From Performance Car To 'normal' Car

[The Baron]

^{My daily commute is about 40 kms each way from the burbs to the City and back. Its on the free/toll way for about 90% of that distance which is usually peak hour bumper to bumper. This is not a drive to work, it is a transport requirement and for this my Camry Hybrid is perfect. I put it in 'D', relax in the comfy seats and put on the stereo as I crawl my 45 minutes or so to work and back in total comfort and audio bliss pulling 6.4 l/100kms.}

^{Driving is what happens on the weekend in my R32GTR.}

^{The few occasions I take the GTR to work (because its Friday and I'm heading out after work or whatever), the commute is almost painful. Its like riding a thoroughbred to Pony Club......}

^{So for me its Horses for Courses. For transport I choose comfort and economy, for Driving I choose the GTR (which is on limited kilometre Insurance which makes it a bit more affordable)}

^{Just my 2c on the issue}

[Humbla]

My 33 has allways been my daily but for the past 7 years I've been driving from qld to Tassie

and the out back with my hubby for work,I am getting to see heaps of our beautiful land.

Now his territory goes as far as Darwin,I can't wait to see the far north,my lol 33 hasn't let me down yet. :-)

[Deza3000]

Depends what is defined as normal, and the situation you are in...
If i were to have just one car and leave the track/spirited driving scene, id still want something zippy yet pleasant to drive. e.g.:

- xr6/g6e turbo
- Golf GTI

- Mitsubishi ralliart
- TRD aurion
- BMW 135i hatch

It would be nice to have some power there when i need it.

On the other hand, a small corolla for a daily, and a beast parked in the garage for the weekend is also a pretty viable option.
However, Just because you dedicated one car for the weekend and one for the daily, doesnt mean you have to follow it like its the law. There would be those one off weekdays where id drive the performance car over the daily

But its understandable that some people dont have the luxury to maintain two cars, let alone pay insurance and rego every year. In which case, the first option would be better.

[Nismo 3.2ish]

I've had my 93 33 for twelve years now clocked up 500000 plus ,

Would I sell it no way,too much fun,lives to short to be bored silly . :-) :-)

How is your car set up, got some low end grunt?, even the way my car is @345awkw now and starting to spool @ 3000 I could not drive it for 5ooo more Klms, it is annoying, so under the knife again chasing my wants

If I were Dan ,(but being me) I would get a bit of torquey grunt going under the hood and keep it :)If you do not drive hard the fuel should not be a problem , until you want to use it as a weekender and away you go :)

^^^^^

Just read this and not much help offered sorry it is hard when you are not in the same situation to give great advice ???

[Humbla]

Safe tune three boost settings,all supporting mods 220 at the rears,right foot can control your car if you want less grunt. :-)

[Sarumatix]

I daily a forester XT. It's great for getting things done and not fussing around, but daym, it sucks whenever the skylines aren't running .

[Mayuri Krab]

Rolling acceleration of the mazda 3 mps would beat most rb25s that still have the stock turbo. And less lag, more torque, better comfort and less police attention. I'd buy one tomorrow if I had the money.

3 MPS's party trick is the roll on acceleration, 80-130 in something like 3 seconds.

I have only ever driven 'performance cars' as daily, started with the R33 on my Ps, and last year moved to a BMW 335i.

Don't think I can ever go back to driving a vanilla fax machine car like a Camry.

Also regards to high upkeep of Skylines, depends on what you are used to I guess, after owning my BMW for 1.5 years, the skyline's upkeep is peanuts in comparison (with both cars being 'lightly modified', only bolt ons mods with stock turbos, although the 335i is pushing about 100 extra rwkw), anything 1/2 major breaks in that car is easily a 4 figure repair bill while the only 4 figure bill I had with the Skyline was a major service (timing belts + water pump + pulleys etc etc).

Edited November 8, 2014 by Mayuri Krab

[Hadouken]

Ofcoarse comparing a bmw to a skyline would work out cheaper in the upkeep cycle.

But as far as dailies go comparing a beater to a skyline is a one legged race.

[niZmO_Man]

On a tangent, I've discovered that Mobil E10 (94RON) gives noticeably better mileage than their 91RON fuel. Food for thought...

[RBrennan25]

On a tangent, I've discovered that Mobil E10 (94RON) gives noticeably better mileage than their 91RON fuel. Food for thought...

Ditto for united E10 which is either 94 or 95 I can't remember

[niZmO_Man]

Shame on the other companies selling E10 rated at 91RON

[Chris32]

Some good arguments for and against!

What I've experienced.

From 2000 - 2007 my daily was my 32 GTSt, it went from stock to most of the bits done to make 200kw and have aspirations as a bit of a track car. It ended up loud, hard to drive (clutch) and not very comfortable with a mech. diff/soild bushes etc.

