[Alfisti]

Originally Posted by gippy

Why do car folk never seem to consider track day cars? If you want a third car toy, and youre enthusiastic about driving, why not get something purpose built that isn't some crappy compromise between road and track. Something like a caterham would be fun on weekends on a favourite road as well as running circles around any BMW tank at the track.

I agree in principle but track days can be crazy expensive, then you "have to make a day of it" as well and suddenly you're only driving it 3 times a year.

[Piper1]

Originally Posted by Efthreeoh

Looking at my well-kept records, my E86 has required $2,960 in tires, $1,051 in maintenance items (oil changes, driveline fluid changes, engine tune-up at 100,000). $1,230 for non-scheduled maintenance (brakes, battery, $100 insurance deductible, etc). All in all, 6 cents per mile. Thats over a span of 8 years and 95,000 miles. 27.5 MPG too. $10,150 in fuel cost.

Not bad IMO.

I went through my receipt folder this morning and I can tell what my '03 E85 cost in maintenance. $9,314, 11.5 years 43k miles of ownership (has 109k on the clock). That's also with labor costs of things I didn't do myself. $4,500 of that was to replace hydraulic pump and all lines for the soft top, an expense you won't have with the E86. Sorry didn't log my fuel costs As for pure fun performance upgrades the total bill is upwards of $25k.

My '07 E86 with 2 years, 3k miles since owning will get it's second oil change since having when it's out of hibernation next year for its current maintenance bill.

To add like any BMW expect somewhere down the line to do the OFHG and VCG maybe vanos/solenoids, disa, those costs are in my E85 maintenance log & costs.

[dreamingat30fps]

Originally Posted by Alfisti

I agree in principle but track days can be crazy expensive, then you "have to make a day of it" as well and suddenly you're only driving it 3 times a year.

Also any car can really be a track car. You can take pretty much anything to HPDE events. Is a purpose built track car better? Yes. But I'm probably not good enough of a driver to appreciate it anyways. I've always taken my fun cars to the track when the opportunity arose. Unfortunately they keep raising the prices and you also use to be able to just do 1 day like Sat OR Sun. Now they are forcing you to do 2 days basically doubling the price. I'm sure there's other clubs that don't do that, but that's the one everyone I know goes to.

[Alfisti]

It's insane here, even your own car it's around $1K a day all in... like really?

[Red Bread]

Originally Posted by gippy

Why do car folk never seem to consider track day cars? If you want a third car toy, and youre enthusiastic about driving, why not get something purpose built that isn't some crappy compromise between road and track. Something like a caterham would be fun on weekends on a favourite road as well as running circles around any BMW tank at the track.

But even with the Caterham, it’s easy to go too far towards track only or road only usage. Do you do an S or R pack? Wide or normal body? My gut is always to set one up for track days, but the deeper down that path, the less enjoyable it will be for weekend cruises.

[Mr Friese]

Curious what OP chose here? I'm now in a very similar position and looking at some of the same cars (Golf GTI/R, Elantra N, CTR, etc.)

[86Zed]

Originally Posted by Mr Friese

Curious what OP chose here? I'm now in a very similar position and looking at some of the same cars (Golf GTI/R, Elantra N, CTR, etc.)

In the same vein as others, none of those options really scream 3rd car to me. All are much too capable as an all-around solution

A bit of fizz and fun to shake things up, I'd be seeking an an older M generation BMW or a drop-top for sure.