Cars. What does the typical audiophile drive?

1. 91 Jetta GLI 16v (winter car), 86 CRX Si with Integra drivetrain swap, many other mods (daily summer car), 93 Honda Prelude Si (track car), 86 CRX Si turbo (future track car, when it's running...soon....)

2. Perhaps an S2000 as a track car. Or possibly an early 1.8 miata with a turbo. Or, Factory Five Cobra (all as track cars)

3. McClaren Can-Am car or Porsche 962 as vintage race cars.

Actually the tiptronic is more a slushbox with manual controls than a standard w/o clutch. The manual trans porsches are much better. The best manual w/o clutch trannies in normal production cars are made by Sachs, the SMG (sequential manual gearbox) as seen in the new M3. (too bad the car is so heavy). Of course the F360 has a nice paddle shifting trans., but at the cost of the car, hell, it should! Some of the race cars I've been in have true sequential trans., or at least dog-shifting boxes (upshift w/o clutch).... true sequential transmissions ala rally cars is sooo cool. snapping off shifts (up or down) without even lifting.. pretty brutal. Pretty expensive too.

930 (aka original 911 turbo) is a neat car, but way outclassed today, even by normally aspirated 911s. Boost management was unheard of back then, driving them was a real 'adventure'. Current 911 turbos are much more easy to drive by comparison. Still, an excellent example of early-80s wretched excess. ;-> In that vein, how about a 959?

CLK55, other mercedes: yawn. no stick, no sale.

Sean, nice collection of muscle! Those must have be the ultimate rubber-laying machines. the most torquey cars I drove on track were a Viper coupe (fast. tons of grunt, but surprisingly good handling on the roadcourse! Wheelspin was outrageous, even with hoosiers, if you weren't careful), and a Shelby (replica) cobra with a maxed out Ford 460 in it...no power steering..about 2200lbs...damn that was a beast. Once it was rolling it was ok, but god talk about heavy controls. so sweet looking though.

RE: Focus Kona...one can meet those specs pretty easily for less $. Both my CRXs will do about that, plus the Integra-motor-swapped one gets over 40mpg when I am not driving it hard...all for well < $10k ea. Of course this on hoosiers or kumhos... it's all about power to weight. those two have about 140 and 175hp, but only weigh around 1800-1920lbs... Drove a turbo miata that crushed my Crxs, and for not much more $...

Albert - go for it, lust is a good thing... (930). Wish the driving characteristics of that car matched the sex appeal though. 935...mmm... now that was a monster! (Moby Dick)...

Kona guy-

yeah, the old-school CRXs arent' the last word in all-around cars, but for specific jobs they are hard to beat: going fast, handling well. the lightness is the key...nothing touches them, esp. new cars... even new hondas.... all big and porky. Yeah, $10k would easily build either of what I have now, probably with newer/faster parts... or, you could also build a pretty killer turbo miata for about the same $..(maybe a touch more). Whats' up with all these SCCA spec miata guys...$10k to go a little faster than a stock miata...how about $10k and keep the miata part, lose the spec part... (eg. add boost). what kind of SCCA stuff do you do with the Focus? Mostly a road-race guy myself (and instructor for BMWCCA, COMSCC, some other sports car clubs...)

Bikes - yes, those are damn fast...scary too...as said, even a lame bike will crush the fastest of cars.. I had a friend with a whipped 1970's 2-stroke Yamaha R5 that would outrun another friends Talon AWD turbo... at least up through highway speeds...

the ultimate fast wheeled toy I think is karts... 125cc or 250cc shifters...bike-fast but with car-caliber handling and then some. F1 guys use them to 'keep sharp' in the off-season. ;> That says something.

Damn. cars or audio - now that's a tough choice on what to blow money on.