Finding the Best Track Cars for $15,000: Window Shop with Car and Driver | EP012

Matt Farah of The Smoking Tire joins us to pick the best cars for a newbie to enjoy at a track day.

[drivendreamgarage]

This show is just a zoom call version of almost every conversation we have with our car friends and we LOVE

[control]

Absolutely LOVE this series. This is literally the inside of my brain every time I shop online for cars!

[anthonyettaro]

Interesting set of cars. Car and Driver tested a BMW 335d and concluded it had too much power--so I bought one--never enough power; fantastic car...and we also have an E36 M3; I'd always choose the 335d; it's all about the torque.

[wearethetraffic]

C5 or FRS as the best bang for the buck cars shown

[Slowcarfastbeans]

Looking at the prices (1 year ago), the RX8 R3 has increased by 50%. Really hard to justify it at close to $15k.

[Bob-fzes]

St or bmw sadly i am not versed on driving "standard" trans car one day though so i can get a bike before i get too old

[mikeyveloster]

I'd take the 2000 F150 Lightning, Saleen S281E and the 2009 RX-8

[thestig]

Given that you guys are automative journalists, I am shocked you didn't mention the Honda S2000.

[AlumarsX]

Can you get an S197 Coyote for 15k yet? That'd be my pick.

[jeepjoseph]

What about a mopar 11? Its a 2011 charger rt that was heavily modified by mopar performance. Some are in your price range

[ericmichel]

Editor in Chief of a performance car enthusiast publication and you are just now starting to look into getting a car to track, maybe? Used to be publications like this were started and run by folks that were true performance car enthusiast first and became journalist to share their love of performance cars. If you have never owned a track car, you are not a performance car enthusiast IMO. It is the difference between getting a car review from someone like Chris Harris vs Rory Reid, one is awesome, the other not so much.

There were a lot of variables not mentioned like will it be driven on the street much? Does it have to drive itself to the track? Because not everyone has a trailer and tow vehicle. Also how much annual budget do we have for repairs and consumables? All of these questions are critical in this sort of exercise, this is how you end up with choices ranging from all out race cars to stock ford fiesta, which is absurd.

If it is track only then the BMW M3 or the Corvette Z06 is the obvious choice. However if you are using on the street and driving to the track, and have a limited budget, then the Fiesta makes sense, although i would rather have the 135 or the RX8/FRS for a duel purpose budget racing. I personally would get the 135 and keep 4-5K for eventual repairs.