SVThuh

iTrader: (2)

Im in the market to sell my 01SS.. Full Global West suspension, newly rebuilt Koni D/A's on all four corners, Wilwood SL4R brakes, 3 sets of wheels, extra brake pads, etc.

Its a cam only car that makes 430whp and is setup for HPDE days, and its only around half your budget, so you will have lots left over for extra stuff I never got to, like cage, seats, etc. (I was trying to keep it a street car/hpde toy)

Im in the process of posting something in the for sale section now, but if your interested at all, shoot me an email to michael.r.leaf@gmail.com and I will send you any info on it you want.

zanarko

I figured Ide give my opinion since Ive owned all of the cars youve mentioned (practically)
98 camaro
06 WRX
05 STI
03 EVo
05 Evo
03 Evo (another)
02 Corvette
01 S2000
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First of all if you have 25k to spend and your approved buy from a private seller do not goto a dealer. Second for what you want if you plan on leaving it stock I would say a Mint C5 z06 All day every day. You will get fantastic gas mileage and it will handle and accelerate well. However maintence on vettes can be a bitch which I have learned from owning mine. These things are not cheap nore easy to maintain. Parts are not expensive but installing them is.
If your plan is to modify even as little as an intake and exhaust and etc ide say EVo hands down. reason I say this, is that the parts are dirt cheap and you can find them used all day every day. 350whp In an evo is as simple as bolt ons and a tune and cams. If you have e85 on a factory turbo whether its an 8 or 9 its going to be 420whp with 380 Tq all day every day. The car will run concistent 11.3's and possibly dip into the tens if you have a EVO 9. Forget about the subaru they suck and blow up. Forget about a camaro they handle like *** and dont hold there value. Evo's hold there value extremely well. You can keep one for 5 years and resell it for the same price you paid for it honestly especially if its a 9. C5 z06? buyers are abit picky car needs to be stock and mint if you want to resale at any point.... To give you an example I bought an evo 8 03 with 170k miles on it for 9 grand. I put a ebay turboback exhaust and 02 housing on it ($150 used) ported intake manifold and thorttle body ($200) a set of used 272 cams ($200 shipped) ETS intercooler piping and core ($500 used) and a fuel pump ($90) and injectors ($200) car with me tuning it made 350whp and 320TQ and ran 12.2 at 113. Put the bitch on e85 and changed nothing made 420whp and maybe I think 430tq and ran a 11.5 at 119. Stock Turbo. My corvette (just a A4 02) ran a 13.3 stock (which apparently is decent) and I looked at headers and a catback and they cost in excess of $800 just for a catback alone.... However Corvettes get you *****

Choppa'

We really need more info from the OP (do you need 4 doors, how much are you going to track it, how much are you going to drive it daily, etc?)

-CTS-V
I have tracked my cts-v about 5 times last year and I love it but I wouldn't recommend it if you are looking more for a track oriented car (weight, weak rear end, expensive to mod). However, if you are looking for an all around great car, I would highly consider it. It looks good, sounds good, and is comfortable and practical for my girl and the kid.

-Z06
For pure performance, I don't know if anything can touch it. 400 hp, light, wide rear tires, good center of gravity, and runs 12's out of the box. I almost purchased one last weekend but decided to wait and save a little more for a new v or c6 z06. Never daily driven one but I hear they aren't that bad and get pretty good gas mileage. These cars do work at the track

-5.0
Funny thing is the 5.0 is kind of like a mix of the z06 and cts-v as in its pretty practical, they look good, they weigh less than a v but more then the vette, and they handle suprisingly well. They also take really well to mods and have a great rear end for launching at the strip. I've personally seen these cars do really well on road courses too. Do not overlook this car.

-EVO
My good friend who I ride with and track our cars with has an evo 9 making 350whp on pump gas. His car is consitently one of the fastest sub 450whp cars on any given track day. I can't even get close to his times (he is a better driver as well). An Evo can do it all but.... be prepared to be wrenching on it. If you can tame your need to turn up the boost and run it at a reliable horsepower range for what your car is built for, you should be fine. I will say it is a rough daily though and personally the car isn't appealing to the eyes.

