It's not obligatory for fun sports cars to be expensive. The process of hunting and buying a used performance sports car should not break your budget. Take Japanese sports cars for instance, they 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.
This is usually the price point at which you are winning out of your purchase which we refer to as a "bargain". Unfortunately most sports cars require quite a lot more maintenance than regular family sedan or a small SUV. Chances are the family sedan will be in a lot better condition than your average sports car. You don't buy a compact SUV to trash it around in the dust, do you ?
Fortunately for us, there are lots of cars that handle that with ease ( sub 2000 Mercedes cars and Volkswagen). Taking this into account while forming out our list of the cheapest thrills money can buy, we set our target budget just bellow the mid price point of what you could expect to pay for something that you'll transform into a project car.
Fortunately for us, there are lots of cars that handle that with ease ( sub 2000 Mercedes cars and Volkswagen). Taking this into account while forming out our list of the cheapest thrills money can buy, we set our target budget just bellow the mid price point of what you could expect to pay for something that you'll transform into a project car.
84 – 88 Pontiac Fiero
The FIearo was first designed as a sports car, but the gas crisis a long with environmentalists influenced the GMC pontiac brass to introduce the Fiero as commuter vehicle using common Chevy bits and parts. Honestly this was the stupidest idea ever. The midengined sports coupe is powered by a 2.5 liter “Iron Duke” engine producing the “massive” 92 hp.Despite that the car holds a great potential for the engine swapping enthusiast. It received mainly positive feedback for its handling, comfort and build quality as well the unique approach to structural integrity via the patented “Enduraflex” body panels.
At a later stage the 2.5 was replaced by a merely better 2.8 liter 140 bhp V6 engine, but the damage to the reputation of the car was already done.
Pros: Unique looks, great handling and comfort. Sometimes people stare at the car wondering what is it.
Cons: The base model sucks, slower than anything that’s on the road.
One of the few good small Pontiac cars.
