Looking for a rear wheel drive,manual car for my 12 yo to start motoring in something like gymkhana. Inexpensive obviously, any advise or suggestions?
lissa25,
Apr 12, 7:14am
80's starlet, light and maneuverable with plenty of parts.
tlng,
Apr 12, 7:14am
mx5 end of story
smac,
Apr 12, 7:16am
tarmac or grass?
mgmad,
Apr 12, 7:47am
MG Midget.
RWD is fun on grass but FWD is generally faster.
richardmayes,
Apr 12, 7:51am
Early 80s 3-series BMW?
cabrio1,
Apr 12, 8:27am
Hadn't thought of mx5 but was thinking starlet or actually early BMW. So I'm on the right track. Are all those starlets RWD? FWD faster, interesting. I think it's a bit off grass and Tarmac, pretty new concept for me but sounds like fun.
fordcrzy,
Apr 12, 8:29am
Mx5 mx5 mx5 these cars are made for gymkhanas. seriously its the best choice. my mx5 was regularly top of class and top 10 overall with fields of 50 or so cars
cabrio1,
Apr 12, 8:33am
Swt will do some research on those. Anything to look out for? Really want a warranted one to drive to and from.
mgmad,
Apr 12, 8:47am
RWD has an edge on tarmac but on grass FWD tends to have better traction.
If your main target is motorkhana, smaller is better. MX5 is OK, but Starlet (or even better, a Midget) would be better (disclaimer - I know the Midget wheelbase is a lot shorter than the MX5, I don't know what how the early Starlet compares to the MX5). E30 BMW is still quite a big car to use for motorkhana.
tlng,
Apr 12, 8:47am
If you go down the mx5 route, try for an early one 1600cc, lighter weight. Watch out for A pillar rust. Not much else kills them.
mgmad,
Apr 12, 8:50am
I should add - despite what I've said above about FWD having an edge on grass, I still prefer (and drive) RWD on grass. And grass is my favourite surface.
fordcrzy,
Apr 12, 8:57am
Buy an mx5 already. bulletproof easy to drive and fix. parts are cheap. require very little mods to be a real wepon.
cabrio1,
Apr 12, 9:00am
Had a quick look at mx5, seem to really hold their price, starlet seems to be a real budget entry car. BMW probably a bit big for a little fella. Mg would be awesome but again a bit too pricey for a first off. He wants a mini but price and I hate working on minis lol. Will see if he enjoys it and possibly look a a better car for no2.
mgmad,
Apr 12, 9:08am
Fair enough, whatever you end up with - have fun. I started competing in Dad's MGB when I was about 11, never too young to learn.
morrisman1,
Apr 12, 10:26am
For these sorts of events, FWD is normally better. RWD is better on rough surfaces. What you need at this stage is just a cheap car to learn to drive in, don't go all out with the first car, keep the costs down. A starlet or pulsar, or corolla are all good cars for that and will be a bit easier to find than a RWD car which have the drifter tax on them. A purpose build RWD motorkhana car like a lotus 7 are capable of being incredible but thats not really topical here. The old RWD like KE/KP toyotas need a heap of work to get them working anywhere near as well as a 90's jappa FWD.
seat time is far more important than anything else at this stage.
Ive had good success with my nissan pulsar, its had hardly any development. It started as a $500 car, and as opportunities arose Ive done cheap upgrades but its still made out of the nissan parts-box. Ive won about 20 motorkhanas in it over the last two years including two national championships. So far it owes like $2000 so hardly big budget stuff.
tamarillo,
Apr 13, 1:04am
What fun! In the days when minis were current they were far quicker than any rwd on grass gymkhana, you could throw the back around on handbrake and still be getting some grip up front to drive you. But rwd is great way to learn and huge fun. thoight of old Mazda 323 but just looked at some here and they were huge money so maybe not. An escort or Anglia might be perfect if one can be found on your budget. Great car for him to learn mechanics on and huge fun.
Rear engined Skoda would be great, stop laughing. Weight on rear wheels, lots of alloys in transaxle, cheap parts.
cabrio1,
Apr 13, 3:44am
Thanks for all the info, really looking to get into it for around 1k, starlet looks like it could be the go. Possibly Corolla but they hold their price as well. Of course there's plenty of more exotic cars to look for but he's only 12 so will be stoked with even the most basic drive. Will be good to start him off on mechanical repairs as well. Was aiming for a RWD but reading here I will prob go for some 90s FWD manual car. Does it need 4 point belts roll cage fire extinguisher or anything similar?
morrisman1,
Apr 13, 4:10am
nup, not for motorkhana. To do autocross some clubs will require fire extinguishers but a helmet and flame resistant (can be 100% cotton) overalls are needed
trogedon,
Apr 13, 4:14am
Get both of yourselves mountain bikes. Forget the cars.
aj254,
Apr 13, 5:47am
How about a toyota cynos? Basically a starlet coupe, there are some on here for around $1k.
cabrio1,
Apr 13, 5:53am
We've got mountain bikes, hard work. Dirtbikes, awesome. Hoping to give the young fella and his friend a cheap intro into driving. Don't have a paddock to play in so was thinking this might be inexpensive fun? Got to keep them off the bloody phones/computers/iPads/Xbox lol
cabrio1,
Apr 13, 5:54am
Cynos, awful name. Should be cheap, I'll check those out as well. Cheers.
aj254,
Apr 13, 6:02am
Yep and not the best looking thing out there either, but that's about all that's wrong with them.
cabrio1,
Apr 13, 6:13am
Perfect. Will watch that one. Looks half decent as well. Had a good run with nissans in the past.
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