1989 Nissan 240sx, manual, just put in a new KA24e engine runs like a champ now
..its had a rough life (200k miles, rear end accident, was in junkyard for over 4 years..the list goes on), bought it for real cheap and am going for a restoration rather than what most people do to them, riceration haha.
Don't want to start a heated discussion Chris, but your cars are no match for mine, hairdressery or not. There's a reason it wins Best Handling Car of the Year awards, against Caterhams, Porsches, Ferraris, Nobles etc. Might not be the quickest in a straight line, but so far I've found very few cars that are quicker on the road. Last week an Impreza couldn't keep up with me (twisty road), and I've had a Boxster S only just keep in front due to strategically placed straights (where he disappeared).
A lowered hatchback will never be quite that capable, no matter what you do to it really...
I can't drive anymore, so I don't have a car. I used to have a tuned-up Ford Fiesta, 1.3, and a Citreon 1.8 turbo, diesel. I was a boy-racer, I'm afraid. Yanno the score, no need to go flargy about what I had on it. It was ghey, I realise that now I've grown up and gotten a life.
It's cheap, ugly, been crashed into a few times... no resale value at all, but does what it's supposed to. Comfortable at least up to 140km/h, which is plenty enough for Finnish roads
Swedish design, manufactured in Holland, and comes with a Renault engine
Tristan... its an MX5, ive driven an mx5 (1.8) and yes it is nippy and yes the handeling was good... but it was no match to the punto.
(we took them to a race circuit and i beat my mate who had the mx5 and he is in no way a bad driver)
not let me clear up 1 thing tho..
in standard form your mx5 would have beated my GT not on the straights but in cornering i do agree.. but the punto is lowered on coilovers and has wider tires than standard so it performs very well in the corners.
so if you was to take my punto and your mx5. i would be handing your ass to you on a plate
On a track, maybe. They're generally very fast, and outright grip and power is preferable to handling prowess.
However, I will never ever lower a car or fit wider than standard tyres on a road car, cos it's not a clever thing to do. You might get more outright grip, but the handling will be worse (and you've gotta know the difference between lap-time and handling, and grip and handling, as they are NOT the same thing).
And no matter what you do, you're still driving a short wheel base, front wheel drive, old womans shopping car. There is little you can do to make it handle nicely. My car, whilst looks girly, is reknowned as being on the best drivers cars ever. It's adjustable on the throttle on the road, with little risk. It very rarely understeers (unless you go too fast), and will get into nice four wheeled drifts easily enough. The gearchange IS the best of any car ever, and the brakes are more than adequate for the speed of the car.
I have the hardest tyres I can find on the car, because I don't want too much grip. Too much grip would ruin the cars fun, even if my A-B times would be better.
The only hatchback I would buy to drive quickly would be a 205 1.6 GTi, but only if everything on it was standard.
but there will be some normal ones on 
and for the price of the car i didnt complain bout the mirrors 