I sold it to another forum user and had written off owning another import. I bought a 31 Wagon as a daily, as we'd bought a house.

The 31 used more fuel than the 32, so that was a shock at first. Had the 31 for 3 years and it ended up wearing out. Kid no.1 made an appereance

Got rid of the 31, and bought a Commodore, on gas. Boring as all hell, handling was terrible. Only thing it had going for it was the price of gas (55c/L) and it was roomy. Kid number 2 appears, I inherit the missus's Hyundai Excel and she uses the Commodore to lug the kids.

The Excel was cheap to run as a daily, however it was painfully slow. It did everything poorly apart from use oil! We end up getting a small 4wd and I get the Commo back. Faster than the Excel, but again pretty boring.

Being someone who enjoys driving any car that makes me smile, things had to change.

Picked up a Recaro SR3 seat for the Commo. Now at least it felt ok to sit in, driving however was still boring. Thinking about another import...........

Gas goes up to 90c/L - so the price is much the same as running a car on petrol

Saw a Stagea 260RS for sale, and went up with a mate for a look. Not quite for me, but he loved it and bought it! The import bug bites again.

After a few months of working on a few bits of the Stag and driving it a few times, it was a revelation! Time to get back into something fun. Start looking at practical imports that I can chuck the kids in a few days a week and on the weekends.

Bought the 34 4 door. Its awesome, most of the modern touches, does everything a sports car should, and isn't all that much dearer to run than any other car I've owned. Overall I spend around $40 a week more than owning an Excel/Commodore, however after driving boring cars for almost 7 years the extra cost is just cheap entertainment.

Been my daily for close to 18 months now, it gets between 9-11L per 100 depending on how much fun I have, carts the kids to everything on the weekends and is a pleasure to own. I look forward to driving it every day, and the kids helping me wash it on the weekend.

I'd never own a car that I don't look forward to driving again! To me, my car is the perfect combination of practical and fun, and they are cheap for a car with such a combination of performance and practicality.

The only thing I won't do is modify it to a point where it becomes a un-comfortable or practical car to drive everyday, as to me, the whole point of the car will be lost

[Nismo 3.2ish]

Yeas been there.

I was different and bought mine with 338awkw on it and expected it to drive like a big torque car, this only happened over 5500rpm and the rest was utter crap as a DD, my fault, did not look into it

I was OK as I still had a fun car to drive, but I do not have that anymore, just the R34GTR and a Tiida. The R goes better now with a few changes, now I am after the car I thought I had bought in the first place and Stroking it to 3.2Lt

I am lucky as I do not have to worry about fuel cost now and I have also found with any car I owned if you do not jump all over them and granny drive the fuel situation can be close to what you like it to be, well a LOT better.

[R34_luvr]

Pretty sure you can a BMW 335i for around 30k mark and that's a nice car twin turbo as well which gives you decent amour of power and pretty smooth on the road

but not as fun as a skyline would be

[Dani Boi]

I've been thinking about this a lot lately. I've ruled out buying a new performance car for financial reasons (I can afford a new WRX but I can't justify the money spent vs gain, plus keeps my mortgage lower). Also my heart is with performance so definitely not getting a new Mazda SP25 like I had previously said.

So I'm left with upgrading my 33 or buying an evo8mr or 9. I'm just getting quotes on parts I'd need for the 33 (it's just basic tuned 200rwkw and needs very minor TLC) and comparing with the price difference if I were to get the Evo.

It would be nice to have the Evo, but not so nice when I would have to pay ~$20k additional when I sell my 33, when I could upgrade my 33 for 1/4 of the price. Also considering I don't drive my car a lot it kind of makes sense.

Edited November 11, 2014 by Dani Boi

[zoomzoom]

I like the idea of plenty of low end. I figured my upgrade would always be a big comfy V8 holden of some variety.

Still, can't beat the theatrics and sound of a turbo spooling up through a full 3 inch exhaust.

[Nismo 3.2ish]

Do the work on your 33 and be happy with some money in the bank, OD OK and a car you like to drive, no brainer

[AMR33]

You have $30k. Buy a $5000-$7000 daily BMW e36 and spend the rest on a track car, YEOW!!

Or you can be boring and spend $5000-$7000 on your skyline and save the rest for a wife and kids etc. Pfffft

Edited November 12, 2014 by Abdul11

[sydking]

Just wondering if there is anyone on here who has gone from owning a performance sports car and switched to a 'normal' car i.e. mazda 3. Do you regret it?

I've had my skyline for 7 years going on 8 and I can't decide whether or not I want a normal car. I only want to spend 30k and there are no NEW performance cars in that price range.

Nah, drop the $30k into the R33. gaurenteed to biring smiles

[AMR33]

Nah, drop the $30k into the R33. gaurenteed to biring smiles

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