Affordable Used Sports Car

Hi fellow cheap sports car lovers!

Now that the question has been posted for a couple weeks, I'm sharing my biased results with you-all, in regards to finding a sports car with the following criteria: under $5000 for a decent, reliable car, weight less than 2200 lbs, rear wheel drive, has an avid support group/fanatical following/easy availability of performance parts. In the blatantly biased department, the car must match my admittedly weird sense of style and image ("looks").

Note that I changed the weight requirements (what was I thinking when I posted?) and added "looks" to help me justify my biased elimination of certain ugly IMO cars. Just like Car & Driver; wow, I must be good...

Anyway, the two winning cars for me are the BMW 2002 and the Toyota MR2. The 2002 only kinda wins; most examples I have owned didn't pass the "decent, reliable" part of the criteria, but I believe there are some that do, even though they are all 19 years old, at least.

The MR2 has cleared its name (for me) of engine design problems; many MR2 Turbo owners have testified that they have had no trouble whatsoever, and have never heard of MR2 engine problems from anyone, ever... If you have more proof (positive or negative), please post.

------ Conclusion:

Since I'm tired of owning 2002s, I'm starting my long-term search for an 87, 88, or 89 Toyota MR2, supercharged, T-Tops, red with leather interior, 5-speed trans, full aero package, under 100k miles. Of course, with all these fancy things, I probably can't stay under $5000...

Information courtesy of Josh White