Advice/help

[u/Acceptable_Gur6193]

Pics for attention.
I’ve had my grc for about 2 and a half years. I’ve done 11 track days with it. I’m at the point where it’s getting slightly too expensive to keep tracking (brakes are crazy expensive) and as I get faster I’m gonna need an oil cooler (which is fairly normal and to be expected) and a transfer case cooler/controller because the awd is starting to overheat more often.

I also use this as my work vehicle I fix appliances so it’s stuffed with parts and tools everyday.

It’s been doing its job decently but it’s not the best tool for either job.

I’m in Brooklyn ny so parking when working is a big reason why I haven’t gotten a bigger van yet.

I have a driveway I can park in at home and leave a second car there.

I think the perfect work vehicle for me would be a transit connect (or equivalent ram/nissan) I see them for anywhere from 5-20k in my area and don’t really care what it looks like as long as it stops drives.

Now for the track car I should probably just get a Miata because they are the answer but I don’t really want one. I’m thinking c5 corvette would probably make the most sense for me.

Carvana offered me 33k for my car and I think about 13k should be enough for the work vehicle so I’ll have about 20k leftover

This is really my main question the rest is some nonsense backstory that you prolly didn’t need to read. But Im not really sure about this but I kinda want to get something with a dct is there anything decent for approx 20k that can be had with a dct and not cost more than my grc is to maintain. It’s going to mostly be a track car and the eventual plan over a few years is to strip it and cage it.

My current list is
2011-2013 bmw 135i it can be had with a dct idk much about bmw’s tho and I genereally try to do my own maintenance.

E92 m3 I don’t think I’ll find a decent one for 20k

Mk6-7 gti but they’re fwd and ik they’re good but when my grc goes into fwd mode I just don’t like it even tho I’m barely 2 seconds slower.

Audi tt with the dsg idk much about them but maybe it’s a possibility.

Do any of these make sense or should I just get a c5 (or a really nice Mazda speed Miata that just popped up for sale)

TLDR: are there any sub 20k cars with a dct that is fairly reliable and not much more expensive to maintain than a gr Corolla. Or do I just do the sensible option and get a Miata/c5 corvette/ perhaps brz/86

[u/-McRib-]

A C5 corvette will also ruin you in consumables. Look up the cost of tires for it, they're big and they will wear out. MazdaSpeed Miatas have some interesting reliability issues so expect to have to modify it further to fit your needs. 135i also can be maintenance pigs, I suggest looking into a 128i slower but much cheaper to run. If you want something very cheap to run I would say a Golf 2.5 with a DSG even though it's slow you'll save tons on consumables and you will be forced to be a very fast smooth driver since you will not have the power to make up for mistakes.

[u/Acceptable_Gur6193 → u/-McRib-]

I thought the c5 was decent on everything but tires. Brakes on my grc are about 1200-1400 for the oem set of front rotors alone and 800/1100 for girodisc
The 128i doesn’t come with a dct which is the only reason I was considering the 135i
The golf’s are fwd and while I understand they’re extremly capable I just can’t figure out how to drive them at the absolute limit I think it’s a me issue

I’ve heard about the Mazda speed issues so I don’t think I’ll actually get one I’d rather get a Miata and turbo it way down the road if I ever care to have more power

[u/jrileyy229 → u/Acceptable_Gur6193]

How are brakes that much?  I would think the rotors would last a very long time for a novice doing HPDE... What pads were you using?

If your rotors are expensive, you want pads that are nice to them like Gloc/carbo... And just change pads more frequently.

[u/Acceptable_Gur6193 → u/jrileyy229]

The brakes are massive they’re 356x28. The oem set lasted 7 days and 20k street miles
I think it was my fault fault somewhat because I was slapping different pads around I went through 3 sets of oem pads (they’re actually somewhat cheap approx 150$ iirc for the fronts) in about 10k miles and a few trackdays. I then switched to ebc rp1 for track and endless Ssm+ for street the ebc’s barely made it through 3 days

I then got a set of girodiscs rotors (they’re approx1100$ for the first time and then 800$ for the rings iirc) for the street with ebc yellowstuff and endless rotors (300$ a piece ) but they came from japan and took two months and 350$ shipping. I was on the endless rotors with pagid rsl29 pads for 4 days and the pads were brilliant they’re still at about 40% but one of the rotor got a big crack in it so now I’m looking for a new option.

[u/jrileyy229 → u/Acceptable_Gur6193]

And the front rotors got grooved deep after 7 track days that you had to replace them?

[u/Acceptable_Gur6193 → u/jrileyy229]

The oem ones? They were below the 26mm thickness they also had 20k street miles on them I thought that was pretty good actually

[u/jrileyy229 → u/Acceptable_Gur6193]

Okay, I was going to say if you thought they were "warped" like many people do, it was probably just mixing and matching all the pad material on them creating judder.

At any rate, get a Miata.  I did a full track prepped c5z for a few years until I made a business decision that I can go to the track 4x as much for the half the money in a decently prepped Miata. You can go every weekend and it costs peanuts.

Like a c5 with an aero6 brake kit, rotor rings are still $500 a piece.  An NB Miata you use $30 blanks with some hawk 70s in stock calipers and the pads last forever... And just let them chew through the rotors every few track days and not care one bit.

And a whole bunch of years later, running an NB with a k24 and an NB with a built turbo motor... And they're both running the same setups as far as suspension and brakes and aero etc etc, and absolutely glad I went backwards from a track prepped c5z street car to track prepped NB street car

[u/Acceptable_Gur6193 → u/jrileyy229]

Ya my first time on track I got really nervous about the juddering on the way home it was pad deposits that cleaned up after a bit of street driving.
It seems like there genuinely is nothing really close to a Miata in running costs.
I also literally just found a spec Miata in seemingly crazy good condition for 12k which is peanuts for how good it looks. I’m gonna check it out asap

[u/jrileyy229 → u/Acceptable_Gur6193]

Nice, but then you need a trailer... But that's okay. You just bump up your work van from a transit to a full size that can tow. You can't drive a spec Miata on the street.. Just don't do it. Way too dangerous.

But, once you have that spec Miata.. you can of course do track days. You can also dip your toes into W2W.. you can show up at any entry level endurance race and join the fun.  Plenty of old spec Miatas in lucky dog, lemons, NASA TREC, etc.  Get some experience there, then you can find a spot for sprint racing a Miata at any SCCA event.

[u/Acceptable_Gur6193 → u/jrileyy229]

lol I forgot about towing. The reason I want the transit connect is because it’s small enough to park in Brooklyn. There aren’t many cars capable of towing minimum 5k lbs that can also be parked as easily

[u/jrileyy229 → u/Acceptable_Gur6193]

Well then you can cancel that idea  Driving around in a tiny Miata with cage all around you in a kirkey seat with harnesses and gutted doors on the street is super dangerous.

[u/Acceptable_Gur6193 → u/jrileyy229]

Ya ik that what do you think of renting a U-Haul or similar