Top10 Stupid Fast Cars for Under 25K

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There’s nothing that can beat a healthy B5 Audi S4 that’s been upgraded to a full Stage 3 let alone anything for 25K.

A typical Stage3 with Borg Warner Ko4’s with full fueling normally puts down 400-425 at the wheels on 93 pump gas. That’s slightly over 510hp at the crank on a car that weighs 3400lbs with leather seats ! 0-60 is usually sub 3.5 secs/ 1/4 in the hi 11’s.

A Stage3 S4 w/ BW Ko4 Rs6’s will put down about 485whp + on pump

A Stage3 S4 w/ a built bottom-end and Tial 770R’s is a 600+whp car.

These days one can buy a clean bone-stock S4 for about 7-9K, and with a budget of about 15K can send the car to EPL or Wicked Motorsports or Elite for a full Stage3 conversion.

We here at Rs2racer are proud to own an 01 EPL tuned Stage3 with a current semi-conservative tune that has made 380whp at EPL’s Mustang Dyno. In the next month we’ll be upgrading to a water/meth kit and retune to bump it up to 425whp for 93 octane pump.

We took it out the other night w/ temps at about 31F and did some WOT pulls and 1 pretty aggressive launch and lets just say there’s maybe 2 cars I’ve driven in the last 4 yrs that will hang with it. Definitely redefines “Bang for your Buck ! “.

This makes the 2000-2002 Audi S4 take #1 in our Top 10 Stupid Fast list for under 25K.

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http://OOur own Stage3

A little behind…

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Sorry for the long break from entries, but after a crazy summer of traveling , life has  taken me towards a new path.

I’m formally working in the automotive business so my addiction to all things fast and German is going to get progressively worse. My schedule is a grind, but I couldn’t let this site get further behind…so hopefully you guys are still checking in from time to time.

So here’s what I’m looking at these days.

A  Gt3 is still not in the works until perhaps 2016, hoping by then prices for a 996 GT3  Cup Car won’t be too bad….Gt3 goodness…

 

Who’s sez 911 Targa’s aren’t sexy ? Here’ a Rauh Welt specimen.

 

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Then there’s the 190 Cosworth Evo……

I have found a 1 owner in 199 Metallic. Texas car, AC intact, all records since Day 1 including the tin MBZ service plate.

There’s also a guy on German Ebay that exports Evo1 flares to the USA. The smarter man in me would get this Cossie today before it gets picked up by someone else.

Fat flared Avants & late night scenes…

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We’re back after taking some time off going to races and events.

On a personal note, I thought I’d thrown in a pic of my freshly detailed Audi S6.

I love this car. Always have, and though its far from the fastest Audi I’ve owned it just seems to be the best all around to date.

I love the sound of a V8, and the Audi 4.2 litre 40 valve is simply nasty when you un-cork it a wee bit by way of Milltek DP’s and a race cat. It now freely hits the limiter @ 7200 rpms .

This is pretty much the same motor that led to the evolution of the B7 Rs4 and R8 v8 sans the FSI, which the jury is still out on since carbon build-up seems to be a nagging issue.

There have been some manual o1E 6 speed manual swaps as of late, which I know completely transforms the car, but for now I still enjoy the ZF 5 speed tiptronic in S drive. Its fun enough and makes sense for DD duty.

One of my favorite roads for driving  is the Taconic State Parkway which runs from just outside of Scarsdale NY where it meets the Sprain Parkway and the Tappan Zee bridge area, north to just about the foothills of the Berkshires.

Its an old school smooth 2 laner that cuts through some of the most stunning towns and hillside farms of the Hudson Valley. The great Ian Fleming described it in one of the James Bond novels as the most beautiful road in the world he’d experienced.

Not too unlike the fantastic B roads that lead out of Paris or London as one heads to the countryside.

Here are some images one would find at night as they venture on the Taconic on the way to Chatham NY.

By the way the food at this diner is good, its open fairly late and has killer bread/rice pudding. Can’t miss it. Its right next to the parkway on the North bound side a few miles before  the Austerlitz/Chatham exit.

Taconic Diner

Taconic Diner near Chatham NY

Mercedes Cosworth vs BMW E30 M3 ..the saga continues…

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for the first time in I don’t know how long….someone finally has the nads and clarity to state what I’ve always believed….

Of the two icons, the 190e Cossie is the better all around car !

