Hello Everyone,

Just wondering what's your opinion on the best cars (within reasonable price) used for both autocross and rallycross.

I would say

For Competition
Lancer Evo series
Turboed Impreza series
Mazda Miata

For Fun
Ford Focus
Civic Hatch
Non-turboed Impreza
Mini Cooper
Celica Al-trac
DSM

~Gus

 

Stock Impreza RS.. different tires for each. If i were going to do a rallycross car, I would go to a kidney auction (or something like it) and but some cheapo $500 car to beat the crap out of. When it breaks, repeat.

Jon

 

the Impreza RS are very popular at rallyx events. Sometimes they even perform better than the newer WRX's because its power delivery is more predictable.

Other cars?

~Gus

 

I have a 1992 Nissan Sentra SE-R. It's a very CHEAP, fun car. It does very well in the FWD stock rallycross class (thanks to good ground clearance and a factory Viscous LSD). It's also quite fun to hustle around an AutoX course. But in SCCA autoX, it would be in G Stock where it has no chance against Mini Cooper S's and Toyota Celicas and the new Civic Sis.

 

Here's my suggestion: Dodge Neon ACR. They make decent power, they're setup pretty well from the factory, they're really light, and they're proven pretty fast, at least in RallyCross.

 

I'll 2nd the 2.5RS. An STi wouldn't be a bad bet either.

 

the New Civic Si should prove to be quite a competitor in the autox this year since it comes with factory LSD. I'm not sure how good that would be for RallyX though...especially the ground clearance is questionable. Same goes for new Celica.

I'm beginning to think the only good autox/rallyx combo cars are the Evo's, STi's and DSM's. Neons are definitly a good idea, not sure if SRT-4's got too much power for its good though.

~Gus

 

Celica hasn't been produced sine 2005. What new one?

 

http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/ws/eB...tem=4624187330

One of these won our regional rally cross today by a considerable margin. Throw on some tarmac tires and shocks and you are all set for AX.

EVOlutionary

 

MAZDA 323 isn't such a bad idea. When did it come with turbocharger?

I'm not sure that will do too well in autox though.

~Gus

 

I owned more than half of the cars you mentioned on your list. In my opinion the WRX has excesive roll. The Mazda Miata is a number #1 candidate in my opinion, they sell coilovers for that car for absolutely dirt cheap. The aftermarket rims are extremelly cheap as well for the miata, the only real downside to the Miata is that it truly lacks in power and torque, that is the reason I bought mine and sold it within 3 months.

The Mini Cooper S is perhaps or the best or the second best after the Evo. I drove my best friend (Evofunk) Cooper S with full KW II coilovers($2500) and a stage II and it handled very very well but it wasn't that fast after all.

The Ford Focus is simply a monumental waste, there is a local guy here in the USAF in Tucson that got his ZX3 Focus Supercharged and another $2500 in parts and still runs 17sec in the 1/4 mile in Tucson

The Honda Civic are a winers, again, it is the same market as the Mazada Miata, you can get parts really cheap and the results are great. Honda cars are low by nature.


The DSM stock handle horribly, too much body roll, too much wheel gap but you can get affordable coilovers and they are the easiest to mod. The best power mods for the buck

The Celica All-trac were never very popular, they were only popular when fellow Spaniard Carlos Sainz won two Rally World Champion titles in 1990 and 1992.
It is not a car that has a lot of crazy aftermarket parts for them.

My sources:

92 Miata sold
03 WRX sold
91 GSX sold
90 GSX sold
90 Laser RS sold
91 SI on hand
EVO on hand
Mini Cooper S (I have driven it enough times)

Carlos

 

http://sturtevant.com/323gtx/forsale.htm

From what I hear only about 1000 came to the US in '88. One just sold on eBay, but I didn't see for how much. Some people want outrageus amounts of money for a clean rust free one.

EVOlutionary

 

fromWRXtoEVO

That's a lot of good information you're providing. From my experience of racing in local rallyx events, I have to agree that the WRX likes to roll a lot. Also, getting the car to whip around requires setting it up before the entry of the corner. I image autocross to be much more annoying for a WRX.

The mini cooper S...some likes it some don't. When I drove (also my friends) a mini cooper S with stock suspension in the autox, it was a huge dissapointment for me. The car understeered like crazy and even if the entry was slow, the exit was an art with the instant torque provided by the supercharger. I expect that the suspension mods in your friend's car made the car drive completely different.

TSX? What do people think about this car? The Spoon TSX has done quite well in road racing events in the past.

~Gus

 

Just read the link. Not only is it turbocharged, some models also comes with an AWD drivetrain!

Excerpt from Wikipedia:
~Gus

 

Ouch, you should tell him to fly into England and test drive the Focus RS. Its handling and performance is superb given it is only FWD. Here's hoping Ford actually decide to produce the AWD Focus Cosworth.