RunningRich wrote:How old is too old? How about a 1988-1992 Alfa Romeo 75. Before people laugh, these have the gearbox at the rear too and 148 bhp (Italian stallions, not Japanese ponies) from a 2.0 litre engine with VVT.
Cool cars, I had a 1750 powered one before the mr2, twin side draught dellortos, s/s exhaust, koni's and jamex, superpro bushings etc, raceseat and omp harness. Fantastic handling and noise. F$%king slow though, it redlined 5th at 195km/h
http://www.geocities.com/mr_alfa_romeo/Alfa75new.JPG
Have you thought about a 156 v6? A nice manual one with sub 100k can be had for $15k.
Otherwise go for a 3.0l e36 m3, they are slightly less maintainance heavy than the 3.2's. I drove one a while back, LOVED it, wasn't as quick as my old mr2 but it was built 100x better, sounded better, handled better, it was just a better car by far. They also look fantastic in Dakar yellow with the motorsport 17s otherwise known as LTW's.