It just is.

I’ve driven both several times thru the years, in all sorts of incarnations, but if one were to drive stock , well sorted examples of both…the Cossie is just oh-so sweet., and gets a slight nod from us.

Its a little bit slower, not quite as nimble as the M , but it sounds better, its more durable, and once you’ve done enough suspension tweaks, goes like the devil at the track.

As Jason pointed out, the Benz rides absolutely superb ! it has a quality that unless you get behind one, is hard to believe. Bank vault stability , and it just invites spirited driving in both a raw and at the same time refined sensation.

This is what is lacking, in my opinion with the M3.

Yes, its the more race inspired of the 2, but you really have to ring the snot out of it , and that gets old after a while.

The Cosworth 2.3 is just a better motor than the S14. The Cossie’s crank just seems to love hi revs, while the S14’s 2.3 sounds more like a drama queen.

If the Benz got Motronic efi instead of CIS its power would be closer to 200 which I’m sure in turn would make the 2.3 16v a more sought after car and more on-par, power wise with the M.

Excellent comparo, great video Jason ! and I totally agree with you 101% that the story of the Merc is waaay cooler than that of the M3.

Just the Nardo record alone gives me chills. Very few cars have accomplished that.

PS- This opine is from me, a guy who’s owned several M cars

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In Praise of the Big Bad Coupe GT…

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the other day I had a conversation with a good friend about what might constitute the perfect daily driven hi powered car.

Would it be a big Q ship 4 door saloon/sedan or a GT Coupe like a Vanquish, SLS, 599, Panamera,AMG Black, etc.

My vote “IF”  I lived in a non-winter state would hands down be the 599.

Its very much like the late-great Mr. Marvin Gaye crooned ….” sexual healing ” …

Here are some ridiculous snippets of what these hyper-coupes are like.

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<p><a href=”http://vimeo.com/32592429″>SP Engineering –

When I drove the Scuderia a few months ago, I realized why I had wanted to move away from forced-induction. You just can’t get that plaintive wail  if there’s a snail in the way.

Pure motor. Ultra Hi Rev’s.        There’s something religious about that concept.

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<p><a href=”http://vimeo.com/36269011″>Ferrari 599 GTO

Getting back to really fast wagons…

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hot off the press is Drive TV’s review of the new Audi B8 RS4 vs the 2013 C63 Estate.

Love the segment where Harris is driving the venerable B5 Rs4 w/ its 2.7 Twin snailed/Cossie tuned mega motor….though he quips about its handling…he’s driving a fairly stock car.

With MTM or EPL Tuning and KW V2 coilovers, the B5 Rs4 can easily do 750 HP at the WHEELS !!! that’ll just about devour anything out on the road that’s in the 300K dollar range.

I’m a huge fan of the widebodied uber ur-Rs4 as I am the Rs2 !

Good stuff. Enjoy !

Hats off to the guys at Stanceworks…

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though I’m not a fan of the whole slammed and stretched scene….I am a steadfast believer of  …” To Each His Own” .

Mike Burroughs writes well, and I admire his dedication .

Hey , we all love fine machinery right ?? and when it boils right down to it, I think the world would be an awful boring place if we all had the same cars.

I’ve linked one of SW’s recent outings with this BMW collector and his collection of early BMW 2002’s, 1600’s and rare Alpina steel.

Back in the late 80’s my friend Dallas Raines, the local ABC weather anchor in Los Angeles had a really well sorted 2002 w/ Alpina boxflares and track suspension.

I remember having it for a weekend, we swapped cars, I lent him my 1979 Mazda Rx7 with a built Webber’d 13B, and I the 002.

Took it up to the hills behind the Rose Bowl in Pasadena and its been a while, but it tore up the canyon. Great car.

 

the-collector-bmw-history-preserved

Let’s go get some groceries…fast !

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While the rest of the world embraced the idea of the utility in the sport wagon, Avant, Touring, Estate…etc….we here in the US missed the boat.

Due to our love and admiration for vehicles such as the Ford Exploder, Dodge Crap-avan, Honda Passport and countless throes of homegenous SUV’s … our sales demographics have dq’d us from getting some of the coolest and downright fastest cars in the planet .

Up until last year , this was our 1995 Audi S6- 485+ hp on pump gas. Lived on a steady diet of BMW M cars and a few Porsche’s…