i was just curious as to what would be the fastest yet most reliable car i could get for 10k or less? And if possible car that is decently priced to add a turbo, body kit, exhaust, etc.
An interesting question considering any car that I know of sold today can do the legal speed limit. It sounds like a high school kid choosing their first car. Do the stuff that will make the car look fast, and get some experience under your belt before trying to boost the speed.A used MazdaSpeed3.
You wouldn’t have to add anything.
Mustang with V-8. However, if you are as young as I suspect you can’t afford the insurance. Maybe a used Crown Vic Police Interceptor? They often go for under $2000. Much lower insurance rates.
If you are young and an inexperienced driver (as in, younger than 25 and driving less than ten years), do yourself and everyone who shares the road with you a favor and don’t order your priorities in that manner. If you are tempted to drive fast, get a slow car and make it look fast. Get something like a four cylinder Honda Accord, put a fart can muffler and an obnoxiously huge spoiler on it and drive that for a few years. A friend of mine in high school did that after he rolled his Grand Am GT nine times by trying to take a curve on the highway at triple digit speeds. He was extremely lucky to walk away from that and need only minimal treatment at the ER. If you’re a teenager, a fast car often means an early grave or, in my high school friend’s case, some scars to remember how skillful a driver you really are with one year of experience under your belt.
That whole “reliable” thing is going to throw a lot of people off. For $10,000 you can have fast or reliable, but you will be really lucky to find one car for that price with both traits.
What do you mean by fast? My 1998 Honda Civic will do more than 100 MPH (if I was dumb enough to push it that hard), but it doesn’t accelerate very quickly. Is that fast enough for you? It is only worth a couple thousand dollars right now.
If you buy a used Civic, stay away from the Si version and those that are already modified. Those get driven hard, and wouldn’t be as reliable as a normal Civic, which you could buy, and then modify to your heart’s content.
If you’re after speed, then why would you consider a body kit? Go> Show.
You want a reliable car AND an aftermarket turbo added to it?
What’s your definition of fastest – 0 - 60, top speed or handling around a track? Corvettes, Subaru WRX, Nissan 300Z TT, Miata, Toyota Supra Turbo, BMW M3, etc. Will this be a street or track car?
Twotone
“You wouldn’t have to add anything.”
And a good thing, too. The first year was 2007 and it should cost at least $15,000 to get one in decent shape.
Mazda Miata.
Buy one for as cheap as you can find one.
Buy a turbo or supercharger kit and exhaust system.
Add a body kit.
There you go.
Whatever you do, DON’T buy a Porsche Boxster, even though you can buy the early ones for under $10k all day long. I don’t want to run into your questions out on the Porsche Boards, after you learn what an IMS bearing is, two weeks after buying the car.
BC.
72 Chevelle big block?? Might be able to find one for under 10k… 
Ten Grand will buy a pretty fast Mustang…Just don’t buy somebody’s cobbed together junk. Insist on a factory-stock car…
Yup, the P-71 cop cars are cheap and a lot of fun but not as much fun as a stick-shift Mustang V8…
You have a price ceiling defined, now you’re limited by what’s available in that price range in your area. Avoid anything not current in its inspection and registration, avoid anything you cannot test drive, test drive everything that looks interesting to you, and have the ones you like fully checked out by an independent mechanic. Only through this process can you find the combination of speed, handling, and reliability you like best.
You can add a turbo, exhaust, body kit, and whatever to just about anything out there, the performance adds being at the expense of reliability. Find what you like first, think about add-ons later.
P71’s aren’t exactly fast. They aren’t that much different than a civy Crown Vic. As far as go-fast stuff, all they bring to the table is a slightly more aggressive ECU tune, dual exhaust, HD torque converter, and a 3.27 or 3.55 rear end. Of course if you have a civy Crown Vic with the Handling/Performance Package (HPP) or the towing package if it’s an earlier model, you get that stuff to.
But compared to even a V6 Accord, V6 Camary, or even newer V6 Mustang, the P71 is pretty slow.
hey guys thanks for all the feedback as some of you said yes i am only 20 years old. I am not as experienced as most of you on this website but that is also why i am here to research and ask questions and hear other peoples feedback. I can afford insurance and I am comitted to cars and learning. i may be young but i am trying to learn everything about cars at a young age so as i get older i know a decent amount about cars and can find a job that involves cars. basically a car that goes 0-60 the quickest. i love the feedback from you guys thank you very much. i was planning to either find a fast car already stock and do little ad ons here and there or getting a cheaper yet good car and building in with turbo, intake, ect. thanks guys
your right i am young im 20 years old but i have graduated high school and am in college. the only reason i want fast is because where i live we have tracks you can race your street legal car. that is why i am asking this sort of a question. i am not like those other unresponsible teens out there as you may think i have been driving since i was 14 with my father. i have always loved cars so dont think that because i am young that i just want a fast car i am passionate about learning new things about cars but thank you for your feedback
i was thinking about an older mustang gt not those fat looking new gts i dont like the body style of the new mustangs they just look to big. what do you think about the older gt such as 99 or 2000
I’m impressed by your honesty and candor. You’ll do well.
One suggestion would be to look for something that might not be fast in its current state but is a good “platform”. A Civic is a good platform, primarily because the handling is reasonable, the reliability generally good, and the aftermarket performance add-ons are readily available and affordable. Civics have been “tuner” cars for some years now.
A lot of influence on what you should buy depends on your style. If you want a four cylinder “tuner” car, you will end up spending more to go fast than if you want a muscle car. Probably the best performance deal out there for a fast tuner car is the Subaru Impreza WRX. It’s pretty fast stock and already comes with cosmetics that will appeal to the tuner crowd. The aftermarket also seems to have the WRX well covered. There is a huge aftermarket for LS1 Camaros and mod motor Mustangs. In fact, Hot Rod magazine recently did an article on the LS1 Camaro in which Trick Flow built a reliable daily driver Camaro that looked stock under the hood, had a stock interior, cold a/c, and yet ran low 11 second quarter mile times. They did this for less than $14k, including the purchase price of the car. You could also probably do something like this with a late '90s Mustang.