there are loads of way more capable cars than s bodies but no one ever thinks of them. i remember when you could get a ropey but mot'd s13 for £500-£600. same car, same condition and your looking at 2k + these days.
My Z will be for sale as of Wednesday next week once I get home from holiday and take pics etc. Can paste the details in the meantime if anyone is interested
More capable is subjective, however For equally capable but at a lower price you've got 3 series BMWs, 5 series BMWs, Volvos, MX5s (as much as it pains me to say it), Lexuses (Lexi?), and more that I've no doubt missed.
Errrr ......... no. Have you not ever wondered why D1GP isnt full of E36's and Volvo 740's? The S and R chassis are the best platform for driftcars you can get without spending considerably more money - they are strong, relatively light, come with LSD's as standard, can support impressive power increases for relatively little outlay and have vast aftermarket support and experience. A 350 is a better out of the box driftcar but is a 20 odd year newer design and until recently would have cost a lot more money in the first place so it should be.
an e36/v740' to them is a chaser to us ..we queef over what is a decent spec family car, and they queef over euro stuff i think people forget that, domestic markets have different "standards" Their chasers etc are meh common as muck and cheap, we have the same but its a lot shitter and not rwd (insert mondeo, vectra etc etc here) of course now majority of cars are kei cars and that also reflects on the other car markets making them cheaper as a result since many cant afford or physically own a full sized car. the joys of weird world of imports and exports
Ive had 350z for a few years now and still love it although there's a few things I wish I had known before buying one so I'll share them. Firstly electrics on them are shite, in terms of the electric seats, windows etc, always temperamental. Secondly they're a total Vagina to push more power out of without going F/I which as a rule costs horrendous money. The better looking kits for them are near impossible to source over here to, which is why you see so many cool Japanese and American ones but most of the ones over here look the same or run the same kits. And finally unless you want to throw a ton of eBay shite on them there aren't many cheap and easy mods you can do to them. But they are reliable, low maintenance, and hard as nails. V6 sounds good too!
I've never wondered, mainly cause the answer is obvious. Japanese cars are common as muck in Japan, whereas the BMWs and older volvo's will be rarer / more expensive to buy and source parts for. It makes perfect sense to use a cheaper capable car for competition use. In England however, the prices are completely different. You can easily set up a competitive E36 for less than it'll cost to set up an S body, and the subsequent running costs for the E36 will be way lower. Again it's subjective as soon as you start tuning, as it's all down to budget.
Whatever, if youre telling me that an E36 is a "more capable" driftcar than an S13 then youre wrong, see also Volvos, Sierras and anything else thats been mentioned. They are heavier, have less power, have no LSD as standard and cost a lot more to get power out of whether youre in the UK, Japan or the Moon. I remember when S13's were cheaper than E36's, now they are more expensive, it doesnt change anything. - - - Updated - - - Whatever, if youre telling me that an E36 is a "more capable" driftcar than an S13 then youre wrong, see also Volvos, Sierras and anything else thats been mentioned. They are heavier, have less power, have no LSD as standard and cost a lot more to get power out of whether youre in the UK, Japan or the Moon. I remember when S13's were cheaper than E36's, now they are more expensive, it doesnt change anything.
I think you're wrong on the power point, a stock E36 328 makes 190BHP, the CA18DET (stock S13 engine) makes 167bhp. Now granted you can swap in an SR20 very easily but that still costs money and even then makes a factory quoted 200bhp, an extra 10bhp on the stock 328 block. Also if we allow engine swaps the S52 block drops right in to any E36 engine bay and makes 320bhp. Weight wise I think the average stock E36 is around 200kg heavier than the stock S13 (1.5 vs 1.3 tonnes) which makes neither car particularly light, but again this becomes irrelevant once both are stripped out for track use, as the BMW has a lot more weight to lose in terms of sound deadening, interior etc. As far as LSDs go I only use welded diffs, but I guess that's personal preference. The E36s did come with an optional LSD though, so it's possible to get one. Anyway I'm not knocking the S bodies, they are capable cars, but the BMWs are just as capable. Remember Mike Essa won FD in an E46.
Mike Essa won FD in a car that looked like a E46, I doubt he was taking it to Sytner BMW to get it serviced after each event. As for the rest, think what you like, Ive had 2 S12's, 4 S13's, an S14 and a 350Z from standard spec to nothing standard at all, 2 E36's and I now have an E82 135i if youre interested which pisses on all of them. The E36's are good but need work (like welding diffs and stripping weight), the 200's can be made to do 250hp with £300 of mods and an afternoons work. Sure, there is an element of preference in the question of "which is better", but "which is more capable", not so much.
Granted Mike Essa's E46 was far from stock, but it still ran a BMW S54 engine, which does show the capability and potential these engines have. Though this does go back to my previous point on cars being impossible to compare once they're tuned, it all comes down to budget and lifespan. The S bodies may be cheaper to get an extra 50bhp out of, but the E36 as a car is around £4000 cheaper to buy in the first place, giving a lot of spare cash for tuning. I think we'll have to agree to disagree , there are too many variables when it comes to setting up a drift car, and a lot of it will boil down to personal preference too.
What about E92 335i - Ok a couple more grand than a 350z on the cheap end but around 300bhp as standard, 380bhp with a couple of light mods/ tune and then close to 500bhp with a resettling of the turbos? Mind you, my E9 something (estate) had a useless hand break!
