and Aircon, these can be had for about 22k but as you will see most cars for sale are the touring pack, the sports pack cars always seem to sell quite fast and coming up to spring the sports pack cars will all sell at the 22k to 24k mark, leaving the touring pack car still sitting there for buyers.
Next to mods at 25k you may only have 2k left to spend which is not quite enough for idea track spec.
1st off get the new ECU this drops the cam point and is a must for track work �580
next stiffer anti roll bar about �370 fitted.
if you are on a strict 25k limit alloy belled front disks and pagid RS 42 pads all round
and last a full track Geo and corner weight �250 ish
if you can spend a bit more full alloy belled disks all round with pagid pads etc �1300 and any thing from �1200 to �3000 on new shocks to get the best from the car.
Finish off with a 2buler exhaust �400 and a set of forged wheels �1300 2nd hand.
Sports pack cars always sell on piston Heads and with the summer coming and the track days starting the very few Sports pack cars for sale will all be sold.
If you like orange this is a nice spec with low miles its 24k and thats only just gone up for sale.
or if you want the best colour ( Black ofcourse ) the cheapest car with sports pack and air con is 25k
there seems to be no dealer Exiges for sale at all with sports pack.
People Always talk the prices down on here but the right spec cars always sell very quick.
Just a point DO6 - why aircon in a track-day spec? My interest is in that I spent a looong time looking for for a Sportpack car without aircon based on the trouble a pal has had with the aircon on a Yamota engined Elise. Plus the additional weight of course.
I would not buy anything other than a track only exige without AC. Here in europe in summer its like purgatory driving one after it has stood in the sun for a while.
Are Caterhams out of the question? You cant beat them for track day ability, residuals and running costs? I had one but didn’t get enought track use out of it to justify it hence the slightly more sensible Exige…
Having been both sides of the fence on this one ie:I’ve owned both S1 and S2 Exiges I would say consider the power returns you are getting for your money. While I agree the Exiges look fantastic at the money you are looking to spend you are going to end up with a car with litlle above standard power.
Ofcourse the best gains you will get are in driver training but it’s always nice to get a few more horses under the bonnet. That’s why in my opinion the VXR is a better buy if you have no extra money to spend. For 22k ish you will get a standard car 220bhp send it down to TMS and with a cheque for a couple of grand end up with a car which runs in excess of 250 bhp getting on for 300lbs ft of torque and have all the goody’s on it to use that power.
If you had 32k plus to spend then I’d look at the Exige s but we are talking about more money and tuning options are expensive.
I now have a VXT only wished I’d bought the VXR in the first place.
I will go and put my flame suit on
I was just going to suggest Jamie’s car, it’s an absolute bargin now, whatever the replacement is, it must be very exciting to give his current car away at that price!
If you are looking for a track car, this is the best S2 available for sale anywhere IMHO!
Jamies car is a steal and like the others I doubt it’ll hang around long at all. I bought my previous Elise from Jamie and can vouch that he looked after that one.
The only Exige w/Performance Pack in the best colour (black) on PH is also no longer for sale, I just checked it is still outside my house
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