One more........

BMW 135i/335i
These cars with just a few bolt ons can easily get over 350whp. The 135i's are fairly light and they handle really well. I am a big fan of these because you get luxury car comfort and appeal, lightweight, and great performance. My best friend has one with light mods and although I still take him on the straights, the car looses me on tight and techinical sections. We trade cars all the time and it's definately a car that gets overlooked in the performance aspect. I would take one of these over and e46 M3 any day

JD_AMG

No offense but you sound a little EVO biased to me...
LS1 cars make ~350RWHP/360ft.lbs with simple bolt ons (air lid, headers, full exhaust, thats it! You can do that for less than $1000 using all new parts) Add a cam with simple supporting mods and your looking at 400RWHP(again less than $1K with new parts). This is simple stuff you can do in your garage and drive it to a dyno...
As far as your corvette why don't you look at used exhaust like you did for your evo? Hell, im seeing new catbacks for C5s for under $400...
Now as far as the Camaro you owned, was it even an LS1? They handle pretty **** poor stock, but with the right mods (still cheap too) you can make quite the monster. Proper shocks, springs, swaybars, and tires go a very very long way with those cars.

B Stead

Yeah, get a high-mileage C5 Corvette for about $12,000. Then for a new engine go to the GMPP website. There's a fuel-injected LS1, a fuel-injected LS6, and a carbureted LS. The carbureted LS still uses an electronic ignition but not an ECM.

The reason that a Corvette makes a good dual-purpose car is that it has a strong frame. Another street car with a strong frame is the four-cylinder Solstice.

Strangely enough, there are new closeout 2013 Corvettes on the Autotrader website for about $38,500
.

FASTFATBOY

iTrader: (23)

Neither of those cars have a full frame there hasn't been a full frame car built for 15 to 20 years ls6 engines are no longer available from GM .

The reason a vet corners like it does lower center of gravity 50/50 weight distribution You cannot duplicate that in an F body

B Stead

The C5 and later Corvettes and the Solstice have hydroformed girder frames that run front-to-rear in one piece on each side. The hydroforming can make almost any bend or shape and so that's the whole point.

The C3 Corvette has more of a two-section frame with the frame for the rear suspension being the second section.

But a Corvette has fiberglass bodywork and can't have anything but a frame.

A Corvette doesn't have upper and lower frame channels (or tubes) like a space frame but just a lower girder frame. But the rectangular girder frame channels are turned tall-wise and that's another point.

Here's a link to a C5 Corvette frame:

http://www.vetteweb.com/tech/vemp_11.../photo_04.html


Here is a link to the GMPP LS engine offerings:

http://www.chevroletperformance.com/...l.jsp?engine=2

Just find the LS6 and add to cart. Or also look for it at the Jegs website
.

FASTFATBOY

iTrader: (23)

I called every place known to man to buy a NEW crate LS6, they are all gone and have been gone. Call that place and see if they are still available...they may be but I bet not. I built a LS1 bottom end with forged pistons, ARP bolts and the entire top end off a 2003 Z06 with an Improved Racing pan baffle, I effectively have a LS6 for about the same money but mine is better.


Call it all those fancy names you want, last full frame GM car built to my Knowledge was the Impala/Caprice platform. All since then are some form of unibody/tub construction.



You cannot make a F body turn like a Vette, its physics, plain and simple. Although the Fbodies "shock and awe" factor is way up there. You are not supposed to be fast in a Camaro, I surprise many with mine.

If you are fast in a Vette, GTR, M3 etc....well you are SUPPOSED to be fast in those cars.

You get a $10-15K prepped F body on track in a set of capable hands it's a heart breaker. I had three people last weekend at NOLA Motorsports Park come up to me with their jaw open in amazement, one in a GTR, one in a E30 M3 with a S52 swap, coil overs and NT-01's and the last in a Z06. I am a fully dressed street car on street tires(NT-05's). I ran my best laps to date at NOLA in the 2:05 range.

To me the Camaro is MUCH more fun on the track. I am usually the ugly chick in a sea of Porsche, Vette's and BMW's.