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Good Rally vehicle(s)


Bad Company
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I live here in North Dakota and let me tell you, it's boring as all hell unless you have a nice 4wd vehicle because we have A LOT of nice dirt roads to rally on. Beyond city limits nontheless thus meaning NO POLICE!

Anyways, I'm looking for a nice rally car (not trucks, SUV, Vans, Wagons, etc.), relatively cheap (under $5,000), 4 Wheel Drive. Easy to find in a manual, cheap and/or easy to install upgrades, and something with some low end torque (enough to drift with). Oh yeah, I'm hoping it could be a turbo.

I was considering a 1990 Subaru Legacy Turbo, but they seem hard to come by.

Oh, I know I'm on a Subaru forum, but if there's anything BESIDES a Subaru (although they're the best) please infom me.

 

P.S. - Anyone know how to install a roll cage or someone know of a guide I could follow?

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get an old school sedan or coupe, like the late 80's gl, dl, rx, loyale, ect. for $5000 you can get the car and do a wrx engine swap and five lug conversion. they out handle imprezas and seem to just be more fun all in all. i personally have more fun when my 86 rx uis running than i usually do in my 2000 impreza rs. then again, the rx is also turbo, so that only makes it a lot more fun.:burnout:

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if you want something 4wd then just get an old ea82 car... turbo or not you'll still have fun...

 

you shouldn't count out non 4wd cars though... rwd cars will get you sideways in a hurry... and if you ask most seasoned rally drivers (not me:rolleyes:) they will tell you to get a fwd car and learn car control...

 

the last guy i serviced for at a rally actually won using a 93 civic hatchback with type-r conversion... a sweet drive watching him go 115mph on ice...

 

but anywho.. if you can find a nice GL sedan or coupe (maybe even RX) i think you'll be set... a first gen impreza should come pretty cheap too... easier to modify than a GL... and if you don't car about it not being a subaru, a lot of people use AWD eagle talons... some are even turbo...

 

and if you're really lucky, try and find youself a mazda 323 GTX... you'll have balls of fun in one of those... (only 1500 in north america though...)

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a good thing to ask yourself at this point is: what do i want to do with the car?

 

an old loyal/gl ext. even in immaculate condition will only set you back about 2000-2500 so you've got room to modify but without market support where are you going to go? well in stock for these cars are good for learning, bloody reliable, and dirt cheap to maintain. in addition the long suspension travel make them seemingly ideal for use on logging trails. (i have a 5 speed d/r sdn and wgn)

 

next up....early 90's impreza: in any form these cars (while a little porky) are a good choice for beginning rallyx, autox, and stage rally beginners. these cars have good market support and any ej drive line will bolt right up should the need/desire arise. the price while a little higher will be served well by the fact that after market parts can easily be had that will serve your developing skill.

 

perhaps you may wish to have an early legacy turbo. decent choice in my mind. these cars have a sturdy engine which most, if given the chance, would love to take the short block from and build up for big power. one of the biggest problems with this car its...well its size, by most peoples standards this is a good bit of steel to be slinging around corners.

 

not a subaru, sure...how bout an early corolla, a solid example will set you back a pretty penny an example with a bit of rust and a lot of miles can be had for a good price and will offer a good supply of used performance parts as its been years since any rear drive corolla has been produced you may find some slim pickings in some yards.

 

personally...i would say that you need to decide what you want and how much (yearly) your willing to spend, this alone could be your deciding factor.

 

theres an old adage that serves well "you can have it: fast, reliable, or cheap...you can only pick two, whats most important to you?"

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  • 1 month later...
get an old school sedan or coupe, like the late 80's gl, dl, rx, loyale, ect. for $5000 you can get the car and do a wrx engine swap and five lug conversion. they out handle imprezas and seem to just be more fun all in all. i personally have more fun when my 86 rx uis running than i usually do in my 2000 impreza rs. then again, the rx is also turbo, so that only makes it a lot more fun.:burnout:

 

Any pics of your 86?

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There's also a company called "Audi" that made some very competitive rally cars. Come to think of it, you can get one pretty cheap with AWD and locking center and rear diffs. Might be worth thinking about.

 

(try to find one with as little electrical options as possible. All the motors and wiring for the fancy electric seats, windows, sunroofs, etc will SLOW YOU DOWN!)

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are the XT's and XT6 good rally cars? and what about the SVX?

 

 

My experience with the XT6 is that it's competitive, but a lot of work to get it around the track.

Ken's is good and built, and lightened ta boot. We entered it and my wife's all but stock 97 L impreza and co-drove them both. We both beat the other one with the impreza.

He was faster in the impreza than in the XT6, same with me.

 

If you can find a base model L impreza for cheap, you're good to go.

 

Ken's little 95 brighton (2.5 n/a) swap just went toe to toe with a Turbo Forester driven by a professional rally driver.

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Looking to get something to start out on? I've been recommended by numerous people to get a FWD car.

 

80s Civic, 80s FWD Subaru or FWD Impreza. This will make it easier to learn how to control a car. Once you get pretty good, then go up to AWD, and you'll be doing much better than if you started with AWD... at least this is how I'm told.

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Not if you've ever heard the name Bill Price.

 

There's an 85 Audi that always finishes on the podium at the ORG Rally X. 85 whopping horse power. Very fun to watch. When it's muddy, he really flies.

 

no, i meant lol at how he said it. i thought he was being sardonic about the awesomeness of the old quattros. which i am well aware of.

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  • 3 weeks later...
got some pics? id like to see this.

 

i am hoping to get my rx set up for stage rally once i start working again.

 

Hi mate,

 

I have heaps of photos of my car that I run in the South Australian Rally Championship. www.faberit.com.au/rxrally

Let me know if you need any specific information, I could go on for days on how to get the best out of your RX so you can go beat some STi's.

 

Andrew

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