What are your picks for best performance vehicles for $15,000 or less?

 

Brand NEW vehicles for less than $15k?
Not much performance..

 

closest thing is an srt4 used for probably 15....or maybe the mazdaspeed miata......not much else i can think of..you'd have to make it fast on ur own....240, civic, crx, mustang, camaro, older rx7 or supra not the last gen..... or just buy a kia brand new for 8k and get a brand new honda cbr600 for 7500 and youll be fast lol

 

scion XB is all you will get for performance under 15k for new

thats about the performance level for this price range

for more look used or bump to 20k

 

If we're talking used there's also the SE-R, buy used for 8-9k, invest the rest in mods and you can try to aim for 200whp without going over 15k budget.

 

used? buy a 3000GT VR4 or a DSM, upgrade a few things (turbo, i/c, dp, fp, injectors, a/f controller, etc) and you're doing 350+ WHP.

You can pick up a 1st gen DSM for like 2k, put the 13k into it, and you have a 600+ whp monster with cheap insurance.

 

If you want a used car that you can get into the mid-11's cheap I would opt for a Buick GN/TurboRegal, you can get a driver for less than $10K. Spend the remaining $5K on bolt ons, such as: TE-64, dump tube, 55 lb. injectors, chip, FMIC, slicks Walbro FP, adjustable FPR, 3.5 MAF w/translator and Alky kit. Easy mid- 11´s on race gas, without unbolting the mill.

 

any sportbike, but I am biased.

 

I bet some dealers have a used Srt-4 and they are marking them down pretty fast... The Sentra SE-R is pretty quick too...And if you're lucky you could fnd a used RX-7 or a 300ZX somewhere with low miles

0-60

Srt-4: 5.9s

SE-R: about 7 secs

 

YES!!! +1!

 

Plenty of cars. A couple ideas:

95 SE-R with SR20DET swap
Integra with LS/B16 turbo setup
Any used DSM; I seen a 2nd Gen Eclipse GSX in the paper for $8k.. sounded real clean
MR-2 turbo
RX-7 Turbo II
Typhoon or Syclone
Corolla/Levin/Trueno AE86 <the drift badboy

No new cars will give you much performance out of the box, for $15k, unless you pick up used.

 

good luck finding a typhoon or syclone for under 15. and if you do, the repair bills will be too much

 

10k into a mkII mr2 for 5k will make the mr2 a beast

 

RX7 with LS1 swap FTW. Great power, no worries about rotary.

 

not really biased, it's true....But i still prefer my cars