Any Honda > Contour or Focus based on shear aftermarket support alone.

 

Hate to be a fanboi but E36 M3 Sedans go for around 7-10k and are way better autoxers and daily drivers than rsx, crappy sentras (aka the newer ones), srt4s, gvr4s, s4s. Seriously? Aside from the RSX (or focus which actually aint bad at all, I love driving them) I would run away from those as an autox/track car.

That said, if your getting a bmw you need to be ahead of the game maintaining, not behind. Dead reliable if your up front with the maintenance, not like a honda where once its broke you can fix it for cheap. You dont spend the $400 to replace the cooling system (which would last another 100k miles), you blow a headgasket. You dont change bushings and control arms, youll be lying on the side of the road with possibly being into a wall from loss of control. But it will be 10x those cars people are mentioning for autox/track use and DD use.

Knock out the 4-seat requirement gets you into some other REALLY good cars for that type of stuff that a few people have mentioned.

BTW- Go to an autox, such as fedex, or go to a track event with NASA or the likes. Find which ones are popular. They are popular because they are either A) Far superior and fast B)Easy to maintain C)some other very important track quality.
Guess which cars youll find? Miatas, old sentras, E30s, E36s, Corvette z06s..

 

oh holy shit both of these ideas...i bought my 95 e36 4 door sedan for 3000 bucks. 124000 original miles. all ive done is replace the clutch since i have owned it. still had the original in it when i pulled it. mine is only a 318 but still RWD and it gets me well over 30 mpg. the 325 and 328 versions can be had for about a grand more...still a hell of a deal

 

BMW is out of the question. I can not afford the maintenance required or the repairs if/when something breaks.

Also a rear seat is absolutely necessary, I have 2 children. Yes I have another vehicle, but my wife drives it.

 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=InHga1gRIR8

 

E36 328is coupe with a PSS-9 or Ground Control+Koni coil over kit plus a few other legal mods. STX ready, plus easily doable for everyday street duty. Relatively painless (tires) move into mid-pack DSP as well. The same chassis can go from stock to full crazy race and be relatively competitive in each and every class from stock-ish to X Prepared...unless you sucks at the drivings of course, then no car will help. Most of the other car suggestions are *not the car to have for the class. An E36 *is in multiple classes. Plus: They are real east to go fast in. Faster than just about any other chassis.

S2K may be the only better choice, but no rear seat kills it. You can't have my miata R though. It's the best choice. But You can't find them...and you said no back seat.

Ed

 

Are you sure you can really do this then? E36's are really simple to work on and are probably the best suggestion given your criteria. If that won't suit you, buy an $8k daily and save up for a weekend toy.

 

^^^^^^++++1 i work on my e36 myself and do it in a driveway...even the clutch swap was done in the driveway. not that bad of a car to work on at all

 

RSX out of your choice's, way better suspension setup if you actually wanted to do any form of racing with the car.

In that price range im with the other guys saying e36 BMW. If the BMW is too expensive to fix for you, dont look at a subaru either.

 

I have worked on plenty of cars. I do all my own maintenance. However, all I hear are horror stories about electrical problems and ignition issues, high priced replacement parts, special tools, and things that HAVE to be fixed by a dealership.

I am not speaking from experience as I have never owned or worked on one before. Just going by what I have heard/read. I have known one person who had a BMW. The ignition switch went along with some wire and ended up paying like $300 just in parts+labor. I don't know the exact model of the car, but I do know it was a mid 90's 6cyl coupe. I drove it. I loved it. I wanted one. Until I heard that and they told not to buy a BMW.

Trust me I'd love to buy a BMW.