The process of buying a used performance or sports car should not break your budget. We are lucky to live in times when one can easily find a sports car that is both affordable and reliable. Japanese sports cars for instance can offer great reliability, decent performance for the price and best of all they don't cost too much on to buy either. On the other hand luxury cars like Lexus, Acura and BMW can cost more when they are new but once they hit the used market their prices rapidly plummet down.
Which is when we have the opportunity to get the better side of the bargain. Unfortunately for us unlike regular family sedans most sports cars usually require a lot more maintenance and their repairs are much more costly. Let's face it you wouldn't drive your compact SUV like a lunatic just to prove to your fellow Mustang owner that you are faster than him ? In fact you will most likely car for it for it, more than you care for yourself.
Of course this leads us to the bad sides of owning a second hand cool sports cars. One is the usually higher car insurance the other one is the condition of the car. No one buys a sports car to get from A to B, and most of them are beaten up hard. Some cars handle that with ease ( sub 2000 Mercedes cars and Volkswagen) and some just don't.
Here is our list of used badass sports cars you should avoid at all cost!
The Mazda RX8
I know what you'll say : "Wait what ? Hey, Team Imports didn't you make a "5 good reasons to buy a Mazda RX-8" a few months ago ? Is it a good car or not !? Make up you mind already, you bloody b******* !"
Yes, it's pretty good little sports car, full of potential. The 231hp 1.3L Wankel Rotary engine will surely leave you with a smile every time you return from a drive. Yes, when you return from a drive. There are some issues with the overall engine design that don't really make the "going for a ride" experience quite good. Some new mazda dealerships extended the car's warranty to 8 years due to the high cost of sport Mazda service. The engine requires a massive amount of attention compared to conventional engines. I burns both a lot of oil and fuel and it requires detailed maintenance. Rotors tend to wear down fast when not properly cared for, which means that you should often check the compression levels. Oil check ups before going anywhere is a must !
What really happens is that oil and fuel mixture from within the engine tend to leak from one chamber into another which will lover the compression levels and infarct this will reduce the engine's effectiveness.
That makes the RX8 the only car that will easily start up when cold but will not fire if it's warmed up.
It all comes to this once again. If you love the RX8, go for it, it's a lovely high performance sports car, just be prepared for the issues that will happen to you for sure, especially if the engine has already gone 100 000 miles.
