# Decent cheap rally car



## tolley (Jul 25, 2003)

Well, I'm in the market for a car that can do some rallying and maybe a little auto-x. I was wondering if any of you guys had any suggestions on a car that I could find for < $1,000. AWD would be a plus. I'm going to be a poor college kid as of next week, so I really can't spend too much on the car. I was looking at an '89 Isuzu I-mark that I can hopefully pick up for around $600, but I'm not sure if it would be able to hold up rally-wise. A mid-eighties Scooby would probably work also. Any suggestions? 

Jordan


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## tolley (Jul 25, 2003)

Some mod, please move this thread to rally... my mistake


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## Felonious Cat Stalker (May 1, 2002)

Shh, don't tell Samo, but I'd recommend a Subaru Loyale to start playing with. Old Corolla AWD Wagons are good too, and you could even find yourself the exotic and rare Sentra B12 AWD wagon. B12s, B13s are good in 2wd versions.

Thing is, you don't really need the AWD in most road rallies. Sure, it's fun & cool, but most people get along fine without it. The only time it may be a disadvantage to have 2wd is in overnight winter rallies. Still, when you start off, you aren't going to be winning right away anyways.


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## ReVerm (Jan 13, 2003)

A good, common rally car base is the old 1st Gen RX7. It's RWD and will definately be more difficult to handle on gravel or snow, but they're amazingly easy to find, cheap to fix, cheap to maintain, and cheap to modify.

If you haven't already, you might want to take a look at the classifieds section at Ben's Rally Page. They have some good used competition cars listed there, most of which only need minor repairs and body work. If you can get access to some tools and a garage and you can find one of those in your area, take it up. It's a hell of a lot cheaper than building a competition car from scratch.


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## tolley (Jul 25, 2003)

Thanks for the help, but the thing is, I live in North Dakota so my selection is kind of limited... It would be hard to find an older RX7 that's not way overpriced, or beat to shit.


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## Felonious Cat Stalker (May 1, 2002)

Are you doing stage events or TSD?


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## tolley (Jul 25, 2003)

I would like to get into stage events. But to do that I need a car. There are going to be 4 TSD events in North Dakota next year, I'll go to all of them, but to do some stage rallying, I'll have to travel over to Minnesota. If I don't get a car in the near future, I can live with doing some navigating... Crazy thing today, I was talking to one of my friends and he told me he knew this guy that had an old Corolla AWD wagon that he was selling for $300. He said it is a rust bucket, but I haven't seen it yet to see how bad it is, but it runs perfectly fine. I'll have to check it out. Probably nothing a little fiberglass and bondo can't fix.


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## RiceBox (Apr 30, 2002)

I don't think you will want to hurdle yourself down a forest road in a rust bucket. For safety's sake, get a car that is still in good condition Rallying is HARD on a car, even TSD, and you want it to survive past one race.


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## niky (Jul 20, 2002)

Toyota Starlet... don't know if they come with the same engine selections in the US, but you can get a 4AGE powered little hatch for cheap... and they're cheap to fix AND fast...


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## Felonious Cat Stalker (May 1, 2002)

Hmm, we don't have Starlets here, but a Tercel hatchback would make a solid little rally car for TSD. Low weight and skinny tires make for some great winter handling.


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## sentrasel860 (Aug 6, 2003)

My suggestion is a B13 sentra. They are light and fast, and I know of a really good B13 that does rallying, hill climbing, and snoww racing. It was featured in Sport Compact Car Magazine.


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## tolley (Jul 25, 2003)

Yeah, I think I'm going to skip out on the driving this year because If I do get a car, I won't have a place to work on it, or store it because I'm leaving for college next week.... But I'll definately navvie it up for sure!


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## Felonious Cat Stalker (May 1, 2002)

tolley said:


> *Yeah, I think I'm going to skip out on the driving this year because If I do get a car, I won't have a place to work on it, or store it because I'm leaving for college next week.... But I'll definately navvie it up for sure! *


*cough* SCCA Club co-driver's license *cough*


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## tolley (Jul 25, 2003)

*cough* I'll probably only be doing TSD this year *cough*


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## RiceBox (Apr 30, 2002)

sentrasel860 said:


> *My suggestion is a B13 sentra. They are light and fast, and I know of a really good B13 that does rallying, hill climbing, and snoww racing. It was featured in Sport Compact Car Magazine. *


I know one that used to do all that but wasn't featured and has since been retired. *cough* Jodie get the Sentra back *cough*


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## krylonkoopaa (Sep 13, 2002)

wouldnt the best beater rally car be a older car wich is easy and sorta easy on the pockets to fix

.remindes me of this old skool beetle ive seen. looked like it was for baja racing man i love desert races. dam bootleg cable and no speed channel.


and on having a rust bucket as a rally car a lil duct tape will make it indestructable


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